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Today's meeting seem like any other to the officers gathered round the table, well except for the fact that the map, which had always seemed to be on the table had been removed. This greatly puzzled the officers who had no idea what was going on until General Patrick began to explain.
"I assume you are all wondering why I requested a meeting." He paused before continuing.
"I take it that you also want to know why Commander Hilda is not here."
Captain Lyria could no longer suppress her curiosity and interrupted. "Yes, why isn't Commander Hilda here?"
Captain Azura quickly nudged her apprentice in disapproval of her behaviour. Patrick on the other hand did not mind being interrupted as it was only fair if everyone knew what he was planning.
"Commander Hilda has almost complete 25 years of military service and I would like to celebrate such an achievement by hosting a dinner party, where all soldiers will be expected to attend. I understand that this will not be an easy task, so I will need everyone's assistance. Oh... and one more thing. We must keep this a surprise." Patrick said hoping that he wasn't asking for too much given that they had a war going on.
"I personally think that is a great idea Sire." said Officer Siphon, who was the head of the Frostbourne archers.
"Can we have a ball as well?" asked Lyria bubbling with excitement and once again receiving a nudge from her mentor, trying to keep her in line.
"Of course. Why not? After all it has been a while since the castle ballroom was used and it would certainly make a nice change for everyone with the war going on." Patrick replied.
"I apologise Sire but half of the soldiers cannot behave in a formal manner, let alone dance." said Officer Agatha, pointing out the problem to him.
"Would it not be possible for you to teach them, Captain Azura seeing as you are clearly an excellent teacher? We have about a week to do so."Patrick questioned whilst motioning to Lyria.
Completely lost in thought, Azura could not help worrying as to how she was going to manage this on top of all her other tasks. Suddenly she felt a sharp kick from Lyria to bring her back out of her thoughts.
Registering the fact that Patrick was still waiting for an answer she said. "As much as I would like to Sire; I don't see how I can manage to do this and have time for my regular jobs."
Before Patrick could respond, Siphon spoke up. "Sire I believe I can train the troops how to dance, since my roles as an archer are quite limited."
Everyone seemed to agree with this and so it was decided that Siphon would be in charge of dance classes; Azura and Lyria would make sure everyone had good dining etiquette and Vimir was in charge of the organisation as well as the menu for that evening.
"No, no, no. You haven't tied the tie properly." Captain Azura said rubbing her head as she was already getting a headache after only a few days into the preparation.
"Captain Azura are we to wear white tie or black tie for the occasion?" asked another soldier as she was trying to fix the first soldier's tie. "Um... I will have to check with General Patrick as to how formal the occasion it will be but I assume you will all be wearing black tie." she exclaimed.
Just then a another soldier joined the group her and Captain Lyria were trying to teach. "Captain Azura I am afraid Commander Hilda wants you immediately. You had better go now not to raise suspicion." he panted quite out of breath.
"Ok I will have to go now. Captain Lyria is in charge for now." Azura said to the group before she took off without hesitation.
"Wait I don't know how to tie a tie! I always get my knots confused." called Lyria but Azura had not heard her.
Azura and Lyria weren't the only ones having problems. Officer Vimir was trying to solve the issue of how the cooks would have time to cook the meal and stick to regular meal times for the soldiers at the tavern. He had suggested that they could close the tavern that day but no one could think of a way to prevent Commander Hilda from suspecting something when she noticed it was closed.
"What if we closed it and said we have a rat infestation Sir?" asked one of the waitresses.
"No we don't want the civilians thinking that, it would ruin our business." added the bartender.
On the other hand Vimir thought this was an excellent idea although he decided that everyone expect from the Commander would be informed that it wasn't a real infestation. Though it was going to be hard to prevent her from wanting to help.
"Wait a minute she will definitely suspect something once all the soldiers have disappeared to change. We need someone to distract her for at least an hour before taking her to the great dining hall." pointed out Vimir.
"I think that is something to talk to the other officers about Sir." answered the head chef, who had finished finalising the menu.
"I shall do so at once because we will soon have a very big problem if this matter is not addressed." said Vimir as he made his way to the door to leave.
"You are not doing drill!" shouted Officer Siphon. "Don't stamp your feet like that or you will break the other person's toes if you dance like that."
Trying to get a bunch of war hardened soldiers to be light on their feet was difficult enough by itself, let alone with amour on. Siphon wasn't happy about the fact that they had no choice but to practice with amour on because they needed all the time they could get in order to remember the dances for the evening. This meant he would have to take soldiers out on manoeuvres or patrols as a way of hiding what they were really up to from the Commander.
"Sir when are you going to teach us the tango?" joked an archer, which caused the rest to stop practicing and start laughing.
Siphon was annoyed. "You really think you can learn the tango in a few days! This is challenging enough so please stop with the silly comments."
He tone of voice showed that he wasn't in the mood for messing around and thus put an end to the disruption. They began to pair up again when Hilda came into view. Quickly and effectively everyone moved into a division with Siphon being the squad leader.
