Disclaimer: This is a work in progress as part of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You are reading the work product of a first draft writing session and not a finished product. Comments are welcome, but bear the first draft nature of the work in mind. Thank you and enjoy!
Chapter 7
A shout jolted Cori awake the next morning. She sat up and looked around, disoriented for a moment until she remembered where she was. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and saw the source of the noise. Kieran was standing halfway up the ladder calling to the rest of the group of recruits who were all in various states of being awake.
“He’s here,” he called out, the excitement causing his voice to crack. “The sergeant arrived late last night. He’s out in the village square setting up the testing course.” He dropped out of sight for a moment and then popped back up. “Well, are you coming?” He disappeared again, this time for good. Cori rolled out of her blankets and stood up. She saw Kieran bouncing on the balls of his feet in anticipation, waiting for them all to come down and join him. She had a sour taste in her mouth and felt disgusting. She had hoped to have a room with a washbasin to clean up a little bit. She hadn’t been really clean since she left the Chapter House of the Sisters of the Lake days before. She supposed she’d have to settle for the well and bucket to freshen up before meeting the sergeant. She rolled up her blanket and tied it back to the top of her pack, then folded the inn’s blanket and placed it back by the wall at the top of the ladder.
“C’mon, C’mon, C’mon.” Kieran looked like he was going to die waiting for them down below. Katina was stretching and limbering up, also ignoring the boy below. Erin placed her blanket on the pile Cori had started and smiled at her.
“Did you have a good night’s sleep?” the ginger-haired girl asked.
“It was better than the sleeping on the ground in the forest with nothing but my cloak and this blanket,” Cori replied.
“You didn’t stay at an inn on the road here?” Erin asked. “I assumed by the cut of your clothes that you would have the resources to do so.”
“Um, I decided to cut across country to get her from the south. I didn’t connect with the great northern road until yesterday.” Cori explained. “I like the forest and wanted some time to myself, I guess.”
“Wow,” Erin exclaimed. “I wouldn’t want to sleep out in the woods by myself. It would be so frightening.”
“Toughen up, city girl,” Katina chimed in from the other side of the loft. “What do you think you’re going to be doing in the Legion if you get in? They don’t stay in inns or even tents most of the time.” She gestured to the stable’s sloped roof just a few feet over their heads. “This will probably be the last roof you look up at before you go to sleep for a long, long time.”
Both Erin and Cori looked up at the roof for a moment and then at each other before smiling. “It’ll be an adventure, I guess,” Erin said shrugging.
Cori nodded in agreement. Both Geb and Declan were silently watching the byplay with the females. They had packed up and were waiting for Erin and Cori to descend before they could head down themselves. Cori grabbed her pack, weapons belt, quiver, and bow and started to climb down. She nearly fell off the ladder a few times, feeling stupid for trying to carry everything down in one trip without wearing the weapons and pack. She made it to the stable floor and set everything down, taking the time to put on her weapons belt, settling the blade of the long knife on one her right hip and the tomahawk in its loop on at the small of her back. She slipped the quiver strap over her head and settled it behind her diagonally from shoulder left shoulder to right hip. She picked up her pack and bow, and she was ready to head out.
Kieran was still bouncing back and forth from foot to foot. “Don’t you want to go out and see what he’s doing?”
Geb, the older farmer, came down, and he looked at the eager boy in front of him. “I’m getting breakfast first. I paid for it, and it might be the last home-cooked meal we get for a while. I suspect this sergeant is going to want us marching off for the next stop on his schedule as soon as he signs us up.” He headed out the door to the inn.
Cori was just as eager to see the sergeant as Kieran was but what the farmer said made sense. She remembered something her Uncle Vernon said about the two things old soldiers never turned down, free food and opportunity to sleep. “I’ll come with you, Geb.” She followed him, and when she got to the door, she saw Erin, Katina and Declan right behind her. Kieran stood there with a quizzical look on his face and then he kicked at some straw on the packed dirt floor and then followed them all out to catch up to Geb.
———
The breakfast was hearty and filling, and Cori was sure she had eaten too much. She blinked in the bright sunshine when she went outside. Kieran led the way to the village common just outside the inn’s courtyard. There, about one hundred yards away, there was a small table set up on the grass with a bench behind it. As Cori approached, she saw a brown-robed monk seated behind the table on which he had set out an ink pot, several quill pens and a leather bound book opened to a blank page. Behind the cleric stood a solid rock of a man. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back. He wore all green and brown, and he had a forest green ranger cloak, much like Cori’s. The ranger also had at his belt, was a long knife and tomahawk, much like hers, as well. As she looked at her new friends, she realized that she was a little too well equipped. She slowed and let Katina pass her by. It was best not to be the first in this little test.
