A half-dozen carts were passing, rolling by slowly due to her and her guards' presence. The drivers weren’t fazed; they weren’t even paying attention. They looked just ahead of their horses, faces drawn, oblivious to most anything other than the feel of the reins in their hands.
She feared the father’s and daughter’s poverty were what all of Acorilan had to look forward to. She surrendered to uncertainty. It sliced through Jularra’s nerves like a dagger. There was nothing that would relieve her or her people. Her nerves remained open and exposed, ready to be packed with despair.
But then the fog of doubt lifted. Anything that took away from her focus on a victory in Torguria drained out of her mind. Only a delicate, possible premonition of the merchants in front of her remained. They wore carefree smiles in a future where they returned to working only for themselves, and sold their goods for the benefit of their families.
Jularra flashed Korden a dauntless smile and resumed their march.
“On to the grounds!”
Still surprised, Korden and the other Bedrock had to skip a few steps to keep up.
Well before they passed into the training yard, Jularra made out the smacking of weapons against armor and targets. She shivered with anticipation, anxious to see what everyone was up to. There was a degree of excitement for war, but this was mostly a feeling of pride in her people.
The men and women in the yard at the moment were representatives of her Bedrock and Spire—the elite of her warriors. Their combined skills of brute force and agile lethality exemplified most any combat skill available to a fighter. Any Bedrock or Spire on their own was an intimidating prospect; fighting alongside each other, they made for an almost unstoppable line of offense. She had absolute confidence in both, and Jularra—together with the rest of the nation—revered them as the epitome of military might. Each member was a mentor and an example of excellence to all the other common fighters in the country.
The bulk of Burrek's regular forces trained outside the city walls, where they had room to do so. The Bedrock and Spire, however, were small enough in number to meet in the training grounds. The yard could be divided and configured into numerous layouts, depending on the need. At the moment, it was divided into three sections: two large areas for the Bedrock and Spire to train separately, and a smaller section where the two elite groups sparred together. This area allowed for each specialization to train against the other so that each unit developed skills to adapt to any foe.
Once the queen and her guards had entered the grounds, Korden announced her arrival by screaming a command everyone was trained to identify and obey immediately.
“Quit all current matches in three… two… one…”
The countdown was so that each combatant could follow through on their attack, and so that each could be subsequently defended. No one showed much surprise, since the senior commanders of each elite unit always brought their sessions to an end in this manner.
As Korden bellowed the countdown, the flurry of activity rapidly decreased. Violent bashes against armor trickled to gentle scrapes of metal on metal, and then nothing. Korden quickly followed up with the announcement proper.
“Fall in for presentation to your queen!”
Men and women from around the grounds scrambled and dodged to race to their proper presentation formation. Lesser marshals stepped out from their respective groups to keep an eye on the formation coming together. As each subdivision filled its ranks, that group’s marshal would count off and then fall in themselves. When the formations were complete, each group greeted their queen in a unison of biting syllables.
“Our queen! ‘Zah!”
The last syllable, short for "huzzah," was sustained by the assembled men and women, and rang out for no longer than three seconds. And since the queen followed in the steps of some of her predecessors by being an active member of the Spire, the women offered an added greeting of their own.
“Strike!”
An homage to the Spire’s full motto: From the peaks we strike and destroy. Their united voices ripped through the air and ricocheted off the nearby walls. Jularra’s eyes blurred and then refocused as pride and adrenaline raced through her veins.
“Thank you!” she shouted. She held her arms up as she repeated her appreciation. “Thank you for that humbling greeting!”
Only faint hints of sound from elsewhere in the city could be heard between the queen’s words.
“I am visiting today to check on your readiness, and to marvel at your skill and capabilities. It has been a fair length of time since some of you have seen a battle, and others still have yet to be tested.”
Jularra turned slowly as she addressed the entire yard.
“Regardless, I wouldn’t bet on anyone on the receiving end of a Bedrock or Spire blade!”
The training grounds roared with appreciation. The men boomed “'Zah!” while the women yelled, “Strike!”
“I will also be making sure your equipment is in a state that matches your talents. Should you need anything before the battle, let your superiors know, and we will have it taken care of. I am confident that our victory is assured, and I am honored to fight with you. Our people will not be outmatched in the field.”
Jularra looked at Korden and the nearby marshals for any comments or questions. Receiving none, she prepared to leave.
“I will let you return to your training. I will be staying for a while to review some of the matches, but please do…”
A lone voice from within the Spire ranks soared out and interrupted the queen.
“What about you?”
To their credit, only a few of the women let the question distract
