The barracks in Malensk were located near the main city gate so that a quick reaction to an enemy attack could be made. Other military institutions have sprung up around it, such as a spy association, a blacksmith shop, and a recently renovated stable that will become a separate barracks. Compared to the new cavalry barracks, the old infantry barracks run by Kiril Ustashov were a real mess. The dark brown wooden walls and floors had been worn down by the dampness and carelessness of the soldiers and officers and were now rotten and somewhat unstable. The weapons and armor in the storeroom were usable, but many suffered from rust. The only room that still looked somewhat decent was the commander-in-chief’s room, where Kiril drank beer from the local tavern and looked jealously at the neighboring barracks through the window. Just a few days ago that little shithead Aleksandr was in his grip, doing all his job for him and now they were equal in power as lord Yaroslav said.

“ Bullshit! He’ll always be beneath me.”

He threw a glass of beer at the wall and it shattered into a thousand pieces. Deep down, he knew that Aleks had surpassed him in all military affairs and that he deserved that position, but his pride did not allow him to do so. He thought about complaining to Yaroslav, but then he would have to explain why all the budget for the military went to beer, women and hunting parties, and that could be the end of his career and probably his life. He picked up a nearby stool and thought what to do next while he still watched the drills from opposite barrack. He was tired of women from the suburbs and his favorite barley beer from the inn “White Bear” just couldn’t reinvigorate him as before. A knock on the door interrupted his train of thought.

“What is it now?!”

-” It’s me Sir, Viktor”

-“Viktor who?”

-” Viktor Abakumov, bringing you news from our hunting party.” Kiril was about to let him in but suddenly paused.

-“Wait, wait, wait. What hunting party? I didn’t approve any party recently and actually, I don’t remember that anyone asked me for permission whatsoever.”

A voice from the other side of door remained silent. Kiril’s face became red in an instant.

-“How dare you go hunting without me! You guys think you’re all better than me? Is that it?!

-“Sir, please, I’m bringing you some good news.”

-“Well it better be damn good, otherwise you’re all dead.”

Kiril opened the door. In front of him was a bald middle-aged man of average height with a goatee and a long trimmed mustache, dressed in a brown-green hunting suit that was too big for him. Kiril immediately recognized that suit and with his right hand pulled him into his room with such force that he almost fell on the dusty floor.

“Not only did you left me out but you also had courage to take my hunting suit. You’ll pay for this, all of you traitors!”

-“Sir, please, at least hear me out before you kill me!” Kiril took him by the shirt and raised his fist.

-“Talk.”

-“J-Just an hour ago, one of the scouts found some yeti with wounds on his right leg and he was missing some fingers On his right hand.”

-“Wait… you mean…?”

-“It’s the one that attacked our lord almost two weeks ago.”

Kiril pushed him back and started walking from one side of room to the other with his hands behind his back while Viktor shook off the dust on his suit. Viktor was about to excuse himself from room when a sudden thunderous laughter came from his master.

-“Viktor!”

-“Y-Yes?”

-“I have two tasks you. First, tell the boys to prepare for another hunt today.”

-“Again today?! But-”

-“No buts! Or you can say goodbye to your jobs. Second, get the secret weapon from the basement.

-“What secret weapon?” Kiril slapped him on the back of his head he almost fell on the floor.

-“You idiot! That crossbow we got from black market! The one from Fangrong!

-“Yes, I remember now, sir.”

-“Then what are you waiting for? GO!

Viktor hurriedly left the room and went down the stairs. Kiril closed the door and then turned to window and turned to window through which he was looking at the the opposite barracks. His confidence and resolve were now high again as he conceived a plan that could save his career.

-“Aleks right now is a savior of our lord, but I will be his avenger. Finally an opportunity to redeem my past failures. Just you wait, Aleks. You will be beneath once more.”

