Forward March

A uniformed patrol marched down the brick road from the north. The Redeemers fled into the brush in their wake. Lucy and Skott moved over to the side of the road as if they hadn’t just been fighting for their lives two minutes before.

Not even deploying scouts or a vanguard, Skott thought to himself. Kind of sloppy. Were we not busy fighting those guerrillas, this regiment would have walked right into a trap.

Rows of soldiers—orc, goblin, the odd human, and rare dwarf—marched along the road southward bound. They wore a blue cotton uniform with wide-brimmed hats to shield their eyes from the oppressive Aeirun sun. They marched in rows, columns, and adhered to ranks quite like an Earth military outfit.

“Oi!” Lucy waved to the soldiers as they passed. “What news from the capital!”

A figure approached them with an two-pronged symbol on his uniform; a Captain. One of the human members of this army.

“Move along, civilian. There are bandits on the road,” said the Captain.

The coalition army of Aeirun was organized as an late-Modern pike-and-shot, formation-style military with ranks easily recognizable compared to their Earth equivalents. This was because Skott was the one who provided the coalition with their organizational structure before returning to Earth. Quite the resume for a nineteen-year-old. He’d winged it, of course, having little actual life experience at the time.

If I’d known better, I’d have at least taught them to march with scouts and perimeter guards…

“Do you not recognize me?” Lucy faked offense. “And do you not recognize the great hero, Skott of Omaha?!”

The Captain gasped, then stood up straight and gave an Aeirun salute. His right elbow bent and hung diagonally between his heart and chin.

“General Omaha? Why, we didn’t expect you to return unannounced.”

Skott returned the salute. That gesture was new. Guess they had learned a few things while he was gone. “Well, you leave home for a few years and look what happens. And please, it’s just… Skott.”

The joke didn’t land. He let it slide.

“It is I, Lucy-Kignora of clan Kignora, daughter of Lamora, who has retrieved our hero from his otherworldly cloister!”

The captain’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the Prime Ministress’s daughter?”

“One of ‘em.” Lucy cheerily held out two fingers. “Technically, I came out first, so I’m the eldest of five. Tell me, brave captain: mayhaps are my brothers here?”

Skott giggled. The adventurous half-orc’s enthusiasm proved infectious.

“The Corporals Kignora are far north, in Elvwood Prefecture.”

“Ah, right in the thick of it.” Lucy nodded sagely.

I’ll need to learn more about her brothers… Skott’s demeanor grew broody and introspective.

“We just arrived to respond to rumors of rebel movement near Crossroads Ford,” said the captain.

Lucy and Skott looked to each other.

“I fear you are too late,” the half-orc said.

“Burnt down. By the same crew who were bothering us,” Skott added.

“Ah. We can still hunt them down. Assist in the rebuilding.” The captain let loose a quick bit of appropriated orcish profanity. “This is the third settlement in the region this year…”

The lines of army regulars continued to stream through the jungle path with no signs of stopping. Those Redeemers didn’t dare attack a procession so large. Still, what use was the deployment if it was too late to stop entire townships from burning?

“I… sense a great deal has happened since I’ve been gone,” Skott said, suddenly tired.

“We must tarry no longer!” said Lucy, ever-energetic. “Come, General Omaha—”

“Not my name.”

“—let us continue to the Provisional Capital!”

+++

To these ends, the coalition army deployment lent them some spare dire-horses—like Earth-horses but with scales—and a detachment of soldiers for an escort. An orc sergeant commanded another orc and two humans of lesser rank.

Skott had ridden a dire-horse before back in his first foray into portal fantasy, but proved rusty, so he mostly kept to a slow pace right behind Lucy’s dire-pony. Their army escort fanned out along the wide brick avenue, proving they were indeed capable of scouting in a pinch.

It would take a day or two’s ride at this pace to reach the capital. The soldier’s dire-horses doubled as pack mules, and they all had a tent to themselves as the land grew flatter, and the jungle gradually gave way to Aeirun’s central lowland plains.

“Tell me, Skott of Omaha,” Lucy said during the night, over a cookfire. “The capital did not exist when you were here last?”

“We founded it just before I left for home.” Skott smiled at the memory. “Officially transitioned from five different rebel groups into a provisional coalition government. Gave them a list of various government styles based on what I remembered from a history textbook. Hope they hashed it out…”

Lucy nodded, though Skott sensed she did not quite understand.

“Did you… spend time with my mother, beyond what was necessary for the rebellion?” Those Earth-like blue-green eyes simmered in the firelight.

“Something like that,” Skott said all at once, breath leaving him. “I don’t know if Lamora would enjoy me sharing those details.”

“I want to know. I want to know!” Lucy said, her fangs bared as she pouted.

I was madly in love with your mother even before our victory party, my first love was an orc, and looking at you now, I strongly suspect I never should have left, is was what Skott’s instincts told him to say.

A cooler head won out.

“We… explored the jungles a lot,” Skott said, failing to keep a straight face. “Lots of… exploration.”

That orc sergeant came up to the campfire.

“We should arrive in the capital by noon tomorrow. With Redeemer reports down south we’ll keep watch through the night, just in case, General.”

“Thanks, sergeant,” Skott said. “And please, it’s just Skott. I was nominally a general sixteen years ago. It was mostly a ceremonial position. Lamora did most of the work.”

The orc gave a salute regardless and made his leave.

Earth depictions of orcs ranged from humans in green makeup to a Volkswagen-sized wall of pure muscle. The latter was unrealistic, though depending on life stage, they could grow two heads taller than your average human and widen out horizontally in old age. Extreme musculature was the stuff of Hollywood movies, modern dietary science, and steroid regimens. Any resident of a medieval society would be hard-pressed to achieve the bodybuilder look. So any given orc was just a tall and well-built humanoid. There may have been some common ancestry with Elvan in this world, but last time he was here, both sides got mad when Skott theorized as much.

Then there were half-orcs, like Lucy-Kignora. Relatively rare, though Skott wondered if that would still be the case in more populated areas post-liberation. More human in build, though the face and particularly those protruding incisors remained of their orc-heritage.

The humans of this world were anatomically modern, not unlike those you’d find on Earth. Skott long thought the human population of this world likely descended from those who fell through portals from Earth at some point in the distant past. Had enough time for their language to drift into strange alien tongues, were it not for translation magic. Down here in the central lowlands the humans were clannish and gregarious. Not unlike the average citizen of Nebraska, really. Far to the north, though, there were ‘high humans’, somewhat creolized with elvankind and much more like the treetop-dwelling elves than Earth-humans.

Skott fanned himself off. The other world’s heat was grating on him. He reached for a canteen of water. Unacclimatized humans needed almost double the water intake in Aeirun as compared to Earth, he’d learned the hard way during his first marooned visit here.

“Tomorrow we shall arrive at the Provisional Capital. Ah, I haven’t seen Mother in some time,” Lucy said.

“I am…” Skott exhaled slowly. “… definitely looking forward to meeting Lamora again.”

“Then rest well, for we leave at first light,” Lucy said with a grin. “The soldiers will keep watch. I shall stay up and sharpen my sword.

Skott nodded, then crawled off into his tent. He had to admit, having a lifeline back home with Lucy’s portal-ring was certainly far more enjoyable than being trapped in a hostile and strange world for a year.