Verishia stood looking over the assembled men, their eyes on her, more than one never looking above her chest. She grinned at them, their emotions would be the death of them and she relished this next part, she had stopped practicing with Hex the day before so she would be rested. Directly in front of her was a large chalked white circle in the grass of the parade field.
"You five hundred men have been specifically picked by me as more promising candidates for my personal troops. Of you five hundred I am permitted fifty. I will only accept the best warriors, the most savage and merciless among this army and you are it. Now. Before you begin kissing each other in joy I will give you the final test." She stopped to scan her eyes over each of them, no easy feat. "I am going to enter that circle and any man who thinks he can best me is encouraged to enter that circle and fight me. When you have had enough humiliation for the day, you simply leave the circle. You may return to your details and your dull lives." There was laughter at this, the men she had chosen would not flinch so easily.
"What do we get if we win!" Someone shouted and she looked out to the voice, a man with large bunching muscles and arrogance worn like a mask. He was one of the ones not looking her in the face and he licked his lips in anticipation. Fool.
"Me. If you beat me you may do with me as you please for one night. If you are one of the lucky last fifty to be standing then you will join me on the battlefield for glory!" She shouted and the men cheered her. She stepped forward and then jumped down, somersaulting fluidly, she watched the huge crowd of men moving in towards the circle hungrily. She had left her cloak and saber behind and already she was channeling the Force.
She reached the middle of the circle and turned about, looking at the men standing on the edge, watching her. It would be a race for her. Idiots. Still, that was the purpose of this whole exercise. She turned back to the north and then nodded her head. The men gave a shout and charged forward but Verishia took a step back with her right foot and felt the world slow down around her as she sped up.
Instantly chaos erupted, the smarter men in the rear ranks attacked the men in front of them, the men in front not too far ahead turning to deal with the new threat as those fools in headlong rushes to reach her first came screaming in towards her.
She moved.
She leaped straight up into the air, her superior strength and reflexes making it high, using the Force to sustain it and suddenly there was a gaggle of men in the center of the circle staring at each other, as Verishia started her descent they did what came naturally, they attacked each other. From her height she could see that all five hundred men had entered the circle and the medics on the outside were hard pressed to watch for casualties.
She came down in the middle of the gaggle moving, pulling shoulders, snapping arms and at one point, broke the hand of a groper. No freebies. She spun and kicked, punched, jabbed and slung. Her movements fluid and practiced, her superior reflexes moving her faster than any of her opponents.
By the time she had worked up a sweat the gaggle had been reduced to a pile, the molesters had paid the price of being the first to encounter her and she had taught them manners. Now she was moving after warriors, men who had been forcing their friends and comrades out of the circle until they saw her and suddenly they were comrades again. For ten minutes the melee continued and Verishia was having the time of her life, the anger and fear mixed and threatened to overwhelm her, but she was in combat, channeling that emotion into Force awareness and she used it.
A man came at her and they struggled for several seconds, neither able to get the upper hand. She backed off of him but he was not smiling, he was concentrating and she realized she had found the first one. "You!" She pointed and he nodded. "Now come claim your reward." she challenged and he did smile this time, finding the hard sole of her boot not to his liking. She concentrated and forced his limp body out of the circle and to an area where she would sit her bodyguards for the time being.
She turned and continued her search.
Time had little meaning now, her breathing was ragged and her hair was stuck to her in rivulets as she winded her way among the bodies groaning at her feet. More and more of the men had stopped fighting each other to focus on her, thinking she was tired enough to simply give up. But she could see the edges of the circle on each side, see through to open sky because so few men remained. She had sent other men, three or four, that she had encountered on the field to the box where theywould serve her but for the most part the jury was still out.
Someone kicked her from behind and she stumbled forward, caught by surprise, the man followed up and was surprised to find her able to scissors lock his head and throw him from the circle. Rash, he would have to go. She got to her feet and came face to face with Hex. She could have sworn that she could feel his disdain emanating from him but he had not called a halt to the melee. No one must have died yet.
She turned and reentered the fray, the fighting was still intense but she handled them quickly, those that held back to try to be last she went for first and to a group of men that stood idly by thinking to wait out the others she raised her hand and pushed with the Force, knocking them out of the circle. Quickly the melee intensified .
Finally a whistle blew and everyone stopped, Verishia was breathing heavily but she smiled, she was alive and had come out victorious. The prospect of losing had been there and while it scared her initially it had excited her as well. She waved the men over to the box to join their comrades, each of them bleeding and breathing heavily and she waved over medics to tend their wounds, the losers could wait.
