The War God’s Favorite
Chapter 26
The Weeds & Herbs
The Prince’s words from that morning still followed Cassandra’s steps as she made her way across the camp. Evin followed her, but both were silent. At times, she wondered if she was just living in a dream. In her dream, everything would suddenly end when she opened her eyes and found herself sleeping in a cold cell of the Emperor’s Arena again, or back in Lyria’s slave room. However, the cold on her cheeks was real, and so was the snow under her footsteps. Cassandra didn’t want to think too much about it. She missed having a friend to talk to, and Evin probably wasn’t a good replacement.
It had been only two days since she came to the Camp, but she felt the lack of another feminine presence. Cassandra often thought of the other girls from the Castle, wondering how they were doing, if their life had gotten better without the Governor there. She didn’t really dare to ask the Prince when they would be going back. He had already made an extra trip to bring her here.
That was another reason why she wanted to keep herself busy.
Cassandra wasn’t totally unhappy in the camp. She was discovering many things she had never seen before, and was basically free to go anywhere she wanted. Her red dress, and the imperial servant following her, were enough of an explanation for the men who had never seen her before, and even a few high-ranked soldiers took time to salute her politely when she crossed their paths. It was clear that no one really knew how to interact with her, though. For the Third Prince to actually have a Concubine was already surprising enough; no one really wanted to ask more. The rumors about the Palace concubines’ legendary attitudes and willfulness was enough to keep most men at bay.
Cassandra was actually able to enjoy her walk all the way to the mountain, as soon as she had stopped thinking about the Prince’s request that morning.
Once she got to the Red Room, however, quite a surprise was waiting for her. About three times more men than the previous day were all helping around the room, and there was obviously a lot going on, with people moving the injured in or out of the room. She stayed at the entrance, a bit surprised, when four of them rushed to her.
“Good Morning, Madam!”
“Good Morning…Excuse me, but… how come so many people are…volunteering today?” she asked, a bit unsure, while Evin took off her fur cloak.
One of the men stepped forward. Cassandra recognized him as one of those who were present the previous day.
“Actually, once we got back to our units, we talked with some others about what we had done, madam, and many wanted to come and help. The word kind of spread quickly, and even the men who had punitions asked to be sent here.”
“I see…”
Cassandra was at bit of a loss. She didn’t expect so many people to show up after only one day!
“Madam, we are almost at the end of your notes, and we have counted everyone and reported their status, as you said,” the man announced proudly. “We already asked for permission to use the closest rooms and started moving some people, following your notes. Do you want to check?”
“Yes, uh…”
It took a few minutes for Cassandra to get a hold of the situation and move forward, while the men were apparently waiting for her directions. Taking a deep breath, she took a look at the full list that they had done their best at completing while she was gone.
“All right, I will… Wait, everyone stop what you’re doing!”
Every man in the room looked at her, surprised. Cassandra, remembering this morning’s conversation with the
Prince, couldn’t leave things as they were.
“I want everyone to get out of the room and go wash your hands and faces with clean water. Only come back once you have some tissue on your face, like I did yesterday.”
They all exchanged glances, surprised by her strange request. As Cassandra suspected, these men didn’t know the basics of hygiene and self-protection while handling the wounded or sick people. And unlike her, they had received no form of protection against diseases. If things went on like this, she would do more harm than good, as the volunteers would soon fall sick too.
Hence, the first part of that matinee was focused on Cassandra showing them how to properly wash their hands and wear fabrics over their mouth and noses to protect themselves. She also checked their hands before they walked back in. ?
“What are you looking for, Madam?” asked one of the men.
“Little cuts, open skin…Any kind of opening can let the disease into your own body, I want to avoid that. Thankfully, most of you have thick skin thanks to combat training, but…”
By noon, all the people had been moved to different rooms, and following Cassandra’s request, the men had gathered a lot of herbs in various baskets that she intended to keep in a storage room. Two of the men looked at the now empty red room in disgust.
“I can’t believe almost two hundred men were here. Damn, there are even insects!”
“That’s why we need to clean it.”
They both turned to Cassandra, shocked. She wanted to clean that? The blood had stained the ground, some remnants were clearly from human defecations, and it had smelled so bad for months! But as the Prince’s concubine began bringing in clear water and brooms, it was apparently decided.