"Squad attention." he ordered as Hilda approached them.
"Commander Hilda." he said saluting his superior.
She returned the salute and asked. "Do you mind if I borrow some of your troops because there seems to be a shortage of available troops at the moment and I require them for a patrol I am organising?"
He was so glad that she hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary. "Of course Commander. Take as many as you require." he replied, trying to hide his relief.
"Well back to the drawing board." sighed General Patrick.
The officers were once again in the meeting room this time discussing how they were going to keep Commander Hilda distracted for an hour to prevent her from noticing everyone making the final preparations.
"Sire what if we pretend that her horse escaped from her stall?" Officer Siphon proposed his idea.
"Commander Hilda will never believe that Thunderstrike ran off. She knows her horse would never break the door down." pointed out Officer Agatha.
"She would if we say Lyria let her escape." said Captain Azura not able to help herself from laughing.
"Hey!" snapped Captain Lyria lightly punching her mentor's arm to stop her laughter.
Not wanting to further upset Lyria, Officer Vimir chose his words wisely. "I'm sorry Captain Lyria but I do think that this is a believable story. Plus we will tell Commander Hilda that you never let Thunderstrike out and that she was moved out of the cavalry stable and into a civilian one." he explained.
The plan was decided on by Patrick, the other officers and even Lyria rather reluctantly agreed.
Over the past week Commander Hilda had been rushing around, desperately trying to reach the required number of soldiers she needed for certain assignments. For some reason there seemed to be an even greater shortage than usual. To make matters worse, she had found out the tavern had a rat infestation. In knowing that if the soldiers had to individually prepare their meals then there would be even fewer spare soldiers she could use. Determined to prevent this, as Hilda was fed up with dealing with the current shortages, she was going to tell General Patrick her plan. It was a simple yet effective plan where a makeshift tent could be set up until the infestation was dealt with. However Hilda was stopped on her way to find the General by Officer Agatha, who was covered in straw and completely out of breath and just about managed to salute her.
"Commander Hilda, Captain Lyria was giving me a hand with the horses but she forgot to properly close Thunderstrikes' stall. She also forgot to keep her pistol's safety catch on and so when she accidentally set the gun off Thunderstrike bolted. It was lucky that the pistol was empty but Thunderstrike is no where to be seen." Agatha panted.
Hilda panicked for her horse's safety. "Saddle up one of the other horses I'll be there as soon as I grab my helmet." she said and ran off in the direction of her office without waiting for Agatha to respond.
Captain Lyria was hopelessly unable to contain her laughter, after she had warmed up to the trick they were going to carry out on the Commander.
"Captain Lyria your supposed to look guilty not laughing hysterically! Commander Hilda will be here at any moment!" cried Agatha as she entered the stables.
"I'm sorry but I can't help it." apologised the teen and she walked up to Agatha with the horse that was ready for when Hilda arrived.
"Fine but it will be your fault if you don't stop laughing." she said to Lyria, who soon after stopped because she didn't want to be the one to ruin the surprise.
"Captain Lyria I will deal with you once I get back with Thunderstrike. Do you understand?" barked Hilda having fetch her helmet.
She was trying her best not to lose it with the clumsy captain.
"Yes Commander." Lyria said sadly as she watched Hilda mount the horse and swiftly leave the stables.
The Frostbourne now had everything ready for that evening but there was still one thing missing and was of course Hilda.
"Perhaps it's time you went to fetch Commander Hilda." Patrick said to Lyria and she nodded in response before she flew off to find the Commander.
Many hours had passed since Hilda had set out to find Thunderstrike. No matter how hard she had searched Thunderstrike was no where to be seen. She was so lost in thought as to where else she could look and the last thing she expecting was for Lyria to fly overhead.
"Ah Captain Lyria has Thunderstrike been found or perhaps have you come to help me?" she called out.
The last thing the Commander was expecting was for the Captain to ignore her and throw something at her. Catching the object in her hand, she noticed it was an envelope. Bewildered Hilda opened the envelope to read that she was to turn up at the great dining hall by eighteen hours and was given a dress code to follow. Something was definitely afoot, especially given that the letter was signed by General Patrick as an official order. While she wanted to continue searching, she knew she had better not disobey orders and besides she hadn't eaten for hours. She decided it was better if she restarted the search first thing tomorrow when it would be lighter. Turning around the horse she was riding, she began making her way back.
Finally when Hilda had untacked the horse, got changed and had reached the large doorway to the great dining hall; she was in shock upon seeing the scene before her. All the soldiers were formally dressed and were already seated at a long u-shaped table. She must have felt like a bit of an idiot when she asked what was going on. Her question was answered with good humoured laughs followed by General Patrick congratulating her for her 25 years of military service. They also told her about Thunderstrike along with the fake rat infestation and informed her that it had all been planned as a distraction.
"Th..th..thank you all b..b..but how did you know that it was today because I certainly didn't?" she stuttered still trying to take it all in.
