Fort Brimburg was located near the border of Paria-Drae. That was a good thing because they were close to the action. It seemed like it was planned that way just so that civilians were away from the mess that could come in the future. It took them a couple of hours to get there and when they arrived the sun was already past the horizon and breaking into the early morning.
It was like any other military camp. It had multiple buildings for the multiple divisions that made up any camp. Gwen could not see the training grounds from where she was but she assumed that it was large. She wondered how far the property stretched.
Captain Marcus drove them past the barrier at the front of the camp and to the first building that was seen. There were people walking around in camouflage uniforms, looking busy. No one stopped to even look at them
Gwen and the Captain walked through the camp side by side. There were a couple of glances cast at them but no one stopped to talk or stare at them. Everyone seemed to be in their own word with their own business to do. Gwen saw multitudes of cars parked outside many of the bunkers. She wondered if they were used to carry the soldiers to the front lines or if they were just cars that were used on a daily. "So where exactly is our destination?" Gwen asked as she narrowly dodged someone who was practically running with a stack of papers in their hands. Gwen would have gotten annoyed but she understood that everyone was flustered. "The training grounds." Captain Marcus said. "That should also be where the other soldiers are right at this moment. They're training more than ever. Longer hours, tougher situations."
Gwen was taken to a bunker a little ways away from the training grounds. The entire time she was scolded by the Captain."You really should not have said anything to him," he said. "I understand that you are frustrated because of our lack of faith but you have to understand that w are just trying to do what is best for you. Save you from meaningless death. And no, we would not have used you as cannon fodder. We would not even fight back if we just considered our soldiers so useless and expendable.""I am more upset that he called me short than anything else."The Captain rolled his eyes. The bunker they entered looked similar to where she went to the doctor. The obvious difference was that it was a bunker and had done something completely different from the first building. There, she w
General Zackary sighed and for a second she could see fatigue on his face. Gwen knew obviously that everyone here was probably exhausted. The General was probably using excessive anger to hide the fact that he was tired."No one can run that course blindfolded and I am not in the mood to see anyone try." he regained his scowl and pointed his finger at Gwen. "You seem to be more than willing to do whatever it takes to join so I'll humor you, for now, I expect nothing but diligence from you and if I see you slacking even one bit, you're out."That was all he said before he turned back around to face the other soldiers."WHAT ARE Y'ALL LOOKING AT! STAND AT ATTENTION!"Gwen bit her lip to hide her wide smile. She turned to face the Captai
To say that Gwen was shocked would be an understatement. As she continuously finished from the sudden gunshots she looked at David confused. He wanted her to shoot the gun, first. He did not even offer to help her hold it nor did he show her a demonstration."I- how could I?" Gwen shook her head."I just want to see how you hold it. I want to get an idea of what you would need to fix. And who knows. You could shoot it and end up being a natural."Gwen almost scoffed. There was no way she would be a natural, she wanted to decline but it looked like David was not going to back down."Come one, you joined the army because you wanted to help us. Well, you can help us even more if you know how to shoot a gun."
