Raised By Frogs-An Amphibia AU

Chapter 7: Mantis Slayer

A year had gone by, and it had gone by faster than lightning.

Sasha was now eight years old, and already one of the strongest, most fearless, most skilled and most ruthless warriors in the toad army.

After months of  Grime's training and teachings, she'd grown stronger, quicker, sharper, and all the more violent. The girl had once almost killed another soldier during battle practice, and would have succeeded had she not been stopped by Braddock and Alric.She was definitely a fearsome little thing- many of the soldiers would back away from her whenever she came near, as if she would attack them at any moment. Others, like Braddock, simply viewed her as a small, angry child who didn't quite grasp what she was doing.

Grime, on the other hand, didn't care whether or not his little fire eyed creature knew exactly what she was doing.All he really cared about was that she'd succeeded in becoming one of the best fighters he'd ever known.

He was proud.....proud of himself for training her and proud of how far she's come and how strong she'd become.

He could only wait and see just how much stronger she'd get as she grew up.

She'd been going on raids with the soldiers-mostly to the towns and small villages in the South. Usually, all Sasha had to do was just show her face to scare the frogs, salamanders or other toads that inhabited the villages they terrorized out of their wits-but if the other soldiers began brawling with particularly stubborn and resistant  citizens or simply began fighting or attacking citizens for the thrill of it,she'd immediately join in, thirsty for both blood and the approval and attention of her fellow soldiers.

She hadn't taken any lives.... yet.....but she'd left some very serious injuries and scars on those who dared to  challenge her or simply stand in her way.She  herself had accumulated a few scars-but she saw each of them as if they were a medal or badge-a symbol of her achievements and victories.

She carried both her scars  and her sword with pride, knowing damn well that she was probably the best soldier the army  had.

Currently, she and a group of nine other toads were walking back to Toad Tower, after a long, successful day of raiding the small salamander village of Ditchberg, which had been located just east of Toad Tower, about five miles away.The salamanders hadn't paid their taxes for quite a while, so Sasha and the soldiers were carrying quite a hefty amount of loot back with them- furniture, rugs,farm equipment, clothing,lamps, lanterns, bushels and crates of crops, jars and jugs of food and drinks of all sorts, Mire was holding up an entire smoked cricket in his grubby hands, and Braddock and Bog were riding a cart drawn by two snails-both the snails and the cart having been confiscated from their previous owner.

A few villagers had tried to fight back and get their possessions back-Sasha had been allowed to put them all back in their places.

She had done just that, using a sharp tongue and even sharper sword to get the troublesome salamanders to submit to the soldier's orders.

One particularly outraged salamander had  tried to attack her, but she'd dealt with them rather quickly.....Gaining both a cut on her cheek and a fresh splatter of blood on her sword.

Sasha had a smile on her face, eyes smoldering with pride and satisfaction as she looked down at the dried blood on her sword-which had quite a few old blood stains on it.She knew she'd have to clean it soon.....but she wanted to keep the reminders of her victories there for her to see for just a little while longer, at least until they began to get thick and crusty and really start to hinder her sword's sharpness and ability to cut through things.

The soldiers were chatting with one other, one toad was playing a tune on a stolen pan flute, the flute's shrill whistling mixing with the other soldier's banter and occasional yells or laughs.Sasha remained silent, examining a small dagger she'd gotten off one of the salamanders she'd fought.The short blade was newly sharpened, but she'd need a new handle made for it-the wooden one it had now was a bit molded and had a large crack in it.Sasha shook her head-how could someone care for their weapons so poorly?