The journey was uneventful, but I did get to learn more about the local flora and fauna. In boredom, Page and I managed to work out a system, as it seemed to be as curious about them as I was. Nanomachines in my body were modified very slightly, giving Page information on what was in my blood in the first place, and from there we detected compounds introduced after I ingested them, and what effects I experienced. It wasn’t a perfect system, in fact it was extremely prone to false positives, not to mention poisoning if I wasn't careful about the amount I ingested, but it helped somewhat.
I trusted Page more now that we were no longer in any area controlled by Tirune and Greil’s government. It meant Page was less likely to be ordered to affect my brain, and if it already had latent orders, I may as well enjoy what I have for now. I still had to stop it from dumping the equivalent of a books worth of data straight into my head pretty often still, slowly working my way through it instead.
Page didn’t have a strong grasp of biology or chemistry in the ways I expected it too, it had simply modified the nanobots based on schematics already known to it, and ultimately it seemed I had to be the one to slowly work through the data to see what it meant.
Plant structures were observed by dissection, along with touch, I did however, hold off on animal dissection unless I was preparing meals, when I could blend it in somewhat, I was already getting strange looks from those travelling with me.
We finally arrived after almost a full day of travelling, Teasa’s Hope was very large in comparison, while most wouldn’t make the distinction, a village was around several hundred people. It showed from the streets, while it wasn’t as crowded as it was back home, I was intimidated by it all the same, having been isolated from crowds like this for almost two years.
A man greeted us as we entered, directing us to where all the other recruits would be gathered, we had arrived a little late, but there was still time before we set off and villages that hadn’t come yet. Our group sat down on those grounds, setting up camp as others had done, and waiting for the last few groups.
We seemed to be in a minority where most of us were on the cusp of adulthood, though I suppose that distinction hardly held weight in this world. The rest were mixed between all ages, both younger and older, in no particular order. Perhaps those areas had a larger population?
It didn’t take long for us to set up a watch rotation for the night, and exhausted, they didn’t waste any time falling asleep as I took first watch. I made a circuit of our grounds, breaking pattern every so often. I watched others set up rotations as well, though they were robbed of night vision by their campfires, and I had to look away to avoid the same. As my shift came to a close I woke the next member of our little group, and lay myself to rest.
I dreamt of a faceless party, a birthday song in the background as I walked toward a cake in a room too bright, four people stood by a table, features indistinct. I blew out the candles, and the room was plunged into darkness.
I stood on a hill, stars and fireworks lighting up the sky, a good fourteen people close by, it’s too dark to see their faces, even when the light flashes, they stay dark. I stare into the sky, and laugh, drinking something, soda perhaps, and conversing about the festival. The last firework bursts in the sky, and all the lights wink out once more.
What was that? I wonder to myself as I blink the darkness from my eyes. I rarely have dreams so vivid, all the dreams I’ve had have been simple, straightforward dreams, either of pain, or the calling of family. I suppose it should be strange that I so often have the same dreams.
I shake off the feeling, pulling myself upright and taking a look around. One of the others is calling, telling us that it’s time to leave. We pack up quickly, distributing the load amongst ourselves and getting ready. It’s a sight to see, a gathering of almost three hundred ragtag people moving in a group towards Castle Taheim.
It takes us the better part of a week, and if we hadn’t been allowed to hunt every so often and trade food with villages and hamlets on the way most of us would have starved for the last two. The pace was hastened, our sleep often interrupted and respite a short luxury when it occurred.
The Taheim castle was bog standard, but practical, a single entryway, a moat that stank like you wouldn’t believe, and a sturdy, strong wall. We didn’t enter, not having been granted entry, but stayed outside, where the rest of Taheim’s army was gathered. We were quickly sorted by several physicians and surgeons, who took one look at me and assigned me to the archers.
Relief filled me at that appointment, front line combat was not something I knew, my experience limited to street brawls I vaguely remember from my time back home. Experiences which told me that it was impossible to escape injury forever. “Excuse me, where are the archers? I’ve been assigned to them.” I asked a nearby soldier, who looked to me grimly.
“Head past the tents to your left, you can’t miss the targets. Just don’t stand between them and the archers.” He gave a grim laugh, and muttered under his breath. “they’ve lost more than enough men already.”
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“What was that?” I asked, a little worried now.
“Here’s some advice, don’t be too afraid to run, and don’t stop if you do.” He said, and walked off.
[Troubling.] Page noted [Conjecture would surmise that that may be why so many people were assigned to the archers.]
I noticed, I thought it was just because they found they needed to expand the division. I grimaced, well… nothing I could do now.
A heated protest came from the physician tent, before an exasperated hiss that followed a recruit stalking from the tent. It was Alida, followed by a somewhat uncomfortable Loran. I greeted them. “Let me guess… Archers.” And as Loran opened his mouth to speak I continued, “And you became an infantry man.” He nodded clumsily.
