Captain of the Guard

"Hussar Patrol" image by Seb McKinnon

© Wizards of the Coast 2012

They weren't liked very well in the city.

Jestana and Kintor rode through the city on Jes' first day of duty. "Why do they hate us so? We defend them from each other, break up fights, track down thieves. Prisons hold those we capture, we seldom re-release."

"They're ungrateful, that's what they are. After all we do for them? Commoners just buck under authority Jes. That's what they do. They buck under authority. I don't really care for them." His foot caught a man who tried to come up to him, and he pushed the man back with it. The man fell to the ground. "Oh quit your play-acting. I ought to have you arrested for attacking me like that." The man looked horrified. "Oh you're sorry now are you? You're just lucky we've got somewhere to be."

They rode away. "Where do we need to be?" Jes had wracked her brain and couldn't figure out where they were going in such a hurry.

"What? Nowhere. Just wanted the simpleton off our backs. It's a ton of paperwork if you take them in, and more if you kill them. Really just wanted to rough him up a little, show him who's boss. They don't respect you around here unless you make some noise. We're not after their love, we'd never get it."

Jes rode on in silence.

--------------

Kintor was one of the ones to die in the Great War. Jes got away, but it wasn't safe for people who had been officers to come back. All the same, she wrote the new president or regent or governor or mayor or whatever he was every day until he granted her an audience.

"You're the one who wrote all the letters? The guardsman?"

"Yes sir." She saluted, then thought, and asked timidly, looking from side to side, "Are your military followers still saluting you sir?"

The King (she had found out before actually taking the audience with him,) raised an eyebrow, and she saw the advantage she needed. "Yes..." he murmured. Then louder. "Yes they are. Would you count yourself among them?"

"At your wish, my lord."

"And why should the new King of Stantisfolnk allow you among his military?"

"Among his personal guard, or the police force, if it pleases your majesty." Jes knew it was a bold move, but she opened her mouth again before the King could speak. "I understand the records were burned. I could tell you that no one will testify against me except as an officer of the law, but you would have no proof that I did not merely murder most of my catch." She straightened up at the drop back into force slang. She had not meant it, but she would have to deal with the mistake. 

"My best proof sir, is that I came to you, and that I know I will not last a moment doing an unjust job. You would have me killed as a traitor. I would prefer to lead the police force. You have eliminated both most of my previous competition for captain and most of the men who were part of the guard but would not have vied for captain. They were largely corrupt, and I served with the intention of alleviating that corruption. I know how to train men and I have the will to carry this through."

"Do you now." The King looked unconvinced. "I have a perfectly apt guard captain. He is more than capa--"

"Forgive me majesty but he is not. The man, while he agrees with you politically and will be loyal, does not know how to lead a formal military unit. He is not the type for justice, and your guard will develop the same reputation the old guard had. His training will be sub-par, his men unorganized and petty, and his rule will alienate those of the population who did not wish an overthrow occur."

The King thought for several seconds.

And then for several more.

She thought, for a moment, that he had dozed off. "You--"

"Quiet. I am thinking."

"Yes your majesty."

He continued thinking for several seconds.

"Indeed. Welcome aboard. I will be monitoring your progress, and you will be executed without trial if you fail to be loyal to me and the people. Report to the barracks tomorrow morning."

"The people and you sir," she corrected, and walked towards the exit. Two guards blocked her way but the King made a hand motion and she was allowed to pass.

--------------

She was glad to be on a horse again. Commanding the guard had not been easy for the past four months, but she finally had two strong groups of horse-riding, ethically sound, mentally strong men who obeyed her orders quickly and efficiently. She had learned to lead, and the people respected the new guard, liked them. The new guard did things to earn the people's trust, particularly in the slums. They fed the people, gave rewards to snitches and encouraged legitimate business. Jes had the King's ear, and he helped when he saw fit, which was often; he was shaping up to be the kind of King that Jes had always wanted to be guard-master for. No longer did people fear Jes, and when an old woman came up to her and thanked her for her work, she tipped her hat and rode on, looking not just for crime, but for someone she could help lifting a weight or fixing an entryway.

When the times change, it is one thing to end up on top, but it is another to end up on top and have been right all along. She remembered Kintor, who had taught her about the old guard, and the old guard captain, who had let her slip through the cracks, albeit on accident, and the King, who had picked her despite his worries, in faith. Jes was on top, as she had always wanted - through work and altruism.

"Captain of the Guard" Flash Fiction © Ben Clardy V

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