Jebidiah's Change Bk. 01 Ch. 10

Crystal grabbed Jebidiah's crotch, "I found a noble one!" Things quickly devolved from there.

The following morning, before dawn fully broke, everyone had eaten, the carts had been packed, the pack train was lined up, the guard had dressed in their finest, and Jebidiah's group was clothed in bronze. The vanguard still held their standard three banners of the Crown, the Bh'orel, and the Academy, but now the Valor banner flew beside them. There was an air of excitement that infected everyone, including the well-wishers who had come out to see them on their way. The Duchess and her retinue stood along with some of the other more curious travelers. When the banners were struck, Jebidiah could see the conversations and pointing start regarding his bronze banner, causing him to doubt his course. Word would travel fast. The Duchess's pleased smile and nods from the Stockmar women as they passed helped to ease his concern. Some.

They traveled faster now that their train consisted of only Jebidiah's people but left little opportunity for weapons training. Magical discussions could and did continue with all of the girls now able to cast simple spells, stronger than the cantrips, well ahead of where they were expected to be back at the Academy. They passed through Soldier's Rest a day later, picking up the promised platoon of guards and replenished supplies in passing. Two days later, and a few miles past the last Stockmar fort which dotted the highway, Yantzee called a halt and moved everyone off the north side of the highway and onto the grassy plains.

They traveled nearly an hour, going much slower now that they had left the highway, until another halt was called. Yantzee came up to Jebidiah and explained. "We camp here for the evening. I've dispatched some of our mages back to mask our tracks, but that will take some time."

"If we're camping now, do you have some time from your duties to talk?" Jebidiah asked.

He considered for a minute then said, "I should. What would you ask of me?"

Jebidiah waved Stern and Dana over to them. They joined as he started his discussion. "I am not sure about the others, but I know I was caught up in the moment and not considering the ramifications of what happened with the banner. How does all of this work? What is the power structure here? You are my guardian, but everyone defers to you, and pardon my ignorance, but I did not think a Corporal ranked enough for a full company."

Yantzee surprised him with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I worry that your recklessness will get us all killed, and then you go and ask an intelligent question. Now that we have reached full strength, it was intended to have the meeting discussing it once camp was struck. It would do you well to attend."

"If I had not asked?" Jebidiah let the question hang.

Yantzee's smile widened and finally touched his eyes, the first true smile Jebidiah had seen. "You wouldn't be the first noblewoman, or man, I suppose, who didn't care about what his guards did, and you wouldn't be the last. After the midday meal, we will hold the meeting at your pleasure, my Lord."

The honorific caught Jebidiah off-guard, and Dana even snickered. "I don't think that is really necessary, is it?"

Yantzee laughed as he departed, calling over his shoulder, "This will be a good day, my Lady."

Stern found himself chuckling as well. "That will take some getting used to, but thank you, Jeb. Or should I say 'my Lord'?"

"Definitely my Lord." Dana snickered.

"Don't you two start. Not sure I can handle that. What are you thanking me for, Stern?"

"It will help knowing what is going on. We have fielded a lot of men with little to no control. One thing I know is fighting, and if, no, make that when it breaks out, we will lose if there is no plan or structure."

Jebidiah nodded, then led them to finish camp setup and find some food.

The promised meeting came soon enough, and Jebidiah, Stern, and Dana were crowded into the large command tent with a lot of guardswomen and men in attendance.

Yantzee started the proceedings. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I formally introduce your new liege, Lord Jebidiah Tonstar Valor. Do you wish to address everyone, my Lord?"

Jebidiah shook his head. "Not yet, carry on."

"This is an exploratory meeting, our Lord wishes to learn our structure and who the command elements are. We will also work out our internal structure issues within the House. Since we have a new platoon joining, I think a round of introductions is in order. I am Corporal Hiro Han-Yantzee, First of the First, Lord Valor's First." He nodded to the group's personal guards standing in the corner near them.

"Corporal Jeremiah Tyler-Harris, First of Crystal Stark-Valor, Lord Valor's prime."

Jebidiah's eyebrow raised at the surname used as if the question around it had already been decided. Maybe a further talk with the girls was needed. As Yantzee introduced each guard, they saluted in recognition.