“Are you sure, Madam? This place is really…”
“Disgusting? Yes, but this is the largest room here, and we will need it. Nothing here is uncleanable, and we need to make use of any resource we can.”
Actually, no one was really enthusiastic about cleaning that room. Saying it was awfully dirty and disgusting was still an understatement. However, as soon as Cassandra started cleaning, three of the men rushed to take it all out of her hands.
“Madam, do you want us to lose our dignity as men? We can’t let the Commander-in-Chief’s woman dirty her hands while we watch!”
“We would lose our heads for sure!”
Cassandra chuckled a bit, but before she could protest, she was gently pushed out of the room and the men started cleaning despite the horrid task. She sighed.
“I feel a bit bad leaving them to do this…”
“Don’t be. They were right about probably losing their heads,” said Evin, very calmly.
The Imperial Servant was the only one who hadn’t helped at all. Actually, he had spent all day following Cassandra like a shadow, making sure she didn’t injure herself or got her dress dirty. It was too much for her at times, but neither her attempts to have him stop or the glares from the men could stop Evin.
“Madam, you should have lunch now. His Highness won’t like it if you skip meals.”
“Yes, yes…”
“Madam, come and eat with us!”
Several of the men now started bickering about which unit she should have lunch with, surprising Cassandra. When had things become like this? She thought they were merely following her directions, not that she had gained popularity! 1
“Which is the closest?” She asked, hoping to put an end to the argument before it turned into a fight.
It was then decided that she would eat with the nearby third unit of charioteers. To her surprise, Evin had someone bring lunch for her, with the usual cheese, fruits and meat. It was different from the vegetables and meat the men were having, though. None of them seemed too bothered, which surprised Cassandra at first. But thinking about it, she was having a meal befitting a member of the Imperial Entourage, while those men were soldiers, and supposed to eat what they were given by the army. Eating such luxury foods next to them was making her a bit uncomfortable.
“My Lady, how long will you stay with us?” asked one of the men as they were all sitting in a circle.
“I don’t know. My Lord hasn’t said anything about my stay here.”
“Probably only a few days. The Commander-in-Chief comes and goes back pretty often. You won’t like it, Madam. As soon as the barbarian’s attack, it can be up to a week of fighting and it gets nasty!”
“Do you still get attacks?” Cassandra asked, worried.
The men shrugged.
“It happens. We don’t really know where they come from because no matter how many times we push them back into the mountain, they eventually come back.”
“When it’s been quiet like this for a few weeks, the next strike is usually stronger. Nothing to worry about, though.”
Cassandra nodded. She was a bit surprised how calm the men were about this. But it did appear true. There were very few injuries actually, compared to the size of the Camp. The men, thinking she was impressed, went on to talk about their accomplishments within the camps or in battle, and Cassandra listened for the rest of the lunch.
She kept it short, however, as she wanted to get as much as she could done before sunset. Hence, they all returned to the mountain soon after. Now that the injured and sick were properly sorted, and she had men cleaning the
room, Cassandra started sorting the herbs she had at her disposal. It was no use treating people if she didn’t have the resources. Six men helped her count the quantities, but they were still confused.
“Are you sure, Madam? Most of those are just wild herbs and weeds.”
“No plant is useless. We just don’t know all their properties yet.”
To be precise, the Dragon Empire’s people didn’t. They had gathered everything they could, but the men were totally clueless about what those weeds were good for. Yet, the Prince’s Concubine started sorting them under their eyes and showed them how to wash the plants without wasting any of them. Soon, they started repeating her moves, sorting, and cleaning all of the green mess.
“Can we get more?” asked Cassandra.
“We need to ask the accountants to buy more, or have more men gather them from the nearby mountains… Don’t you have enough, Madam?”
She sighed.
“Certainly not, if I hope to treat as many as I can…can I let you handle these? I’ll be back soon.”
“Yes, Madam!”
With that, Cassandra left the premises, still followed by Evin, who looked unhappy.
“They won’t appreciate it.”
“I just need to ask for herbs.”
“They won’t like it. More herbs means more work, more men mobilized. The accountants do not like buying and giving anything away without getting something back. They will require a high rank official’s approval. You’re not a high rank official, Madam.”