Micah The Wanderer - Book 3: Training - Part 1

Part 1

The chapter touching on my training will probably be quite long. I don't wish to dwell on the full five years because that would be a book in and of itself but there are several points I wish to cover. Some of this may be interesting to a few but for those of you who wish to be titillated you might want to skip this chapter. As I stated in the last chapter there was no sexual activity in the years I attended the academy. Not in a strict sexual sense anyway. There were a few erotic moments but nothing satisfying. As for the training, some was quite interesting but a lot of it was repetitive and boring.

---

The trip from my home village to Imperial house was so quiet as to be a non-event. I followed the Imperial road from Santee straight to Imperial house. The Imperial road was another remnant of the empire that had survived intact. In the days of the empire the road was a direct connection between Imperial house where the army's commanders were stationed in the west and the imperial capital where the emperor and his court lived in the east. The road neatly bisected the central province of the empire right down the middle. At the center point of the road, another road running north and south intersected the east-west road. This road ran from the black mountains in the north to the way station in the south just before you entered the plains of misery.

My home village lay squarely on the intersection of the two roads. The roads were built centuries ago so that the armies of the empire could get to any corner of the empire quickly. Each road had a series of small forts stationed to cover twenty leagues on either side. Each fort had a contingent of flying cavalry that could move out to protect travelers at a moments notice. Each fort also had a crew of engineers whose task it was to maintain the section of road their fort controlled. This combination of enforcement and construction made the imperial road one of the safest, fastest roads in the world.

After the fall of the empire much of the road fell into disrepair except in my country of Samisand. My country saw the importance of the ability to move men and arms quickly around the country and tried to keep much of the road in repair. The sections to the south where I helped guide the caravan were among some of the worst sections of the road. Wind and weather from the sea to the south swept over the "plains of misery" gathering force before they ran into the wall of the Scale mountains where I lived. This weather beat at the road and destroyed sections of it overnight while leaving other sections untouched.

None of the small forts along the roads were occupied by any military force anymore. Many of them were nothing but piles of rubble. Any that were still serviceable were occupied by different people that varied from wannabe warlords to merchants to farmers to pigherds.

I avoided most of the small towns and settlements as I traveled west. I preferred living off the land and only approached people when game was scarce. When I crossed the border into Imperios however that was no longer possible or necessary. The entire country of Imperios depended on Imperial house for its livelihood and everybody knew it. Every family in the country acted as support personnel for Imperial house. They were either growing food for the recruits and training personnel or breeding horses for them or cutting timber for building practice siege engines or making weapons and armor. In return Imperial house acted as a standing army to protect the country and the money that rolled into the school was distributed to pay for all the personnel and supplies produced.

Anyone traveling to study at the school was an asset to be protected. Harming them was taking food out of your own mouth. There were several hostels set up exclusively for the academy candidates. These were guarded by Imperials and were free to anyone traveling to Imperial house to apply for training.

---

When I arrived at Imperial house I was thoroughly impressed. It was of course not an actual house but a massive fort. I won't go into boring dimensions or measurements; suffice it to say that you could take my entire home village with outbuildings and place it in the central court and still have room for a full cavalry unit to practice their charges without waking anybody in the village up. When you were in the central courtyard you always felt small. I'm sure the building was designed that way but you couldn't help but feel that way even when you knew that was its purpose.

The front gates were thirty feet tall and wide enough for five horsemen to ride through side by side. These iron banded gates were closed but a smaller gate was set in the wall next to it. This gateway was only about fifteen feet tall and about ten feet across. These gates were open with two guards in full armor on each side of the gate. They stood unmoving as I approached and I thought that perhaps these were just suits of armor set up for looks. That idea quickly died as the two nearest the gate lowered their pikes to block the gateway before I could enter.

The one on the right spoke, his voice made hollow by the helmet he wore. "Hold. What business do you have here boy?"

I bristled slightly at the "boy" in that statement but controlled myself to answer. "I have come to Imperial house to train."

"We are no charity boy. How do you intend to pay for this training?"

