In the name of courage.

schedule

I could see Percy was still on edge where he mirrored me on the field, our new official rendezvous point in the morning after breakfast. Our steps crunched as we shuffled our feet trying to warm our slowing blood as our breaths billowed out before us in thick white clouds. 

I swallowed as Benedict walked down in between us once again, making for certain that we hadn't forgotten our lesson from yesterday. No one wanted to be pushed into the icy drifts of snow and frost at our feet, so as a result even the more head strong men of our group loosened themselves and let Benedict make micro-adjustments to their technique. He walked up to me and bumped his toe against my left foot until it was more level with my shoulders before nodding and moving to the next man over. 

"Well done gentlemen, it appears you all learned from your mistakes. Around here that is the ultimate show of intellect, of adequacy. We'll see if you improve from the small mistakes you make today, otherwise we will have to start from the top...won't we?" We nodded in unison and a collective "yes sir" was drawn from the crowd. 

"Great, Now I bet that you expect that we will immediately be thrown into fighting false battles.

A few nods went up from various positions.

"You would be incorrect." a sigh of disappointment.

" I realize that many of you think that the only thing that goes into battle is strike first and ask questions later, but you would be wrong again. You all have been on a loose 'schedule'..." He made sure that  every syllable of the word was laced with sarcasm. "while here for the last month. That is going to change."

"We will meet in the morning for battle tactics and warm ups, then at lunch we split up because Calvary will be trained separately from infantry for half of each day, the former will learn the ways of a lance, and Calvary sword, and form bonds with their steeds. Both groups will be similarly trained with a shield and the former will discover how to use a simple broad sword and proper war time marches." 

"Yes sir."

"You will all reach the level of fitness that is required of someone who will be marching for days at a time."

"Yes sir."

"And you will be taught how to defend yourself against the arcane arts that threaten our lives and borders every day. "

"Yes sir." The last chorus was more forceful than the last. Everyone here had lost something...or everything at the hands of those we defended against directly or indirectly. It struck a cord with us to finally be able to strike back.

"Grand...Constance." I looked around searching for the owner of that name. She stepped forward towing a rather large barrow of what looked like leather and woods, all tangled together.

As she walked by she reached into the barrow and pulled out two of the objects before extending it to the man before her, he would pass one to the man behind him and she would move on. She finally reached me at the very end of the line and grabbed the last two out. I reached out and grasped one of them giving it to the man behind me before turning back and taking the one she held in her hands. Our hands brushed lightly and I felt my pulse quicken slightly. Her face flushed a bit and she rushed off leaving me with the need to figit. I looked down at the thing in my hands and found it to be a leather belt and sheath with a wooden practice sword secured in it. I buckled it around my waist and stood at attention.