Chapter 1: The Beginning

He hunted the monsters within the shadowy confines of the area, they could appear at moments notice, vicious and terrible in their capacity for destruction. They left almost nothing to behind to track them by, the odd spoor, a scuff here at most. His eyes darted to all the hidden shadows which the monsters could hide and spring out their ambush. Sweat dripped down the end of his nose but he didn’t dare take his hands of his weapons to wipe it away. He froze as heard a claw scrape on the ground, he slowly turned his head in the direction it had come from, preparing for the monster to reveal itself.

“Willy! I need another bag of flour and one of barley.” Will rolled his eyes at his older sister using that name rather than the one preferred. He stood up and hung his rat killer on a hook by the staircase that led up from the basement. Wiping his face and hands free of sweat he hefted a fifty pound bag on his shoulder, moving towards the other side of the basement he hefted a second fifty pound bag over his opposite shoulder. At only sixteen years old he had a body larger than most adults, his neck, shoulders and back reddened with the strain as he laboured under the heavy load.

Will slowly walked up the rickey basement stairs, their unpainted bare wood, sagging under his weight and yelled out, “Open the door.” he was almost at the top when his other older sister opened it for him. He made his way into the back of the bakery, passing by the portraits of his family, he gently lowered one bag and then the other onto onto a cleared table.

“Thanks Willy.” Henrietta said, Will rolled his eyes in frustration at his oldest sister.

“It’s Will.” he shot back taking a deep breath of relief after putting down the heavy burden.

“It’s whatever I decide it will be.” Henrietta swatted him on the back of the head in response as fond siblings were apt to do. He grumbled to himself as he made his way back into the basement, everyone in the family had their place, their mother Adalain ran the front of the bakery with the youngest girl Infini, Henrietta and Becca stayed in the back with their father Frederick baking the breads and pastries. Will’s place was in the basement, unlike the rest of his family he had no cooking skills whatsoever, every piece of food he tried to cook burned. Both his father and mother had given up trying to teach him and they concluded that it just wasn’t for him, they were currently looking for another apprenticeship for him. Down in the cool basement Will looked around at his kingdom, it’s dark atmosphere hid the dust and seemed to cool the room. While he couldn’t cook worth anything he did have a head for numbers and organization, Frederick had given over the whole organization and ordering part of the business for him to run liking instead the baking aspect more more then the business side.

Moving over to his ledger he marked down that which sacks of flour had left the basement in ink, making sure to cap the inkwell tightly once he was finished writing. Leaving the rough paper page open he walked across the floor and headed back out towards the wagon outside that had come that morning with their new shipment of supplies, he had only taken a brief break to hunt down a rat he thought he had heard. Will grabbed another two sacks of flour and headed back to the basement. His work was long and hard he was building up a sweat that cover his body, soaking into his shirt. After moving two dozen bags he was finally done. The wagon driver would leave empty handed, Fredrick only ever paid Mr. Miller directly since an incident a decade ago, it had worked out in the end but both parties felt it better than using a middle man to carry money back and forth now. Will left the basement entrance open, the double doors were large enough so that the midday light and a gentle breeze would make it less stuffy in the unseasonable spring heat. Making a few annotations in his ledger about the received supplies, Will closed the book after giving the wet ink a sprinkle of sand to make sure the ink wouldn’t smudge, he would take it upstairs for his father at the day’s end. Stretching his back up and down, back and forth to get a bit of relief to his tired and tense muscles, Will looked around and grabbed the broom. He swept the whole basement clean of the dirt and dust he had tracked in from outside, the spilled flour that would escape from the seams of the bag was also quickly swept up. Only the main streets of Crest Hill had cobblestones, the alley’s and backyards either had packed dirt, gravel or grass. Once the job was finished and the dirt tossed back outside, Will grabbed his cane like sling again. He smiled and marveled at the home made weapon, his hand rubbing up and down the one of a kind sling, one end held a cradle pocket for small stones but the shaft was long like a cane with a sharp nail in the end for stabbing. He started his daily hunt for rats in the basement again, this time all business instead of his fantasy of hunting monsters in the dark. They had a family of cats living with them, but even they were wary of some of the large rats that ran around town. Lighting a mirrored lantern that spread it weak but helpful rays of light around the whole basement he looked in the few nooks and crannies, since he had taken over running the basement he had moved things around enough so that nothing was stacked on the ground or against the walls. After a quick inspection he didn’t see evidence of vermin or of the vermin themselves. Smiling to himself he figured the scraping sound he had heard earlier as a flight of fancy, he placed the sling back on it’s hook near the staircase, he did the same thing every day and except for in the dead of winter nothing ever lived in his work area. Will closed up the basement door leading outside, double checking to make sure it was locked before heading back upstairs. He poked his head into the front and checked on his mom and Infini his only younger sibling, they looked fine and didn’t need anything when he asked. Walking into the back he saw both of his sisters working on a table kneading some dough while talking. His father was at the ovens keeping a close eye on baking breads.

“Order is put away.” Will handed his father the ledger looking over his father’s grey hair and stout body as the man stood in front of the wood fed fires over their central baking oven.

“That was quick.” his father’s deep voice said, it was just an acknowledgement rather than a question.

“Miller’s shipment came in early this morning.” Will said as he filled a large fire glazed clay mug of water, he drowned it and refilled the mug and drank more slowly this time.

“Good, everything done in the basement?” his father turned around from staring at the baking bread and took the ledger from him, noticing Will’s sweat soaked shirt clinging to him.

“Cleaned, stacked, hunted and locked.” Will replied. Frederick gave a brief glance at the ledger before tucking it away in a small drawer near the ovens. Frederick said nothing more going back to his work, after years of working in the bakery Will didn’t need to be told what to do anymore. He left through the kitchen’s back door and headed towards their backyard. The backyard was modest, a small strip of grass and a small gardening hut with just enough room between their neighboring buildings so that the family could enjoy a meal outside every now and again. Will stretched again, staring up at the clear blue sky, after a moment of basking in the hot sun he opened up all the water barrels stacked against their building and looked at the water levels. Will sighed to himself he emptied the water from lowest barrel into the others until they were full. Grabbed a few buckets and emptied the remaining barrel and walked into the kitchen and placing the extra buckets of water on a counter away from the flour bags he had deposited earlier.

“Need to go refill a barrel.” Will commented, he got a nod from Fredrick. Will walked out of the kitchen and into the back yard. He opened up the garden shed and pulled out the family hand cart. It was looking worse for wear, it’s aged grey wood was starting to split, he moved the empty barrel onto it and pulled the straps around his shoulder and gripped the old wooden handles, his fingers exploring the smoothness of them from years of use and quickly move around the bakery until he got to the main road. He bemused to himself that only the largest estates in the town had their own wells but the lord of the town made sure that everyone else had access to clean communal wells. The short walk to the main square was fun for Will, with the cart bumbling along behind him, he started as the sights and sounds that greeted him, merchants hawking their wares, food stalls laced the market with a hundred scents that make his mouth water. Spring had come upon the town, everyone was busy catching up on the jobs they had been putting off during the cold winter months. When Will finally got to the wells a few minutes later he saw the guards posted at the well, like they were all day and night, some helped out but most of them just made sure no one contaminated the water. It was busy like it usually was, rolling his eyes he stayed in line to waiting, his gaze wandering around as he watched different people, until his eyes fell on one guard.

“Henry!” Will moved past the line and greeted his friend with excitedly. The guard turned around and broke into a smile at the sight of Will.

“Good to see you Will, how’s your day?” Henry asked, turning around to face him fully.

“Busy, yours?” Will asked the older boy and his closest friend until Henry had joined up with the city guard.

“Same here, a lot of spring cleaning happening this week.” Henry trailed off as he went helped an older men at one of the four wells, Henry returned quickly once finished.

“So how is it being a guard?” Will asked, he hadn’t seen his best friend in two months.

“The training is brutal but worth it, you’ll be able to join up in a year.” Henry commented about how he was a year older then Will.

“Maybe.” Will couldn’t look Henry in the eye, slightly ashamed.

“Your parents?” Henry asked knowing where Will’s hesitation came from.

“Yeah, they won’t hear anything about me joining the army or city guards, they would rather spend a small fortune to have me apprenticed.” Will replied, his shoulder slumping down. The line for the well moved a few times and he got closer. Henry looked Will up and down before replying.

“I don’t know why they are so worried, with your size, height and muscles not much will put you in danger.” Henry rolled his eyes as Will straightened up so that he towered even more over his friend.

“They’ll worry no matter what.” Will replied. Will’s turn at the well came and he started filling up the barrel after dropping the water bucket down the well.

“Hey at least let me give you a few pointers for working out.” Henry leaned in and gave him tips on working out, Will usually didn’t bother because his daily work took care of his shoulder, arms and legs. Henry wanted him to work on push ups and cardio, cardio especially. Once the barrel was filled Will latched the top into place and strapped himself into the cart again,

“What are you doing later for dinner?” Will ask Henry as he started moving away, easily taking the burden of the cart.

