Chapter 1

Devlin Cantor was wondering what he had gotten himself into. He had left home after getting into a fight with his stepfather over something his stepbrother had done. He had only stayed at home because of his mother, but she was dead, now. He no longer had a reason to stay with his stepfather, whom he despised.

Dev, at seventeen was tall and strong. He was told by his mother he got his height from his father, and his strength from his grandfather, both on his father's side of the family. He had never met his grandfathers or any of his fathers or mothers relatives for that matter. His father had moved them to Saychon, on the western edge of the kingdom when he was too little to remember.

He shook his head at the memory. He had left home five days ago, and now he was a recruit in the army of King Kaslen. He had joined the army for four years, and had gotten a silver as a signing bonus. That was more money than he had seen since his mother had married his stepfather, four years earlier.

Dev sighed sadly at the memory of his mother's death, just nine days before. He had loved her with all his heart, and had only stayed at the farm because of her. Once she was dead, things had gone down hill for him, quickly.

Now with his mother and father dead, and the farm in the hands of his stepfather, Dev had finally lashed out at the people who had made his and his mother's life miserable for the last few years.

He had beaten his stepbrother to unconsciousness, and then when his stepfather had tried to intervene, he had punched him straight in his mouth, breaking several teeth most satisfactorily. His mother's restraining hand had been the only thing that had saved those two from his wrath before now.

When he was done fighting, he realized he could not stay there anymore, nor did he want too. He went into the house that his father had built so long ago, and grabbed what little was his and placed it all in a small pack.

His mother's hairbrush. A cup she said was his father's favorite was wrapped in his extra tunic, and placed carefully in the pack along with his only extra trousers, and two extra pairs of socks. He then grabbed some bread and a water skin, and left the farm.

He had walked for four days, to the town of Spriggans, and had sought out the king's recruiter there for their army. Spriggans was the largest town close enough to Saychon to have a recruiter.

Spriggans was the town where all the surrounding farms had shipped all their produce, too. Dev had always been amazed at the size of the town, and how many people lived there. It seemed something was always going on in Spriggans.

The recruiter explained to Dev that in taking the king's silver and signing the book, he was promising to join the army for four years, and to obey all orders of those above him in rank. Dev agreed, and signed the book. The recruiter was pleased to discover that Dev could read and write.

"Congratulations. You are a recruit private in the army. You make the fifth I have signed in the last few days, and when I get one more, I will take everyone to Westford. That is where the closest military camp is.

"Take this marker to the inn down the street for a meal. Just give it to innkeeper, and he will feed you. Come back later today, and I will give you another for supper, tonight. Any questions?"

"If we are here for any length of time, where do I stay?" Dev asked curiously.

"The inn of course. Now then, the rules. You are a member of the army now, and there will be no fighting with the civilians, here, understand? You show up at first light every morning we are here, and I will issue markers for your meals.

"During the day, you will be required to come here and listen as I explain some of the basics to you, and practice a few things. Nothing too hard, and it will get you used to being in the army, understand?" Recruit sergeant Forster asked.

"Yes," Dev responded.

"First lesson. Until you are finished with your training, the correct answer is, 'yes, sir' or 'no, sir'," sergeant Forster stated.

"Yes, sir," Dev replied.

Dev found himself free for the rest of the day, and went to the inn with his chit to eat. After the meal, he returned to the recruiter, but was told to go and enjoy himself. Dev wandered the town of Spriggans and took in everything.

The Westford army camp was a shock. First, the city of Westford was huge by itself. A great walled city that had stood for some one hundred and fifty years as the western most edge of the kingdom, until the recent westward expansion of the last forty years or so.

After Dev and his little group had marched through the gates of Westford, they had marched through the city to the military barracks. Sergeant Forster had turned over the recruits and the book to another man, and left without a word or backward glance.

"Welcome to the army of Darlonther. You are now assigned to the fifth army, training battalion. You will be issued three uniforms and a pair of boots, which you will use exclusively.

"After you are issued your uniforms, boots and bedding, you will turn in all personal items you have brought with you to the quartermaster for storage. This includes clothing, your own boots, and any personal effects you may have brought with you. Any questions? No? Follow me then," the elderly man stated and they moved towards a long low building.

