The One

TWO

"So only one of us can be picked?" He said as the soldier nodded at him to speak.

The man sighed, "Yes, only one per region."

As he said this, his eyes passed around the cart.
Lingering on Morten and the 3 other older men in the cart.

The soldier stepped out and the cart halted a moment later.

Meanwhile, talk in the cart exploded.
Morten frowned, they were all talking like hormonal little teen boys.

Mimicking stabbing each other and boasting about why they should be the winners. He was going to kiss his brother once he returned, he had not let him try to court anyone at this awful young age.
These boys, who looked like strapping young men, were immature and simply stupid.
They were of age to court girls? Pick who they'd spend the rest of their lives with?
Maybe that was worth a discussion either way once he got home.

The door slammed back open, the soldier was back and the cart didn't move on this time.

Please! Let them have reconsidered! Send us home before we can make absolute fools of ourselves! Morten prayed to no deity in particular.

The Soldier coughed, which made the last few men shut up.
"To get back to my story...Only one of you will make it.
There are tests, trials, dangerous ones!" He looked around the cart, judging.
"And it seems that we forgot a very important detail!"

Morten raised an eyebrow at this.

"The courtship candidates only had to apply to one rule! That they were of courting age." He said, inhaled and frowned around, "the frozen has a different age limit to this."

One of the older men in the far back of the cart snorted.
Morten understood why, that explained a whole damn lot!

The soldier pursed his lips and nodded, as if to motivate himself to continue,
"Anyone under 16, you will be escorted back to your homes. We will move you to another transport at the next opportunity."

The protest that followed had Morten in shock but the snorting guy from earlier in stitches.

One of the young men had gotten up and screamed, "My father is the chief of the biggest clan of the frozen! He will have your head for this!"
And several more of them started throwing out curses of the sort.
The soldier wasn't even trying to reason with them, he just looked plainly unimpressed.

" Silence! " A deep voice called.
Morten looked around, just as many others.

One of the other older men had stood. Morten gave him 25, old for an unmarried frozen.

"You don't understand, do you?" He said loudly.

Now the whole cart was silent, staring.

"Death awaits those that aren't well prepared," He halted for potential dramatic effect,
"and I doubt any of you are, you are young boys that only recently had your first hunts."

One of the younger men wanted to protest, but got slammed down by the booming voice.

" At home! You are something! Son's of people in power! Where we are going? You are nothing. The other regions will come with their best, warriors twice your age. They will crush you, far away from your home! Your mothers and fathers. For what?"
He sniffed loudly, "For a woman that won't want you as you will be a child in her eyes.
For a woman in whose shadow you will always function, as she is the most powerful."
He got quiet for a moment to look around the room.

"Go back home, where you can take pretty wives that will live to serve you. Where you may matter."

You could see realization hit most of them.