“Sorry, I’m still in training for the next week, I’ll be under a veteran who will supervise my duties. After that I’ll be free. I’m staying at the castle’s barrack for now, send a message to get in contact with me.” Henry called out,

“Alright, good seeing you!” Will waved goodbye to him and trudged back to the bakery. Henry wasn’t wrong in thinking Will’s parents refused to allow him to go into the army or guard but Will also hadn’t pushed that hard against them. He had no idea what he wanted to do, he usually spent a day or two at different jobs working for family friends when they needed some extra labor, because of that he had an solid idea about which jobs were good and which were bad. So far blacksmithing, carpentry and bricklaying were his top choices. They were labour intensive which he liked but not back breaking like logging, or mining, he had also spent a day doing easy jobs but he didn’t like them much. He should have already been an apprentice half a year ago but much like Henry used to be, Will was lost as to what he wanted to do. Henry had had the same problem but had finally stumbled upon becoming a city guard. Will thought about his choices for the hundredth time as he got back to the bakery and unloaded the big water barrel, it was slow going but he finally got it back in place with only a little water spillage. Walking back into the kitchen he noticed Henrietta wasn’t around.

“Becca, why don’t you allow Will to take over kneading for a few minutes while you take a break, go wind up the clock again and check the sundial this time!” Frederick said, Will watched Becca sigh in relief and head outside to check the sundial. Will walking over to the bucket of hot water they used to clean their hands, after a quick wash he took Becca’s place and started kneading the dough.

“Where’s Hen?” Will asked.

“She’s getting ready for a dinner date.” Will groaned at his father’s words.

“Don’t worry you won’t be escorting her.” Fredrick said with a chuckle.

“Thank the Gods, it’s so boring, so who escorting her?” Will asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I am, Hen and Brandon have been dating long enough his father Douglas and I have decided that it’s time both of us get together to talk about marriage.” Frederick replied as he took out some loaves of bread. Will thought about Brandon for a few minutes before nodding his head.

“I like Brandon, he’s smart, a hard worker, I haven’t ever heard about him going out and paying for love either.” Will saw his father give him a significant glance towards him before turning back to his own work.

“That’s good to hear, you know not to have sex with those types of ladies yourself right?” Will blushed at his father’s question.

“I know, there’s a few girls around here that while they’ll not have sex they’ll do other stuff.” Will said shooting a grin at his father. His father looked at him sharply then barked out a laugh.

“Just don’t have sex with them, and don’t get caught.” Frederick chuckled as he turn back around to his work. Will kept grinning as he thought back to the fondling he and innkeeper’s daughter had done with each other in the hayloft a few nights ago. Over the past year he noticed he had been getting alot of prying looks from girls his own age and even a few of the older girls. His parents had noticed the looks and had sat him down and talked with him about it, it had been the most embarrassing moment of his life.

His thoughts turned back to Brandon and Henrietta, the girls of his family were all beautiful, tall willowy but well muscled, their mother made sure they had never over eaten during their childhood like most other baker’s family did. Because of the amount of work he did Will’s parents made sure he ate more the harder he worked. Will didn’t want to admit it but he loved eating all the different breads and pastries, the girls were better at keeping their appetites under control. Adalain and Fredrick were slight different, a little more round at the waist with their older age. While his sisters had the same dark eyes, hair and pale milk white skin of their mother he had inherited his father’s blond hair and blue eyes, in this part of the kingdom his colouring was rare unlike the northern duchies. He overheard more than a few comments about his colouring and how girls his age just loved it, talking about how it let him stand out. The only saving grace to his vanity was that his family always teased him about it so he wouldn’t get to much of a big head. Will shook his head getting rid of thoughts about naked girls as Becca came in and wound up the clock getting the time right, she sat down on a stool to take a break while he kept working.

“So now that Hen’s life is in order what about Becca?” he shot her a teasing grin, she glared right back, he heard his father chuckling in the background.

“Don’t even...” Becca started to say but Fredrick interrupted her,

“Yes, Becca I would like to hear about your own suitors.” Fredrick shot a grin at Will. They watched as she sputtered with indignation.

She screamed, “MOM!” and both Frederick and Will winced. Being in a family full of girls they both knew who wielded the real power in families around the world. Adalain charged into the kitchen looking around for what caused her girl to scream, finding nothing she eyed the men of the family.

“They were teasing me, asking about what suitors I have.” Becca said in triumph. Frederick quickly turned back to the oven and Will caught his mothers look before he dropped his gaze and started kneading dough quickly.

“Humpffff.” Adalain snorted, with laughter as both males avoided her gaze.

“Well now that I think about it that’s a good question.” Adalain said, Will’s head whipped up and saw his mother looking at Becca with a glint in her eye, Will heard his father chuckle but it quickly turned into a fake cough as his wife’s glare returned to him.

“Go mind the store front for a few minutes while I talk with your father.” Adalain pushed Becca out of the room. Will ignored the look Becca gave him, it promised revenge. He smiled at the thought, it had been awhile now that he thought about it, they hadn’t had a good revenge war in a while. He remembered a few times when their parents got caught in the crossfire. He finished kneading the dough and placed it into a baking tray, he grabbed another lump of dough and started kneading it again. Unlike his sisters both his parents never minded if he listened in on their discussions,

“You’re escorting Henrietta out on her date, Brandon’s father will be there, I don’t need to tell you not to get into your cups with the man.” his mother stated.

“Love, I know. Don’t forget I have known the man for the past eighteen years.” Fredrick replied.

“Well you need reminding, he always wanted to marry into my family, first my older sister and then me, but father never trusted the man’s own father. I will say he did turn around their business remarkably well once he got his father’s hands off of it.” Adalain replied with a frown.

“Yes, he turned his business around and Brandon will be inheriting it. The kid has a good head on his shoulder, you don’t need to worry, we agreed to hand other each others ledgers before we proceed with the next step.” Will’s father rolled his eyes.

“Well it’s a big deal for both of our families.” she shot back at his flippant attitude.

“I know I get it, they have a contract with the castle, if we join together we’ll both benefit greatly.” Frederick commented. Will knew what they were talking about, Brandon’s father was the go to butcher for the nobility, if Henrietta and Brandon got married, his parents could be providing breads and pastries to them also.

“It all depends on their books, we have already expanded as much as we can here and unless you want to buy a new building we need to find another source of income.” his mother said.

“It’s a good match for Hen anyways, worse case is that Brandon comes work with us, he has a number of younger brothers to take over the butcher shop.” Will’s father replied.

“Well good, now stop what you’re doing and go get cleaned up.” she took his position in front of the oven while he left to go get cleaned up.

“I like how you asked Becca about suitor’s.” Will commented with a laugh once they were alone, his mother snorted with her own laughter.

“She’s going to get you back for that you know, just make sure the war doesn’t spill over on anyone.” she replied as she took out a finished loaf.

“Speaking of which, how are your own prospects for marriage going?” she asked innocently.

“Well, there is the innkeeper’s daughter, the miller’s daughter, the cobblers, blacksmith’s carpenters, he has four daughters....” he held in his own laughter as her face got redder and redder with anger and embarrassment. She finally sighed as she got over his initial reaction and realised he was joking with her.

“One day you’ll give me a heart attack speaking like that.” she gave him a look that spoke of future hardship.

“To really answer your question, no there is no one, I haven’t really been looking because I have no idea what I am even going to do for a job, other then that I am not going to be a baker.” he replied as he finished kneading another loaf.

“How would you feel if Brandon came to work for us?” she asked quietly. He gave it some serious thought before answering.

“I am ok with it so long as he doesn’t start bossing me around like Hen does. Other then that I think he would fit in here well, you guys do really need another hand to help out. I doubt Hen will want to move on, but maybe Becca or Infin might want to. I guess it all depends on how it goes tonight with Brandon’s father.” he replied, she nodded her head at his answer and replaced some of the baked loaves with new ones.

“With your father taking Hen out for the night I thought it would be nice if I took Becca and Infini out and have some mother daughter time with them. I need to talk to Becca about her future prospects. Would it be ok if you minded the shop for a few hours.” she asked gazing at him fondly.

“Are you really offering me a few hours alone by myself in the house, no parents, no sisters to take care of or watching over me?” he ask her shooting her a look like she was crazy. He got so little alone time, while they owned their own profitable business, the family all lived on the second floor of the bakery, more than a few times he had been threatened with being moved to the basement when he was younger, the only reason he had never taken the offer was because having a oven or open flame near all of the flour and other ingredients was to dangerous, without that he would freeze during the winter months. So he was struck on the main family floor his own room not much bigger than a closet, not that he was complaining, Becca and Infini shared the bigger room, while Hen had a room just a little bigger than his own. They did have a small office in their living area, other than his parents room that was all of what was on the second floor.