"Corporal Michelle Simmons, First of Dana Valor-Tonstar. Corporal Vera Staunton, First of Tenner Stockmar-Valor. Corporal Alex Tyler-Mentry, First of Joy Fortlin-Valor. Corporal Olga Smeck, First of Stern Blackrock-Valor." A slight murmur started and was quickly silenced when Stern's surname was mentioned.

"Corporal Melissa Miller, First of Greta Stockmar-Valor. There are several more of the Bh'orel First not present, but they are not guardian House members."

"If I may, Corporal," a woman in the front of the audience interjected, "that is a large number of House names and the only singular is Lord Jebidiah's, not Lady Tonstar."

"Captain, I realize you are new and have not had a chance to get up to proper speed, but things run slightly differently in House Valor." He looked around at those gathered, locking eyes with each as his gaze passed. "I want to make this absolutely clear to everyone, and by proxy I expect your command to understand this as well, Lord Jebidiah is head of this House." More murmurs erupted and were quickly squashed again.

"I've fielded some of the questions already, but I want to make sure everyone has no doubts or questions when we leave this meeting. This House is newly risen, its structure is unorthodox, and we have enemies aplenty, some are known but most are not. House Crag and Faltha already move against us. In the last month alone, we have seen combat multiple times with casualties, and our expectation is we will enter even more combat before we return to the capital. You are now Alpha Company, First Battalion, Valor Division, and we will make our name known. Is that clear?"

The gathered troops all answered as one. "Yes, sir!"

"Lord Valor, the First act as your personal guard and sit on top of the command structure. Traditionally, we are all Corporals and each of our sections only has a Captain. We have no promotion path; the structure is meant to remind us of our humility and service. As First of your First, I am in overall command, subordinate to your House members. For the company, may I present Captain Sarah Gentry." The woman who had interjected earlier saluted in response. "She will be in overall tactical command of the company."

"Her XO, First Lieutenant Dina Humble. Gunnery Sergeant Rita Henderson is over training for the company. We are light on company command elements, and we'll need to recruit more at the Academy. Moving on, Second Lieutenant Max Heller, commander 1001st platoon. Second Lieutenant Leona Stripe, commander 1002nd platoon. And finally, Second Lieutenant Simone Grant, commander of the 1003rd. Each commander has support staff as well. Each platoon consists of three squads of eight led by a sergeant and their second in command. Squads are broken into specialties of armswomen, archers, and mages. We are light on our corpswomen as well. Second Lieutenant Francis Featherton is our sole healer for Alpha. We will need to recruit at least a support squad there as well."

"Any questions, Lord Valor?"

"No. I want to thank all of you for your service to this House. As Corporal Yantzee has mentioned, we will be entering combat in the near future, and I apologize now for throwing you all into the deep end. We ride for the ruins of Valor Keep. I was not aware of my House history until recently, and my understanding is that history was never common knowledge. In 637 Betelgeuse unleashed the dragons upon our world with the start of the Dragon Flight. In 638, after the devastation, Bellatrix the Red converted what we now call Red Roost into her lair. House Valor was tasked by the Crown to push Big Red out of her new home and failed. In 639, she razed Valor Keep and the surrounding city in response to the raid. Our goal is to investigate the ruins for information related to the recent attack on the Keep's Promenade. We have no intel on what awaits us. We do know of several Houses aligned against us. I consider The Children to be against us as well, though perhaps not open enemies. I want to know of any guards with sympathy toward The Children's goals." More murmurs broke out. The Children were popular among the commoners.

"I must warn you all now, the Divine are heavily involved in current events. Some are on our side, many are against. With the Divine involved, there is no way to even guess at what we may face. I know you will make our House proud. Stern will be my voice for the command structure. Now it is my turn, are there any questions?"

Several hands shot up.

"Captain." Jebidiah acknowledged his new ranking officer first.

"How much combat have you seen?"

"People trying to kill me? Five, I guess 'engagements' is the correct term?" Jebidiah answered.

