Meeting the other captains has me a little nervous, they probably don't like me much. After all, it has been two weeks and I have only met Shard and Fallon, the rest have avoided me. I am expecting them to mostly be prejudiced against me because I am a beast.

That wouldn't matter except I need them to listen to me during the war or it will make things difficult. Even if they hate me for what I am, I need them to at least respect me enough to listen to what I have to say. As I am thinking of how to accomplish that, Shard finds me.

Shard says "Are you ready for the meeting?"

"As ready as I can be I guess."

Shard says "I stopped by because I thought I would give you a rundown on the other captains before the meeting."

"I would appreciate that!"

Shard says "Alright, I will go from bottom to top. The ninth captain, and the only female captain is Selona. She is probably the strongest of the captains when it comes to combat, but she is stuck at ninth because some of the other captains suppress her. They don't like the idea of a woman joining their boys club."

"Well, that's typical!"

Shard says "True. The eighth captain is Alan, he doesn't have much talent but he works hard to make up for it. He spends at least twice the amount of time training with his troop as any of the others."

Shard says "The seventh captain is Drake, watch out for him. He is a sneak and won't hesitate to use dirty tricks. The competition is judged by nobles and Drake is a noble's son so he can cheat and get away with it."

"Ugh! I will keep that in mind."

Shard says "The sixth captain is Broc, he is a meathead just like Fallon. They only really care about competing with each other."

Shard says "The fourth captain is Zikal, he is the best swordsman. Don't let his skinny appearance fool you, he is very skilled and quick."

"I never judge by appearance."

Shard says "The second captain is Roland, you don't have to worry about him. He is absolutely fair and honorable. He isn't a knight but he is everything a knight should be."

"Sounds like a good guy."

Shard says "Yeah, he is. He is the opposite of the first captain Kriton. Kriton is a knight, but he inherited the title he didn't earn it. He spends most of his time in the court and his personal skills are crap, but his troops are the best. They have the best gear and training, they get all the support they could possibly need."

"Let me guess, he is friends with most of the nobles who are judges."

Shard says "Yeah, the nobles do whatever it takes to keep him as the first captain. He has strong backing and is arrogant about it, so be careful of him."

"Thanks for all the info. I will keep what you have said in mind."

Since it is time for the meeting we leave my room and as we walk to the meeting I think about everything Shard said. I have no doubt that my team is strong enough to take first place in the competition. The only question now is are we going to be able to, considering how corrupt things seem to be.

Becoming first captain is the easiest way to achieve what I need to before the war, but it isn't the only way. Once the war starts I can easily get rid of certain people if they get in my way. In the competition I just have to impress the good captains enough that they will listen to me.

The meeting is going to be a good opportunity to figure out who is worth working with and who my enemies are going to be. From Shard's description I am already thinking that Roland, Zikal, and Selona are going to be worth working with. While I am fairly sure Drake and Kriton are going to end up as my enemies.

Broc I consider neutral, Fallon and Shard I already consider as being on my side. Alan I am not yet sure of, he could go either way depending on his attitude. Anyway, it is still too early to know anything for sure, we will see how things go.

When Shard and I enter the meeting room I see that seven people are already sitting at the table with another standing at the head like he just arrived. From how he is dressed I can already guess that he is Kriton and from the looks of it we just ruined his grand entrance. I say that because his mouth is open like he was talking yet every eye in the room is now focused on me.

Kriton says "Well, now that everyone is here we can get this meeting started."

Shard says "For those of you who haven't met him yet this is Ash the new tenth captain."

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet everyone."

One by one the other captains greet me and give me their names letting me put faces to Shard's descriptions. My opinion of Alan goes up a couple of notches once I meet him, he is solid and dependable looking. He gives me the impression that he started as a trooper and worked his way up.

Drake on the other hand looks like nothing more than a spoiled rich kid, snakelike fits him best. Broc is sitting opposite Fallon and they just glare at each other the whole time. Since Fallon is on my side Broc may go against me just so he isn't on the same side as Fallon.

Kriton says "That is enough chatter! Let us get this farce over with!"

Roland says "Since we have a new captain I believe we should cover the rules."

Kriton says "That is a waste of time. If you feel the need you can educate him after the meeting."

It is obvious that Roland is not happy with Kriton ignoring his suggestion but he keeps quiet about it. From that I would guess Roland has tried to do the honorable thing before and suffered for it. As long as I am polite and respectful I am pretty sure I can get Roland on my side.

Kriton says "The reason I called this meeting is because there is going to be a special guest for tomorrow's competition. The king himself is going to be attending!"

Drake says "Which means the entire court will be present?"

Kriton says "Correct. So everyone needs to be presentable and as polite as you are capable of. Well, those of you that can anyway."

As Kriton says that he looks at both me and Selona, it seems he is the main one who has been suppressing her. That works for me, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes. The more pressure he puts on Selona the more likely she is to be willing to work with anyone who is against him.

Kriton says "Other than that everything will be as usual. Just stress to your troops that they need to be clean and watch their language in front of the king."

Roland says "So we will be starting first thing in the morning as usual?"

Kriton says "No. The nobles don't wake up as early as soldiers. The competition will start at noon."

From the disappointment on his face I am guessing Kriton didn't plan to mention this. He probably wanted to let us all show up hours too early and have to stand around doing nothing. That way our troops would be bored and tired by the time the competition actually starts.

Kriton says "Any questions?"

Drake says "Who gets to fight the newbie in the first round?"