“So you won’t have a problem minding the shop while we are all away?” Adalain asked breaking him out of his fantasy about what he would do with his alone time tonight.

“Yup, no problem I’ll mind the shop.” he said with a grin. She eyed him up and down for a few seconds.

“No parties, no girls, no drinking with a buddy.” she said firmly.

“Oh trust me that wasn’t on my mind, I was thinking off a nice long hot soak in the tub. Then maybe getting to one of the book’s I haven’t read yet.” he heard her sigh at his answer. They looked at each other and laughed, they both enjoyed there creature comforts.

“Want me to have some water boiling for your own bath when you get back?” he asked. He knew that the girls would take over the bathing area and his mother would just take a quick sponge bath before leaving for the night.

“Oh Gods would you?” she asked

“Yeah no problem, I am having my own bath first thought.” he glanced at the time and saw it wouldn’t be long before dinner would be severed, he went over to the stove top and fed some wood into it and put a huge kettle on the stove, his father had already taken hot water up for Hen when he was away refilling the water barrel. Becca and Infini would take up the rest of the hot water from the large kettle. It wasn’t long before it was boiling and he took some clean buckets of water into a side room by the kitchen, he filled up the tub halfway before pour half the boiling water into the cool water to warm it up, he tested it out and found that it mixed properly. Leaving the room he found Becca wrapped around in the robe waiting for him to finish.

“It’s good to go.” he said, she walked in quickly and tested it out.

“Thanks. Maybe I won’t get revenge.” she replied and started disrobing. Will quickly hurried out of the bathing room. Everyone had seen each other naked in the family and it never used to bother him until they had all started changing. While his sister felt comfortable semi naked around him he disliked it, all of them were beautiful and he kept a eye out for any men or boys that looked to long at them. He had been in a number of fights about their look when someone one would take harmless tease too far. All of his friend knew that he was very protective of them, they would tease him a little but anymore then a little was dealt with a fist to the face. So far no one had taken it further than he could deal with, and everyone watched out for each other like hawks.

The neighborhood was also in an affluent section of the town, so everyone looked out for each other. Will remember how he had gotten lost once when he was little, it hadn’t taken long for the whole street to turn out and search for him, he had merely lost his way on the winding streets and was quickly found by a neighbor, since then he had gone out of his way to keep an eye out, watching over the street and his neighbors. Will replaced a full kettle of water back on the stove and waited for it to boil, Will went into the bathroom once Becca was finished, pulled out the drain plug, he watched as the water emptied into the towns sewers. He spent a few minutes refilling the tub with water, this time he emptied the whole kettle in it, his little sister enjoyed a hotter bath then Becca liked. While he worked his mother finished with the baking for the day, they had enough loafs for the rest of the night to cover the dinner rush and any late night walk in’s. He refilled the kettle but this time his mother poured the hot water into a pitcher to take her room so she and Frederick could have a quickly wash themselves. It wasn’t long be Hen and his dad left to meet with Brandon and Mr. Butcher at a restaurant.

As everyone finally left the shop and Will took over running the front, dinner rush came in and Will let out a breath of relief when it passed and they still had left over loafs. Eventually they would have been thrown out but his mother had found an orphanage that would send over a runner to pick up whatever loaf they had at the end of the day. When there were no customers around he quickly filled the tube up with hot water and replaced the kettle back on stove, once he got to it the water in the tub would be cool. When the time came he closed up and locked the front doors just after the runner for the orphans home came and claimed their share of bread, he added a few pastries for free, feeling generous. The boy thanked him gladly before leaving. By himself finally, he took the money box upstair and locked it into the iron chest that stayed in his parents room, once that was finished he poured the hot water from the kettle into the tub and refilled and replaced it back on the stove for his mother and father when they got home. He gathered some clean clothes before stipped down and gave himself a quick wash by pouring water over his head and scrubbing. Once that was done he slowly lowered himself in the tub and relaxed, the garbage that had been rushing around his head the last few days fell away allowing him to relax for what felt like the first time in a week. The water cooled around him till he decided to get out. He glanced down at himself debating for a few moments before taking a straight blade to his body hair, Elsa the innkeeper’s daughter had mentioned how she had found out the nobility had started shaving as much hair off themselves as they could. He decided to follow her advice but only with his upper body, once that was finished he trimmer his lower area with a pair of scissors. Finished he emptied the tub and gathered the hair and got rid of it. He might play innocent and joke with his parents but he was just too embarrassed to tell them about some of the girls he had been been fooling around with, he just wasn’t confident enough to talk to any of his family about the few limited relationships he had had.  He wrapped a towel around his waist and headed out of the bathing room. He quickly put on a pair of loose linen pants and replace the water in the tub, he placed the kettle on the cooler part of the stove so it wouldn’t boil right away. Once he finished he went up to the office and looked over some of the precious books his mother and father owned. Sitting in the high backed chair behind the desk, he opened the epic one. The only books his parents bought must to the lamentation of their kids were educational once, histories, poems, math, geography and epic historical poems. He had decided on the epics for tonight taking another crack at them, he had tried reading them before but it had been to much for him to really understand, now two years had passed and he was ready to take another crack at the massive book. Unlike all the other times he fell into the tails of ancient warrior’s, soldiers, knights, kings and emperors, wars, conquests, fair ladies and even warrior women leading their lands against other men and women, even against mythical monsters and Gods. He strained his eyes as the light the candle became lower, eventually he heard a loud cough and jumped up in surprise. Looking up he saw his father grinning at him and all the girls heads poking around the doorway staring at him with wide eyes and giggles

“What?” WIll asked in embarrassment, they had all seen him much more nude then he was now.

“Girls, get on to bed with the lot of you.” Frederick shooed them away, Will watched as they scurried away, he raised an eyebrow to his father.

“You really have no idea what that was about?” he father asked once the girls were gone. Will returned a blank look,

“Follow me son.” Frederick led Will into the master bedroom and turned him so Will faced the large mirror.

“I know we always tease you about your looks, as a baby it was very cute and even as a young kid it was cute, but now you are going into a man and those looks will get you into a lot of trouble. But I want you to really look at yourself in the mirror. Some of those great hero’s you were reading about look much like you do. Baking is hard work for the person carrying around fifty pound bags, much like a blacksmith you grow muscles working the way you do, with the amount of food we can provide you, just adding to that. There aren’t many people who will be bigger than you nor as musceled. By your sisters reaction I figure they still enjoy teasing you about your looks. Your beautiful son, enough so that I worry a noble lady might try to catch your eye and keep you locked away in a harem. That’s not mentioning all the other women below their station. They’ll throw themselves at you and try and get pregnant with your baby so you’ll be forced to provide for them. What I am saying son is that you need to be very careful about your looks, you might catch the wrong kind of attention, especially if a noble girl takes a liking to you but a noble father or suitor thinks you are overstepping your place.” his rather explain, they both looked over his upper body while thinking, his sisters always teased him about his looked but it wasn’t until the innkeeper’s daughter Elsa had mentioned had beautiful he was, he figured out his sisters just teased him about his looks so his head didn’t swell up.

“That’s good advice.” his mother commented from the doorway. She came in and inspected him.

“I don’t remember giving birth to a bald baby.” she smacked him lightly on the chest, he cringed at the sensitivity of his skin.

“Maybe I’ll get your father to shave his chest for me.” she murmured. His father chuckled before turning his attention back to son.

“That is a new fad being taken up by the younger generation, in fact it’s a really old costum by the ancient heroes you are reading about in Hadicus’s Ballads. They shaved themselves much like you did so that if they died they would go to their Gods clean. Plus it keeps away lice and ticks being cleaned shaved.” his father finished with a laugh.

“Alright enough this talk, put on a shirt William, I brought you back some food from the restaurant. The girls will most like spend the rest of the night chatting between themselves, Your father and I are going to bath before going to bed, don’t spend all night reading ok.” his mother flounced from the room after gathering up some clean clothes and headed downstairs. Will followed after her with his father bring up the rear, while they disappeared into the washing room, he grabbed a package of hot food and returned to the office so he could read while eating. That night he was last to go to bed but not by much, Hen come in after the other girls had gone to bed and chatted him up, excited by the prospect of being married to Brandon. He double checked all the locked on the doors before putting out the few lit candles and tucking himself into his small bed once she finished talking to him, gazing up at the ceiling his eyes slowly drifting closed, his dreams filled with battles of heroes.

Chapter 2: Conscription.

It was mid morning before Infini woke him by kicking the end of his bed, it was later than he normally woke up.

“Mom and Dad said to wake you up, something’s happening outside!” Infini said excitedly as he awoke and just saw the edge of her dress disappearing around the corner of his door. Groaning he stretched for a minute before getting to his morning adulations. It took him a few minutes to give himself a quick wash in cold water, brush his teeth and go to relieve himself, once he dressed he joined his parents. He wondered what the excitement was about but he knew something was wrong right away when he saw everyone was in the kitchen, no one was minding the front of the shop.

