Walking back inside from practicing with the crossbow my right arm hung off my shoulder like a dead fish. I’d spanned the bow manually until I simply couldn’t do it anymore, then the armsmaster had me use the goat’s foot.

I shot standing. I shot kneeling down. He even made me shoot from the prone position. What I didn’t do is loose the bolts accurately, hitting about one in three. We scheduled more time on the range in the future. Between the alchemy, shifts in the kitchen, normal training and now crossbow range my dance card was getting extremely full.

Going back to my room to store the bow I passed by the skills training area. Bron was in there, working with a few of the other skills specialists. Waving him over I held up the bow. “Hey man, if you’re wanting to trade I could use bolts for this.”

“Bodkin or broadhead?” He asked in that direct way of his.

“Uh, both?” I shrugged. He nodded and went back to training. I stood there for a moment. “Okay, great talk. Let me know when you have the bolts ready.”

Shaking my head, I went on my way. I swear the way he was so careful of his words you’d think he was being charged by the letter. I put the crossbow in the corner and carefully hung my armor on its rack. The pack and gear all went in my trunk.

It felt good to be free of the weight. It wasn’t unbearable, but was heavier than the gear I’d used before. I tied the belt on the robe, stretching out. Ugh, just a few minutes before my shift in the kitchens.

I lay on my bunk for a moment with my arm over my eyes. My kingdom for a day of rest. Just a break from the incessant activity.

The bell in the foretower bonged the hour. Ugh. I painfully got up. Pain is good, I suppose, tells you that you’re alive.

I walked over to the kitchen. “You’re late Mike. Potatoes.” Julian pointed to a pile of unpeeled potatoes.

“You know, the peel…” I said.

The chef cut me off. “Right, whatever nutrients are, they all dwell in the peel. Well, you’re saving their life today by carefully removing that peel and storing it. So all the nutrients will be safe and sound.”

Defeated, I walked over to the pile and pulled up a stool. The ladies working in here were different this time. It was one older woman, by older I mean probably in her late twenties to early thirties and three young teens that looked enough like her they had to be her daughters.

“Hello good master.” The mother of the group nodded to me as I grabbed a potato and a slim-bladed knife.

“Hey there. No need for that master business. I’m just Mike. What’s your name?” I asked as the knife made short work of the peel. I placed the lone potato in the peeled bowl.

“Helena, if it pleases you.” She bobbed her head again as she kneaded bread.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Helena.” I raised the knife and half peeled potato, “I’d shake your hand but we’d both have to wash up again.” They all giggled.

It went on in companionable silence for a few minutes until I noticed the youngest slowly waving her arm towards me. “What’s up?” I asked.

“Oh, I wasn’t meaning nothing by it.” She bowed her head and got to stirring the granola and mix for the elves. She focused on that granola like it contained the answer to all the mysteries of the universe.

“I’m not upset, just curious. What were you doing?” I cocked my head. There was a long silence.

“She was trying to figure out how you see with such strange eyes.” The middle sister blurted.

“Anessa! Shut up.” The youngest hissed.

I got up and walked over to her. “Do you want to look into my eyes, child?” I asked the young girl. Helena, her mother, came over and stood by her, uncertain of my intentions.

“She didn’t mean nothing by it sir. Lorelai has always been a curious girl. I’ll discipline her. There’s no need for you to do it.” Helena said, pulling the girl back behind her.

“I wouldn’t hurt your daughters, Helena. Especially not a pretty little thing like Lorelai.” I kneeled down. “Look into my eyes if you want. They look pretty weird, don’t they?”

The young brunette, maybe ten years old, nodded at me. She took a step forward, out from behind her mother. Her big green eyes stared at my gemstone eyes like she’d never seen anything like it. Little Lorelai held up one finger and started moving it side to side slowly, like a cop doing a field sobriety test. “There isn’t a dark spot in your eye. How can you see?” She asked.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I don’t know.” I smiled gently. “Seems like magic. Did you know I can see in the dark?”

“No!” Her eyes went wide.

“it’s true. My people are adapted for living in underground dwellings far beneath the surface of the earth. So there are many differences.” I stayed kneeled down.

Her hand reached out, trembling towards my face. I stayed very still. She stroked my beard. “Its like wires!” Lorelai exclaimed.

I laughed and grinned at her. She gasped, “Your teeth are like that rock in the yard!”

“That’s enough. Let the good dwarf go back to his work.” Helena pulled the child away from me.

I stood. “It really is okay.”

“No, she has work to do, and so do you.” Helena nodded. “I thank you for the kindness.” I nodded back at her.

At that moment Julian went back to the storeroom to get something. I noticed he left the clipboard on the front counter. Walking over to it, I scanned down the list of names.