Hex moved up behind her and she turned to look up at him, he remained at his full height to show his displeasure but she could only smile. Exhilarated she pointed with flair over the assembled standing men.
"I have chosen my men."
"You five hundred men have been specifically picked by me as more promising candidates for my personal troops. Of you five hundred I am permitted fifty. I will only accept the best warriors, the most savage and merciless among this army and you are it. Now. Before you begin kissing each other in joy I will give you the final test." She stopped to scan her eyes over each of them, no easy feat. "I am going to enter that circle and any man who thinks he can best me is encouraged to enter that circle and fight me. When you have had enough humiliation for the day, you simply leave the circle. You may return to your details and your dull lives." There was laughter at this, the men she had chosen would not flinch so easily.
"What do we get if we win!" Someone shouted and she looked out to the voice, a man with large bunching muscles and arrogance worn like a mask. He was one of the ones not looking her in the face and he licked his lips in anticipation. Fool.
"Me. If you beat me you may do with me as you please for one night. If you are one of the lucky last fifty to be standing then you will join me on the battlefield for glory!" She shouted and the men cheered her. She stepped forward and then jumped down, somersaulting fluidly, she watched the huge crowd of men moving in towards the circle hungrily. She had left her cloak and saber behind and already she was channeling the Force.
She reached the middle of the circle and turned about, looking at the men standing on the edge, watching her. It would be a race for her. Idiots. Still, that was the purpose of this whole exercise. She turned back to the north and then nodded her head. The men gave a shout and charged forward but Verishia took a step back with her right foot and felt the world slow down around her as she sped up.
Instantly chaos erupted, the smarter men in the rear ranks attacked the men in front of them, the men in front not too far ahead turning to deal with the new threat as those fools in headlong rushes to reach her first came screaming in towards her.
She moved.
She leaped straight up into the air, her superior strength and reflexes making it high, using the Force to sustain it and suddenly there was a gaggle of men in the center of the circle staring at each other, as Verishia started her descent they did what came naturally, they attacked each other. From her height she could see that all five hundred men had entered the circle and the medics on the outside were hard pressed to watch for casualties.
She came down in the middle of the gaggle moving, pulling shoulders, snapping arms and at one point, broke the hand of a groper. No freebies. She spun and kicked, punched, jabbed and slung. Her movements fluid and practiced, her superior reflexes moving her faster than any of her opponents.
By the time she had worked up a sweat the gaggle had been reduced to a pile, the molesters had paid the price of being the first to encounter her and she had taught them manners. Now she was moving after warriors, men who had been forcing their friends and comrades out of the circle until they saw her and suddenly they were comrades again. For ten minutes the melee continued and Verishia was having the time of her life, the anger and fear mixed and threatened to overwhelm her, but she was in combat, channeling that emotion into Force awareness and she used it.
A man came at her and they struggled for several seconds, neither able to get the upper hand. She backed off of him but he was not smiling, he was concentrating and she realized she had found the first one. "You!" She pointed and he nodded. "Now come claim your reward." she challenged and he did smile this time, finding the hard sole of her boot not to his liking. She concentrated and forced his limp body out of the circle and to an area where she would sit her bodyguards for the time being.
She turned and continued her search.
Time had little meaning now, her breathing was ragged and her hair was stuck to her in rivulets as she winded her way among the bodies groaning at her feet. More and more of the men had stopped fighting each other to focus on her, thinking she was tired enough to simply give up. But she could see the edges of the circle on each side, see through to open sky because so few men remained. She had sent other men, three or four, that she had encountered on the field to the box where theywould serve her but for the most part the jury was still out.
Someone kicked her from behind and she stumbled forward, caught by surprise, the man followed up and was surprised to find her able to scissors lock his head and throw him from the circle. Rash, he would have to go. She got to her feet and came face to face with Hex. She could have sworn that she could feel his disdain emanating from him but he had not called a halt to the melee. No one must have died yet.
She turned and reentered the fray, the fighting was still intense but she handled them quickly, those that held back to try to be last she went for first and to a group of men that stood idly by thinking to wait out the others she raised her hand and pushed with the Force, knocking them out of the circle. Quickly the melee intensified .
Finally a whistle blew and everyone stopped, Verishia was breathing heavily but she smiled, she was alive and had come out victorious. The prospect of losing had been there and while it scared her initially it had excited her as well. She waved the men over to the box to join their comrades, each of them bleeding and breathing heavily and she waved over medics to tend their wounds, the losers could wait.
Hex moved up behind her and she turned to look up at him, he remained at his full height to show his displeasure but she could only smile. Exhilarated she pointed with flair over the assembled standing men.
"I have chosen my men."