Dust rose up and billowed over the wagon’s sides, clogging Rend’s nose and eyes as the caravan trundled along. He pulled his dirty shirt up over his nose but it did little but remind him of how long it had been since he’d bathed. The wagon tilted and jerked as the wheels went through a hole, tossing Rend around.

“Ya alright back there lad?” The driver asked.

“Right as I could be I ‘spose.” Rend said.

The driver just chuckled. “Don’t ya worry, we’ll be to the capital soon, they’s got free baths like most places. Wouldn’t want ya all grubby for training.” He chuckled again.

Rend smiled behind his shirt.

He’d hitched on with this particular caravan a couple villages back. He got a free ride in exchange for labor, cleaning camp, hauling wood, setting fires and pretty much anything else that needed doing.

The wagon he was in was the only one with room for him and it was unfortunately at the rear of the line where the dust was the worst but it beat walking.

He didn’t think he’d have made it on time if it wasn’t for finding the caravan.

He’d been on the road for a little over a week now, walking, hitching and more walking, trying to get to Ironhold in time for the guardsmen training camp they hosted twice a year in Partridge gap.

He’d never seen the capital city, nor had he seen Partridge gap before and the excitement of leaving his family’s farm would still put a nervous smile on his face.

Partridge gap was the name of the pass in the Iron Tips, the mountains that separated the nation of Steinheim from the rest of the mainland. The pass was the only real way through by land and it was also where he was headed.

The driver hacked and coughed, lowering his rag to spit on the road.

“Think you’ll see any of them Paladins?” He asked over his shoulder, keeping his eyes on the mules pulling the wagon.

“Dunno.” Rend said honestly. “Probably. They use the same keep as the guardsmen don’t they?”

The driver shrugged and pulled his rag bag up and over his mouth.

“I think ya will, I heard they’ve got a majestic castle up in the mountains. Bigger than the Queens! With women servants that make your head spin anytime you ask em too.”

Rend smiled. He’d heard all sorts of rumors about what he’d see. Everything from demon succubus slaves to portals to another realm. Rend was old enough to know that it was all speculation and that it wasn’t likely to be anything so fantastic but he was intensely curious now.

The Driver himself changed his idea of what it would be almost everyday.

“You want to join their ranks?” The driver asked after spitting again.

The young boy shook his head. Rend was also old enough to know that his childhood dreams of becoming a paladin were just that. Dreams.

“No sir, I want to be a Guardsman.” He said firmly.

The driver nodded approvingly. “Good lad. Them are good men and women, ‘cept when it’s tax time.” He said with another chuckle. He did that a lot. Rend laughed along with him and they lapsed into companionable silence.

The wagon wheels creaked and groaned as they rode on and the never ending dust continued to sting his eyes.

“Good for your family too eh?” The driver said suddenly.

Rend nodded. “Yes sir.”

Rend’s family wasn’t poor but they weren’t that well off either. He had a lot of brothers and sisters and while they all worked hard on the farm, it was hard to make ends meet sometimes. If he made guardsmen he could start sending them money and it would really help. It would also raise his family a little socially and maybe they could start selling elsewhere in bigger villages. “Look lad! Come up here. You can just see the city between the trees.” The driver waved the boy forward.

Rend stood up and braced a hand on the wagon’s side.

The driver was right, in between gaps in the trees was the capital. In the middle was a large castle built of gray stone that was surrounded by smaller buildings. Around the whole of it was a tall wall, made from the same stone. Smoke rose up from thousands of chimneys and made the air a little hazy.

Rend’s eyes widened. Coming from his family's homestead the largest village he’d seen was the little village of Teller and it was so small he knew everyone there.

This though, it had to be thousands of people.

The driver laughed. “I’m sure I looked the same the first time I seen it. Big girl aint it.” He hacked and spit again. “You’ll be wanting to stick with us lad, big cities like this one. They got all sorts. I been here lots though and I can show ya around.”

Rend nodded and sat back down. “What’s it like in the city?”

The driver put his hands out wide. “Big!” He said loudly.

”People everywhere, but clean and the roads are wide and easy to get ‘round on.” He leaned back and in a lowered voice told Rend.

“I heard the streets are so clean and straight ‘cause the Paladin’s helped build it. Put the sewers in and the bathhouses too. They were here ‘fore us all.” His red eyes darted around like someone might overhear him.

“Makes ya think, who really rules Stienheim eh?”

Rend stared at the man in shock. What he had said was mild treason.

“Oh don’t look at me like that lad. Plenty of folks think it but most don’t care. If they are runnin the show they’re doin a dandy job and I say let em.”

Rend leaned back against the wall and rubbed his dusty eyes. Thinking about what the driver had said.

They rolled through the gates with little fuss, another benefit of riding with an experienced caravan. They had all the proper seals and paperwork.