***

New barracks for cavalry were opened the day after the infamous council where Yaroslav appointed his five successors, among them new Horse master Aleksandr Bogdanovich. New recruits were taught how to ride and charge with their lances properly, tried out their newest equipment and armor provided by the Grand prince’s personal pocket and trained in other styles of combat like shooting arrows from horseback like nomadic raiders they often encountered. The man in charge of everyday exercises was Nikita Ilyanovich, a close companion of Aleksandr and his deputy. For Nikita, this all felt like dream: just a week ago he was a deputy captain of small border patrol that didn’t actually saw many action and spent his days gambling and drinking with his riders. Now he was deputy of a Horse master, with new comfortable home at barracks, with a new, much larger crew (although he did miss the parties from his old outpost; here he was expected to be a firm disciplinarian). Right now he was resting from practices with his men, some twenty of them, asking them questions and drinking beer.

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“So, you guys are doing this for the first time?”

-“Yes… very tiring…“, said one of them, gasping for air and barely able to stand.

-” I gotta say boys, I’m kinda disappointed. You wont last an hour against the nomads in condition like this. You ought to train harder and harder everyday on saddle.

-“Yes, sir.” said all of them in unison.

-“But first we gotta raise your spirit and energy and the beer does that the best.”

-“Thank you sir!”, cheered all of them and went in the storage for refreshment. Nikita was about to join them when he spotted a familiar face walking past barracks in hunting suit with bow and arrows on his back.

-“Hey, Viktor!” The man turned around to see who called him and responded in kind when he recognized Nikita.

-“Oh, hey Niki! Long time no see!”

-“Why don’t you join us here? We’ve got a brand new beer here.”

Viktor was feeling a growing urge to drink in himself. He was a great alcoholic, even by the standards of the army. Once he started drinking he couldn’t stop himself. And besides, he had to prepare for the hunting party that was very important to his master Kiril.

-“I don’t know… maybe some other day.”

-“Oh c’mon! Just one glass. For the good old days.”

Viktor paused for a moment. He had 2 hours before hunt started. And one glass of beer couldn’t do much harm, or so he thought. He was sober for almost a month and was feeling such a thirst every day that water just couldn’t satiate. He finally gave in when he saw a big glass mug full of beer in Nikita’s hand.

-“Alright, but one glass only.”

Twenty minutes later, whole barrel was emptied, mostly by Nikita and Viktor who were laughing and teasing each other with stories from the past.

-“Ah, we did it again, didn’t we? Viktor… we drank the whole barrel again.”

-“Hehehehe… yeah. One month of soberness gone in in less than hour.” He was about to take another sip when he remembered the hunting party will start soon.

-“Ah, shit. Listen, I have a hunt with my lord today so… see you next time buddy.”

-“See ya, Viktor. "

Nikita slowly got up and disbanded his men and sent them to their other duties in barracks. Even in drunken state, he was always able to keep a cool head, something which he was very proud of. On the way out of storage, he noticed a crumpled paper on the floor. It was a short letter, signed by some guy named Sinki.

-“Sinki? That must be one of the scouts of Kiril Ustashov. This is probably Viktor’s letter. Gotta give him back. Or… maybe first see what’s letter about? After all, Kiril sees Aleks as his rival and it would be better to know about the moves our enemy is making.”

He sat on a bench outside and started reading it. The end of the letter took him by surprise. He quickly ran for the command post where Aleksandr was working.

***

For Sir Kiril Ustashov

The yeti was spotted yesterday by one of the locals in the eastern parts of forest. We spotted it near the same location an hour ago. It looks similar to that one who attacked lord Yaroslav. We will camp outside of forest and await your next command here.

Your humble servant Sinki

Aleksandr sat and read the letter aloud in his office to Nikita who was still half drunk and hoping Aleks wouldn’t punish him severely because of his drinking.

“For once your alcoholism has actually helped us in this situation.” said Aleksandr with the note of sarcasm in his voice. A big smile appeared on Nikita’s face.

“But you’re still will be punished. "

-“Noooo…”

-“I am one of the successors of Malensk and I can tolerate such behavior from you anymore. This is not an border outpost this is a real military institution.”

-” I thought you weren’t interested in ruling.”

Aleksandr’s face became serious and went silent. Nikita realized what he had just done.

-“Aleks, sorry, I… I am a drunken idiot.”