It has been a week and Gwen can say that the life she was living was not something she would get used to any time soon. With the intense training that stretched into the late hours of the night, to the fact that they had to get up, right as the sun broke past the horizon. To say that she was struggling would be an understatement, but there was no room for her to complain and lag behind everyone. She was constantly reminded by the General that the situation they were in was serious and that he would not accept anyone who was not pulling their weight.Aside from the new environment that she was still integrating into, Gwen was also terribly homesick, at times she would lay awake at night, despite her body begging for sleep after the physically exhausting day she had, and would think about her parents. Her mother was definitely worried sick and that made Gwen worry more than she should have
"A peacock?" the Captain asked with an amused expression.The two turned around and continued walking the way they were before Ace came."He obviously walks around flaunting his existence and thinking that he is above everyone else and that everyone must look up to him and treat him the greatest thing ever. I only just met the guy but he seriously needs to calm down. He is probably so out of touch with reality." Gwen rolled her eyes.The Captain nodded a little. "His father, Axel Puckett, was an old friend of the Generals back in the day, they trained together and all that. Axel was one of the best soldiers and was pretty popular, everyone knew him as one of the best. So when he had Ace, he made sure that he would turn out like that, and being the son of someone so well known he of cou
Gwen's days all began to blur together. Everything became a routine for her and most of her days looked the same. The drills and exercises, the same food and same people. It all beagle to feel familiar to her. But as soon as she found the familiar, the unfamiliar once again appeared in her life. Because of her past interactions with Ace, she had now been noticing him more often. The way he integrated with the people around him. How he would constantly try to one-up everyone and would sometimes do the most out of timing things just to prove a point. The point being that he was better than everyone else.It was almost embarrassing to watch. And it of course got even worse when he would sometimes try to challenge Gwen. Because of their last conversation he seemed to have some sort of vendetta against her and spared no effort to try and show her that he was superior to her. Gwen had never ig
It took her a couple of seconds to recover from the shock of Ace's actions. She didn't think he would actually go as far as to get physical with her just because he did not like how she acted with him. Gwen looked and examined his face. He looked like he was about to wring her neck. She tried to pull her head back but he kept her secured."I don't think you understand who you're talking to. You need to learn respect and it seems like this is the only way to do it."Gwen would understand if he had a higher title than hers and she was just being rude to him, but he was a mere soldier just like her. He held no special title and the only way he was above her was in age. But it seemed like Ace had deluded himself into thinking that he had to be treated like royalty just because he is somewhat famous. Well, Gwen had a special hatred for royal
Time passes and she has not seen many of her friends in a while. She had not even seen Ace and realized how much she missed him. And so, Gwen works overtime and takes a day off so that she can go to Estril. She goes in secret and goes to Fort Brimburg. Because Para-Drae was not a threat anymore, many of the soldiers came back and many joined the army. She was sure that they got an earful from the General for that. Gwen still had her training clothes and so she integrates herself into the base as if she were always there but of course she is a Queen and is made out pretty quickly.She is called out from the morning line up and the General questions why she is there. He also seemed to not care that she was a Queen and treated her the same. Since Ace was usually at the front of the group she could see that he was happy to see her.Gwen tells him that she is there to train and she and the General go back and forth but eventually he lets her stay. Everyone does not really know how to treat
At one point, Ace visits her and Gwen had not forgotten about their last encounter but she tries to ignore it and move on but Ace does not feel that way. She can tell that he acting differently around her and Gwen is not sure how to act. She gives him a tour of the castle but they get lost because Gwen is still not completely familiar with it. Ace takes the chance and tells her how he feels again. This time, he kisses her and she lets him. Gwen knows she feels something too but does not say anything back to him. He says that he is more than happy to wait for her response.The day of the coronation comes and Gwen is definitely not ready for it. This is the biggest thing that is going to happen in her life and she is not sure if she is ready. Her parents are there for her the entire time and help until the ceremony. Gwen invited the leaders of Estril, Naudis, Martaes, and Schneir. She invited all of the people she knew from Naudis, Estril, and Paria-Drae. Gwen had to say that it was the