“What’s wrong.” he asked concerned.

“There are soldiers in the streets, all of the streets.” Becca said worriedly. Will frowned for a moment then shook his head when he couldn’t think of a reason for the soldiers in the streets.

“There isn’t any rebellions in the city, it’s quiet from what I heard, the Lord is a old man in good health so that’s not it.” he gave out possibilities and shut them down, talking more out loud to himself than anything else. In the end he was just as stumped as he had been at the beginning, with a glance at his father Will sat up in shocked at Fredricks pale face. He wasn’t the only one to notice.

“What?” Adalain asked concern lacing her voice.

“I might have an idea. Becca, Infini, go open the front and take care of it.” he waited quietly as the two youngest girls looked at each other and quickly left. Will raised an eyebrow at his father’s reaction, rarely if ever did he split up the family, it was usually all of the kids or just the girls leaving, him including Hen was new. Frederick waited a few minutes after the girls left before speaking into the silence that had descended on them, with one simple word he changed everyone’s perspective.

“Conscription.” he said quietly, Adalain and Henrietta both gasped in shock, Will’s own mind refused to to move one step forward.

“What?” he replied dumbly

“I have seen it happen twice in my lifetime when I lived up north. The first time I was ten years old. Soldiers lined the streets, much like they are doing outside right now. The second time it happened I was twenty four, I was one of the men conscripted, I was forced into the army for a whole fighting season. Once I got out I made my way down here to the south and met your mother to get away from it, it’s been almost eighteen years since the last conscription in the duchy.” he fell silent, Will was shocked, he never had any idea his father had served in an military. Now that he thought about it Fredrick was the more adamant one about him not going the military then he mother was.

“How does it work?” Adalain asked

“One male from each family is picked, they’ll already have a list of names from the consensus. Fifteen to fifty years old. Anyone older or younger is passed by.” Frederick said quietly.

“We have to choose between the two of you who goes to war?!” Hen asked in a shocked dread.

“No Hen, we don’t choose, they’ll take one look at us and pick William. The only chance I would have of being chose would be because I am a vet, but their are always a hundreds of those that had spent the last twenty years in the army while I didn’t. You remember what I told you about your size and looks, this is a reason I never thought about, but it will work against you. When the recruiter gets a look at your size and height they’ll snatch you up.” Frederick said with tears in his eyes, Hen went in and hugged her father while Adalain came and wrapped Will in a bone crushing hug. They stayed that way for a few minutes until Frederick cleared his throat,

“Hen, Ada, I need to talk to Will for a few minutes.” Frederick reached over and grabbed Will by the shoulder and led him upstairs. Will followed his father to his parents room, he watched as Fredrick reached under his bed and pulled out a few trunks before finding the one he wanted, Will remember it, he and Becca tried to break into as kids but their father had caught him, other then today he had never seen his father afraid accept for that day. Will watched as his father brought out a key from around his neck and opened up the truck and Will crept forward to look down into it. He was amazed at the armor and weapons within.

“This is what I wore after the fighting season ended. What you are about to go through will be one of the worse experiences in your life.” his father started emptying the trunk and placing everything out on the bed.

“Go grab my pack from the closet, it will be at the bottom in the back.” Will did as his father said, it took some hunting down but finally he unearthed it and by the time he did everything in the trunk was laid out on the bed.

“Alright, most likely you’ll be placed with the foot soldiers, scouts are always country folk, hunters. Nobles will be the cavalry, we can’t afford to get you a horse, nor riding lessons nor the cost of a full suit of armor. You’ll be place in the front lines with with everyone else. You have two things that are good and bad, first is that you’re big, most soldiers will shy away from you. Only the crazy ones will attack you, you need to keep calm and fight defensively, keep behind your shield and always stay with the rest of your buddies. Second is your tall, you’ll be able to look around the field over the heads of a lot of people. Keep an eye out for cavalry and stay the hell away from them. Always cover up when the enemy launches arrows even if it looks like it won’t hit you, it only takes one arrow to kill. You’ll be outfitted by the army, they’ll give you a spear or a halberd. If you have a choice take the halberd. They’ll give you a chest plate and some chainmail to wear. An open face helmet and finally a sword and shield. What they won’t give you is what is here on the bed.” Frederick started pointing out the extra weapons and armor, vambraces for the forearms, it was chainmail with strips of steel to act like a hard stop, shin guards were made the same way. There was an extra chainmail neck protector and chainmail leggings that covered the thighs. Frederick tried them all on but only the legging didn’t fit, Frederick took a knife to them and peeled off the chain mail from the pants.

“Hopefully we have time I can get Ada to sow these on to a set of pants for you, if not take them with you and do it yourself.” Frederick said, after a moment of silence he got to the weapons.

“You’ll lose your spear or halberd, it’s going to happen. They’ll give you a backup weapon, a sword, you’ll eventually lose that too. What you’ll be left with is a knife. That is were this all comes in, you have a back up short sword, two extra knives and two boot dirks.” his father had him test out all of the weapons, despite being almost twenty years old each weapon was well cared for and oiled.

“It’s getting to be summer and unlike the north you mostly likely won’t be fighting in the cold summer storms up their but just in case you have this cloak.” Frederick pulled out a thick brown cloak.

“It’s wax coated so it can keep the rain off. And lastly is this.” Fredrick pulled a long heavy cloth that was the same as the cloak.

“Where ever you camp always place this under whatever you sleep on, it will keep you and your bedding dry. I have some advice for you. I don’t know how they’ll pick your sergeant, but if you get a chance look for the meanest oldest son of a bitch you can and join him, he’ll keep you alive. And do whatever he tells you right away. If you pick right he’ll be the harshest bastard and train you to the bone, but it will keep you alive.” Frederick finished speaking choking up at the end. Will reached for his father and gave him a crushing hug. Frederick then taught him on how to pack his bag, first his sleeping blanket, then the armor and finally the weapons with the cloak being on top for quick access. Frederick took a minute to gather himself but led the way down the stairs to the kitchen. Mid way down Becca came running up the stairs, her eyes were red and her face blotchy from crying.

“The recruiter is here.” she cried out. Will was still stunned and only nodded woodenly at her cry. When he finally got to the bottom of the stairs she gave him a hug like she never wanted to let him go, he hugged her back just as much. They all walked into the front of the shop and Will saw the recruiter right away, the man was dressed in the green with silver highlight colours of their duchy. The man took one look at Will and the pack on his shoulder before nodding his head to a scribe at his side.

“You are William Griffinson?” he asked

“I am.” Will’s voice cracked,

“You’re sixteen right?” the man asked, Will only managed to nod his head in reply, Will stared at the man’s clothes, they were fancier than anyone but what the nobles wore.

“Mark down that that the Griffinson’s have contributed to the conscription. Who would you like your will and possessions sent to?” the recruiter asked. The girls all cried out at this but Fredrick was the one that replied when Will looked at him in question.

“Everything to be left me, Fredrick Griffinson, My wife Adalain Griffinson and finally to Henrietta Griffinson. Pay should be distributed eighty percent to us and twenty percent to William.” Friedrich replied, the recruiter eyed him for a moment before looking at Will, Will just nodded his head with his father’s statement. The recruited signed a contract the scribe wrote up, Will, Frederick, Adalain and Hen all signed three more contracts.

“I’ll give you five minutes to say goodbye to your family, please come outside and join the line once you are finished.” with that the recruiter left everyone alone.

“The army supply over charges so they can make their money back, weapons, armor and clothes are freely provided for so if anyone gives you any trouble, find your sargeant and tell him. The money will just weight you down, thieving is common in camp, so is gambling and whoring. This way we can keep the majority of your money here safe for you when you get back. The twenty percent will be enough for you to do what you like with, I suggest you get extra food and a few creature comforts. Before I forget, when they give you your new clothes, get as many socks as they’ll allow you to take, that’s important. Even if it weighs you down. And always change into a dry pair any chance you get.” his father finished, for the next five minutes everyone spent hugging everyone else and he was told he was loved and telling everyone he loved them back.

“Make sure to write as much as you can. We all love you, return back to us.” His mother gave him one final hug before he exited the shop. At the last moment Infini passed him half a loaf of bread covered in butter, he gave her a hug and kiss, happy that she had at least remember that he hadn’t eaten this morning. He joined the line snaking up and down the street, it was made up mostly of young men but here and there were older ones. He finished the bread as he waited in line, he looked around every once in a while but his eyes kept straying to his family, all of whom stood in front of the bakery. Will suddenly felt a tapping on his shoulder and looked behind him, he was shocked when he saw Brandon’s pale face.

“You too?” Brandon asked, his face showing his fear.

“...” Will opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out as he stared in shock, his head whipping around to look from Brandon to Henrietta. Even over the noise he thought he heard her gasp.