As they were walking towards the enlistment table, she looked behind her and saw the waitress, Shelby, from the previous evening standing at the end of the inn’s courtyard. She looked back over her shoulder and then stepped onto the green to follow them. As she crossed to follow the rest of them, a figure detached from the shadows next to the stable and stepped out into the sunlight. It was a lanky boy of fifteen or sixteen who settled after Shelby, about six paces back, following her. A few others people came over to join the line. And even more village folk came to watch as the line of prospects lined up in single file behind Kieran at the table.
When the group had stopped, and it didn’t look like any more would join them from the crowd of onlookers, the grizzled ranger sergeant stepped out from behind the table and walked down the line of them, eyeing each in turn. He paused when he got to Katina nodded and continued to Cori. He stopped and looked her over. She felt very self-conscious under his gaze. He then continued to the others in line behind her. She dared not turn to look at him. She didn’t want to draw his attention. He finished looking over his prospects for the Legion and then stepped out to the side of the line before calling out to them.
“All of you,” He bellowed. “Turn where you stand and look at me.” He waited while they all turned and looked his way. He waited in the mounting morning light while he scanned the line of recruits. “I am Athelstan Verell. You will call me Sergeant Verell or Sergeant, or if you are particularly stupid, Sarge. You will not call me ‘sir’ or anything else that might make someone think I’m an officer. I am not nobly born, and I don’t want anyone to think I have some sort of stick up my ass.” Kieran laughed out loud at the last. Sergeant Verell stared at him until he stopped and coughed a little then stood still again. The old soldier shook his head and returned to looking at the rest of them. “I am here to recruit the levy from this village for the Legion of Solon. Those who wish to enlist but don’t qualify for the Legion will be sent with the caravan in the village to the south to meet up with the pike levy forming between here and the capital in Rhodes City.” He started pacing back in forth in a line parallel to theirs. “Those of you who pass my tests for joining the Legion may be sorry you were good enough to join me because I will make your life as miserable as I possibly can in the next few weeks I have to train you up to being worthy of being called Legionnaires with me and the other veterans.”
He waited for a few heartbeats, and Cori again felt his gaze fall on her as he passed his eyes up and down the line. “Who wants to go first?”
Kieran jumped forward out of the line at the request, and Sergeant Verell shook his head. Cori knew that he was going to make an example of the boy.
“Ok, boy,” the man growled. “Come here and stand in front of me.” Kieran bounded over and stood as straight as he could in front of the Sergeant. “You have already failed the first test, boy, and you don’t even know why.” Cori watched from behind him as Kieran’s shoulders sagged.
“I hope you others are watching and learning,” Sergeant Verell shouted. “You never volunteer to do something without understanding what it is you’re volunteering to do.” He turned to Kieran again. “What if I have told you that you had to cut a finger off to prove you were fearless? Would you have done it?”
Cori could see Kieran’s wiry frame quivering, either from fear or anger; she couldn’t tell which. She decided it was fear when the Sergeant looked at him and threw his arms up in the air.
“Crying?” He said. “Really? What are you going to do when an imperial cavalryman is charging down on you or a soldier is cranking his crossbow to load and fire another volley at you? Are you going to cry or are you going to kill him?” He waited, and Kieran must have said something. “I didn’t hear that. When you answer me, you give me a straight answer and say it loud an clear enough for this whole village green to hear. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Cori heard the boy this time though it wasn’t as loud as the Sergeant wanted.
“I don’t think they all heard you, boy. What was that?”
“Yes,” Kieran shouted angrily, turning on the Sergeant. Cori could still see the tears streaming down his cheeks, but his face was red with anger now.
“That’s better,” Sergeant Verell said. “Now, would you like to know what the test is?”
“Yes, Sergeant Verell,” Kieran shouted.
“Ok, since you asked nicely, I’ll tell you. You are to go over to that pile of gear behind the table and select a bow and quiver of arrows from the pile behind it since you don’t have your own. Then you are to run as fast as you can to the inn’s stable doors and back. Once you’ve done that you are to hit that post at the far end of the green four times out of six shots or better.” You can get as close as you want to the post, but I’ll be timing each of you. The slowest will stay here. So you can either be a really good shot with a bow or fast enough to get close to the post and make your shots count before anyone else. Understood?”
“Yes, Sergeant Verell,” Kieran shouted again.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” The Sergeant bellowed in Kieran’s ear.
The boy ran for the pile of gear stacked behind the table, he selected a bow, strung it and grabbed a quiver of arrows slipping it over his head. He turned and sprinted for the inn’s stable doors, touching the doors and then returning at a run for the village green where the other recruits stood watching him. His breathing was heavy when he passed the group and started towards the post a hundred yards away. Cori understood now. The exertion of the run would disrupt the ability to calm the breathing and make an effective shot at the target.
