***(Author’s commentary)***

Yes, I am still posting my new novel… (my first written from the female perspective, in which I hope to retake the whole ‘princess story’ back from the Disney corporation, I will remind you)… as I write it. I know that only a handful of you are reading this, and I am okay with that, because, as I said, I won’t post the last quarter of the book anyway, because, if I did, nobody would ever buy it, right?

I am excited about how the story is growing and taking on a life of its own. The parallels with our own World War Two should be obvious to anyone who knows their history. This may never be a great work of literature, but I think it stands as an exciting adventure novel, with awesome female characters who are feeling very alive to me as I write them. They feel real, with depth and individuality. They are, mostly, teenage girls, caught up in a war that is changing their world forever, standing up to an evil empire, and making it up as they go along. They are taking command and the men are fine with that… which is more than you could have said about the men on this world during the rise of the Nazis.

(Once again, you can read the entire novel… so far… under the button in my top bar at the top of the blog… without these annoying commentaries… I would love some feedback… especially from a female perspective)…

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The Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 19

The queen introduced them to Kellum Bloom, the commander of the army, reminding the man that Hildy and all her commanders now outranked him, and that he had better listen to them. “He means well,” the queen said at the end of the introductions, “but none of my people have ever so much as spat at an enemy in a real battle.” And with that, she was off to take a nap.

As soon as the queen had left the great hall, Hildy asked the soldier to sit with them. She wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings. “I am sure you are as surprised by all this as I am, good sir. I want you to know that you will be a valuable member of the command staff, and that in no way do I consider my own experience to make me any kind of expert in military matters. Your council and advice will be sorely needed.”

The soldier, well into middle age if not slightly past it, looked mildly amused, but also grateful. He shook his head. “My Lady, the queen is absolutely correct. I have been in her army since I was a youth fresh off the farm, and I can honestly say that I still know more about growing crops than I do about fighting. I am vastly relieved that you are here, and even more so that you are taking over running things. The queen has a tendency to let you get started doing something, then telling you you are doing it wrong, then taking over and doing it herself, undoing most of what you did, before she moves on to something else and forgets all about what it was you were doing. I think we need you to bring order to the chaos, and I look forward to serving under you.”

Hildy studied the man, his close-cropped, gray hair and beard, the firm set of his mouth and strong jaw, and decided she liked him. She reached over and shook his hand once more. “Thank you, commander, for your kind words. Now, perhaps, we should all go and see this army, and start figuring out what we are going to do with it.”

It wasn’t a very long walk from the rear gate of the castle, up a gently-climbing road that ran through a wood, before the road began to descend again and the trees began to thin out. A long valley stretched away before them, forested ridges on either side. Down in the valley, row upon row of canvas tents stood in the unplanted farm fields. Wooden huts and a few larger buildings had been thrown up. and more were under construction. The sun was sinking, and fires were springing up all along the valley floor.

Commander Bloom led them further down the road, between tents planted where beergrass and breadgrass and wineberries should have been sprouting. They reached a turnoff that led to a farmhouse. The house had been added to, enlarged by the addition of extra rooms made of raw, unpainted lumber. Outbuildings of similar construction surrounded the farmhouse.

“This will be your command headquarters,” commander Bloom explained. “You are welcome to sleep in the castle if you so choose.”

There was a hint of a challenge in that last bit, Hildy decided. “No, we will all be sleeping here, with the troops, where we can keep an eye on things and be easier to find.”

Commander Bloom nodded, a satisfied grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “The owners of all the farms in this valley are now either in the army, or were too old and have moved to town. The families of the men who joined have also moved, so we could use their buildings and land. New houses are being built around the town to house all these people. To be honest, princess, the kingdom is in a confused mess. As more and more men are put under arms, less food is grown, and more jobs go undone. We are trying to have the women take up the slack, but it isn’t easy. The old men and young boys are doing what they can, but we can’t all be in the army and still function as a society. And not every man wants to leave his family to fight a war we might not win.”

“That,” Hildy told him, “is where the Skulls have an advantage over us. They don’t care if their people agree with their orders, as long as they obey them. I take it that no one here is being forced to join the army?”