“You better go see my sister.” Will said and pushed Brandon towards her. Brandon was three years older then him but Will was larger, Will watched as Brandon stumbled towards Hen and she rushed out and hugged him fiercely. It wasn’t long before she was crying into his chest beating her fists on his shoulder. Will looked over them and peered his father in the eyes, Frederick gave him a nod towards Brandon. Will nodded his head back, Will suddenly felt a slight release of tension. He looked around better at the people around him, instead of being faceless like a minute ago he recognized them all as neighbors and friends. Someone called out for the line to start marching and Brandon had to pry Hen’s arms away from him before he ran and caught up with Will.

“She said she’ll stay faithful to me, your father said he would go talk to mine and that we should stick together.” Brandon said between catching his breath.

“She probably also told you to look out for me?” Will said with a fake grin.

“Ha, she did.” Brandon chuckled back.

“We’ll have each other’s backs then.” Will said and they fell into a silence, the march only took a good hour, they stopped off at different streets to pick up more recruits to joined up at the back of the line. Eventually he and Brandon fell into excited but mostly terrified conversation, Will told him about his father having been conscripted in the north and all the advice he had given them, Brandon listened carefully and agree with it all. Once they finally marched out of the town they moved down the north road until they came to a clearing just within sight of Crest Hill, their hometown.

“Alright everyone, you’ll see two dozen sargents in front of you, I want all of you to get into lines behind them.” the recruiter yelled from horseback. Everyone started to move quickly, Brandon and Will stayed back and looked over them deciding which one to choose. Not surprisingly most people chose the younger better looking ones in brand new armor. Will discarded them right away and looked at the rest. Brandon nodded to a few and eventually they decided to go with an older man in scared armor but who himself wasn’t to scared up like others. Will looked over the man, he had grey at his temple and had the dark colouring of southerns, but his arms were heavily corded in muscles. The sargent had one of the shortest lines, mostly likely because he scowled at everyone who came near him. Will led the way to join his line but the man stopped him just before he joined up,

“What the hell makes you think you can join my group?” the gruff sargent asked. Will thought for a second before replying.

“My father said to join the meanest, oldest looking son of a bitch I could.” Will also said that he thought it was the man standing a few feet in front of him. The man went red in the face and snarled, Will backed up a step from the angry man.

“Well you chose right then, what else did your father tell you to do?” the sergeant asked.

“Told me to do whatever you said and to do it right away.” Will replied quietly.

“That’s good advice, right join the back of my line. Keep quietly until I say you can speak.” The man flicked a hand over his shoulder, they both quickly joined the line and kept quite. The sorting didn’t take much longer, in the end the sargeants line ended up being the smallest but for some reason the recruiter never commented about it. The sergeants started barking orders at everyone, Will’s sergeant was no different.

“Come on you rats, I’m going to introduce you to your favorite activity.” he led them over to two wagon filled to the tops with canvas and weapons. The wagons looked brand new to Will, he could even see some of the sap from the recently cut wood still staining it.

“Throw all your bags in, the first thing I’m going to teach you is to march!” the sargent waited a few moments until no one had a bag on their backs. He signaled the wagon drivers to start moving.

“You divid yurselfs up, half of you on the right of the wagons, half of the left. The two drivers are vets I picked myself, if they give you an order you will do your best to complete it like I gave it to you myself,” the sargent yelled out and started jogging beside the lead wagon leaving all of the recruits stumbling after them. Once Will caught up to the wagons he looked behind him and saw all of the other wagons were lagging behind. The man led them down the dirty road, it hadn’t rained in a few days so the ground was neither dusty nor muddy. He led them past the newly budding spring trees.

“You all feel like you have been throw out of your normal lives. Well you’re right, your life now belongs to the army, what we are going to do right now is jog along side the wagons until dinner. We are going to another city to pick up more recruits, once we gather them we are going to swing west towards the the borders of the duchy. All of that is for later though, once we make camp tonight you’ll find yurselves a partner. You’ll be sharing a tents with them for the whole fighting season. You’ll do everything together, patrolling around our campsite, cooking duties, latrine digging and so on. We always work in pairs. After you set up your tents for the night, we will distribute you new equipment, this includes two sets of clothing, arming pants, arming jackets, shirts, sockets, two pairs of boots. Your main weapon will either be a spear, halberd, or pike. I’m telling all of you now, no one here picks a pike to use! Pikes are meant for use against horse. I didn’t live this long to die by standing up to a stupid cavalry charge. You’ll pick spears and halberds, they are the best weapons for fighting against infantry,” the sargent carried on giving instructions for the whole march, it wasn’t long before they all started stumbling out of breath but the sergeant ran with them in full armor and talked the whole way like it was nothing. The vet’s driving the wagons yelled and goaded the recruits too, the one at the back made sure no one fell behind, if someone collapsed the recurites were forced to carry them on their shoulders for a few miles until they caught their breath. When there were more recruits dropping from exhustantion then there were able to carry the sergeant finally called a halt to the march. Will was happy to see Brandon and he were some of the last recruits still standing on their feet, they shared a grin.

“Alright all of you mount up on the wagons. Take a load off your feet.” the sergeant jumped up on the front wagon and watched the recruits struggle to get on the wagons. Will lended a hand and all but tossed a few people up. In the end he had to get Brandons help to get himself up, they all collapsed on each other no longer caring about personal space as they tried to catch their breath.

“If you think that was hard, you’re not prepared for battle yet. You’ll feel like this after five minutes in a battle.” the sergeant started his lecture again. The veteran on the second wagon handed a water skin back to everyone.

“Take one mouth full each, that’s all and pass it along.” the Vet said, when it came to Will he wanted to drain the skin more then anything but he did as he was instructed before passing the warm and leathery tasting water along. Will heard retching and raised his head and looking at the front wagon. A recruit was leaning over the wagon vomiting. Will looked away quickly as he felt his own stomach gurgle in response.

“That’s why you only take one mouth full,” their vet laughed. They had a good hour rest before the sergeant order them off the wagon this time the wagons slowed to a walking speed instead of a jogging pace. The lectures continued, everything was spoken about from how to clean yourself, to what happens when you get a pox from the camp whores and what to do about it. The sergeant explained in graphic detail about that particular aspect of camp life. He also explained military law, what you can do and can’t do to whom, who you had to listen to and whom didn’t have the right to give orders to them. It all came down to they listened to the vets and him before anyone else, including lords, dukes and so on. They would know who the sergeants superiors were but they would wait for the sergeant to interpret their nobles orders for them. As the sun started grazing the horizon the sergeant had the wagons pull over in a empty farmers field. The field was covered in newly green grass, just ankle high, here and there different types of grasses, wheats and other vegetables were sprouting up, reminites of last years harvest. The vets started giving orders to everyone to empty the wagons, their packs came off first, then the tents from the second wagon, from the first wagon the armor and weapons came off. One of the Vets demonstration on how to pitch the canvas tents. The recruits all got to work, Will and Brandon chose each other to partner with. After some fumbling around they eventually got the tent sorted out, the canvas tent was a pale brown colour of uncoloured cotton and beeswax. It would be the tight fit for Brandon having Will as a partner, but Will was happy with it, he would be able to stretch out fully.  Brandon was about to throw his bag into the tent but Will stopped him.

“Here my father gave this to me.” Will dumped out his pack until he reached the bottom and pulled out at the waterproof blanket, he laid to down at the bottom of the tent, explaining to Brandon.

“That’s a good Idea, is that cloak the same?” Brandon asked.

“Yeah.” Will replied. The sergeant came by inspected their tent and checked out the blanket.

“One of your father’s were in the army?” the man asked.

“Mine, Sir.” Will replied.

“What else do you got in that bag of your’s” The sergeant asked, having noticed that Will’s bag was heavier than the others. Will dumped everything out of it again just having put it all away. The sergeant took a minute sorting through it.

“Your father is a smart man, The army only provides the minimum amount of armor they can get away with. Take note about your partner’s armor, you’ll want to get some for yourself. In fact, you two come with me, bring your armor too.” the sargent commanded. He dropped them off in the center of the rings of tents. It took awhile but everyone started coming into the center clearing of tents, the vets and the sergeant were the last ones to arrive.

“Alright we have a few orders of business first to deal with. If you need to find me, or the vets we’ll have the standard infront of our tents.” the sergeant pointed to a tall pole with a green triangle flag.

“Next we have some more presents for you, you tall boy and partner front and center!” the sergeant pointed to Brandon and Will. He pulled out a package and tossed them one each, they opened it up and brought out a heavily quilted and padded clothing. Will sorted through it and saw their were two padded jackets and two padded pants, two thin shirts and underwear, he groaned when he only saw two socks. Remember what his father had said about it he asked the sergeant about it.

“Sergeant, do you have more socks?” Will asked, the camp quilted down he was the first person to even ask the sergeant a question. Will watched as the man looked him up and down for a few second before nodding his head.

“What’s your name?” the sergeant asked.

“William Griffinson.” Will replied.

