Chapter 29: Chapter 29

The Lady of the Mountain

The man was grimacing, trying to hold it in. Half a dozen people were watching, as Cassandra was

slowly stitching, explaining each movement and proceeding carefully.

“Here. If you make it as even as possible, the scar will be neat and healed in just a couple of weeks. No

need to bandage it as long as you make sure it stays clean like I showed you.”

The soldiers nodded, some even taking notes, but all of them were impressed. She turned to her

patient, who was observing the stitches on his arm with a frown.

“Thank you, Lady Cassandra… I hope my fiancée won’t mind this.”

“I promise, the scar will be thin and neat. If she’s marrying a soldier, this should be fine, right?” said

Cassandra with a soft smile.

The man blushed a bit and nodded. Lady Cassandra was becoming prettier and prettier as the days

went by. She had already won the hearts of many soldiers with her gentleness and hard work.

No one feared the Mountain Hospital anymore, as it had been renamed recently. The Red Room was

forgotten and now people willingly came over to get treated or volunteered in their free time. Seven of

the rooms were constantly busy, though a lot of changes had been made in just a few days.

More and more soldiers now knew the first aid gestures or basic treatments for small wounds, and to

Cassandra’s surprise, it had spread naturally among the troops. Fewer and fewer people came to get

treated, unless they were at a loss on what to do, or seriously injured. The soldiers who had

volunteered a few times had become knowledgeable in their own units, and helped their peers learn

about hygiene or tended to them before they needed to go to the hospital. The number of volunteers

was steadily growing. As word spread about the changes in the Mountain Hospital, more men came to

help, and much to Cassandra’s surprise, some of the unit Captains even sent men who had forced

labor punishments to her. But the most impressive difference was how much the attitudes of the men

around Cassandra had changed tremendously in such a short time.

Before, she was only seen as the only woman in the camp, a nameless slave that the Commander-in-

Chief had brought for his own entertainment. Nowadays, things are very different. Anywhere she went,

Cassandra was saluted and welcomed, as the men had started calling her “the Lady of the Mountain”.

They talked to her with respect, and her reputation grew fast among the ranks, as the new female

doctor of the Camp. If a man dared to leer at her or disrespect her in some way, he was soon scolded

by his peers. She was untouchable as the Commander-in-Chief’s woman, but she was also seen as a

respectable Lady.

“Lady Cassandra?” called a man who had walked in while she was tending to someone’s cut. “The

Head Accountant is here to see you, Madam.”

“Oh, thanks, I will come soon.”

Cassandra finished tending the wound, which had signs of early infection, and got up. As usual, she

was closely followed by Evin, silent as a shadow but very efficient. He always had her cloak ready,

made sure she ate her meals no matter how busy she was, and scolded the soldiers who got too

familiar with her.

“It hasn’t been ten days already Evin, has it?” she asked, a bit worried about this sudden visit.

“No, Madam. We still have two days to go before the deadline.”

“I hope he hasn’t changed his mind,” she sighed.

As they walked through the mountain’s tunnels, Cassandra was saluted many times by the men who

hadn’t seen her yet this morning, and some of them also stopped her to ask questions about which

herbs to use for this infection, or how to address a large burn. It took her longer than she thought to

finally reach the mountain’s entrance, and meet with the Head Accountant. It was starting to snow

rather heavily outside, and the man already

had a white layer on his shoulders and hood. Despite that, he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he was

waiting with a younger accountant, and two large closed bags at his feet.

“Good Morning, Head Accountant,” she said while Evin was busy adjusting her cloak and the hood on

her hair.

“Greetings, Madam.”

“Is everything all right?” asked Cassandra, unable to hide her nervousness.

Even if she still had two days and worked hard, her stock in herbal medicine was getting dangerously

low. Cassandra was afraid the Head Accountant had found a way to cancel their bet and leave her to

deal with it on her

own.

The man seemed quite displeased too, and let out a big sigh.

“Truthfully, I hate making mistakes, Lady Cassandra. However, I am not sure if this can be called one.”

“I’m sorry, what is this about?”

“Our bet. I had an interesting talk with the three Generals this morning. Since you took over the

Mountain Hospital, it appears thirty-three men were sent back to the Cavalry Unit, twenty-six to the

Infantry Unit, and seventeen to the Artillery Unit, and only nineteen men in total from all the units died.

You obviously won.”

Cassandra was speechless. She had worked hard for the past few days, she hadn’t even realized how

much she had done. Moreover, with so many volunteers, she didn’t even see everything that was going

on in the Hospital, and how many men were sent back healed.

