Victubia: An Origin

Chapter Eleven

She sat on top of a brick wall, looking out at the expanse of land in front of her. Everywhere there were men and women, hitting dummies with spears, targets with arrows, and other swords with their own, practicing and training. The number of people that were willing to fight for her was decent. Not overwhelming, but not despairingly low, and she was confident that Victubia could put in their best efforts. What came out of that would have to be seen. Yet when she looked around, at Red teaching Necro, Pewds demonstrating some technique to Nanners, Russ and Ziegs discussing something- she couldn't help but think that some of these would die. In the fight, it was more or less inevitable that many would lose their lives, and she couldn't help but stress over leading her friends and citizens into death. But that was the burden of being a Queen. Sacrifices had to be made sometimes.

She hops down, joining the crowd below her, making her way towards a small building set off to the side of the army base, rusty and ignored, intrigued by its relevance. Inside it must have been no more than seven meters wide, only large enough for a few people to stand in. The center of the room held a dummy, but not a wooden or metal one used for weapon practice- this one seemed to be made out of a fabric, stuffed with something soft and weighted down at the bottom. A punching bag. In the corner was a convenient box filled with odd bits, from which she pulled out a roll of cotton. She pushed up the sleeves of her dress, not really caring about etiquette anymore, and carefully wrapped the cotton around her hands and knuckles. Stepping in front of the dummy, she punched it once, watching as it swung back and forth before quickly righting itself. She imagined the dummy with Stephan's face, and punched it again. That was quickly followed with another punch, and another, and another, in true boxing style. It was his fault. He hurt Cry and he is going to attack her beloved city, and oh god, her friends were prone to death, and it was all his fault and she couldn't deal because what if they died and that blood would be on her hands.

Behind her the door opened but she continued punching and punching until finally a hand rested on her shoulder. The dummy swung violently until coming to a stop, and only then did Minx realise how much she was sweating. A big, heavy dress combined with a vigorous punching session did not bode well for her.

"Are you planning to punch Stephan to death?" A sarcastic voice from behind her asked.

"Are you planning to defeat the opposition with sarcasm?" Minx retaliated, not even turning to see who it was. She didn't recognise the voice, but it came from a little too far behind to be the same person with their hand on her shoulder, so she wasn't worried. Minx unwrapped the cloth from her left hand and dropped it into the box. She started on the right and another, closer voice started talking.

"Minx? Sorry if we interrupted you- Ken said he saw you go in here." It was Lizzie, her pink-haired friend from the past life. She and Lizzie had shared some memories over a drink only a few nights before, but rather than clearing a few things up, it just set off another whirlwind in Minx's mind about her past, and what she had left behind.

"Hi, Lizzie. No, you didn't interrupt me, don't worry about it. What did you want to talk about?" She dropped the cloth from her right hand into the box and rolled down her sleeves, finally turning to look at Lizzie. Behind her she could see the owner of the voice from before, though she didn't recognise her by face, either. "And who is this with you?"

"Your General, Silvia Alm. Nice to meet you, oh mighty Queen." She mock bowed, holding her light turquoise overcoat out as if it were a dress.

"Lovely to meet you too. You know, I can't tell if you despise me or you're just this sarcastic all the time."

"I have that affect on people. All I will say is, if I hated you, you would know. Besides, I could say the same for you."

"Touché." Minx let a smile tug at the corner of her mouth. This was her army general? She suddenly felt much more comforted. She turned her attention back to Lizzie, who was patiently waiting for an end to their exchange.