Zeke was written right beside FIRE. Okay, so his urine weirdness was almost certainly because of something Julian was adding to his food, but what could it be? My name, Jackson, Niobe and Izzy were all written next to NATURE. Ugh, there’s so much I don’t know.

I heard the chef coming back into the kitchen and laid the clipboard down where I found it. Moving back to the pile of potatoes, I hurriedly cut into one.

“Just the peel Mike, come now, you’ve done this before.” Julian chided me as he walked by.

“You’re right, you’re right.” I told him, only half paying attention. What could we possibly be adding to the food that was fire? Something like a devilish pepper? Like a ghost pepper or something? I’d never seen one of those make your urine flammable, though in fairness, I’d never tested for it. Was there a death seasoning? Something made Monty and the others go zombie, or ghoul or whatever they turned into.

The next meal came and went. I noticed the seasoning Julian added to each meal went by room. By this I mean, my roommates and I all got the same seasoning. That was the case for everyone. There was a room for Air, Earth, Fire and Water seasoning. There was also one room each for Anthelion, Knowledge, Nature, War, Diabolic and Death.

The death room was getting pretty empty, with half its residents passed on. Bron the Bronze Dwarf and Edgerrin, a tiger type felinoid, were the soul remaining residents. I wonder how they had survived?

I told Izzy what I’d learned once I was back in my room. She was really interested, but there just wasn’t enough information to draw strong conclusions. We each decided to keep rolling it around and keep a good lookout. Uncharacteristically, it took me a long time to get to sleep that night. Normally, I was exhausted and drifted right off. Tonight, I listened to Jackson snore for what seemed like hours.

The morning began with the dulcet tones of Drill Sergeant screaming at us to get up. I woke groggy from lack of sleep but Jackson helped square me away. Along with my roommates, I turned out for morning accountability. Everyone was here, so we fell out to the parade ground and formed up.

Most of these movements were automatic by this point. The drill sergeant’s commands played directly on my nerves without my brain getting involved at all. Along with the other shorter races, I joined Stumpy Squad for our morning run.

Instructor Falaise was there to lead. We started off jogging into the mist covering the parade ground. The tower suddenly loomed up, only coming visible about ten yards away. Everyone was still with us to this point.

As we jogged up the stairs the non-dwarves started to fall out. We were used to it by now so the dwarves had lined up first. We didn’t have to cut around flagging joggers. Our short legs drummed out a steady beat. Up one flight of stairs, then two, then three and finally four.

Instructor Falaise had us do pushups at the top of the tower as we waited for our fellows to join us. Deniz the halnaak was the first one to make it, badly out of breath but just behind us. Fistandantilus the gnome with another gnome I didn’t recognize came trotting up next.

Izzy the sea elf came staggering up as the first of her people to make it to the top floor. I stopped doing pushups for just a moment to hold out a fist. She bumped it as she went by with a huge grin. “I… put a point… in brawn.” The tiny sea elven woman got down and started working on her pushups with the rest of us.

After a few minutes the remainder of stumpy squad had reached the top of the tower. Falaise gave the last arrivals a moment to catch their breath then we were off, jogging down the crenellations along the top of the wall. The mist was beginning to clear and a handful of mountain tops were looming out of the mist. The brilliance of the white sun was burning it off quickly now that it had risen above the horizon.

We jogged down the wall to the other tower. There we did pushups again as we waited for the fallouts to catch up. It was cold, the air feeling icy as it filled the lungs. Inhaling the mist felt like breathing in a slushee. Everyone caught up, so we headed down the corner tower.

Eventually stumpy squad reached the parade ground. We fell out and rejoined our other squads, all of us standing neatly in formation. The thirty seven remaining trainees waited patiently, standing at parade rest.

To my surprise I saw Doctor Mingelt climbing up the stairs to his podium. The two guards, one I recognized as the armsmaster, stood right beside him. He cleared his throat for attention.

“Trainees, I want to thank you for all your hard work. For many of you I’m certain this has been the most difficult thing you’ve ever done. You have accomplished much in getting to this point.” He orated.

“Drill Sergeant Bidlack and your instructors have taken a ragged band of civilians and turned you into a disciplined force. Let’s all give a hand for Drill Sergeant and your instructors!” He started clapping and we slowly joined in. It was a desultory effort at best.

“You’ve triumphed, those of you who remain. Most of you have earned your second priority point of six. You are a third of the way through your training! Give yourselves a round of applause.” This time the cheering was more enthusiastic.

“YES! You deserve it. I’m proud of you and proud of what you are becoming. That is the reason that Drill Sergeant Bidlack and I have determined that you have earned a pass. Report back to this field in 24 hours. Enjoy your time.” Mingelt said with a smile.

Drill Sergeant Bidlack stepped forward and roared, “Platoon! Dismissed.”