Soon, Dev and his companions found themselves turned over to yet another man who took them to a long table with equipment on it.

"I am quartermaster Keeve. Line up behind a pile on the table, one person to one pile. Now then," and so it went.

Each man was issued bedding, a pack, boots, and uniforms, a cloak. Each man was told to strip and the uniforms and boots were fitted as closely as possible, leaving each person a little 'growing room' for development.

They then turned over all their personal possessions, including any money they had left on them. Dev had his silver still, and the quartermaster marked it in the book along with his personal possessions. The quartermaster was pleased to discover that Dev could read, write, add, and subtract.

Dev groaned as he got out of bed, several mornings later. His leg and arm muscles hurt more than he could ever remember them hurting. The training had started with just marching in files. Each file had ten soldiers, including the file leader.

Dev found himself in the second file and file leader. There were five files per platoon, and a sergeant was in charge of the platoon. Besides marching, Dev discovered that running was on order for soldiers in the training battalion.

If you went anywhere by yourself, you ran. If you weren't marching somewhere, you ran

at the double. To top it off, they had started sword training, and muscles not used to holding weighted wooden practice swords and heavy wooden shields screamed out in protest.

One day blended into another. Up before dawn, breakfast, cleaning the quarters and rolling the bedding, then a morning march of two hours which was part march and part run. Then came instruction on military law, and the responsibilities of being a soldier.

Then lunch, which was usually a light meal, as sword and shield training followed for three hours. Also, formation fighting was being introduced as well. Maneuvering under arms. Even bow training was included, as well as throwing the javelin, the spear, and using pikes.

Then a heavy supper meal was served with a pint of ale, followed by equipment maintenance, and free time. Free time proceeded going to bed by about an hour, and by then everyone was exhausted and ready for sleep.

No one received any pay during training. 'You are given three meals a day, a place to sleep and clothing.' This was deemed enough for 'training soldiers', as the sergeants were wont to say.

During training, Dev made a couple friends. One was a young man about the same age as Dev named Jarn, the other was a slightly thinner older man of about twenty named Vors.

"I heard we are going to be doing a long road march tomorrow," Vors said in the barracks.

"Where do you hear all this stuff at anyway, Vors? Every time you hear something, it usually turns out to be true," Jarn said, grumbling.

"Hey, at least we can plan to take a bit of bread or something with us then. You know the last time we went on a road march, we didn't get fed until evening meal," Dev commented thoughtfully.

"That's our Dev, always thinking of his stomach," Vors said with a chuckle.

"You still didn't say where you heard this bit of information," Jarn said to Vors.

"Ok, I happened to be passing by the sergeants quarters on my way back from the latrine, and overheard the information," Vors responded.

"Hmm, strange, since the latrine is nowhere near the sergeants quarters," Dev said with a grin.

Just before they were to go to bed, their sergeant entered.

"Listen up. We are going on extended field maneuvers starting tomorrow. I want you to pack one spare uniform, one extra pair of socks, and your extra boots. Since we will be gone for tomorrow, you will also pick up one days rations in the morning. Leave your bedding, but take your cloaks and don't forget your water skins," the sergeant stated then turned and left.

The next day, after breakfast, the training battalion issued out bread and cheese to the training soldiers, and then after putting the cloth wrapped cheese and bread in their packs, the soldiers were marched over to draw practice weapons and heavy wooden shields.

Two hours later found the entire training battalion far from Westford and high into the hills to the north. The pace was fast, and sergeants went up and down the line of marching soldiers exhorting them to 'stay in file, and keep an eye on your buddy.'

"Easy for them, they are on horses," muttered someone close to Dev.

Around midday, they were halted and told they could take a break and eat a bit of their cheese and bread. Dev, Vors, and Jarn gathered and sat together. Jarn started wolfing down his cheese and bread.

"You might want to go easy on that. We might not be back in time for supper you know," Dev told his friend.

"Never happen. We are always fed every night, you know that. Best meal of the day," Jarn replied.

