The War of the Isles

3. Ursula

The smallest army operational unit is a platoon consisting of Twenty to Fifty troops. Four platoons make a company. Five companies make a battalion. Three battalions, a regiment. Three regiments make a division, and Seven divisions make a corps. And finally, a maximum of Five corps make an army. 

This was not how we, the Nyewekh front were structured. The structure of the Nyewekh front was Duke Ackert's brainchild. 

The Nyewekh Front had a total of EIghty Nine units of varying sizes. The smallest unit was about the size of a general platoon, and the largest units had around Thousand troupes. A traditional size of a battalion. Numbers were given to these units depending on their geographical location of where all units were initially supposed to be stationed and dispatched. The First unit was meant for the Ice Islands and the Eighty Ninth was deployed to fight in the southernmost Isle of Credanada. It gave the units more of a structure at the beginning of the war but with all the unpredictable chaos, most units had moved from their assigned locations. Their numbers had no significance anymore. They were just names.

The Forty-Second mostly consisted of people from the city of Macabara and the surrounding regions. It had three subunits- the dragon fighters, the seamen, and the foot soldiers. 

It was a relatively large unit, with a strength of None Hundred and Eighty Eight when Charlie Moller first brought us here.

Now we were Nine Hundred and Nintey. 

It felt strange to call myself a Forty Second. I remember taking my oath as a former Seventy Sixth...

"... to give our all to the glory of the Seventy Sixth"

It seemed a bit too absurd now. We were taught to take pride as a unit. I even wondered how the former Fifty Sixth felt. They too came from a unit that existed no longer...

I guess, for me, it simply boiled down to the fact that most of the Forty-Second were Northern Fjodarans and I was feeling a little out of place. I could only imagine how Mila might have felt.

Perhaps that's why she left, the very next day. No formal goodbye. Just a letter under my pillow.

"... do not possess the courage to bid you goodbye. You must know that in most other circumstances, I would have stayed behind by your side. But it is my people that I took up arms for. My battle to fight. I couldn't ask you to fight my battle, dear Ursula. I could only ask you to stay safe. You have dragons now. I'm sure you would feel right at home. Do not wait for me, but have faith that I will return. Lots of love, Mila. "

That idiot. She and Ingrid were once my home. After Ingrid's passing, she was all I had. It only struck me too little and too late, that the Smahans were her home, not I. I knew that she had meant well with her intention for me to stay with the Forty Second. But for the first time in Two years, I felt incredibly lonely.

"Copper for your thoughts?"

I had come to the eastern rocky shore to be away from the fort. This was with the hope that fewer patrollers would come by this place. I needed the space. 

"You do not seem to be in a good mood." The voice seemed nearer.

I quickly wiped my tears. The sun was yet to rise but I could already see the orange hue on the horizon, gently touching the waves. I turned around angrily. It was a silhouette of a girl.

"With all due respect, please fuck off."

"I haven't seen you before. Are you a former Fifty-Sixth?" the girl continued.

"I said, fuck off."

The girl didn't listen.  She simply moved forward and sat by my side.

"Maybe this will help."