The Guardians: Book One of the Restoration Series (22 page)

Flare held up his hand and Delon fell silent. “He is being punished for his guilt, but you are also guilty of a crime, and I must punish you for it as well.” Flare's mouth was dry at watching the young man's fear. He wasn't sure, but Flare thought that he
might would
have done the same thing that Delon had done. He motioned to Derek, “Derek, escort this soldier to Enton. He is to get three lashes from the whip.” Derek led the soldier from the tent.

As he expected, a woman's voice was the first to break the silence.

“Flare! That was cruel and uncalled for.” Kara said vehemently.

“Kara,” Flare began patiently, “I did what I had to do. These soldiers viewed us not as their leaders but as their equals. Now, they will understand who is in charge.”

“And if another one steals or breaks some other rule?” She asked, indignant.

He dropped his eyes, “Then the punishments will only get worse.”

Atock, who was standing to one side, looked puzzled. “I don't understand what the problem is.” He said, looking first to Flare and then to Kara. “In my homeland, a thief would have had his hand cut off without anyone even blinking. Marall should consider
himself
lucky that I wasn't judging him.”

Kara looked angrily from Flare to Atock. Turning on her heel, she marched from the tent.

Atock asked, “Flare, who is she mad at, you or me?”

“I don't know.
Maybe a little of both.”
He answered shrugging.

The next morning, Flare was up well before dawn. He had slept little, worrying if he had done the right thing. He could never show the doubt in front of the soldiers or other guardians, but he was afraid that maybe he had been too harsh.

The camp was already alive in preparation for the day's travels. He found that it was easier not to dwell if he was lost in the breaking of camp.

The sun had just broken the horizon, when Flare finished breakfast and left to find the two soldiers that he had punished the night before. He found them on the edge of camp where they had been whipped. The two trees that had been used to hold them had also taken some damage from the whips and those slashes on the trees worried him even more. Was it too much?

Kara was already there and had treated the wounds on the soldiers' backs. Their bare backs had been covered in a gooey white salve.

Kara looked exhausted; she apparently hadn't slept much the night before either.

At Flare's approach, the two soldiers and their corporal snapped to attention.

“At ease.”
Flare said, and the three men relaxed a little.

The corporal spoke up, “Sir, we were just returning to our place in the ranks.”

Flare ignored him and stepped in front of Marall, “Private Marall, do I have to worry about you stealing anything again?”
Fear passed over the soldier's eyes, but Marall did a reasonable job of hiding it. “No sir! That will not happen again.” He said, shaking his head to emphasize his words.

“Good.” Flare said, before he moved over to stand in front of Delon. “And how about you private Delon, will you take justice into your hands again?”

The young man swallowed, “No sir! I will take the matter to my corporal.”

“Good.” Flare said, feeling better that at least the discipline had the desired affect. He moved over to stand in front of the corporal. “Corporal, justice is to be swift, but it is to be tempered with mercy. These men have had a rough night and I doubt they could march until sundown.” He paused, as if he was thinking of what to do, even though he had already decided. He just wanted to make sure that the soldiers showed the proper respect and at least pretended that they had learned their lessons. “I know what we can do, let these men ride in the supply wagons for today. Tomorrow they can resume marching in their squads.”

A respectful smile spread across the face of the corporal. “Yes sir! I will escort them there myself.”

“Good.” Flare said, “You better get going. We're leaving soon.”

The three soldiers moved off quickly toward the supply wagons and Flare walked toward the front of the column without saying a word to Kara. The whole time he walked, he could feel her smile on his back.

The weather for the trip was wonderful. This early in the spring, it was cool enough at night to need a blanket, but the days warmed up nicely. The men marching in ranks even were sweating through the middle of the day, although Flare rarely broke a sweat on his horse. He was relieved that the two examples of discipline seemed to have been enough. There weren’t any more major breaches of protocol after that first evening, although he soon realized that the squad leaders were organizing wrestling matches in the evenings. It wasn't long before he realized that the wrestling matches were being used to settle disagreements. He pretended not to notice what was going on, because he approved of the squad leaders’ handling of the problems, he even briefly wondered which of them had first came up with the idea.

They made camp the third night within sight of a small town. Actually it looked more like a large village than a town. With the sun ready to go down, they had found two small fields on either side of the road that had not been planted, and they had split the men up into two camps. Derek had called the town by name, but Flare quickly forgot the name he used. They had passed quite a few villages in the several days since they had left Telur, and both times their passage had been the same. The adults seemed to line the dirt streets watching the soldiers march through, while the kids ran along beside the soldiers. So far, their passing had not caused any problems, but he still got nervous with all those soldiers marching through.

They had just finished raising their tent, and Flare and the other guardians were arranging their gear, when a sudden thought occurred to him. “Do you think that the men will try to visit that town tonight?”

Aaron looked at Derek, and they both shrugged, “Perhaps.” Aaron said, “After all, they are just soldiers and they will probably want to have some fun.”

“I don't care if they do, except a few probably won't make it back by morning.”

He thought about it for several moments, “Make their squad leaders responsible. Their squad leaders will suffer any punishments the men do.” He raised his eyes to meet Aaron's, “Pass that word to the squad leaders. I don't want to be delayed one minute tomorrow morning. Make sure they understand that.”

Aaron nodded his head, “I'll do it now.” He headed out into the dusk.