"He captured two assassins in separate attempts and two confirmed kills. The first kill during the Battle on the Promenade. Stern also accounted for one there. Jebidiah's group accounted for a majority of the enemy losses. His second kill was during an ambush that claimed one of the First." Yantzee elaborated, providing the full answer to what he understood the Captain's question to be.

"What Divines do we know are involved?" the Captain asked next.

"So far I have Comlain and Axteus in my corner. There have been several divinations in my favor that I do not feel came from either. Comlain is not known for divinations at least. Iztar and Bora sent Mila to assassinate me."

"The Halfling is an assassin?" the Captain blurted out in shock, interrupting Jebidiah.

"She was, well I suppose she still is, but she has defended me personally several times since and is on my parole." Jebidiah answered with a smile. "We do things differently in House Valor. Yes Lieutenant?"

The questions quickly tapered off as many of the officers present wanted the same information. Afterwards Corporal Yantzee pulled Jebidiah and Stern to the side for a private conversation. "You did well there, Jebidiah. The men will respect decisiveness and knowledge. When the fighting starts, keep your head in the clear and don't charge off into the thick of things. The men will pull themselves out of position to protect you and then everyone gets killed. Stern, you will need to spend time with Gunny Henderson. She is our trainer and is best suited to cover tactics and doctrine with you. Forgive me if I got your surname incorrect, Crystal was not entirely clear with her desire." Jebidiah made a mental note of who to talk to about the surnames.

"I appreciate the guidance, Corporal and the surname sounded fine to me." Stern said. "I'll find the Gunny now." With a nod he departed.

"I like you better when you use full sentences." Jebidiah teased the Corporal.

"I don't waste my words on fools, Lord Valor. You've proven to be much more than the fool you first appeared to be. It has been my bane to be saddled with fools longer than I cared for. Make sure you don't prove me wrong." with a nod Yantzee headed off as well and Dana joined him.

"I never knew there was so much structure and detail with the guard," she said. "I overheard what Yantzee was saying and I am ashamed to say I would fall into his category of fools. They were always... staff. Servants. We were taught not to care."

"Our House is young, my love, and we know not the ways of our elders. Besides, we are all soldiers now. Let's find the others."

Over the next couple days they progressed further northeast toward the Orc Fall Woods, which became visible when their party crested a hill chosen for the evening camp. The guards were concerned at the lack of game, requiring the provisioners to dip into the carted rations more than was intended. There was no water to be found either, requiring water rationing starting the day after leaving the highway. Jebidiah supposed that the lack of water caused the lack of game but felt more likely the area had been over hunted. When he brought the thought up to Hiro, the corporal quickly agreed. "Someone killed everything here, the newest spore we can find is weeks old. Our hopes are they had moved on after the game died off."

Camp was set up quickly, everyone in the two man or single tents they had been using past their first day on the plains. Jebidiah found himself in a rotation schedule of who shared the tent with him each night. None of the girls bothered to ask him for input on the schedule.Tonight was Joy's night and her excitement was enough to get everyone riled up through the bond.

Jebidiah was still attempting to remove his breeches when Joy started working on him, shoving him down her throat. The amount of lust being returned through the bond from the others told the story of their reciprocal activities in the tents around him. By the time he had removed the rest of his clothing Joy had crawled up and onto him, working herself into a frenzy. She was lost in her lust and pleasure and Jebidiah wasn't sure what to do besides hold on and go along for the ride, wherever it was she was headed.

When she switched from fucking him with her pussy to shoving him into her wanting ass she exploded, setting off a series of muffled moans from the tents beside them. She rested then, the tremors still going through her body with her hips slightly swaying to keep a pressure and friction on his cock. "Little wife of mine, what has gotten into you?" She pushed her upper body up, her breasts popping out, released from being squished against his chest, to give him a broad smile. It was then he noticed the swirling colors that had been hidden under those voluminous orbs.

Hope in his mind, Jebidiah sat up fully, flipping her over. Now on top of Joy, who was on her back bent in half, feet resting against Jebidiah's shoulders, he began slamming in and out of her ass, finally feeling his building release. The swirl of colors, mostly greens and browns with some bronze thrown in, quickly spread as she clung to him and accepted the pounding he was giving her. He was hovering on the edge when the first horn sounded. As if someone in the camp knew when to sound that horn, Joy's orgasm hit, a hard and heavy one as her nails dug into his back. The intensity of her ass spasming around his cock, the colors collapsing on Joy as the bonding took hold, and the sharp pain from her nails set him off. He began filling her rectum when the horn sounded again, more urgent this time.

