Silver & Blood: A Kingdom's Currency (Rynn01 x Kami GearX)

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

Anja took the snake and started squeezing out the blood on the ground. That was the first step in drying them out. She would need a knife to cut it open and expose its body to the sun. But no one would give get one, and that was okay. For now, though she tucked it in her clothes for safe keeping. The men looked at her funny. had the never seen a dead snake being put into clothing before?

Anja paid no attention to the weapon wall detail thing. She was trying to look like a prisoner. Shackles were doing great but it wouldn't sell it all. She was just bored by everything. But a good leader had to pay attention. Sigh, a dull as always  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa continued the talk here and there for a while. He spoke at great length about what should go where and how it should be placed and who should be trained for the weaponry. "How are the walls holding up?" The Prince asked after the siege equipment was settled.

"Some of the masonry needs to be redone, but we can't afford to repair it stone by stone. We could plaster some mud over the cracks for now, but it would only be a temporary measure. We would need something more permanent done. This fort is over three hundred years old after all."

The prince nodded and rubbed his chin. "No, we'll do a full repair job. Cut down some of the nearby forest and put up a palisade around the sections you will be working on. It's better than having no wall and I would rather this place have an obvious vulnerability we can protect, than a hidden one we cannot prepare for."

The men bowed and gave a nod. "As you say milord, it will be done. That's all the matters of management we have currently when it comes to this fort, though the drill instructors do have need of you. We are not sure why, but they sent for you earlier."

"I will go and see what they require of me then Keepers. If you will excuse me." Tousa turned on a heel and as soon as he was turned around and not facing the robed men, an expression of tiredness just came over his face. Seemed like he was already exhausted from that conversation alone, what with all the back and forth from and with the scholars.  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

Anja followed him. She kept a blank expression on her face and did not speak to him at all. She knew when to listen and when to talk. Did they have to cut down the forest? Well that was humans for ya.She didn't like being quiet and submissive. She was far from that. She wanted to make him uncomfortable again because his reactions were so funny. She should save it for fun on the road. They would be alone, after all.  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa trudged down the stairs. It was barely half-day and he was already wanting to just go retire to the officer quarters and lock the door. People were so tiring. If it wasn't one thing they wanted it was another. No one could agree on anything.

Once back down in the Courtyard however, his appearance was refined once again, and he was acting like the upstanding prince once more, who never seemed to tire and had a strict way of dealing with things. He stepped up to the drill instructor who currently had men sparring each other. "Instructor. I heard that you called for me. Is there a problem here?"

The man turned and gave a deep, respectable bow. "No your grace, I just thought that perhaps you would have time to give some of the new recruits a good test. They've been training for a few weeks now and I would like to see how they are shaping up."

Tousa gave a nod. "I see, well, let us make this quick then, gather the men around." He motioned for Anja to come close. "We will see how well the men fight." Once Anja was close he turned to look at her and he pulled out a key. "You will be there sparring partner prisoner."

"My lord you can't be-." The instructor was terrified at the prospect of having Anja unshackled. Tousa glanced over.

"If they fight me, they won't put all their effort and training forward. If they are fighting to actually survive? We'll see how well their training has held up won't we? Anja the Lycan, arms out."

The recruits that had started to gather just let their jaws hang open. They had heard what she was. They did not want to practice with her either from the looks of it.  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

Anja just looked at him with a funny expression on her face, "What if I kill them by accident?" she asked as she held up her arms. A few men got nervous and took a step back. She looked at them, "That was a joke! Maybe...."

Anja looked at Tousa again, "Are you sure? I won't hold back that much. I am a seasoned fighter after all."  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

"Then they do not care enough to live." Tousa stated simply. "When one is truly backed into a corner and have the risk of losing is their life. Well, people will fight tooth and nail to prevent their death." He reached and unlocked the shackles around her arms before kneeling and unshackling her legs as well.

"Now, instructor, please, this is your training, what did you have in mind?" Tousa stated, now turning around with the shackles hanging from his hand.

"A... Um... That is to say... I had in mind one versus many sparring... With a chosen weapon." Tousa gave a nod and glanced to Anja. "You're not getting a weapon. Not even a practice weapon. In exchange, she fights three opponents at most at a time. Now. Start the training."

Tousa made a simple gesture for Anja to step forward. He knew exactly what he was doing when he let her out of those shackles. Now it was time to see what she did and how she would react to sudden freedom.  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

Anja stepped forward. After some hesitation from the men, three of them surrounded her. She looked over at the wall. She could make an escape. She could transform and run. They wouldn't be able to track her very well. But she wouldn't betray the trust in her. She got into a stance and waited. When none would attack she grew bored, "Afraid to hit a girl? Come on, grow a pair!"

All three came at her at once in a coordinated fashion. Not bad but...she ducked sideways, threw one guy off balance, picked him up as he was falling and threw him into the other two, knocking them over. They scrambled to get on their feet. Once ready again they charged her one at a time. She avoided the wooden sword and punched the guy in the chest. The other two were behind her and managed to strike her on her back. She grunted and stumbled.