I couldn't let that "boy" pass. I dug into my money pouch and pulled out the emperor. I extended my hand towards the speaker with it lying in my palm where all four soldiers could see it.

"The one who gave me this thought I was enough of a man to come here."

Nothing was said but both pikes were raised and returned to their at rest position.

The same one spoke again in that same hollow voice with no change of inflection. "Welcome to Imperial house cadet. See Lt. Tana. She is chief of admissions. Her office is at the far end of this gateway on the right. May you strike true."

After this statement all four men raised their right arms in salute. The sound as four metal clad arms impacted across four equally metal clad chests echoing down the gate entrance. They held their arms across their chests until I returned the salute at which point they all returned to attention. I moved into the entryway and towards the light of the central courtyard. I had already been impressed by the outside of Imperial house but moving through that entrance corridor truly impressed upon me the size of this building.

From the entry arch on one side to the opening into the courtyard was at least forty feet. The walls on either side were unbroken except for the seams where the massive blocks of stone fit together. Overhead I could see holes in the ceiling that ran the entire length of the corridor. The holes were about twice the size of my thumb and I later found out that in times of siege if this gateway was forced that the entire corridor could be virtually flooded with burning oil or molten lead. If I had known that at the time I probably would have run all the way to the far end.

As it was I strolled and gaped at the biggest building I had ever seen in my life. When I entered the central courtyard I couldn't believe that this was just one building. I could see people moving about but the ones on the far side of the courtyard were so far away I couldn't make out what they were doing.

I was standing there with my mouth open when a voice behind me startled me out of my reverie. "What are you doing there? Who are you?"

I turned and saw a doorway to the right of the entry. In the darkened interior I could just make a large shape sitting behind a desk. I moved into the room slowly letting my eyes adjust from the bright courtyard to the gloomy interior. Sitting behind the desk was a huge amazon warrior. Even sitting down I could see she would stand taller than I. Her blond hair that hung to her shoulders was turning white at the front and along the edges. She glared at me out of one dark green eye. The other eye was covered by a black patch that was inset with some kind of red jewel. A jagged scar ran from her hairline, under the eye patch and continued down to her jaw line. She wore a boiled leather breastplate with a stylized hawk worked out in gold over her right breast. She held a stylus in her left hand. Her right arm ended about halfway down her fore-arm with a steel hook. The hook had two points. The one that pointed away from her was straight while the one that faced her was curved.

She let me look a second before she barked harshly at me again. "Well, who are you? What do you want?"

I remembered my manners and stood up straight. I crossed my arms at the wrist in front of me with my hands fisted and facing inward. "Greetings Daughter of the Hawk. Am I addressing Lt. Tana, chief of admissions?"

A look of surprise crossed her face at the greeting. Her lips quirked at the edges in a slight smile before she stood and returned my greeting by crossing her hand and hook in front of herself.

She sat back down and spoke. "Yes I am Tana, chief of admissions."

I placed the emperor on the desk in front of her and her eyes lit up at the sight. "My name is Micah son of Lucas, of the hawk clan of the kindred. I have come to train."

"Hawk clan huh. You wouldn't just be trying to get on my good side would you?"

I thought a moment then removed the bundle from behind me where it had ridden since I had left my fathers house. I opened it to reveal the hawk-wing swords and lay them on her desk next to the emperor. "These are the traditional weapons of my clan. I hope to learn how to use them here."

Her eyes lit up as she saw the swords. She reached out and drew one to see the detail of the blade. She stood up and stepped out from behind the desk. She had a pronounced limp and I could see a network of scars on the front and sides of her left shin. She held the blade out at arms length and made several passes with it. In her hand it was as graceful and light as it had been in my fathers. She had a smile on her face as she moved back behind the desk and sheathed the blade.

Her hand caressed the leather of the sheath like a lover and she whispered. "Magnificent."

She suddenly remembered I was there and straightened up and spoke in a louder voice to me. "Yes, Castille will be happy. He practices with our set all the time but moans about not being able to train anybody to use them. These are much finer than ours of course. Where did you get them?"

