A well-run military is designed for producing obedience, respect for the chain of command, and service to the greater objectives at any personal cost. Nevine Tudohran thought this would make the service an ideal place for a woman like herself to make a mark and build a place for herself in society — without marrying. Unfortunately, she misinterpreted the House Kane army for one that was well-run.
The recruiter raised an eyebrow when she and Reyna Laire walked in his door. He asked them at least a dozen times if they were ‘totally sure’ this was what they wanted. They knew everything he would say going in. There would be no way out except surviving your term. No mercy would be given for gender differences. No excuses for poor performance. Not even ‘woman issues.’ These warnings came first from their mothers, seated on velvet cushions in tapestry-laden rooms with imported treats, and fruit on trays cut into small bite-sized pieces, each with their own sliver of polished steel to pick them up and guide them into their mouths.
Nevine knew the risks. She was the daughter of a councilman, and from the oldest serving family on the council at that. She had seen several friends and fellow council children go into the armies. The rule was always the same. Choose service in a council family that wasn’t your own. Serve with honor for a year and you had an officer’s rank appropriate to your station in your family’s army waiting for you to serve for the last two years of your term.
There had never been an exception, an exemption, or a special case that excused anyone who signed up from this arrangement. There had also never been a female first-born to a ruling family subject herself to the indignities of signing up as a foot-soldier in another house’s army. This simply was never done.
A woman of such stature served in more dignified ways. She worked in charities. She served food in soup lines. Occasionally those assignments would involve blood, but it was always the result of having to prepare a meal out of small, domesticated lizards called whallets. It was unheard of for a ruling-class woman to enroll in an army with the intention of facing off with an army unit from another city — to kill a man.
This was why Nevine had done it, or at least part of why. Reyna made the choice to enroll first. This was considered ordinary, her house being of lower station and ineligible to rule without an unexpected vacancy in the council and the family providing a sufficient level of service to the city. Reyna chose service first, saying it was for the glory of her family.
Nevine knew the real reason. This was a part of why Nevine enrolled with her. The other reason was the one most people have when they make decisions that enrage their fathers.
Love.
* * *
“You think you are special, vonce-licker?!” The sergeant’s red, sweaty nose touched her own, though Nevine was actually slightly taller than him. His spittle coated her mouth and neck, but she stood stone-still and faced forward. The man was perhaps thirty annums and thickly muscled. He wore the typical black uniform of the Kane house, with a field-leader’s cap on his head. He really was quite loud.
“No, sir!” Nevine lowered her voice to go for a similarly impressive yell. It worked.
“GOOD! GIVE ME TEN LAPS CARRYING THAT ROCK-SACK!”
“YES, SIR!” She ran to the pile of canvas bags filled with thirty kilos of rocks and fought to hoist one over her shoulder, then headed out, plodding around the perimeter of the training grounds with the heavy load digging into her back.
“YOU TOO, LAZY LAIRE!” This was directed at Reyna. She followed Nevine, having only a slightly easier time of lifting her bag. “MEN! GRAB YOUR SACKS AND RUN FIVE LAPS!” He grabbed his crotch to demonstrate. The young male recruits smiled and grabbed their scrotums and nothing else before they took off at a run as instructed.
How nice it would be to only have to haul my nuggets around. I’m sure that’s a real burden for them, Nevine thought.
The male soldiers finished their five laps easily before Nevine and Reyna could finish their third. It wasn’t a gigantic training ground, so laps were the best way to simulate a long run or a march toward the enemy. The women bore their heavy bags of rocks and kept pace with each other. Their feet making a soothing rhythm as their boots pounded the dust along the outer wall of the compound. This had once been a stadium of sorts where mock battles were staged. It was nearly one hundred fifty meters long and a hundred wide, bordered by high walls made of ancient stones, fitted together with an accuracy that barely left room for a single blade of grass between them. Their sizes and shapes were irregular, but every cut was as close to perfect thousands of years later as it had been the day it was first constructed.
As Nevine completed the fourth turn and headed back toward the central muster area, she watched Dackler and his poncy crew of lap-lizards lounging in the shade, talking, laughing, and pointing at them.
“Dake. Licker. Is. Too. Good. For. Them.” Reyna muttered between steps and breaths.
“Don’t. Make. Me. Laugh. Rey.” Nevine grunted between breaths. “They. Didn’t. Work. Hard. Enough. To. Make. Dust. Cake. Under. Their. Nuggs.”
Each step raised a little cloud of fine dust in her wake that never settled fully before they came back around. The cloud grew thicker. Nevine pulled the mask from its place lounging around her neck for the last several laps. It was hard to breathe through, but the dust was worse.
* * *
In the barracks that night they were alone. The men had already showered and changed. They were all out chasing girls that didn’t have direct access to sharp blades and firearms. Nevine and Reyna showered and lounged on bunks in loose, casual drawstring pants and thick, warm long-sleeved shirts.
“Being a girl really bites rickets some days, huh?” Nevine said.
“You don’t even know the half of it, Nev. Try doing it when you’re not related to a councilman.” She flipped a card onto the growing stack between them.
“I bet.” Nevine winced at the card on the pile. She cast one on the stack, and took another from another pile facing down.
“Seriously, my house is small. We are eligible for a seat soon, but only if something crazy happens. My only shot to make an impact is at the point of a blade. I won’t make a full dose allotment in pokka because they’ll never pay me like the men. Their mistake is letting me ever hold a sword. Someday I’ll make somebody eat it.” Reyna’s eyes squinted and burned with intensity.
“I do love it when you talk murder, Rey.” There was a silence that lingered. “Yeah. So, anyway. Do they know . . . about us?”
“Better not. Might move my murder timeframe up a bit.”
They both laughed. Nevine fell back on her bunk.
“Seriously, though.” Nevine said. “I don’t know if there’ll be a spot for me when I’m done with this Kane term.”
“Of course, there will.”
“Not just in the Tudohran army. In my house. This may be the beginning of the end of my life as a Tudohran.” Nevine’s eyes welled up.
“Oh, Nev. Your mother would never let it come to that. You know that.” Reyna reached out and took Nevine’s hand.
Reyna’s grip felt rough and dry, but warm and comforting. Her thumb rubbed the back of Nevine’s fingers. “Well, I hope you’re right, Rey. I’d hate to have to join you in your murder plot.”
“Really? Would you hate it so much?”
Nevine thought seriously about it for a moment. “No. I don’t think I would. I guess when you’re ready to start murdering the ones who deserve it, let me know. I may want in on that action.”
“Oh, I’ll let you know. I’ll need someone to have my back, right?” Reyna said with a wink.
Nevine smiled a wicked smile. “We can rub each others’ butts, then.”
Reyna scrunched up her face. “Sounds fun. But also, what are you talking about?”
“Like we’re fighting back-to-back. Our butts rubbing each other.”
Reyna laughed again and rolled her eyes. “Dailess, Nev! You’re such a borking weirdo, and I love that about you.”
“Just keep your ears out, because I may call you first.”
Reyna smiled back. “It’s a date then.”
“Yep. We made it one day closer to murder. That’s something, right?” Nevine scrunched up her eyebrows, wrinkling her forehead. Reyna squeezed her hand.
“Let’s show these floppy boys how murdering is done, shall we?”
“Oh yeah. We’re gonna show them alright.” Nevine said.
* * *
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