Derek smiled, unrolling his blankets, “That was a good idea. It ought to keep the men out of trouble.” He paused, a smile touching the corners of his mouth, “If you keep this up, they will have to make you an officer.” He carefully avoided Flare's eyes.

The rest of the guardians also carefully avoided his gaze, but he could see their poor attempts to hide smiles. After a moment of frowning at Derek's back,
Flare
turned away to hide his own smile.

Flare was pleased to see that there weren't any delays in breaking camp the next day. His orders had the desired affect, and all the men were accounted for, although many of them looked unhappy.

They made good time and it was a beautiful spring day. The day remained cool and didn't get too hot to be enjoyable, and the woods that they were now riding through were filled with the signs of life. The trees relaxed him, and he even surprised the soldiers by whistling a merry tune as they worked their way up the road.

His mood lasted throughout the day and he was still in a wonderful mood as they made camp that evening at dusk. All it took to snap him out of the good mood was a woman.

Flare was wandering through the camp and nodding to the soldiers as he passed. They had set up camp in what appeared to be an abandoned farmer's field, and the tents had gone up quickly. The soldiers slept three to a tent, and he still couldn't figure out how they managed to get three men in one of those little tents.

He walked past a small soldiers' tent just as the flap was swung open and a woman exited the tent adjusting her clothes. He stopped in his tracks blinking at the woman.

The woman was young, perhaps sixteen or seventeen years old. She was slightly plump, but attractive. She had long brown hair that hung to her hips and smooth tan skin. She was wearing a tight shirt that stopped right below her breasts and a short skirt that didn't reach to her knees. Her eyes were brown, and she had high cheek bones. Even though she was young, she already had that hour glass figure that men appreciated so much. She noticed Flare watching her and smiled.

“Hello, good sir. Is there anything that I can do for you?” She asked, licking her lip. Her voice had a strange accent; it seemed that pronounced certain letters with a drawl.
“A copper penny for an hour or a silver scepter for all night.”
A silver scepter was the common name for the silver coin used in Telur. The scepter had an engraving of the king's scepter on one side and the throne of the god Adel on the other.

His brow wrinkled in confusion, “What? What are you doing in this camp?” He finally managed to get out.

Now it was the girl's turn to blink in confusion, “You mean that you really don't know?” She asked.

A young blond soldier emerged from the tent, only half dressed.
“Sir.”
He said. His eyes bulging as he saw Flare.

Flare pointed to the girl, “What is she doing here?”

The man appeared to be trying to stand at attention, but he shifted as he glanced over at the girl. “Hawking her wares, sir.”

Flare did not want to discuss her wares at the moment, “Did you bring her with you from that town we passed last night?” He demanded.

“N-No sir!”
The man said quickly. “She approached me after I pitched my tent and offered....”

Flare cut him off, not wanting to hear the girl's offer. “Where are you from?” He asked the girl.

The girl had quietly watched the exchange between Flare and the soldier, and knew that Flare was someone of authority. She made a poor attempt at a curtsy, “My name is Elona, and I work for Dale Stonewood. We followed you from Silverwood.”

“Silverwood?”
Flare repeated, dimly remembering that was the name of the town they had passed last night. “Why?”

The girl shrugged. “Not much business in Silverwood, and Dale thought us girls could stay busy with the soldier boys.” Her eyes flicked to the soldier, and he blushed under her gaze.

Flare turned his attention back to the soldier, who was trying not to squirm. “What's your name?”

“Arn Bakersson from Wheils Ferry.”

“Arn, I want you to escort Elona to the guardians’ tent, and then...”

“Uh, excuse me.” The girl said interrupting him. “It will still be a copper for an hour or silver for all night.”

Flare took a deep breath and looked at the young girl, “Miss Elona, I am not hiring you, I am arresting you.”

“What!” Elona said, her voice rising to where it was almost a shout.

“Arn.
Escort her to the tent!” Flare said, half shouting
himself
. The soldier jumped to obey.

Flare sat in a wooden chair in the middle of the guardians' tent, wondering how things had gotten in such a mess. They had only left Telur a few days ago, but things seemed to be spiraling out of control. Several of the other guardians were present, as well as Elona, who was quietly sitting off to the side.

“It's not right,” Kara said emphatically, sitting on a small chest. “No one should be degraded and abused this way.”
“No one disagrees with you on that,” Murleen responded. “However, it is legal, and there's nothing that we can do about it.” She was sitting on an oversized outcropping of rock. Several torches were already lit because of the rapidly failing sunlight.

“But there is,” Kara argued, “We can at least keep her under arrest until we reach the fort. No one should be allowed to do this.”

Murleen bristled at the words, “No one should be allowed to do this?” Murleen repeated. She pointed at the young girl. “She's a free citizen of Telur, and just because she makes a decision that we don't agree with, doesn't give us the right to hold her against her will.”

Kara turned to face Murleen, “Murleen, of all people, I thought that you would agree with me.”

“Why?
Because I am a woman.
I hate what she does, but I also hate you trying to tell her what she can and can't do.”

Kara turned back toward Flare, “Flare she was trespassing, and that gives you the right to hold her until we reach Mul-Dune. I suggest that you do it. I also suggest that you make an example of the soldier.”

A sinking feeling settled on him and it felt like things were only going to get worse.
“Kara, why do you want me to make an example of the soldier?
Is it because he helped a person trespass into camp, or is it because he hired a prostitute?” He respected Kara's strict moral feelings on the issue, but he couldn't overrule the King, after all, it was a legal profession.