-“It’s alright. Let’s just move on to more important things- this hunting party. So that guy, Viktor, told you he’s going with Kiril to hunt?

-“Yeah, that’s all he said, but why is this important to us?”

-“ A lot of things, actually. First off, that yeti has become a target many people who want to increase their status and wealth. Yaroslav has offered a huge sum for that monster. Secondly, Kiril should’ve alerted me and lord Yaroslav personally about yeti’s presence, but will instead try to hunt it himself for his own personal glory. And he’s probably going to use it to strengthen his position in politics.”

-“Sooo… you’re going to steal it for yourself?”

-“That’s right.” This answer caught Nikita off guard. Until now, Aleks seemed so anxious about taking the role of future ruler of Malensk that he thought he might abandon it altogether and and ask to be replaced by someone else.

-“I know this a surprise for you, but even if I leave the place of successors, I’ll still be a major factor in political games solely because Yaroslav chose me for that role. Well that and the fact I am now Master of horses.

-“Well, I guess you’re right.”

-“But enough of that. We’re joining the hunt for the yeti. I’ll leave the preparations for you while I finish this paperwork. I want everything prepared in three hours top.”

-“Yes, sir.” Nikita hurried to leave the room, but stopped as if he remembered something.

-“Everything alright, Niki?”

-“Aleks… oh how could I forget! Wait here, I’ll be right back!

Before Aleksandr could respond, Nikita sprinted out of room, leaving his friend and commander confused. After finishing his paper work, he started preparing for hunt, sharpened his arrows, put on his hunting outfit and took the horse from the stable.

With him were five men chosen by Nikita personally.

-“Where is Nikita Ilyanovich? We should be leaving in few minutes.”

-“Right here!” exclaimed Nikita as he ran towards the group.

-“I really, really hope you have a good excuse for being this late.” said Aleksandr with a stern look on his face.

-“Indeed, I have.” said Nikita with and handed Aleksandr an old black book with yellowed pages. “This is a late gift from Karegin.”

-“W… What?”

-“You see, Karegin intended give you this book full of his advices on many things to help you survive in Malesnk if anything happened to us. I thought the book was lost in a fire, but it was actually hidden in safe and I uncovered it few days ago. Now that you’re in politics, you’ll probably need it.”

Aleksandr snatched the book from Nikita’s hand and immediately opened it and started reading its content. Written on the first page was a small introduction:

Dear Aleks, you and I have passed many trials on our journey to Malensk, but our troubles only became bigger as many of the elite look at us with suspicion and contempt. We’ll have to navigate through politics of this city with caution so I made you this small manual. I wrote in it all my personal experiences and some of your father’s advices are really helpful. Study it diligently.

This short text opened the gates to his memories of his best friend and advisor, the ones he tried to forget all these years ago. He completely lost a sense of time as his focus was solely on the book.

-“Um, sir…” one of the soldiers finally interrupted his reading. “what about the hunt.”

-“Oh, yes, the hunt… I completely forgot…”

He gave the book to one of his servants to send it to his main room. He then mounted his horse and gave instructions to his hunters.

“Gather around me and listen! The scouts will go before the main group to locate yeti and Kiril’s hunters so we can avoid them. We’ll camp near the entrance to the forest and wait for your return. All ready?

-“Yes, sir!”

-“Alright then, let’s go!”

Aleksandr rode ahead of his group with Nikita by his side. He felt strangely confident, given how gloomy he was for the past several days. That small text by Karegin opened many old wounds but also the courage of his younger days when he first arrived in Malensk. In his first year in Malensk, he distinguished himself as a capable and ruthless soldier, always o the first lines, getting severely wounded but always managing to come back alive, only to be scolded by Karegin of his rashness. After his mentor’s death Aleksandr kept low profile in politics and even became more passive on military affairs, letting others take credit for his accomplishments. Those days were now over and he was now a Master of Horses but what will he do about his greatest fear, politics? Right now, there was a more important matter - finding and killing the yeti. He may not like the position in which he was standing, but he had no intention of being a pawn in someone scheme. No, he’ll survive at all cost for the sake of Nikita, Karegin and all he who gave his life for him. He’ll repay them all.