"My father is a smith, mistress. He made them for me. He had hoped that I would want to learn to use our clan weapon. Who is Castille, mistress?"

"First off, I am not an amazon, I am an Imperial. You address Imperials by rank and name if you know it. If you want to call me mistress when we are alone like this that's fine by me. It's the Amazon way. When we are around others you will address me as Lt. Tana. Understand?"

"Yes mistress."

She smiled at me a moment, then continued. "Sgt. Castille is our weapons master. The greatest living warrior in the world if you believe what he says. I have to admit that he is the best I have ever met when it comes to just about any weapon I've ever seen him handle. If you can match him in any one form you will be a formidable warrior."

"Excuse me mistress, what do you mean by 'in any one form'? I thought I would be training in the hawk-wings."

"You will, but not exclusively. If you know how to use a broadsword or an axe you can defend yourself better when you are attacked by one. Now I need to get down your information and then I will show you where you will be waiting until the forming of your 'ten'."

She had started writing quickly. Marking down what she already knew about me.

I hesitated a moment but couldn't stop from asking a question. "What do you mean by where my 'ten' is forming?"

She looked up at me and I thought she was going to bawl me out but her expression cleared and she smiled. "Micah, I know you have a lot of questions. They will be answered but first I must get your information. Now, how old are you?"

"This is my sixteenth year."

"You said your father was a smith. What country and village?"

"I am from Samisand, the village of Santee in the Scale mountains."

"Who gave you the emperor?"

"His name was Jarl Thorvald. He did not tell me his rank."

"Jarl Thorvald huh, well for future reference he is a captain. Well that's all I need for right now. I'll show you to where your 'ten' is forming."

She stood up again and moved around the desk. She glanced down at the swords laying there and seemed to remember something. "Do you have any other weapons aside from the bow and arrows across your back? No weapons are permitted to cadets except during instruction. Anything you brought with you will be returned to you when you leave whether that is upon graduation or before that through some other circumstance."

I proceeded to divest myself of my bow and arrows, short sword and belt knife when the lieutenant stopped me.

"Belt knives are excluded from the rule. You may keep that one. Most cadets keep theirs to use in the mess hall. Some use them for whittling to pass time if they get a free moment. Some just feel naked without some weapon about their person."

I sheathed my knife as she turned and proceeded out the door to the courtyard. Despite her obvious limp I had to jog to catch up and was walking very fast to keep up as we crossed the courtyard. Crossing the courtyard the lieutenant began to tell me some of the things I needed to know as a cadet. I listened but I also looked around to observe the activity that I couldn't make out when I first came through the gate.

She explained how each cadet was placed in a group of ten other cadets for their training. Each ten as they were called was instructed by a sergeant in general but by other instructors along with other tens for the more specific things like weapons, healing, strategy and what not. The sergeant's word was law in his ten and could only be overridden by the dean of the academy, Commander Thomas Canterbury.

I would be under Sgt. Margate. The ten that I would be assigned to now had seven cadets in it so it shouldn't be too long before the training could start. As each cadet arrives they stay in the guest barracks until a full ten could be formed whether that was two days or two months. They could just hang out in the barracks or sit on the guest benches in front of it and watch some of the training although they couldn't actually participate.

One thing she had to emphasize though was that while he stayed in the guest barracks he was fair game as extra help for anyone in the house that needed it. He might be asked to help dig ditches or work in the kitchen or to help polish armor. Whatever he was asked to do he was expected to do. The first time he refused a duty he would have to leave Imperial house and not come back. This was the price paid for room and board until he could start training. Once his training started he would still be expected to do these duties at one time or another but it would be on a rotation with the other tens.

I had been looking around as she talked. At the south end of the courtyard a group of men were practicing archery at various targets. Near the west wall which also had a large gate in its center, a man was speaking to another group of men as he pointed out various parts of a horse's armor and their weak points. At the north end where we were heading several groups of men were sitting on benches that circled several men who were standing on a smooth sections of sand demonstrating how to use different weapons.