“Well Will, you’re question about the socks is the best one you could have asked, I have in fact four extra pairs of socks for everyone.” The sergeant went into a long lecture about foot care, everyone groaned and a few of the younger men glared at Will.

“Alright boy’s strip down.” The sergeant nodded at them, both Brandon and Will hesitated but after a glare from the sergeant they did as they were told.

“I said strip down, I meant all the way.” the sergeant yelled at them, red faced both boys stripped until they were naked in front of everyone.

“Two lessons you all need to understand, you’ll see more bare arses in the military than anywhere else, we piss, shit and bathe together. Second thing, Will has the right idea, the less hair you have on you the less likely you’ll get lice or ticks. In your packages you’ll find straight razors, when we stop for the night, if we’re near a stream or some well’s you’ll all shave your selves bare. Will, Brandon, put on the new clothes.” They quickly did as he said, Will pulled out everything and laid in on the ground in front of him, the underwear went on quickly. Will pulled up the heavy pants and stomped into his new boots. The Arming jacket was next, both were dyed a dark forest green, the coat and pants were heavier than even his winter clothes. Everything was covered in buckles and leather straps.

“Alright, now let’s show everyone how to armor up your partner. Bradon started armoring up Will.” the Vets came and helped Brandon out, he needed the help. Will was only giving two two pieces of armor, a breastplate, with shoulder pauldrons and a helmet, they connected to the extra leather straps on the arming coat.

“That is all the army will provide for protection, but unlike most of your, Will’s father was smart enough to give him some extra armor.” the sergeant yelled out earning Will a few more glares. The vets came up up to Will and strapped on the rest of his armor. Forearm and shin guards, the sergeant had Will take off his helmet and put the neck and face protector on, the Sergeant placed Will’s helmet back on his head. The open face helmet only covered his nose barely, but with the extra armor covered his cheeks and chin, it also covered the front and back of the neck.

“This is the most important piece of equipment you can get besides the breastplate. It’s called a hood gorget. It will protect your head in case you lose your helmet.” the sargent began to explain about the other pieces of equipment that Will had on, he finished by grabbing the two free pieces of chain mail. The sergeant demonstrated the different areas on the jacket and pants it could be sewn on, by the armpits, crotch, thighs, top of the boots and between the pauldrons and elbows. The sergeant dumped the two chainmail squares back into Will’s pack. The sergeant had Will help with Brandon’s armor next, after some fumbling he had the armor strapped on tight to Brandon. Will stood up and moved in the armor along with Brandon, it was heavy and constricting, adding maybe sixty pounds to both of them, Will breathed in relief, he could barely feel anything digging into him because of how thick the arming clothes were.

“Alright weapons are next, pick whichever ones you want.” the sergeant waved to the different piles of weapons, as his vets started handing out the packages of armor and clothes. Brandon hesitated for moment so Will stepped forward first, he looked over the halberds and picked one, there were a few different styles but he picked a simple crescent axe on one side and a sharp hook on the other with short spike at the top. Brandon hesitated for a moment but picked a spear instead of a halberd. They walked over to the next pile and each of them picked a single handed arming sword. Will was about to reach and pick up a shield but the sergeant stopped him.

“For those of you picking halberds as a weapon, normal shields are mostly useless when you’re in combat, pick a shield with a strap on it so you can grab it quickly if arrows rain down, then toss it away.” the sergeant grabbed Will’s halberd and a shield to demonstrate. His first position he held the shield over him with one hand with his other hand holding the halberd up. The sergeant moved quickly and slung the shield behind him, the strap around his shoulders carried the shield until it bumped into his back. Then the sergeant took a two handed stance with the halberd and swung it around a few times before he stood straight and reacted around his back and brought up his shield again

“Alright everyone grab your equipment.” the Sergeant handed Will back his halberd and gave him the strapped shield, Will practiced the move a few times to get used to it. After twenty minutes everyone had mid ranged weapons and close range shields and swords. The vets divided them all up and had a few of them trade weapons, the buddy system came into effect again one person would be a halberd wielder and one a spearman who could hold onto their shield while fighting with a spear the whole time.

“Alright boys and girls the first thing we are going to do is.... march.” the sergeant and vets all laughed but no one else did, for the next two hours everyone marched around their camp site. The sergeant would call out directions and they would follow it to the best of their ability, the first hour was a huge mess but by the end of the second hour it wasn’t to bad. They finished up just as the next wagon showed up in the clearing, it was filled out of breath soldiers. The sergeant ignored it and had them gather around the center of their camp giving out more instructions, eventually the sergeant dismissed them all to do different duties. A quarter of the recruits were put on patrol around the camp, the next quarter were giving food and fire tending duties, the rest were to relax which meant that they were to take care of their equipment. Will and Brandon were lucky and fell in with the last group. They shucked their armor off and relaxed for a few minutes on their quilted bedding, another gift from the army. Eventually Brandon spoke.

“Let’s go find a log for us to at least sit on.” Will followed Brandon out of the tent, the woods were only a few dozen yards away from their campsite. They both walked into the sparse woods, it had obviously been logged out whoever owned the field, the largest trees only a little thicker than their arms. They searched around the scrub brush and they were able to find a log that wasn’t completely rotten, they trekked it back and sat it in front of their tent. They made another trip and collect some fallen wood to burn for the night, it was spring but the nights were still cold even if the days were hot as hell. The camp was situated between two small hills, the forest grew on one hill but the other hill held part of the field. After piling up the wood they started at each other for a minute before realizing they didn’t have any flint on them. Will rolled his eyes and hunted for the sergeants tent, he found it quickly because of the standard, the sergeant and vets were all huddled around their own campfire speaking quietly.

“Sir, do you happen to have any flint.” Will asked, the vets grinned but one of the produced a small package, Will glanced in and saw it was filled with a few things.

“Flint, oil for the blade and armor, extra leather for the buckles, whetstones, here is another for your partner.” the vet tossed him another pack.

“Food will be finished in an hour, you’ll get your dishes then.” the sergeant said. Will thanked them and retreated away from their fire. He returned to Brandon and showed him the new packs he had been given,

“Can you believe this is happening?” Brandon asked quietly after he had the fire started and the both sat back against the log to relax. Will looked up at Brandon from cleaning and sharpening his halberd, he thought for a few minutes.

“It’s insane, I don’t know how they expect us to fight.” he replied returning to inspecting his weapons not that he knew what he was doing.

“They’ll train us, but I don’t know much good that will do, you picked the right sergeant to follow it seems.” Brandon pointed out another group of wagons arriving, they watched the other recruits and they all seemed even more lost then Brandon and he were. The sun set and other camps were soon erected haphazardly unlike Will’s own, everyone milled around in confusion. It was quite a spectacle to see, not all of the other sergeants were useless it seems a number of them either circled up their tents or made ordered rows, eventually the useless ones had their recruits re pitch their tents in a semblance of order so that finally the whole clearing looked like a ordered army. Brandon and Will talked the whole time about their hopes and dreams, eventually they heard a bell call for their fellow soldiers to come and grab some food. They each collect a plate, knife, fork and a large mug that could be used as a soup cup, it was this last one they used tonight, they were given two slices of bread and a filled mug. They returned to to their own fire and after a few minutes a few other recruits asked to join them, neither Brandon or Will minded and invited them to join in, it wasn’t long before their fire had a half a dozen people around it, from old to young a few of them grabbed stumps and fallen logs out of the forest much like Will had done an hour before. They ate and talked quietly among themselves, other campfires sprouted out in their camp, and people gathered around them. Wil sighted as he scooped up the stew with the bread, both left much to be desired, the bread was hard, had no lavender in it and salted to much. Will was suddenly reminded of his home and he could hear and smell his family working in the kitchen. Will’s eyes watered for a moment but he got ahold of himself, he couldn’t cry the first night infront of everyone. Will buried his emotions and finished his food quickly, ignoring how much he missed his parents food and comfort. Before long they all called it a night, Brandon and Will banked the fire, cover the coals with ash so they would last till morning. Throughout the whole night neither of them slept much, the noise outside of the camp kept waking them up and a few hours before dawn on of the vets kicked them awake.

