KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

Ares had fallen asleep quickly in the arms of Lana. His dreams were as soft and gentle as her bosom, though by the time he had awoken he had long forgotten them. There was the noise of a commotion outside, and when he heard Torak’s voice, he willed himself away from Lana with little effort and leapt out into the light. 

His sudden appearance had caused a hush to take the beastfolk, who stared at him with weapons in hand. There were a large swath of them, oxfolk and wolffolk, but there were also some catfolk and bearfolk sprinkled in as well. “I hadn’t expected to face so many of you in the morning, would you mind if I had a bath first?” Ares asked as he eyed up the beastfolk. Almost all of them were quite young, but then a familiar face was caught out. When he saw Mala in the crowd, he relaxed and then narrowed his eyes. “What do I owe the pleasure?” He asked quite generally.

Torak sighed and then crossed his arms. “They came to join the army. I told them they could wait at the bottom, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“Is that so.” Ares said, his eyes wide with surprise as he smiled to all the beastfolk ahead of him. He crossed his arms and then tapped his bicep with his finger in thought. “Why?” Ares asked as he looked out to the beastfolk. “Why have you come to join the army? I asked for volunteers before, and most of you didn’t show up, so why now have you come to join the army?” He pointed to a young oxfolk, thick with muscle that held an axe at their side.

They began to rock from side to side and shut their eyes. Ares waited patiently for the answer, still staring at them. His eyes dared not move away in case whoever met his gaze would think to speak. “You said you want to help us. I want to help to.”

Ares nodded. “Is this the sentiment I’m getting from the rest of you?” He asked. There were a few grumblings from the crowd in response. “Excuse me, perhaps you didn’t understand. I asked a clear question, I expect a clear response. Is this the general sentiment that the rest of you hold?”

There was a louder, though still awkward, affirmative response. Ares nodded and then looked out to the youngsters once more. Then he pointed over to them and began to count them by twos. 

“Eighty three. Alright, good. That’s a decent enough number. Then with you, I shall form another corps of the army. I shall explain to you how the army is going to be structured.” He turned to Torak, but then paused. He thought about it for a moment and then looked around to one of the Ten. “Please bring the First Century, as well as all the others that wish to be formally trained, whether or not they are already a member of the army as of yet.” 

They had left and Ares eyed up the beastfolk once more, though this time he waited until everyone had gathered. Before the others began to roll in, Torak approached him. 

“I will leave Runar in Lana’s care. She had offered to take my place whilst I left. When would you like for me to leave?”

“Let me deal with this really quickly, I’ll send along some of the First Century with you, but I need to speak with them. You can go and get prepared with whatever you need so you can leave as quickly as you need to.”

Once Torak had left to go and grab his things, Rori approached Ares. 

“I’m very popular today. How was your sleep, Consul?” Ares shook their forearm.

“It was well, what of yourself?”

“I slept well, nothing like a baby.” Ares chuckled. 

“I have heard that Torak is leaving to check on his son, as well as to see whether he could recruit a few others to join. I wish to go with him.”

Ares threw a look a surprise his way. “You wish to go with him?”

“It is only right, I would like for it to be an official delegation.”

Ares rubbed the side of his neck in thought. “Alright, fine. Do you have your items ready?”

“I need very few things packed.”

“As long as you take a weapon, some food, and some armour…”

Rori nodded and then left him to go and grab his own gear. Ares couldn’t hide the frown that appeared on his face. Rori and Torak were two that he trusted implicitly. 

Eventually the few hundred soldiers had gathered themselves. He then began to count the members of the First Century that remained. He had eighty seven still left, which was an awkward enough number. He hadn’t really thought about such a thing when he originally came up with the name, it just sounded cool.

“Alright. I will be changing things around once more, it makes far more sense to do it this way.” He then brought a hand up to his forehead and went about counting. “Who was here when I mentioned how I was structuring the army? When I counted people for the two terms that I introduced in reference to how many people there would be?”

Many that he recognised put their hands up. He pointed to a random oxfolk, a fairly attractive male. ‘Why do I always pick the hotties?’ Ares couldn’t help but think.