"Well when I was sorting through some files your enrolment certificate fell out and when I noticed the date, I realised that what you see here is a tradition I want to start moving forwards for all members of the military who complete 25 years of service because I understand how important the military is for our survival." General Patrick explained to her and she smiled out of gratitude.
So they had managed to pull of such a grand event in so little time and Hilda had not suspected a thing. Dinner was so elegantly served and the soldiers were able to stick to their manners. Everything was running smoothly until someone approached the General.
"Sire I'm afraid the Nether has sent a squadron of wither angels who are attacking Dreadfort." whispered the soldier to Patrick so that no one could not overhear them.
"Would those of you who have finished your dinner care to head next door and start the dance." Patrick asked the room before he quietly spoke back to the soldier. "Tell the others once they have gone through to the ballroom. I don't want to ruin the evening for the Commander so have half of the soldiers dance and the other half fight. Hopefully she won't notice that half have gone missing."
The soldier nodded in approval and stepped back to carry out his wishes.
Most of the soldiers had gone through with the exception of his officers who were still enjoying their meal. He severed some more wine to each of the officers, carefully telling them what was going on as he poured the wine.
As soon as Lyria learnt that they were under attack she immediately asked Azura. "Please may I be excused because I would like to dance and the dance was my idea after all?"
Azura was frustrated as she had wanted to be the one to leave but now if Lyria was to leave she couldn't, since if everyone left then Hilda would definitely find it strange. "Oh very well then you may go."
Lyria sprinted off to join the defenders who were haphazardly chucking on chest plates and elytras, which were far more suitable for battle.
In the meantime the musicians had begun to play to drown out any noise of the battle that was starting to take place outside. Hilda was really enjoying herself when suddenly she heard a loud bang outside.
"What was that?" she asked concerned.
"That was probably the storm brewing." replied Agatha.
"A storm? I didn't hear about one." Hilda said.
"Well you see we only found out about it last minute. It was a good job you came back when you did." assured Azura.
Just then there was another bang and this time the chandelier came crashing down on the table.
"I am so sorry Commander. Captain Azura please make sure to have someone check all the light fixtures seeing as they are so old." said Patrick.
"Yes Sire. I'll make sure it is seen to." Azura replied.
"Never mind. It's about time we joined the others next door." added Hilda looking on the positive side.
Kaia was confused. She didn't get it. Why were the Frostbourne having a literal ball when she and her squadron of wither angels were tearing Dreadfort apart piece by piece? Why only send a small number of defenders to fight them? Had they all lost their minds? Contemplating her thoughts she spoke to her second in command.
"I am fed up with them making a fool of us with this ball business. Let's crash this party and have a real fight."
She looked at him. He coughed trying to hide his snickering. Unamused Kaia turned away from him to look back at the castle. She was hoping that today she might be able to fight her current nemesis the Blue Angle of the Frostbourne but it looked like today was not that day. If only she could rid herself of the headache that her 'friend' was causing the wither angels. Suddenly someone caught her eye. A young girl with pink hair was effectively taking out the wither angels at an alarming rate. Perhaps Kaia might get the battle she wanted after all.
Having killed yet another intruder, Lyria made a sharp turn to avoid smashing into one of the buildings. Soldiers normally hated fighting in cities and did their best to avoid it. However the tight and narrow spaces were an advantage to her exceptional flying talent. One of the best tactics Azura had taught her, was to use the obstacles in a way that caused the enemy to collide into them. With this in mind she wasn't expecting to get slashed with a scythe so hard that she would be the one to collide with a building. It all happened in such a blur, due to the pain from the wound, she was unable to prevent herself from crashing though the window into the ballroom.
The sight of Lyria tumbling though the window and landing onto the dance floor, definitely caught Hilda's attention. Running up to the injured girl she demanded to know what was going on. To which Lyria responded dizzily. "I think I might have split some wine on me."
Azura came over and knelt down to check if her apprentice was ok before she told Hilda. "Dreadfort is under attack..."
Hilda had heard enough and shouted over the noise of the music. "Everyone to your positions now!"
This put quite a dramatic end to the celebrations and everyone without question leapt into battle including the Commander.
How does one win a battle with a side that is hard to beat? Well one choses to be on the side that is hard to beat. Which side is that? Well for the time being that would be the Frostbourne who had managed to rid themselves of their unwanted guests. They had done so without any major injuries on their side apart from Lyria. Even though the young girl had been given a number of stitches and anaesthetic, she was very lively when General Patrick came into the hospital to check on everyone.
"That definitely went well." chuffed Lyria rather pleased with herself.
"Yes it did, didn't it? So well that you needed back up." teased Azura.
"Ok so I had a bit of help but we scared them so much that that I can't have a round 2." she joked back.
"Clearly if you are able to joke around then you are well enough to clean up the mess." Azura argued and caused the cheeky teenager to fake a coughing fit.
Patrick chuckled at the pair when Hilda walked in. "I hope this hasn't ruined your evening Commander." said Patrick as Hilda came over to the 3 of them.
Hilda laughed before replying. "Of course not. No 25 years of military service celebration would be complete without having to participate in a fight now would it?"