“Get armored up and patrol the whole camp, keep yah eyes out of the camp fires so that you won’t ruin your night vision.” with gruff order the Vet left them. They both grumbled but woke up and started helping each other into their arming jackets and armor. Will decided to put all his armor on, that way he would get used to the weight on his limbs. They started their patrol around the came doing as the vet said and keeping their eyes away from the glare of the fires. They were both happy that the camp was between both hills, neither of them looked forward to walking up and down them. Two hours later they became bored but they kept at it until they were relieved at dawn. The sergeant fed them breakfast, everyone was given a leather wrapped tin canteen. They both drank them down and filled them from a small creek one of the recruits had found, Will smiled as he knelt with his hands in the cold water, you could step across it but the cool water soothed his hands, patrolling with halberd and shield was very different and already raising calluses on both his hands. After breakfast was done the sergeant drilled them all in marching again and finally into weapons training. Everyone struggled but the movements were simple, the sergeant and vets assured them all, that they would understand it after a few days. They quickly packed up their wagons with the tents but this time the sergeant wanted them to march in their equipment and packs, Brandon quickly broke down the tent while Will made sure their packs were good to go. One of the vets came around and made him repack them just to make sure everything was done properly. Ture dawn broke and they were once again the first wagons to move out from the whole camp. The day turned into a hot one and everyone sweated under their armor and padded jacket, the trees lining the road way barely gave them any shade from the harsh southern sun. They marched for the whole day at times the sergeant forced them to run instead of march, dust and dirty kicking up to coated their legs. They were worn out quickly and they climbed onto the wagons for a rest, the vets soon kicked them off and had them running and marching beside the wagons again. Will’s arms burned from carrying his shield and weapons. As the sun started to set the all stumbled in another farmers field and the sergeant call for a halt, they ran through the same preparations they had the night before, tents first then training, then patrolling and finally food. Unlike the first night Will barely noticed his surrounding, his exhaustion forcing him to move more by instinct than anything else. The terrible bread once again made him heart sick for home, this time a tear escaped before he could catch it. If anyone noticed the kept quiet about it. The other wagons all rolled in anywhere from an hour or three hours after them. The vets all came around giving instructions, Will and Brandon were put on latrine duty for the first time that night, it wasn’t hard they just dug a trench with some shovels, the nasty part would be when they had to fill it in the morning. Everyone had different duties each night, the vets explained eventually certain jobs like cooking would go to the best cooks. Will told one of vets that while he had grown up in a bakery he couldn’t cook worth shit, Brandon added that he had been a butcher’s apprentice before. The vet noted this down in a small before telling them to get back to work digging. Will grunted and picked up another shovel full of dirty and tossed it to the side. The night passed quickly this time they both fell asleep quickly and in the morning Brandon and Will found out why digging latrines was considered a punishment duty, the smell alone made them dizzy, one of the vets happened by when Will puked his guts out and laughed at his plight.

“You’re getting off easy, just think about it if we had stayed more than one night at a camp. And that’s not mentioning noble’s latrine, they have servants build outhouses for them but they shit in a large wooden bucket, you have to drag the bucket out of the outhouse and dump it in a pit, it splashes everywhere” The vet chuckled at their horrified expression.

“No more latrine duty.” they agreed with each other. The rest of the day passed much like it had before, midday they stopped running when they came within sight of another large town, it was the first town WIll had ever seen outside of his own. He quickly picked up the differences compared to Crest Hill. They pitched their tents well outside of the town and made camp,  the vets explained that when the recruiter arrived the man would meet the lord of the city and tomorrow or the next day conscription would begin. Other recruiters were hitting smaller town, villages and farms all across the dukedom, eventually they would all meet in a general gather area.

“Who are we fighting against?” Will asked, the sergeant glanced at him darkly before answering, the other recruits quickly dropped their work to pay attention to the answer.

“Every decade the king allow two or more duke’s to battle over land, there are a bunch of rules to the fighting but it’s basically a land grab for the dukes, at the end the king takes the best men from both armies and takes them under his banner to replenish the Kingdom’s standing army. The only professional army this kingdom is allowed to have.” the sergeant said quietly. They all gasped in surprised outrage, everyone started yelling all at once realizing they were all just pawns in a land grabbing scheme and not defending their homes.

“SETTLE DOWN!” the sergeant yelled, shutting them all up, he glared around at everyone including Will.

“It might all sound like a game but there are two reason to fight as hard as you can, the first is that our Duke is a much better man than the one or ones we are going to be fighting against. Most of the other Dukes are brutal monsters, killing and raping their own people at their pleasure. Your Duke is the opposite, that good life you left behind is all because he fights against the other Ducal tyrants. That is not even the most important reason. The King needs as many vets as he can get, each noble is allowed to have a few knights for protection, each city allowed guards but no one but the king is allowed to have a professional army, he protects the whole kingdom from outside invaders, other kingdoms or empires that would make you into slaves. As brutal as this may seem to you right now in the end in makes us all safer and your dukedom richer. That means cheaper food and crafts, more land to settle on and so on. Now I mentioned their are a few rules, rules that if are broken means execution to whoever broke them. No farms, villages, town or cities will be sacked on pain of death. No raping or looting, whores will be following the main army at the staging area. Depending on the order of battle we might be given a few option, either hit a certain target to win or just a general melee, now both sides won’t fight to the death, the King or a member of the privy council will be watching and depending on strategy and tactics he can call for a win or lose for a particular battle. Now having said that, this is war, fight to kill you opponents because they won’t give you any mercy. The whole fighting season will be one battle after another unless something disastrous happens. Now to get to some of the reason you might want to fight personally, you will all be well paid for the whole season, even if you die the full season pay will be given to your family or whoever you left in your will. Second reason is that a lot of nobles will die during the fighting, those commoners that show something special could be raised to peerage. Either being raised to squire hood or as a noble. Unlike other kingdoms who keep their nobles and commoner separate no matter what, we take the best commoners we have an try to raise them above the station they were born into. Even if that doesn’t happen the money you will make during the fighting will be enough for even the poorest of you to open up your own shop or inn. For those in debt you can pay them off and start fresh.” the man ended his lecture. Will was still horrified about learning about the conscription but the man had at least explained the reasons behind it. Will thought for a few minutes before he asked another question, the sergeant glared at him again.

“When do we get paid and can we go into the city?” Will asked, the sergeant looked at him again for a moment before rolling his eyes.

“Not tonight, every three days you will get paid, tonight we will do a roll call, I have to sort through your contracts to see how much to pay you. For tonight just set up camp, we’ll run some drills. In the morning we’ll pay you, two thing to keep in mind before you are allowed in the city, no fighting, punishment for that is half a dozen lashings, and second tell no one about conscription, if you do and we find out who you are you’ll forfeit all your money and still have to fight.” the sergeant warning them. They all got to work and trained some more, this time the vets had them training with their swords and shields. The next day was surprising for them instead of packing up right away they stayed camped, the whole day they ran through drills and weapons training. It was also the first time they had been near a good water source, the vets refilled the barrels in the wagons first and then everyone was told to strip down and give themselves a quick wash, they also washed their new but smelly clothing. They were told once they got to the main camp a number of army followers would be present, from whores to men and women who would clean and repair their clothing. Food would be able to be bought, and a hundred other things but for now they would rely on themselves to do everything. During dinner the evening the sergeant set up a table and called for everyone to gather to get paid. Brandon and Will ended up near the back of the line and Will watched as most of the recruits were paid with a hefty bag of coin. When it was Will’s turn the sergeant handed him a much small bag,

“Your old man is smart, making you give eighty percent to him instead of carrying it around with you, spending it on overpriced stuff you won’t need.” the sergeant gave him a nod and moved on. Will and Brandon returned to their tent and dump their pay on their bed, even Will with his smaller pile hadn’t ever had this amount of coin in hand ever. The silver and coppers coins shined in his eyes.

“We’re rich.” Brandon cried out. Will looked over both their piles before giving Brandon some advice.

“Alright here is what I think we should do, get you armored up like me first thing, we should also spent some money on a few things, the army feeds us but there is a lack decent food in it. Maybe we should buy some jerky, nuts and berries so we can eat while marching, I’m used to having lunch and not skipping it like we have been the last few days.” Will commented. Brandon thought for a second before nodding his head.

“I agree, I want to get back to Hen a full man. Lets head towards the armorer first.” They both didn’t know if they should wear their armor in town or not so Brandon went to ask a vet, he soon returned.

“No armor, but we are to wear our arming jackets and swords, knives too. He gave also gave us guard duty, we have middle watch.” Brandon said with a sigh, Will grumbled under his breath, middle watch was always the worse because it broke up the sleep pattern.

“Alright let’s get everything done early then we can at least get some sleep before our watch.” Brandon led the way into Sheffield. The town was smaller then Crest Hill but not by much, even during early evening the streets were still full, they passed people all of whom eyed them, their green arming clothes were much different than what the town guards wore. They found the blacksmith easy by just following the ring of their hammers, the first two ended up being the wrong kind of blacksmiths but the third one was an armorer. Will followed Brandon into the man’s shop and his eyes widened in excitement, the walls and racks were covered with different types of armor, plate, mail, boiled leather, and everything in between. They looked over everything and eventually an apprentice came to help them. They both wanted to spend all their coins but eventually they reasoned with each other that Brandon should just get the same type of armor Will had. The master blacksmith came out and fitted some standard armor to Brandon, eventually the smith bought out two chain mail and leather skirts. Will studied the extra armor, it was just strips of boiled leather and mail that would wrap around their hips and cover their groins and upper legs. They both tried it on and found it was great for moving around it and offered better protection than just the arming pants.