“You said six to a squad and six squads to a team, Ares-kin.”

Ares raised his brows in surprise. “Yes. That’s exactly right.” He smiled. “Six to a squad and six to a team. Well done, thank you.” Ares bowed his head. “This is the basis of our army. This will be how we will structure the army from now one. Squads and teams, remember this. Now, who recalled how each squad and team was to be structured?” He pointed to an attractive wolffolk to the left and then clenched his fist in annoyance. ‘Why the fuck is everyone so hot?’

“You said there would be six captains per team, Ares-kin!”

Ares nodded. “There was a little more to it than that, do you recall?”

The wolffolk froze. So Ares explained against. Six to a squad, one would be a Leitenant. Then out of those six Leitenants, one would be the Captain of the team and their roles. 

“I will integrate this system across the spectrum of military. For now I am going to restructure the First Century into a new unit. I will need recruits to replenish those that have been lost.” Ares then ordered the First Century into squads, and then grouped them up into three teams, though one was short a few. Then he paused and thought for a moment. “I would like fifteen from the First Century to volunteer themselves to drop out. If you wanted to drop out, now is a good chance to do so. However, I am also asking some of you that may wish to remain within the First Century to drop out too, I will need you to be the leaders of my new army divisions, please.  I know that I will be able to trust any one of you. If you need some time to speak amongst yourselves, go ahead.”

He then motioned for them to leave so he could continue to speak with the other people here. He had them stand in rows of ten abreast and then began to count how many rows he had. He had the veterans form the first few rows and then the inexperienced lot in the back. “Two hundred and twelve. Okay, look, this is going to take a little while so I’ll be asking for some patience, alright?”

He counted sixty six veterans, and one hundred and forty six fresh recruits. He nodded his head in thought and then hummed to himself before then looking across everyone.

“I will inform you that every single one of you will now be full time soldiers, and part time craftsmen. Crafters, I suppose.” He said, eyeing up how many women had joined. Ares was taken aback. It was that most of the people that had come to join were women. “If you are already in a relationship with someone, buddy up with them. Don’t move right now, just keep that in mind with whatever I say next.” He said, still eyeing up the group.  

So Ares went about forming the new divisions of his troops. Fifteen of the First Century had dropped out to join him. 

Each team would be given a number, and each squad within that team would have a number as well. Ares needed to create a fairly creative way to distinguish them, but for now this would do well. He had grouped many of the veterans together to form a more elite unit, and then assigned a veteran or two per other unit. There were forty eight squads, and there were eleven left over after the fact. 

“Are you serious right now?” He sighed as he eyed up the group. He sighed out and then thought about it for a little while longer.

Torak and Rori had arrived and Ares threw them an exasperated look. “Sorry about taking so long. I just need to figure out a way for everything to make sense.”

“It all seems to make sense to me. Did you not want six, by six, by six?” Rori asked as he took a look over the groups. “There seems to be quite a few left over.”

“What do you mean?” Ares looked over the group and then squinted for a moment. “Six, by six, by six? Two hundred and sixteen… Then you… add seventy two and that’s… two hundred and eighty eight, plus eleven left over.” Ares placed his hands on the back of his head and then sighed out. “You’re a god damn genius, Rori. A god, damn, genius.” Ares chuckled. “Yeah. Yeah.” He said as he motioned for the two teams of First Centuries. 

“From now on, both of your groups shall hold a name.” Ares took a moment to try and think of something that would be useful. “Oh.” He said. He looked up into the air and closed his eyes as he thought what kind of nautical names they could muster. “Ah. You should be known as the Roaring Tridents.” He motioned to one group and then let a little bit of water drizzle over them. “And you, you shall be known as the Marching Blades. You both will be under the banner of Centurions.” Ares smiled to them all as everything came together in his mind.