Dev shrugged and ate about half his wedge of cheese and half his bread, washing it all down with water. At least he had eaten enough to take the edge off his hunger. Jarn was not the only one to eat all their cheese and bread. A majority of soldiers ate everything they had brought with them quickly.

Instead of turning around and heading back to the city, the soldiers kept heading north. Dev settled into the march easily, and held the sword in his right hand easily, and the shield in his left.

Everyone marched with sword and shield at the ready. They marched well into the afternoon, with sergeant yelling out drill orders. Time after time, Dev's file responded to, 'enemy left', or 'enemy right', and everyone responded, but never fast enough or well enough to suit the sergeants.

Finally around suppertime they marched off the road into a clearing. They were formed up into their platoons and their sergeants spoke to them.

"Ok, this is where we bivouac for the evening. We have guard duty from third hour to dawn. Other than that, I want you all to bed down in this area. Questions?" their sergeant,

sergeant Gasty asked.

"When are we going to eat?" someone in one of the other files asked.

"You were given rations for the march weren't you? I know you each got a wedge of cheese and bread. If you ate them already, then it's your own fault. Any other questions? No? Then I suggest you turn in as third hour comes early," the sergeant said and strode away.

Dev checked his file, and found most, but not all had saved some cheese and bread. He talked to everyone and said that if they each gave a bit of cheese and bread, everyone would have something for the evening.

"What if we keep going tomorrow?" Dalpor asked worriedly.

"Think. The wedge of cheese they gave us and bread would not last long at all. I am betting we head back tomorrow, and enter Westford Barracks in time for lunch," Dev told his file.

Dev led the way by cutting a portion of his remaining cheese and bread and giving it to Jarn, who had eaten everything at the lunch break. The rest of his file followed his example, and soon everyone had something to put into their stomach.

Dev and a couple of his file had spent a lot of time outdoors or in the country, but seven people were from towns or cities, and had never slept out before. Dev advised his file to gather as many pine needles as possible, and to lie on them for bedding.

Soon everyone in the file had a nice bed of pine needles. As dusk gave way to night, sergeant Gasty came and pulled Dev to the side.

"That was some nice work with your file this evening, Dev. I watched you split up your remaining food and then teach them about making a bed of pine needles. But how come you didn't hold any food back for tomorrow?" The sergeant asked curiously.

"Well, Sir, I listened to your instructions. We only took one set of extra of clothing, not enough for an extended period, we were told that the rations were for one day. So I figured we will either be fed here in the morning, or we will form up and fast march back to Westford," Dev responded.

The sergeant looked at Dev for a moment.

"You have a good head on your shoulders," the sergeant said, and left.

Guard duty that morning, while chilly, was not too bad. Dev's file caught guard from fourth hour in the morning to first call. The Battalion formed up, and this time Dev's platoon was in the lead.

They arrived back in Westford after setting a very fast and a very hard pace on little or no breakfast for everyone. As they marched through the gates of the city, they straightened their line and squared their shoulders.

It was a cold autumn day and the training battalion was in formation. This time they were not dressed in training gray, but in their new regular army uniforms of brown. Brown tunics and brown trousers and black boots.

The battalion had been trimmed down and those who could not handle military life were gone. Those remaining were the ones who completed the six months of training to become full soldiers in the king's army.

After they paraded by the training commandant, they were lined up to receive their first official pay as soldiers, and given a three-day pass to the city. They were then expected to join their units, where they would either be replacements for units of the fifth army, or be filling out new positions in the fifth army.

Dev received one months pay as a private in the kings army. They called it pay for completing training. Six months work to receive one silver, four bronze ten-penny pieces, and ten copper pennies.

Dev spent an interesting two days in town. He looked around the merchant shops and sampled a couple brews in alehouses. Still, he had most of his pay when he decided to head back to the barracks.

He checked in one day early, and got a, 'so you ran out of money already, ' laugh from a guard on duty. He just grunted and let the guard think what he would. He made his way to his new barracks. He knew he was assigned to second company third battalion, but did not yet know which platoon or file.

He knew who would know, though. He made his way to the supply room, and found the supply sergeant quickly enough.