Alida simply glared, I sighed, and told Loran to go to his group, before dragging an unwilling Alida over in the direction I’d been given. I found them easily enough, a whole hill had been vacated purely for their use. The archers were firing, en masse, under the direction of a leader, likely a senior officer. As he saw us approach, he waved for another subordinate to continue, and walked over. I introduced myself, and Alida, who had calmed down, introduced herself as Miwze, apparently a unisex name.
“Hmm, both of you look much stronger than the ones we had last time, thank the Stars for that. Gather over there.” He said, pointing towards a smaller field, where a few groups like us already sat, “We’ll fully explain things to you after everyone’s here.” I nodded, walking over.
“What’s the matter? Never learned archery?” I asked, half-jokingly, as Alida had fairly extensive training that covered the spear, the bow and sword. More so than the rest of us, who took to practice every few days, and had a few friendly competitions. Of course, there wasn’t actually much skill involved in shooting en masse, you just needed to stay calm and have the strength.
As she moved to speak another of our hamlet showed up, seeing us, he introduced himself, something we’d all neglected to do during our journey, too busy following the pace we’d been set. His name was Trevor, the only name that didn’t remind me I was out of place. He was a farm hand, and one of the volunteers.
I introduced myself again, Alida needed no introduction, all of those from our group knew her. Trevor was very excited about being a soldier, he began talking to us about the army, and how maybe we could gain honours or maybe end the war. He struck me as a dreamer, I simply hoped that his vision of war wasn’t too naïve, it might be too much of a shock for him, perhaps it was a good thing he wasn’t at the front lines.
One of the subordinates I’d seen just now came over, and distributed to us the bows we would be using, each person was given two strings, made of hemp twisted together. We were also given our protective equipment, and we quickly put them on, I noted that mine had heavy red stains. He gave us a quick reminder of how to maintain the bow, trusting that we knew enough from regular shooting, and helping those who didn’t. We were then split into groups, the first of which were ushered quickly to the training range.
I’d never had to draw and shoot so often, and the additional strength of the bow made it extremely draining. We got rest in between, but were made to shoot almost eight arrows a minute, stopping every few minutes to rest. The trainer noted that while we wouldn’t be shooting as often in the field, we needed to be prepared for the strain that long battles would place on us. When we finally stopped, a new batch was brought in as we rested off the strain in our fingers, arms and backs.
[Your bones are being extensively stressed, and your fingers are starting to show signs of wear.] Page noted. [The nanomachines are working on mitigating harm.]
Sounds about right, most bowmen had strengthened bones, but also deformities from too much strain, bone spurs were particularly prominent. I was almost surprised how easily the information came to me, historical studies had never been a particular focus. More importantly, I was fairly certain I hated history.
The trainer wasn’t harsh, but he was stern, demanding obedience to orders and pushing us to our limits, he also called others to rest if they seemed to be under heavy strain. I thought of him as a fairly reasonable figure. Trevor and I made fast friends in the group, mostly through complaints on training. Alida kept herself somewhat aloof, in part to preserve her disguise.
We were called to march the next month, after time spent refining and training all new recruits. We were to battle under the banner of House Taheim. We apparently sat not far from the borders, which meant not much time would be spent marching before we reached the borderlands.
Over the course of the march we trained infrequently, maintaining battle and march readiness at all times. Meals were simple, often merely bread and cheese, sometimes with vegetables. We quickly learned that some in the army were gifted brewers, and supplied beer to the infantry in return for help scrounging materials to brew. I helped out sometimes, beer was a good way to feel warm even when you weren’t, though my distaste never truly wore away.
I figured Alida was simply unenthused about not being in the infantry division, so I took time to train close range combat with Alida during leisure time, who had been delighted at the chance to use her training. Trevor watched, but didn’t join in. We didn’t have swords, so we instead practiced for the daggers we had, using sticks as a substitute instead.
I found myself sprawled on the ground, a stick pressed point down into my chest, just where the heart was. “You lose, again.” Alida remarked, grinning viciously from where she knelt. I shook my head ruefully, this was a repeating trend, she was highly skilled in combat. I learned an ever-increasing array of attacks and counters, but she had experience, and while I had experience street-fighting, trained professionals were hardly in my league.
Alida dragged me upright, and I dusted myself off easily enough. “Trevor, sure you just want to sit there? Come on, it’ll be fun.” I called to him, yet again.
“Why would I volunteer myself to be bruised by that monster?” He said, chuckling, Alida’s smile grew larger. “I’ll not be using my knife to fight anyway, archers run into yonder when danger knocks, I won’t be the fool who rakes knives over mail.”
Fair point.
I shrugged, and recommended a respite, I could only handle so many bruises a day, both physically and in terms of ego. Trevor struck up conversation as we went, and Alida kept smiling as we returned to camp.