“I shall give you many privileges when it comes to honour. Each one of you will at least be considered a Captain if I have you lead another squad or team into battle, but with the name, comes a price. If any Centurion flees the battle before that of those from another troop, will lose their rank. You will be demoted to that of a common soldier. Though there may be honour in being a common soldier, I expect more of you. You will each swear an oath, but for now, I have business of you. I ask of you to act as befitting your rank, to listen and obey to those that lead you.” He eyed them all up. “You will decide among yourselves, which of you will be the Leitenants and Captains within your own groups. Roaring Tridents, you will be under my command. Marching Blades, you will be under the command of Rori. Though each of us may from time to time take command of each other’s units, you will be tasked by your respective generals for the most part. Marching Blades, you will accompany Torak and Rori’s command.”

A voice came through the air. “Rori-kin.” Quiet, barely a whisper, more like a gentle breeze.

Ares snapped his attention to the voice. It was Mala. Of course it was Mala. 

“Rori-kin. Torak-kin as well, for he has a great honour. In fact, if any of you wish to speak to a Centurion, you shall denote them with such respect as well. This is what I expect of them. The Centurions are those that will be first into the fray, and the last out. For now, they have work to do.” Ares then motioned to Marching Blades. “Take your gear with you, and bring along any volunteers that would be willing to accompany you. Take an oxen with you to carry some supplies as well. Each team will have an oxen or another beast of burden assigned to them to carry some items, as well as perhaps a couple of others to help you. In fact, there are eleven of you spare. Are there any youngsters that would like to accompany the Centurions? I ask for six of you to do so.”

A volley of hands shot up. Ares picked the toughest looking six of them and then bowed his head. “Very well.” Mala had been one of them. He beckoned her to him. “I hope you don’t start any trouble.” He said as he then ruffled her hair and summoned forth a small blade for her. “Here.” He then did the same for the rest of them. “At least carry with you a blade to defend yourselves with. Rori-kin will equip you with whatever else you may need, at least some thick furs for protection.” Ares nodded towards Rori. Then he raised a hand and dropped a small pile of drake leathers. “Take this to the oxfolk, as a gift from us.”

As the Rori and Torak began to leave, Ares called out. “Salute your Consul!” Then he slapped his right hand against his left pectoral muscle and stamped his left foot against the ground. There was silence and even those that were leaving had taken a second. “I said, Salute your Consul!” Ares roared and repeated the action. Then the Centurions followed suit, then the veterans, and then the recruits. 

“We’ll need to work on your salutes…” Ares then threw a look over to Rori, a smile on his face as he nodded at them. “The salute is to wish you a safe journey.”

Rori bowed their head. The group then left and Ares checked the rest of what he had to work with. He then motioned for the scrawniest five and beckoned them with a finger before pointed them to stand aside. Then he went about sorting the rest of the groups with veterans, trying to find a good enough balance. It had taken close to an hour, but he smiled at the end result. 

“Two hundred and sixteen. Perfect. Do you know what the significance of such a thing is?” He asked. “Six by six is thirty six. Six by six by six is two hundred and sixteen. For every six Leitenants we have, I promote one of them to Captain. For every six Captains… I will promote them to Major. The scale has expanded, but the rules have not. A Major is to a Captain, as a Captain is to a Leitenant, as a Leitenant is to a soldier.” He sighed out with joy as the math worked out in the end. 

“Alright. For now, this is all temporary. Many of you will be moved around. We will keep lovers in the same unit. I have appointed your Leitenants from your most senior member, your Captains in the same manner, and your Major the same as well. I will ask each Captain to count how many of their squad members can use a bow well, as well as ride on the back of an oxen or wolf or similar, then those that can do both. Bring to me this information after the meal. Whichever members that were once the First Century that remain within your team, they shall tell you what basic training entails. If you cannot keep up, you don’t need to worry. Your Captains will inform me of such a thing, but there won’t be a punishment or anything like that. I will create another routine for you to follow until you are able to follow the basic training. We are still in the infancy of things, so I shall allow some leeway in this regard.” 

He turned to face the Roaring Tridents. “Though the leniency I allow you will be much less.” He warned, but then he raised a hand. “You are dismissed. Begin training, I have to speak to the crafters.” Then he turned and was about to leave when he saw the five scrawny brats. ‘Oh right… what am I going to do with five spare brats?’ Ares sighed as he stared at them. Then he furrowed his brows and looked to the Ten that had recently been half beaten. 

“The math checks out.”