One man was demonstrating the pike and how to block in close quarters. Another man was using a large battleaxe, dodging and parrying another man with a staff. The largest group surrounded two men with swords. They were unevenly matched. The larger and younger of the two men wielded a large broadsword that he held in one hand. The smaller and obviously older man held a foil in his outstretched left hand. The younger man attacked with a bellow and an eye-watering blur of strokes as he advanced on the older man. The older man gave ground calmly moving his foil so quickly I couldn't follow the movement. Instead of the steady clang of steel meeting steel that I had heard before, this meeting of swords was almost silent except for the occasional "tzing" sound from the foil as it brushed the much heavier blade aside.

The lieutenant had been heading past this group but apparently changed her mind and headed over to stand outside the ring of benches. I stopped next to her and was grateful that she had stopped talking so I could devote my full attention to the two men in the center of the ring.

As we watched the two broke apart and the younger man stepped back. I could see he was breathing heavily as his chest expanded and contracted like a bellows. He placed the point of his sword in the sand and leaned on it, glaring at the older man that stood calmly with his sword poised in the classic ready pose. The younger man suddenly leapt forward whipping the blade of his sword up and spraying sand towards his opponents face. The older man, apparently anticipating this move, had already started to move to his left and was out of the way when the sand flew by at head height.

Before the younger man could react the older man stepped in under the upraised broadsword and there was a sudden blur of activity. The younger man yelped and dropped his sword. He grabbed his sword hand in his other and then began to dance around the circle yelling as the older man whacked at him with the flat side of the foil. The old man was ranting at the younger as he chased him around the circle swatting at him with the foil.

The men seated around the circle laughed. "Off balance!!!!! Obvious feint!!!! Too tight a grip on the handle!!!! My mother, dead ten years, could put up a better defense!!!!"

It was a sickening realization that this was Sgt. Castille, the weapons master. He looked to be about sixty but I later found out he was almost seventy. He was about five and a half feet tall and skinny. His Imperial uniform looked like it was made for a larger man and hung on him like clothes thrown over an empty chair. His arms looked skinny as well but could wield any weapon in the armory as easily as I used a fork. Better even than that because many have commented that I ate like an animal.

He was almost bald except for two tufts of hair behind his ears that seemed reluctant to give up the fight for control of the top and swept up like horns towards his shiny dome of a head. Deep brown eyes peered out from around a nose like a ships rudder with a look of contempt that I learned was his usual expression. The most attention grabbing part of his appearance was his moustache, a thin white thing that extended down past his chin and reached nearly to his waist.

He stopped chasing the young man around the circle and glared around at the laughing men until the laughter died away. He turned back to the young man whose arms and legs showed thin red stripes from where the foil had lashed him. The young man flinched as the weapons master raised his foil in salute but held his ground when the older man approached him with his hand outstretched. He cautiously took the old mans hand in a grip that I could tell he was ready to drop in an instant if he detected any treachery.

The old man shook his hand looking directly into the young mans eyes. "Congratulations Combus you passed. That was the finest handling of the broadsword I've seen in ten years."

The young man grinned and a blush crept up his neck from the compliment but the sergeant wasn't finished.

"Yes, the finest handling of a broadsword I've seen in ten years. In another ten years you might even survive a true encounter with me." His voice rose to a snarl as he addressed the whole group. "Which of you ten thumbed, two left feeted, pampered sons of whores can tell me what he was doing wrong."

His glare swept around the circle and the men in the front row actually leaned away like it was a line of dragon fire. Many men looked down to avoid that gaze and I could tell that none of them wanted to be the focus of this mans contempt or ire by giving a wrong answer.

Suddenly his head snapped around and looked straight at me. "What did you say?"

I was appalled. I had not realized that I had spoken what I thought the answer was aloud.

The lieutenant looked at me as if I were deranged and I couldn't really blame her. "Well, what did you say?!"

Under that piercing glare I gave in and said what I had mumbled louder. "He wasn't trying to kill you."