It had been a couple of months since everything unfolded. Meredith had been in prison ever since and had no chance of getting out in her lifetime. Her mother had made a public appearance a while ago and gave a heartfelt speech about the past twenty years and how it was so drastic from everything she knew but grew to appreciate simpler things because of it. And because of that, Gwen realized that it was her mother's way of telling the people that she was not going to be the Queen. And if that was the case, then it all fell on Gwen.Even though she threatened the Queen and told her that she would take the throne and because people want her to, did not mean that Gwen actually wanted it. She expected her mother to be the Queen the people all loved and wanted. But her mother was getting older and just wanted to live a simple life with the man she loved. She did not want to suddenly be thrust into a life she gave up on for so many years and it would also be unfair to her stepfather.And so,
Gwen is going to make it look like she was the person who kidnapped the Queen and that no one else was involved. If there are other people involved then she would not confess. So she is taken to a run-down building in the middle of nowhere and officers and soldiers are hiding all over the place. Once she wakes up, she and her mother confront the Queen, Gwen acts like she is going to kill her just to make it believable. She gives her mother some time to talk to her and the Queen acts hateful and tells her that she should be dead and that even if they kill her, no one is going to believe them and that the people will not accept her.Elizabeth asks Meredith if she also killed her parents so that she could get the Queen. They should have lived another ten years before the throne could go to her. The Queen does not say anything about that but says that they died because it was their time and it helped her out. Gwen intervenes and says that she had enough time to talk and that she should tr
When it came to important matters that had anything to do with the royal family or money, the royal family would address it themselves. If it was anything else they would have people do it for them. And seeing as it is as big as getting arrested, she would definitely make a public appearance. And Gwen would use that.With Mr. Rickeys in Naudis, it was just her and Ace. They were their own support and even had weapons from the base as extra protection.“What exactly are you planning to do? Storm the castle and catch the Queen by surprise and blow off her head? Ace asked her one day when they were just waiting around for something. Anything to happen. “The number of times I have imagined doing that would surprise you. But no, I don’t think that would work. To be honest, I’m not sure what will, but I’m using this time to think up a plan.”“You should not have gone to the Queen in the first place.”Gwen gave him a pointed look. “You think I don’t know that. It was dumb and deep down I kn
There was nothing more nerve-wracking than standing at the side of the road, waiting to see any sigs of her parents. They could have walked past them, or they could have gotten caught. But the General took them to the closest place that he expected Ace to exit from. But once she saw them coming out of the forest a little way down the road from them, her heart finally started to beat again. And without a moment’s delay, they were taken to the military base. “Since we know that the Queen is a potential threat to the lives of your parents. I will have half of the men from the castle come here to protect them. Fort Brimberg does not have as many people as it used to and so we’ll need to stretch our resources thin for now.” the General told her. “Thank you,” Gwen looked back at her parents who were talking with the Captain. Ace was s
Once Gwen was in Estril, she went straight to the castle. She was sure that since she was gone for so long, it was definitely making people worry. And since the Captain knew that it was only Gwen that was going, he would wonder if Ace went with her. Since it was a huge possibility that he was with her, she hoped that they knew that he was fine.Quickly, she greeted the guards at the front of the castle and when they let her through, she basically flew towards the castle. She received a lot of weird looks but that was the least of her concerns. She needed to find the Captain, the General, anyone.Almost crashing into some soldiers as she raced around a corner she held one of them demanding to know where the Captain was.“The last I saw he was by the throne r
If the Queen found out information about Gwen then they would think that she lived in Naudis, which meant that Mr. Rickeys’ children were in danger, so she would have to go warn him first to get to them.After she ran off, Puckett followed her without asking any questions or making any comments. In a serious situation, Puckett was not useless and could be helpful when it counted so she didn’t disagree with him following her. This was bigger than both of their problems so Gwen pushed any anger for him out of the way, focusing on what was really important.They got to Paria-Drae in record time and even faster than how they were the day before. Gwen was not sure how fast the Queen could move but she definitely did not escape the castle to walk on foot anywhere. Which meant that she had a headstart.Once they were back in Paria-Drae, Gwen sent Ace to go check on her parents while she went to find Mr. Ric
Gwen was then forced to explain everything that happened in detail to her parents. She'd never felt so small in her life. The look the both of them were giving her while she told the story made her regret telling them. She should have just told Mr. Rickeys, made him keep an eye on them, and then ran back to Estril where she would have been safe.And what made the experience even worse was that Ace was right behind her. He was just standing in the corner looking out of place as he watched Gwen get scolded by her parents. He had even tried to speak up for her but she shut that down quickly."I told you not to speak. Shut it or go back outside." she turned swiftly, snapping at him.Puckett closed his mouth and looked away."Wait, what exactly is your relationship with this young man?" her father asked."He's a parasite," Gwen said dismissively. "Now, if we're