Without thinking, Anja disarmed one of them by grabbing the guys arms, twisting it until it popped. He screamed and his friend tried attacking. She just used the guy as a shield and took his sparring weapon and smack him across the face.

All three were down for the count and she threw down her sparring weapon. She wasn't allowed to be given one, no one said anything about taking it from someone else. She stepped back and went back over to Tousa, "That was fun."  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa had moved to stand next to the drill instructor. "If they cannot beat her, then there is no point in me trying to fight them. If you are greatly overwhelmed by an enemy you learn nothing from the defeat. Allow them to continue practicing and when I return we will see about giving a demonstration on how to fight many opponents at once."

He looked to Anja. "Arms out again." He instructed simply, moving to hold the shackles up. For some reason he got the image of the kennels where the dogs were collared up and caged, waiting to go hunting. Tousa shook the image out of his head and simply waited for Anja. He certainly didn't think of anything else that needed to be done at the moment so instead it would just be plotting their course for the journey back to the capital now.  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

Anja held up her arms again, "Was that it? Wasn't much of a fight." although that bruise on her back hurt. It will be gone in 5 minutes so she didn't complain. It was great to have some exercise. Being shackled up again wasn't fun but it made the men relax more. Knowing the beast hat might kill you is in shackles? You tended to feel safe  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa put the shackles back onto Anja without hesitation and he gave a nod. "That was it. Besides I don't think any of the others want to step forward to try and fight you. Not after a display like that." He then knelt and shackled her legs as well.

He stood up and turned, looking to the instructor. "If you will excuse me, I will be in the officer quarters looking over the maps and reading reports." He then moved towards the officer quarters once again, glancing up. Still not quite half-day, but it was getting close.

Once inside the room he did just as he said he would be doing, pulling out a new map of the kingdom and the nearby borders and laying it flat on a table, moving wooden blocks with various colored flags on them on top of the map. He began to study documents that were left piled up and about, reading them carefully and placing blocks, removing others, shifting them about every now and then. It was like he was playing the last couple of years out in terms of battle on the map itself.  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

Anja followed like always did. Quite boring really. What he did back in the quarters were equally boring. She sat down, crossed her legs and arms. She closed her eyes and leaned up against a hard surface. She would rest now, before she had to move again  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa didn't even glance up from his work. "Nothing to say after all of that? First time you've been quiet since I've met you Anja the Lycan. Or are you simply that tired from watching a member of the royal household take care of nitpicking details. Perhaps you thought it was all glory and glamour?"

Now he looked up from the reports, again, that smirk from yesterday as if he had won some sort of childish competition against her that only he knew was going on. "Or something to that effect." He let out a sigh and set down a report before sitting. "The amount of damage you people do to this kingdom is terrifying. It really, truly is. No one can agree on anything and we have to listen to petty arguments all day and then mediate them."  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

"Now its funny you say that. You don't realize how much of it is your fault. The damage caused by your men. You are so blind to the obvious." Anja said while still having her eyes closed. He just had to see it, just one time, "How many of your soldiers return with more provisions that they left with? I bet its a lot more. I bet I also know what they say to you about where it comes from. They say 'It was given to us by the villages we protect. They offer it to us to help win this war!'"

She opened her eyes and looked straight at him. Without blinking she said, "That is a lie. They take from their food stores, the stores that have to see them through the winter. They demand it for the war and if they refuse, they just take it and burn everything. Cause they think, you don't need it if you're dead."  

[Kami GearX]

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Rynn01

Prince Tousa of Darinest

Tousa shook his head. "And you can claim the moral high ground with banditry of your own? Whether my men do that or do not do that still needs to be proven, which is the reason we are doing this entire charade rather than having your head mounted on a spike if I need to remind you. What I am saying is that leading a country in the middle of the war is not an easy thing. Everyone wants a piece of your time and they each have twenty things they wish to complain about... It's worse when a kingdom is at peace because then there is no enemy to be fighting."

He looked back to his reports and moved a few more blocks around. "Even in this fort there are fifteen different people in charge of various tasks that feel like they need my approval for what they want and when I suggest something else they try to play word games much like yourself." Tousa then looked over at another map and he was looking more frustrated. "Not only that but people can't seem to do their jobs properly around here. There was an error in the body count. It was seventy five in one report and ninety in another."

Tousa slapped the reports down in the middle of the map and moved to take a seat, pinching the bridge of his nose and leaning his head back while letting out a frustrated sigh. "For all the gods that are worshiped in this realm of man, why am I always cleaning up these minor mistakes that others make?" He muttered.  

[Rynn01]

Kami GearX

"Its not easy, I get that. All that stuff happens to me when I'm there. They all second guess their work and need reaffirming. 95% of the time it is all good. The land would fall apart if they were in charge. This kingdom is lucky to have a strong leader like you." she said to him then under her breath she said, "I wish I could be a better leader myself."