“Take these for a few coppers boys, I can’t fight, nor will my apprentices because we are all blacksmiths but these skirts I can give you for cheap, they aren’t popular like I thought they would be but they’ll protect your bits well enough.” the smith said with a dark laugh. Brandon and Will thanked the man gratefully as he went to his forge and fixed the pieces for Brandon’s size, it went quickly and Brandon was out thirty percent of his pay. They next went to a swordsmith and picked up a few more knives for Brandon. The headed towards the butcher and Brandon took over the negotiations getting a much better price for jerky, the man also had small packs of trail rations. Once that was finish they wondered around the city, buying some street food to waste time. Eventually they ended up at a bank and desportied the majority of their money in exchange for some bank notes that could be used anywhere in the Kingdom, Will bought a bill fold that was waterproof so that his own notes wouldn’t be ruined. On their way back to camp Will convinced Brandon to go to the recruiter or sergeant and change how much he would get paid every three days. Will followed along and watched as Brandon talked to the sergeant, Will was invited in and had to sign the contract as a witness, the sergeant left them after to hunt down the recruiter to log the change. Back at their tent, Will helped Brand put on all the new bits of armor for him to test out, Will tried on the leather and mail skirt and decided while it looked weird he like it. They both took off their armor and started sewing on patches of mail to their jackets and pants. They debated were the best places would be, in the end they both decided to wrap the mail around their knees and lower thighs, and finally the armpits and elbows.

“Don’t suppose they’ll let us hunt around at the end of a battle for platemail do you?” Will asked about the armor knights wore.

“Probably not, our knights will most likely claim it.” Bradon replied, that night they did get to bed early and were woken up in the middle of the night. The watch was boring and nothing happened before they were relieved by their replacements. In the morning bad news filtered down from the Vets, two people had deserted not from their camp but from another, one had been caught but the other was missing. The sergeants from all over the camps came by rousing everyone and had them lined in formation up to watch the deserter being lashed. Two of the older sergeants strapped the man to a makeshift pole, one walked away and took up a bullwhip. Will watched in the bright morning sun as the charges were called out and the man pleaded guilty. The first crack of the whip startled everyone and a red welt appeared on the man’s back. The sergeant waiting near the prisoner called out the number of the lash. On the third lashing the poor man’s skin broke. Will thought he would be sick as he continued to watch the rest of the lashings, the man’s back soon parted under the whips of a sergeant. From his position he couldn’t see much but he was happy for that fact. What he couldn’t block out was the snap of the whip and the screaming. Eventually it was over and the man was taken away to a healer in the city, he would have a day to heal before being forced back into the army. The high moral they had been enjoying since payday darken at the reminder their lives weren’t their own.

Training took care of the depressed thoughts for the rest of the day and on the third day near Sheffield township the recruiter returned with long lines of conscripts. A third wagon was added to Will’s and Brandon’s camp, it was full of tents, armor and weapons for the new recruits. Will had to smother a laugh as the sergeant’s line was yet again the smallest of all the camps, but a glare from the man shut him up right away. The new recruits all looked as dazed as Will had felt the first day, the older recruits all quickly took the new men and boys under wing and explained a few things. The sergeant was the first to break camp again, the new recruits all ran around in civilian clothes but the rest of them were armored up, Will was pleased to see that the majority of people in his camp had bought extra armor to wear, the majority of it being mail hooded gorets. The new recruits were treated just like the rest of them had been, when finally the majority of them dropped from exhaustion they were dumped into the wagons at midday. Will was surprised that the rest had lasted as long as they had in armor, it wasn’t until dusk that they started lagging behind to. The sergeant called for a marching pace for the rest of the time until they found a good clearing in the forested road. Luckily enough there was a small river winding its way through the trees, the sergeant lectured about the importance of choosing the proper campsite and showed them an example of why.

“Sergeant? I have a question?” Will asked, the sergeant rolled his eyes but waved his hand for Will to continue, everyone else in the camp groaned, whenever he asked a question it seemed the vets worked them all the hard in training.

“What’s your name?” Will asked, a few people laughed out loud before figuring out they didn’t know the sergeants name, nor did they know the name for the two vets either. The sergeant stared at him for a second before chuckling.

“Alright, you have earned my respect enough for me to at least tell you my name. I am Sergeant Fellfield, you will address me as Sergeant Fell or just Sergeant. This is Veteran Smith and this is Veteran Agusti. You will refer to them either as Vet or Veteran then their name.” Fell got back to lecturing them, the whole camp sighed in relief that WIll’s question answered without any punishment. Soon enough Fell and the vets all started drilling them again after handing out equipment for the new recruits, two recruits got smacked on the back of the head when they went to pick up the long pikes instead of spears or halberds. Unlike the other times at training, the sergeant pushed them all. The wagons from the other camps came in all night long, Will and Brandon would have laughed about it but it woke them up constantly throughout the night. In the morning Will was commanded to make breakfast, he did so knowing that is was going to be terrible, halfway through Agusti stopped by to taste some of the oatmeal and smacked him on the back of the head for ruining it. Will was given the unpleasant task of filling in the latrine while the vet did what he could to salvage the meal. He was told in no uncertain terms to never cook anything while in camp again much to the laughter of Brandon. They trained in the morning but headed out soon after sunrise. During the march Fell divided everyone into units, one would be under Fell another under Smith and the last under Agusti. Will wasn’t sure if he was suppose to be happy or frightened that he and Brandon were chosen to be under Fell himself.

They marched across the duchy for the next week and a half, every morning and night they trained in tactics, formations and weapons. During the day it was all marching and running building up their endurance. The vets took turns posing questions to each recruit about why or why not the army did certain things. With the pace Fell set it wasn’t long before the other wagons lagged further behind, only two other sargeants kept their men up to Fell’s harsh regiment. The rest were following a day or more behind. The other two camps kept up with them for the whole week and a half, they broke camp at the same time and arrived just after each other. Will wasn’t surprised to see that the other two sergeants were old hard looking men, the young soft ones were left behind. Competition started forming between all three of the camps, on the road they all just fell in line but when they pitched or struck camp it was a race to see who could pack and unpack up the fastest, who had the most ordered tents, who had the best food and who cooked it the fastest. The sergeants and their vets all made outlandish bets with each other in everyone’s hearing. The losers sometime had to dig a latrines for all three camps or go collect firewood, the bets themselves were never about money but about taking over camp duty. Fell’s recruits only lost twice during that week, the rest of the time they either came in second or first. The weather punished them and blessed them, heavy rains lasted for two days covering everyone in mud, then they got two hot dry days to dry out. On the last day of marching a light rain fell on all of them, soon enough mud covered all of them and the wet road made running and jogging all the harder, they finally crested a hill and over looked a wide valley backed by hills to the north and south.

“Holy shit!” Will swore, everyone’s language had become cruder and cruder. Below the hill they were on, a massive army was sprawled across the width of the valley. They watched for a moment as massive squares of foot soldiers drilled in the fields outside of the main part of the camp. Fell led the whole wagon train down to the edge of the army camp.

“Everyone hold here, Smith stay with them and keep them out of trouble, Agusti you’re with me.” Fell said as he hopped off the wagon and headed deep into the camp, he carried along a the package which held their contracts and names. It was a good hour of waiting before Fell and the other sargents returned, following them was a noble on a horse.

“Follow me to Baron Vinnard’s camp.” The noble bellowed as he trottered his horse ahead of their column. They followed behind silently, while the sergeant was slack with the recruits talking to him or each other as they march, he had warned them all that the knights and nobles wouldn’t allow the lack in discipline. The noble explained a few detailed to Fell but no one could overhear what was being said, eventually the man led them to the back part of the southernmost part of the camp. Will saw that all three of the newly arrived sergeants would be placing their camps to the south east of the whole army, at the edge of the larger camps. The noble trotted away leaving the sargeant to deal with their troops.

“We got luck and unlucky.” Fell said as he looked around their new campsite.

“We are on the edge of camps so won’t get bogged down in mud, we have a hill to our south, the forest to our east, west is the main camp and north of us will be our fellow brother camps.” Fell pointed to the other recruits they had spent a week with, they were located just north of their position. Each camp would be between the forest and the main part of the southern camp.

“Why is it bad luck sergeant?” someone called out, Fell glared around but couldn’t find out who had interrupted him.

“Cause cavalry can come thundering down that hill or archers can sneak through those woods and shoot a few arrows at us while we sleep. Alright Smith, see to the camp get the tents set up, circular formation, get fires spread out and food cooking, Agusti get into those woods and scout it, set up hides for guards, get bells or horns in them for warning. I want it nice and tight so no bastard sticks me with an arrow while I am sleeping. My until break out the axes we’re going to create a palisade on the hill so horsemen can’t come rushing down and get us.” Fell finished talking, Will sighed as everyone broke away to do their duty, WIll collected an axe and followed sergeant Fell into the woods to start cutting trees down.