For a moment the sergeant just stood there, then this evil grin split his face and he laughed a short bark of laughter. "Hah. Exactly. That is exactly right. Combus for all his size and strength does not want to kill me he wants to outwit me. To show he is better with a sword than I am."

He turned and snarled at the circle of men. "That is complete and utter bullshit!! If you draw steel on another man you had better be ready to kill him. Here at Imperial house we spar to hone our skills. Out in the world you better be fighting for your life because I'm certain the other man will be."

A bell began to toll, overshadowing anything else he may have been going to say. It struck twelve times and seemed to fill the whole courtyard with echoes.

As the last booming echo faded away the sergeant looked over his class. "Alright you misbegotten sons of bitches, clear off. Go feed your fat faces. Senior teams have shield drill at the fourth hour past the chime."

I had expected the group to break up in chaos and scuttle away quickly from this vile man but they stood leisurely and moved away from the area talking amicably amongst themselves. Several even paused as they left to ask a question of the instructor who returned terse answers or chased them away while glaring steadily at me and the lieutenant where we stood. I was about to move away also when the lieutenant put her arm on my shoulder. The two hooks making it clear that she wanted me to stay put, making the point as it were. The sergeant waited until the last of the class had disappeared into one of the doorways dotting the interior of the courtyard before he began walking towards the Lieutenant and I.

He stopped just far enough away to use his foil to give a casual salute to the lieutenant before he spoke. The tone was much more respectable but still had that abrasive quality that it had when addressing his class. "Lieutenant Tana, something I can do for you?"

The lieutenant banged me on the shoulder hard enough to cause my knees to nearly buckle and answered him. "I have someone I want you to meet sergeant. This is Micah, a new cadet. He brought an emperor and a set of hawk-wing swords."

I watched as his expression flattened when she mentioned the emperor but his eye flared when she mentioned the hawk-wings.

She continued, "He was given the emperor by Jarl Thorvald and his father made the hawk-wings."

There was actually a glint of pleasure when she mentioned Jarl but when she said that my father made the swords himself he turned his eyes towards me for the first time.

Those penetrating eyes seemed to search inside my head for a moment and then he just grunted and spoke to me directly. "So your father is a smith huh? Just because he can bang metal into the right shape doesn't mean he can craft a set of swords like the hawk-wings. That takes skill that the village smith doesn't have."

I heard the lieutenant start to speak but I was angry that someone would be condescending to my father or his work that I overrode anything she was going to say.

"Yes my father is a smith, but he's also a descendant of the kindred. He's not just some dead in the head brute that can swing a hammer. He's a craftsman."

Castille's eyes glittered as he looked at me and for the first time I saw a genuine look of pleasure on his face as he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could say anything the lieutenant stepped between us holding the bundle with my swords wrapped in it. I had been so involved in seeing everything around me I had not noticed that she carried the bundle in her good hand. She set the bundle down on the nearest bench and untied the cord holding it closed.

She stepped back and pointed with her hook. "Look in that before you say something that you will regret Castille."

Castille looked at the lieutenant and snorted before moving over to the bench. A couple of moments later I heard him gasp in delight. I heard the thud of his foil as it hit the ground, falling from his open fingers. He reached for the hilts but stopped himself. He removed a rag from his pocket and wiped his hands before he looked up at me.

There was almost a pleading look in his eyes as he indicated the blades and asked. "May I?"

I nodded and he grasped both hilts and drew both swords. He drew them close to his face inspecting the details, flipping the blades one way and then another, an almost manic look in his eyes. Holding them out to arms length he moved back towards the flat area in the center of the benches. When he reached the center of the circle he turned back to face us with his arms straight out at his side, the blades parallel to the ground. He suddenly began moving in a blur of activity. The swords hacked, slashed and sliced through the air.