“No, my Lady,” the commander answered. “So far, we are relying on volunteers, and we still have more of them than we have arms and armor to give them.”

“Well, we will most likely need to make some drastic changes along those lines before long, as well as figuring out what to do about not running out of food,” Hildy replied.

The commander led them into the sprawling building that had once been a large farmhouse. As they entered, he explained the layout, leading them through various rooms as he spoke. “There are quarters for all of you, a private room each, though none are overly large. Princess Hildread, we took the liberty of giving you the master bedroom of the original farmhouse for your personal use.” After showing each of them where they would stay, he finished his tour in the farmhouse kitchen, which must have belonged to a very large family if the size was any indication. Laid out on the long table were maps, one very large one of all the seven kingdoms and the sea between them, and one smaller one of each individual kingdom.

The commander drew the map of Smilingman closer as they all gathered around him. He pointed out where other training camps were being set up near other towns, and where the spear points and staves, armor and uniforms were being made. “I have assigned four captains here, each in charge of one thousand men. They are quartered in some of the smaller buildings we put up nearby. There are junior captains, each in charge of one hundred men. They live in tents with their soldiers. Of course, you are free to change any of this in any way that you please. We just wanted to have as good of a start as we could while we waited for you to arrive.”

Hildy assured the man how impressed they all were. As it was now dark outside, they decided to start fresh in the morning. Hildy asked the commander to send word to the ships that the command staff was spending the night ashore, and that they wanted their clothes to be brought to them. They all shared a meal at the large table, cooked and served by several soldiers. The food wasn’t exciting and there wasn’t an abundance, but it was filling. They sat in front of the large fireplace talking until their gear arrived, then went off to their rooms.

Hildy was pleased with her accommodations, which contained not only a large, comfortable bed, but another fireplace as well. She didn’t bother to put away any of her things in the hand-carved dresser, but undressed and fell into bed. It seemed like no time at all before she awoke, and the sun, behind the curtained window, was just tinting the sky. She prepared for the day, donned her soldier’s uniform, wondering briefly once again what had happened to the boy from whom she had acquired it, and went out into the kitchen. A new group of soldiers were preparing breakfast, but none of her friends were up yet.

She ate a leisurely breakfast, greeting each member of her command staff as they found their way to the kitchen. Hildy was curious as to where commander Bloom had slept, wondering if perhaps he had a sumptuous room in the castle, and at that very moment he walked into the room. One glance at his red, baggy eyes told her that he hadn’t been sleeping in any great comfort or for any considerable length of time either.

He seemed to sense her train of thought. “The room you are staying in was my room until yesterday, my Lady,” he said with a smile and a slight bow. “I am now sleeping in one of the small outbuildings we put up near by. I have been up and down the valley this morning, making sure that the troops will be ready for your inspection.”

A short while later, commander Bloom was leading the rest of the command staff briskly down the valley. He asked if there was anything in particular that Hildy wanted to see. “I am very interested in what sort of combat training your men are getting,” Hildy told him. It didn’t take long to find out. The fields on either side of the road, despite the early hour, were full of men in orange uniforms, standing in long lines, swinging and thrusting their staves in unison to shouted commands.

They walked quite a long way, stopping to watch various units of men drilling, meeting some of the officers and talking to some of the soldiers. Hildy had seen what she had needed to see before they ever got close to the men. It was what she had feared. The training they were doing was almost a complete waste of time. She knew what she had to do. She cut short the inspection as quickly as she could without it seeming to be an insult. As they walked back to the headquarters complex, she expressed her worries to commander Bloom. “You have done a marvelous job, commander. It is little short of a miracle. But we have seen the Skull’s battle tactics, and learned even more about it from our prisoners. Your men have a strong foundation of basic training, but now we need to spread my soldiers and sailors out amongst the rest of the troops here, to begin teaching them the best ways to fight the enemy.”

Commander Bloom said that he understood completely. “We did what we could, without ever having encountered the enemy, so that you wouldn’t have to start from scratch.”

“You have done more than that,” Hildy assured him. “You have provided us with what we didn’t have. You have given us an army.”