15 The General

I began to walk towards the keep itself. It was higher than the surrounding walls and looked more magnificent than its surroundings as well but it was still made in the same black stone. The keep had a slight shine to it as well.

As I approached the gate to enter the keep there was two guards on both sides. I thought that they are veterans due to how battle scarred their armour was and that they seemed to be relaxed and alert at the same time.

The gate itself was made of black wood and black metal. I guess this was so that it kept with the general colour scheme of the fort. On the gate was a design of a battlefield. There was a man holding a sword with a colossal dragon behind him. Together they were fighting what seemed to be an army of something. I could also see other dragons coming over the mountainside in the distance. It was a magnificent scene.

Approaching the gate I heard the familiar order to halt. Doing as the guard said I handed over the message straight away. "I see, if you wait here the adjundent will be here shortly to take you to the general. You have been warned about him right." I nodded saying I had been warned.

A few minutes later the adjendunt arrived. He was a fat man. His hair was greasy and it looked like his skin had a layer of grease on it as well. His uniform was scruffy and unkempt. It also looked like it had perminment water or probably grease indented in it. His eyes looked squinted as he gazed at me as he walked along the hallway. His belly flopped up and down at every step he took.

Seeing him coming I gave him a full military salute. Which was done by standing at attention and bringing my hand and part of my arm horizontally over my chest. His face turned into a really ugly smile seeing this. In a raspy voice like he was struggling to breath, "I like you already legionary."

Seeing him happy I decided to praise him more. "Sir, if I didn't salute you, it would be a disgrace after all everyone knows about how it is you who really keep the army going." My falatery seemed to be working as his pig looking face seemed to be getting wider and wider which I assumed that it showed him trying to smile.

"Follow me, we got to go speak to the general. I wish I could keep you to myself...Sigh...you would make a great subordinate, especially after meeting you I think this more." He seemed like a good person to me. I could not really understand what the guards were saying about him after meeting him for myself. I guess they were just trying to scare me.

At that moment he stopped, turning around to look at me, which shouldn't be possible considering the size of his belly. "So you don't want to be under me huh, I will make sure your career will get nowhere. You are an ungrateful piece of garbage. No wonder your unit was nearly wiped out. I bet that the story of you killing a demon in solo combat was just made up wasn't it. Yes, I can see it in your garbage face that it was. There is no point in me wasting my breath on you. Just follow me!"

When I heard what he called my unit. I froze. I felt anger overtaking me. All I wanted to do was punch that pig face of his into a bloody pulp. Then chuck his pig ass body into a sty where it belonged. Just as I was about to throw a punch I thought about what would happen if I did. At least it would be a court marshal and be drummed out of the military with a stain on my record. But more likely I would be executed for hitting a superior officer. I breathed deeply a couple of times to cool down, slowly trying to relax a bit.

Seeing that I was not going to react like he thought I would, the adjendunt snorted then turned around walking off. I picked up my pace following him. But decided against saying anything else on the way in fear of causing him to give me another tongue lashing.

We walked down so many different hallways. They all were dark but were lighted up by regularly placed torches on the walls. There were not many decorations as well. Just a lot of old flags most damaged and stained showing that they had been through countless battles. I could also see that as we got closer to the office they seemed to get newer and newer. This I could tell by the colours slowly becoming more vibrant as time passed they also looked less frayed although they all had damage from various battles.

We then stopped outside of the simplest door I had seen so far. The adjendunt knocked on the door. "Come in!" A short, swift reply was heard. The adjendunt opened the door letting me in. As I walked by him, he put his leg out slightly attempting to try and trip me up. Lucky from all my time spent back home playing with my brother I expected something like this and was able to take a bigger step avoiding his leg.

I thought I heard a snot of annoyance but ignored it as I was now looking straight at the general. He was in complete contrast to the adjendunt. He looked clean and well kept. His uniform had no creases; it looked as if he had never worn it before. He had a stern look on his face but under that there was a kind of tranquility like he had achieved some kind of inner peace. But the most important feature I had noticed were his eyes. They were golden like mine.

"Legionary Adoh reporting as ordered, Sir!" I gave a prompt and perfect salute. It made the salute I gave to the adjendent look like it was a salute done by a brand new recruit. Which to be honest I was not long ago. I heard the door close behind as the adjendunt left.

We stayed quiet for a few minutes as the general looked at me up and down. Briefly stopping at my eyes before his gaze moved on. "I would like you to tell me what exactly happened on the battlefield and the events leading up to it. Oh and there is no point in lying I can tell."

So I told him what happened event by event. From meeting up with the other battalions, to us marching into the valley, to us stopping and being ordered to search for some missing supplies, to the recall, then to the demon attacks and finally to the officers disappearing in the battle. To me fighting the demons, then running to the rocks. Then the charge and the knights. His face changed at different points from a frown when I spoke about why we were in the valley,then to a deeper frown when the officers disappeared and to a smile with my duel then finally a greater smile to the sucide charge.