The weapons master was the center of a web of steel as the blades whirled around and over him, seeming to pass through each other, his arms and even through the center of his body. His feet moved in a complex pattern and left the ground as the blades passed under his body. He leapt and bounded around the circle, the swords in constant motion. He moved to the center of the circle and seemed to shoot straight up into the air. At the apex of his leap the blades extended above his shoulders as I had seen my father do back in the forge and as he landed the blades swept down past each other, crossing in front of him and continuing until his arms were extended again as they had been at the beginning.

I stood there with my mouth hanging open. My father had shown unexpected skill when he handled the blades and the lieutenant had handled them with great grace and skill but sergeant Castille moved like a god come to earth. He held the pose for a moment with his arms extended, and then he stood drawing them in close to his body. He walked back over to where we stood and with a single motion sheathed both blades. He stayed bent over with his hands caressing the sheaths like they were living things.

For a moment he seemed to have forgotten us and the expression on his face was similar to what I had seen on other people's faces when they were approaching the point of orgasm. He caressed the leather for a moment more and then he drew his hands away clenching them into fists. He straightened up but his eyes were closed and a shudder ran through his body. When he opened his eyes again the manic gleam had disappeared but had been replaced by a look of almost ecstasy. Suddenly his eyes cleared and he looked over at us with the same scowl he had worn from the first moment I saw him.

He cleared his throat but when he spoke his voice had a rough edge to it. "Humph…Yes these are very fine blades. Your father is an excellent craftsman. How much training have you had in these blades?"

"None sergeant. My father said he was not a warrior and that I should learn from the best. That is why I am here."

The sergeant reached down and picked up the bundle containing the swords and clasped it to his chest. "Excellent, you will not have to unlearn anything wrong. I will expect you at first light tomorrow right here for your first lesson."

At that moment the lieutenant spoke up. "He can't start training tomorrow Castille. His ten is still unfilled."

The sergeants eyes clouded over and he looked almost depressed. His expression brightened however as he started to speak. "Well his weapons still need to be put in the armory. Right?"

He had such a look of hope on his face I wasn't sure how he would react if she said no. When she said yes his eyes glittered and he turned to walk away leaving his foil lying on the ground with the hawk-wings clasped to his chest like a lover.

He stopped at the far edge of the circle and looked back at me. "I expect you to report to me as soon as your ten is filled."

I nodded and he turned around and continued away across the courtyard. I watched until he disappeared through one of the doors and then turned towards the Lieutenant. "He's not going to do anything….unnatural with those swords is he?"

The Lieutenant tilted her head back and laughed a surprisingly high pitched laugh. She slapped me on the back hard enough to make me stagger forward and almost knocked me down.

The mirth was still present in her voice when she started talking. "Noooo, nothing unnatural. He'll probably check their edge and then oil them down before buffing the sheaths and then he'll probably have to have himself a lie down. Don't worry. Those are your blades. He will respect them and you will get them back when you leave. Come, let me show you where you will be staying and introduce you to the people who will be spending the next five years with you."

We moved past the training area and I saw a set of benches behind a small raised wall. Behind the benches was another door like the ones around the inside perimeter. As I got closer I could see that it had written in imperial script above it, "Guest quarters". Sitting on the benches were four men and one woman. Three of the men sat together on one bench while the fourth seemed to be dozing on a bench against the wall. The woman was the only one that was watching our approach.

She watched for a moment and then pursed her lips in a bird call so real sounding I almost looked around for the bird. A moment later an answering call came floating out the door and then another woman appeared standing there. The three men glanced around at the woman, then at me before returning to their conversation. The other man sat up and looked at me with a speculative look on his face. Something looked familiar about the face but I knew I hadn't met him before. His face broke into a grin and he stood and approached the wall. He was slightly taller than me but was much stockier. His brown hair and eyes almost matched in color and the hand he extended nearly engulfed mine.

For all the appearance of strength his grip was almost gentle and he never lost his grin as he turned to face the lieutenant. "Lieutenant, you finally got us another member huh?"

"I didn't "get" him Tamos, he just showed up. Micah, this is Tamos. He's been here long enough to know how things work around here but he still complains about it. Tamos this is Micah. He's the one who brought the hawk-wings that Castille was just working with."