“Congratulations. It appears I misjudged your abilities. I also got scolded by the Generals for, and I

quote, ‘being a scoundrel and a stingy rať.” 10

The young Accountant behind him almost chuckled, trying hard to repress a laugh. Cassandra

repressed one too. To hear the stern and stubborn Head Accountant had been scolded like that was

quite funny to imagine.

The man showed the two bags.

“Here is all the herbal medicine we can provide at the moment. You may see my assistant for more. I

will listen to your request and decide on a monthly budget after hearing it. The Generals also

suggested they can provide money from their own budgets to help, if you send a request for them to do

so.”

Cassandra was astonished.

“Really? But…”

“They were extremely satisfied with their soldiers being sent back in full health and the recent

significant reduction in leaves for sickness or injury, Madam. Hence, they said that the Mountain

Hospital was worth investing in.”

This was truly quite an achievement. Not only at the Hospital, but the changes were also starting to be

visible in the camp. The men could now take care of any small injury by themselves, and look out for

diseases and infections. The morale in the camp had been boosted by this new teaching and talk was

spreading as the men were sent back to their units.

“Thank you for this…” said Cassandra, her eyes on the bags.

The Head Accountant nodded, and after a little silence, turned his eyes to the bags too.

“To be quite honest, Madam, soldiers like the ones in this army are not found easily. I am also in charge

of recruiting more, and counting the deaths. Each loss is significant for this Army. Your work has

been…a great relief, if I may say so. I may not understand your abilities, but I see the results. Those

medicinal herbs should be used by people who can value them properly. Though, I suspect this may

also bring you more trouble.”

Cassandia had already thought about that. Her unique ways of healing would soon reach the Army

doctors’ ears, even faster if she was given actual goods and a budget to pursue. This would probably

bring some disputes with them.

“Thank you for your appreciation, Head Accountant.”

He bowed respectfully, and gestured for his assistant to go to her side. The young man nodded and

carried the two bags over.

“I will now take my leave, Madam. In the future, feel free to reach out to me or ask my assistants if you

need anything. I won’t make the mistake of underestimating you again.”

Cassandra watched him turn around and leave, a little smile on her lips.

“Didn’t it sound like an apology to you, Evin?”

“I think that is the best you will get from him, Madam.”

She chuckled.

“You’re probably right. Come on, let’s bring those inside and check what we got so we can order more

as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Madam.”

With the assistant accountant’s help, Cassandra and Evin dragged the two bags all the way inside, to

the stockroom which had been rapidly depleted in a few days. Two men who were boiling herbs

immediately hurried to take over and sort them into the different pots and baskets on the shelves, while

Cassandra discussed with the assistant accountant about more stocks.

Suddenly, a loud ruckus was heard at the entrance, making everyone in the room turn heads. A young

man came running in.

“Lady Cassandra, could you come? There’s a bit of a dispute outside.”

Cassandra sighed and followed after him. What now? She didn’t even have time to undo her coat and

she was going back outside again. With such weather, she would rather stay inside.

It turned out that said dispute was actually taking place right at the entrance, by a large snow-covered

hill where a dozen men were assembled. Cassandra had already got a hold of what was going on,

before she got there, from all the yelling.

“I am not going, you damn skunks! Let me down right now!”

“But Captain, you cannot stay like this! You will lose your leg if it goes on.”

“Lady Cassandra is very skilled! She can definitely help!”

“I do not care!” yelled the man on a stretcher. “I’d rather lose a leg than be healed by a woman!”

“We can arrange that,” said Cassandra.

The men turned to her, two of them running to her as soon as they recognized her under her hood.

“Lady Cassandra! Please help the Captain! His leg was injured days ago!”

“It’s getting bad!”

“All of you shut up! Bring me back! I do not care for that witch’s methods! A woman healing is absurd!

Women should be confined to the household and stay quiet!”

“I have many patients waiting for my help and not so many beds available. If you are yet to make a

decision, do it quietly, please. Some of them need silence.”

The Captain glared at her, even more pissed.

“Shut up, woman! I shall not take orders from you! And do not look me in the eye, impudent little…”

“I suggest you watch your words in the presence of His Highness’ Concubine…” started Evin, but the

man interrupted him.

“I will not allow a low woman to talk to me! And a slave, at that! The Commander-in-Chief may have

been seduced by this wench, but I… I…”

The man suddenly lost his words, as he had caught a movement behind Cassandra. The snow-

covered hill suddenly started moving and growing under his eyes, which opened wide in shock and

fear. The snow fell in large chunks, revealing black scales and two glowing red eyes. Evin sighed.

“As I was saying, in the presence of His Highness’ Concubine and Dragon.”