When you inquire as to whom you are to meet in the small village, the King’s messenger replies that a band of four Maidens of the Patriarch Theoderic is already there and are awaiting your arrival.
At hearing this, you hold your breath in order not to let out a surprised gasp.
The Maidens are an highly controversial band of knights, and their existence is well-know even in such isolated and far-off places such as the North Lands.
They are controversial not because they are particularly brutal or cruel or anything like that, but because they are, as their name implies, an all-female group of knights.
Recovering from the surprise, you begin to bombard the messenger with questions, and he does his best to answer them.
Garin, the King’s messenger, does his best to answer you.
Yes, they are one of the few military forces who are directly controlled by the king.
Yes, their members are selected from the younger daughters of the lower nobility.
No, there is not a reason behind why they’re all female, there are two:
Firstly, their gender means that they, until sent to be trained as knights, are brought up in a way that does not imprint ideas of honour and courage as strongly as the way in which noble boys are brought up, which means that they are not as prone to charge the enemy before ordered to do so, or in any other way put their lives at unnecessary risk.
Secondly, women were not eligible to inherit their fathers and therefore were much less prone to getting involved in the widespread and savage intrigues that plagued the upper crusts of the Worlekinian society.
As for their place being so far from the proper frontline in the ongoing border conflict; Garin informs you that it is common practice among the Maidens to let their less experienced members handle the less dangerous duties so as to introduce them to the rigours of their duty.
After having received this information from Garin, you are silent for a long period of time as you ponder over the nature of your future comrades-in-arms.
The clans of the north are divided over the issue of whether or not women should be allowed to fight alongside the men, the idealistic idea that fighting should be the path of honour for the males to wander clashing with the more pragmatic approach that states that all hands are of use when fighting for ones survival in the often harsh lands of the North.
You have to admit that, despite your youth giving you a strong sense of pride and ideals, you are of the second opinion.
For the rest of the journey, you eagerly anticipate arriving to Nilreb and meeting these strange women.
With the virility that often comes from being young of age, you can’t help but to hope that the Maidens will turn out to be beautiful.
You cannot help but to pass this information along to your tribesmen, and the nature and gender of your prospective allies is cause for much heated debate during almost every break from the rapid march through the countryside.
Finally, after several days on the road, you arrive at Nilreb. |