"Oho, you're going to be the golden boy for a while my boy. Castille has been belly aching about not having anyone to teach those to forever. Of course he's probably going to work you into the ground."

"You sound like you know him pretty well for a cadet."

"I should, he's my father."

I wasn't sure what to say to that when the two women also approached the wall. The one who had been sitting outside when we approached was a thin blond who was slightly shorter than me. Her boiled leather breastplate had a leopard worked into flat of the stomach in what appeared to be silver. The other woman was a brunette that was almost as tall as the lieutenant. Her steel breastplate had a stylized wolf-head carved into the metal between her breasts and then filled in with some black material. The blond had a slight smile on her face but the brunette scowled at me like I had done something indecent but she couldn't figure out what.

She looked to be the older of the two so I turned towards her and crossed my arms in the amazon greeting. "Greetings Daughter of the Wolf."

I turned to the blond. "Greetings Daughter of the Leopard."

Both women hesitated briefly before also crossing their arms in greeting.

"My name is Micah, son of the Lucas the smith, of the kindred."

The brunette's expression had cleared with the formal greeting and now she almost smiled as she responded. "My name is Jayce daughter of Mur, warmistress."

The blond piped in also, "My name is Elura daughter of Tye, warmistress."

Introductions done I turned towards the other men sitting on the bench. One looked up at us as we stood by the wall. He locked eyes with me briefly and then very deliberately turned back to the other two sitting with him.

Tamos snorted like his father before he spoke. "The arrogant jerk and his two flunkies are Prince Thon, heir to the throne of Farum, Darus, son of Duke Wyn of Paydor and Harcourt, son of Earl Titus, vassal of Duke Wyn. What they haven't figured out yet is if they stay here for their training we will be the people watching their backs for them for the next five years. In training you have to depend on the people in your ten no matter who they are and where they were born. There are no such things as nobles here, just cadets. They will have to dig ditches, clean latrines, clean stables and wash dishes just like anybody else here."

The lieutenant glanced at the three men and then turned to Tamos. "Now Tamos you know it takes a couple of weeks before some of the starch gets knocked out of the stiff shirts around here. You never know, one of those three could be your best friend in five years. Anyway here's Micah, I leave him to you to show him around and familiarize him with the rules until your ten has formed."

Turning the lieutenant headed back across the courtyard. I turned and entered the small gate in the wall to the guest area. Tamos had moved over to the door and was signaling me to follow. I passed through the door and stopped to let my eyes adjust to the darkened interior. As my eyes adjusted I looked around to see one long room stretching out to either side of the door I had just entered.

There were exactly ten low cots spaced out along the far wall. Each cot had a small chest at the foot that looked relatively new. A low table sat against the wall in the aisle between each bed. A small oil lamp sat on each table with a tinderbox on the shelf below. The ceiling sloped up from the back wall towards the wall above my head. There were no windows anywhere in this room. Looking back at the wall with the door I had just entered I saw several broads slits running parallel to the floor near the ceiling. Similar slits were about a foot off the floor as well in the same wall.

Tamos stood between the two cots directly across from the door with his arms outstretched. "Welcome to our humble abode."

"Humble is right. Was this the old stockade or something?"

He snorted again, sounding even more like his father. "They don't believe in coddling recruits. You won't see the inside of a real barracks until you've been a cadet for at least three months. Go ahead and pick a bunk. The three down there at the far end belong to the lords of unreason out there. The two down there at the opposite end from our three sweethearts belong to our lady friends. There is a respectable space of one bunk from the ladies and then there's mine."

He leaned in close to my ear and whispered. "To tell the truth I didn't want to be that close to those three snobs either."

While he was speaking Elura and Jayce entered the room and moved down to the bunks Tamos had pointed out. As I watched, Jayce started unbuckling her breastplate. Now that I wasn't distracted by what was going on outside I could see the sweat running down her face.

I turned back to Tamos and he too looked like he had been working hard. "It looks like I missed the morning workout. You all look like you've just run a couple of miles."