Kieran stopped at 50 yards from the post, nocked an arrow, drew the string back and fired. He missed, the arrow flying to the right of the post, missing by about a foot. He drew again and fired, this time striking the target. He fired three more times in rapid succession and hit twice more. He had one more shot, and he had to make it count. Cori wondered if the others were cheering inside for him to succeed like she was. Kieran took his last shot and hit the post at head height. He turned and looked at he sergeant who returned his gaze for a moment. Then he nodded.
“Eighty-two heartbeats, four of six shots,” Sergeant Verell called to the monk, still seated behind the table. He picked up a quill pen, dipped it in the ink pot and scratched a few words in the ledger in front of him. The soldier turned to Kieran. “You may go and make your mark in the book, boy, and take your silver crown.”
“Yes, Sergeant.” Kieran’s voice was loud and clear this time as he jogged to the table.
“Your name?” the monk asked him.
“Kieran, Kieran Peal, sir,” the boy said.
The monk scratched the name in the ledger and then handed the quill pen to Kieran. “Make your mark.” Kieran took the quill pen and made an x next to the words written there. Cori knew that most of these farmers and peasants would not be able to read and write and that their witnessed mark would be their sign of enlistment. The monk opened a small box on the ground next to him and removed a single silver crown, handing it to the boy. Kieran looked at it as he held it up in front of his eyes as if it might disappear. It was likely the most valuable thing he had ever held in his hands before.
“Alright, the rest of you know what you need to do,” Sergeant Verell called out to the group. “We’ll take each of you in turn. The goal is to hit the target with as many shots out of six as fast as you can while winded from running. We will do more extensive training once we are on the road to the capital and final mustering point. This is the best way I can see what you’re made of here before we leave.”
Katina went next and achieved five out of six shots on target from about forty yards away from the target. Sergeant Verell nodded, called out her time and score and told her to make her mark in the book. She went to the monk and scratched her name, took her coin, flipped it in the air with her thumb, caught it in mid-air and slid in her pouch with a satisfied smile. The sergeant snorted at the last bit of flair but turned his gaze to Gebhard and the older farm took his turn. He had his own bow and didn’t need one from the pile of gear. He, too, completed the challenge landing four of six shots in the post in the allotted time and signed in. Declan, the smith’s apprentice took his turn and also made four of six shots with the bow, joining the growing group of new recruits. He smiled for the first time since Cori had met him when he took the silver coin from the monk. It was as if a burden were lifted from his shoulders.
Then it was Cori’s turn. The sergeant stood and appraised her again. “Where are you from, girl?”
“I came from a farmstead three days to the south,” Cori said. It was not technically a lie.
“You are surprisingly well equipped for a simple farm girl,” Sergeant Verell observed.
“My father served in the Legion during the border incursion twenty years ago,” Cori said, also not a lie.
“Do you know how to use all of those weapons?”
“I do, my father made sure I learned them,” Cori responded quickly. “May I take the test now?”
“By all means. Let’s see what you are made of, farm girl.”
Cori dropped her pack and cloak on the ground and strung her bow. She settled the strap of the quiver on her back and took off at a dead run to the stable doors. She was breathing heavily by the time she reached them. Turning and sprinting back to the group she stopped at 100 yards from the post took a moment to settle her breathing as best she could, then snapped off six quick shots. There first two landing on target while the final four were still in the air. When she let out her breath, the final of six arrows stood in the post a hands-breadth apart.
“Impressive, recruit. You’ve been trained well.” Sergeant Verell said. “What did you say your name was?”
“Cori,” she replied. Had word of her escape from the Chapter House reached up here already? “It’s just Cori, Sergeant.”
“Well, Cori, I’d like to meet this father of yours someday,” the old soldier said. “He has trained you well. Go make your mark.”
Cori was full of excitement as she strolled to the table where the monk sat with his ledger. She saw his tattoo of his holy symbol between his brows marking him as a brother of the order of the Bear, a northern monastery located on the border between Rhodes and Padon.
“Your full name, recruit?” He asked.
“I’m just Cori,” she repeated.
He looked up at her and then wrote her name in the book and handed her the quill pen. She signed her nickname in bold strokes next to where he had printed her name. He looked up in surprise at her ability to write in such handsome letters but did not say anything. He handed her a silver crown from the box at his feet and gestured for her to join the other recruits.
“That was amazing shooting, Cori,” Kieran said as she joined him, Katina and Geb in the line of passed recruits.