They were under attack.

With no time to celebrate, Jebidiah hastily threw on his clothes, gave Joy a quick kiss and a quiet "Love you", then bolted for his pack where he had stored his cuirass and sword for the evening. He wasn't sure how many soldiers had been on the evening picket but it wasn't many based on the number of guards suiting up in front of their tents with confused looks. He was joined by Crystal, Dana, Tenner, and Greta and in short order found Stern crawling out of a tent along with Corporal Smeck.

"What is happening?" Dana yelled over the commotion.

"You know everything I do," Jebidiah shouted back. "Horns blared, there's yelling all around, and I can't determine where the attack is coming from."

"Everywhere." a shout behind them proceeded Corporal Yantzee joining their conference. "It is goblins and they surrounded us before pressing their attack. At least two tribes by the looks, several hundred at least." More horns called out, different tones from before. "They are calling for a staggered defensive line."

At the sound of the horns the formally confused guards around them dashed to form lines around the tents. Several mages had rekindled the bonfires in the center of the camp to cast light down the slope of the hill providing enough light for Jebidiah to see the outer ring of guard consisting of sword and shield bearers with an inner ring of archers and scattered mages forming a loose innermost ring. Some stragglers broke through the outer ring, Jebidiah could only assume they were the pickets on patrol, dragging two unconscious or dead with them. Most of the ones moving on their own were wounded.

Captain Gentry strode around the inside of the ring yelling orders then shouted to the horn bearers and another set of tones rang forth. Yantee supplied an explanation again. "They are calling for ranged fire, so the archers can determine how far they can hit with effect in these conditions." There was the gentle hum of bows all around as the archers followed their instructions. "Next should be the call to light the attackers up." A new horn sound answered Yantzee's statement and several of the battlemages sent a volley of fireballs down the hillside. In the explosions that followed, Jebidiah and the others saw a sea of green and black movement surrounding the now flying and burning bodies caught in the fireball blasts.

"By the Divine that's a lot of goblins." Stern said. The several hundred estimate was looking conservative.

"Too many there are." Mila added, making her presence known. "Wrong it is. Signs I see of four tribes. A strong chieftain it takes for banding together. This is wrong."

The goblin hoard charged up the hill after the initial blasts. Arrows began to rain into the camp but it was hard for the goblins to aim against the light of the fires and their volleys were ineffective. Not completely though, as an occasional scream marked a newly wounded guardswoman. The armswomen of Alpha Company met the goblin charge with shield and sword and the real fighting began in earnest. The guards were hard pressed but the combination of disciplined sword and shield backed by archers and mages proved too much for the goblins. They were unable to breach the defenses by numbers alone.

Michael, Shirley, and Farrah joined them with Michael calmly calling out, "Cantrips first, fire and acid as you please." A firebolt leapt from his hands to strike a goblin down. They all arranged themselves into a circle and began casting cantrips as quickly as they were able to, lancing out bolts of flame and bubbles of acid into the attacking horde. Dana, Stern and their First all shot either bow or bolt into targets further down the hill. Even though the amount of attackers was substantial, there was no sense of concern or fear from the defenders, Jebidiah was never pressed to attempt entering his elusive hyper focus state. In less than thirty minutes the goblins finally broke off their attack, leaving scores upon scores of their fallen behind. A new signal was sounded by the horns and the archers ceased their fire. The brief battle was over.

The captain joined their group, barking orders along her path until she reached them. "I have not heard of this many goblins banding together outside the Hills. They never should have tested this large a group either. Something stinks, other than the goblins. No disrespect meant Lady Valor," she quickly added for Crystal's benefit.

"None taken, Captain. Thank you for your defense of the camp and please pass our thanks on to the other guards. Even though I'm Changed, I have no experience with goblinkind. I cannot offer any thoughts on their behavior, but maybe Mila has insight," Crystal responded.