Tamos barked a quick laugh and Jayce grunted from where she was still working at removing her breastplate.

Elura had risen from her bunk to assist her and grinned over at me. "No, no workout, we all got tagged for kitchen duty this morning. Jado will work you harder than any two sergeants here."

"Jado? That's an unusual name. I've never heard anything like it before."

"That's probably because you don't speak troll."

"She's a troll?!"

"Half-troll, half…something else. Nobody knows for sure and nobody has the nerve to ask. That's why the surly triplets out there were extra snooty to you. They spent most of the morning elbow deep in dirty dishes and soapy water."

Jayce spoke up at this point. Her voice had a hollow muffled sound and when I turned towards her she was pulling her breastplate off over her head. The shift she wore under it was stuck to her skin by sweat and was nearly transparent. Her large breasts showed and her nipples were clearly defined against the material. "At least they were somewhere cool. We were working at the bake ovens."

"Uncomfortable?"

She grinned at me. "Hotter than the Firelord's armpit. Well I'm going to get cleaned up before lunch."

Right there before my disbelieving eyes she reached down and grabbed the bottom of her shift and pulled it up over her head. She threw it on a cot and then bent over the chest at the foot of it and opened it. I didn't really notice what she was doing with the chest because I had my eyes glued to her chest. Her breasts weren't as large as Bethany's but they were a nice size and they stood out from her body in defiance of gravity. She straightened up, naked from the waist up, and threw a rough looking towel over her shoulder. Her movements causing interesting gyrations in her exposed breasts.

She seemed to notice my staring for the first time and chuckled deep in her throat. "What's the matter Micah? Never seen a woman's chest before? Get used to it. Learn to live with it. We will be working side by side for the next five years. Just learn to ignore it like you would a man."

She walked past me and out the door and I couldn't help but turn and watch as she left. "When I start ignoring things that look like that, they'll be throwing dirt on the box I'm laid out in."

"You should have told her that. She would have liked to hear it."

I turned to Elura who had spoken.

She smiled and loosened her leather breastplate to take it off as she spoke. "Jayce was a late bloomer. A year and a half ago you couldn't have told her from a man without a shirt on, and then bang, she went from bee stings to water skins almost overnight. Her mother had to have a special breastplate made."

The armor came off and she stood there in a rough cotton shirt. It was also stuck to her skin with sweat but was not as transparent as Jayce's. The best description of Elura's figure would have to be pert. She grinned at me again and reached for the hem of the shirt.

Just before she touched she stopped and shook her head. "Nope, not gonna happen, I'm shyer than Jayce. I'll take mine off in the stalls."

I laughed myself then. "You said she was a late bloomer. How old is she?"

"She's eighteen."

"Eighteen!! Ye gods, I thought she was in her twenties at least, and you say she was flat chested two years ago?"

"Yep, the only way you could tell if she was face up or face down in the dark was to slap her head. If you hit hair she was face down, if you bloodied her nose she was face up and you had to run away."

"You sound like you know each other very well."

"Her clan lives one valley over from ours in the Scale Mountains. We ran into each other all the time."

"You're both from the Scale Mountains? So am I. I grew up in the village of Santee."

Before she could respond Tamos interrupted. "I'm sure this is all very interesting but I'm hungry. Pick a bunk and I'll show you to the mess hall."

He gestured towards the bunks on either side of his. I'm sure he expected me to take the one farther from the amazons but I moved towards the one between him and Elura. I looked at her as I put my backpack on the cot. She was looking at me rather oddly, as if she wasn't sure how she should react with a man bunking down so close to her.

I held my hands palm up towards her. "Sister, I would be honored to watch your back."

She looked startled, but then she smiled and placed her hands briefly on mine. "I accept. Well, I'm going to get cleaned up. See you two in the mess hall." She grabbed another rough looking towel and headed out the door.

Tamos stood there a moment then grabbed my arm. "Come on you. Let's get to the hall before all the food is gone. We're already late."

Continued in Cart 2

---