“Thank you, Kieran. I had a good teacher; that’s all.” The four of them watched the other recruits all take their turns at the course. Shelby, the waitress and the boy who followed her from the inn were successful and joined them. Erin, the red-haired girl who had slept in the loft with them, also passed the test. In all, their number was ten recruits when all had tested. They were soon finished, and Sergeant Verell had ordered them to run downrange and fetch the arrows shot at the target and beyond it. They were returning with the arrows that were recoverable when a woman in black leather armor and a black cloak stepped onto the green from the forest and approached the sergeant. A hissed intake of breath from Erin nearby drew Cori’s attention.
“What is it?” Cori asked.
“I think that is Lissa Rowland,” Erin replied.
Shelby looked over at the woman striding towards their sergeant. “The bandit? The Lissa?” She said.
“Yes, I was traveling with a merchant once when she set stopped him on the road and relieved him of his extra silver,” Erin said. “She has a lot of nerve showing up here. She has a price on her head.”
They hurried closer and overheard the end of the conversation with Sergeant Verell. “It is true. The King has offered a pardon for crimes short of murder for any who enlist in the king’s service for the coming war,” he said.
“Then I wish to enlist,” Lissa said. “I want to get this price off my head.”
“Fair enough, did you see the contest I had the others do or do you need me to explain it to you?”
“I saw,” the bandit woman said. “Run to the Inn and back. Kill the post.”
“That’s it,” Sergeant Verell said.
She took off for the inn immediately, the silver buckles on her supple leather armor gleaming in the sun under her black cloak. Cori marveled at her speed. She was nearly as fast as the fastest of the men who had made the run. When she dashed back past the group, Cori realized she didn’t have a bow or arrows. She didn’t slow down, though and ran straight at the post. When she was about fifty feet away, her hands began grabbing something from her belt and flinging them at the post. Thok, took, thok-thok-thok, came the sounds as knives seemed to sprout in a line down the front of the post. She still had two more of the small knives in her hands when she skidded to a stop in the turf just in front of the target. She turned and leaned against it, looking back at the sergeant and the rest of the recruits and onlookers with a satisfied smile.
“You’ll do,” was all the sergeant said before turning to the rest of them. “Well, go on, get those arrows back in their quivers and then line up. I don’t want to be standing here all day.”
Cori watched Lissa out of the corner of her eye as the former bandit pulled each knife from the post and stowed if somewhere on her person. She had not even seen all of them when she first saw the woman, just the long dagger and short sword at her belt. She then strode up to the monk and signed the book after giving her name. She joined the other ten recruits in a ragged line facing the table. Sergeant Verell looked over the eleven of them and shook his head.
“Welcome to the second platoon of Stag company, Legion of Solon. You will be joined by approximately twenty more recruits from nearby towns that we will gather on our way south to meet up with our company commander Captain Archard McAffrey and the rest of the company. On the way, we will train every day before, during and after our march. For those of you who do not have bows of your own, you may outfit yourself from the pile of supplies behind that table. You will also find additional tomahawks, short swords and daggers their for you if you don’t have your own. You should each have a blade, either a long knife or short sword as well as a hand ax, tomahawk or dagger as a secondary weapon. Once you have selected one, it will be your duty to maintain them and learn to use them. The same for your bows and arrows. You will be responsible for having a bow, primary and spare bowstring, and sixty arrows at all times. We’ll have a bowyer joining us in the next town to help with maintaining our supply and helping to teach you all to fletch your own arrows as well if you don’t already know how.” He continued to pace back and forth, looking at them as he talked. “Gather your things, say your goodbyes and meet back here in a half hour ready to march. We will continue our conversation on the road. Dismissed.”
Cori had all of her things packed already, so she sat on the grass of the green and watched the others. Shelby and the boy from the inn walked over and selected a few items each from the pile of weapons and supplies stashed behind the seated monk. He was still writing in his ledger and looking up occasionally at the group to gauge their progress she guessed. Cori saw Lissa go and select her own bow from the choices available and hoist a full quiver of arrows up over one shoulder before moving a short distance away from the others and organizing her gear. A few of the recruits had family to say goodbye to but most just stood around with their packs and blanket rolls waiting for the order to march. She watched Geb go over and hand his silver coin to Burton, the farmer who had brought her into Gladestown on his cart the night before. He must be planning to have Burton give the coin to his wife and children on their outlying farm until he could send them more.
It was almost too soon that Sergeant Verell returned with a small, two-wheeled horse-drawn cart. He ordered a few of the recruits to load the weapons and gear into it from the pile on the ground and then the monk, who had been introduced at Brother Jerrald Marras, climbed atop it and took the reins. The sergeant then rounded up the group, ordered them into a single file line behind the cart and started them marching to the south, out of the village of Gladestown, marching off to join the war.