Rend followed the drivers advice and stuck with them while they made camp in a large field just inside the walls. He stayed one more night with the caravan and made a trip to a nearby bathhouse the driver recommended where he washed the filth from his body as well as his filthy clothes. The next morning he rose early, said his goodbyes and gave his thanks to the caravan master.

To his surprise the master offered him a paid position in the caravan saying the driver had recommended Rend to him. He politely declined but the master said the offer was open if they ran into each other elsewhere. He strode out of the gate that led to the pass and guardsmen didn’t seem to care.

They stood just outside the gate in studded gambesons and each wore a sword and club at their sides. They also each had a sash around their waist that was purple and gray. The colors of the guardsmen.

Rend tried not to stare but he must’ve failed because the female guard barked at him.

“What’s the matter boy? You lost or somthin?” She fixed him with a hard stare.

Rend shook his head. “N-no ma’am. I’m just headed up the pass for the training.”

Her expression softened a little.

“Ah, a runt then. Well good luck lad, it’s good you got an early start. It’s a long walk.” He just nodded and started walking. Traffic began to pick up as the day wore on, wagon after wagon passed him but none stopped to offer him a ride, despite how they were clearly headed in the same direction.

The Iron Tips loomed overhead, tall, snow capped peaks seemed to glare down at him as he walked alone. His legs were burning and for some reason it seemed that the higher he climbed the harder it was to breathe.

Just when he was about to step off the road and take a break a wagon rolled past him and stopped. The young boy sitting next to the driver waved him forward. Rend hurriedly climbed in and sagged on the floor as the wagon lurched forward.

“Thank you so much. I think something is wrong with me, I can’t breathe up here.”

The young boy looked the same age as Rend and nodded seriously.

“The air is thinner up here so it’s harder to breathe. Didn’t you learn that in school?” Rend shook his head. “Musta been a harvest day and I missed it.”

The boy’s father chimed in. “I knew you were a farmer’s boy, got the right build for it.” He looked back and smiled. “Training I take it?”

Rend just nodded, still trying to catch his breath.

“Us too. My name’s Danner.” Rend sat up and smiled back at the boy.

“Rend.”

They made camp the next two nights and Danner’s family offered him a place to sleep with them. He ate some of his own rations and foraged what he could but Danner’s father insisted they share food as well. Rend tried to make up for it by doing most of the camp work.

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They waited in line, one among dozens, for their turn through the gate. The sun beat down on them and Rend was starting to sweat.

Danner suddenly patted his father on the shoulder excitedly.

“Pa! Look! A paladin.” He said while pointing behind them. “And she’s got someone with her!” “Pipe down boy! And stop pointing.” He said while craning his neck around to see.

Rend likewise turned to see what the boy was talking about but couldn't see much.

Danner suddenly gasped and in an excited whisper said. “That’s Kearin!!”

Rend was really interested now. Kearin was the legendary leader of the order, a personal advisor to the queen and was said to have fought in thousands of battles.

Rend’s eyes found her, she was marching quickly between the stopped lines of wagons. For some reason one line had stopped completely but thankfully Rend’s line was still moving forward. If slowly.

Her gray armor clinked and rattled as she stalked onward. At her side was a bedraggled girl, huffing and puffing at the brutal pace set by the paladin. Her face was grimy and red, her hair a tangled mess but she was doggedly keeping up with the large woman.

Kearin however, looked completely unaffected. Her stern face was just shy of a frown and her gray hair was still mostly immaculate.

What made Rend’s jaw drop was her scars. He’d heard about her scarring and he’d also heard all kinds of ideas as to how they happened but seeing them so close, it was hard to imagine the wound that would leave such markings.

Her face on one side was scarred from the corner of her mouth to her ear, like someone had put a dull knife in mouth and sawed backward. The scar was obviously not from a clean cut, it had smaller branches that split off, like limbs of a tree. Her ear on the same side was likewise scarred and misshapen and her hair around it was white rather than gray. She stomped past them without a glance and the ragged girl stumbled by a second later. They went to the front of the stagnant line and stopped at the held up wagon.

Soon enough the lines were moving again, Kearin apparently clearing up whatever the issue was. Then they were through the gate.

The boy, Danner, said a teary farewell to his father and then it was just Rend and Danner.

They, along with a large group of other boys were assigned a bunkhouse and a bunkhouse officer. A recruit named Russ and just like that, the training camp had begun.

They were now officially runts according to the guardsmen and Rend loved it.

The three weeks went by in a blur, rising very early each day to instructors yelling furiously at them. Daily drills, exercises, classroom learning and more drills and weapons training made it pass by quickly.

The only thing that really stood out to Rend was one night there was some sort of fight in a different boy’s bunkhouse.

The next day rumors were flying around about what had happened. There was talk of the ravener, a mysterious one eyed paladin and rumors of attempted rape of another recruit. The fight was apparently the intervention of a boy named Gregory.

Rend even saw him the next day at drill and it was obvious the boy had been given a beating but he apparently won the fights and the rumor was he was in the running for first five. An honor reserved for the top five recruits only.

To his surprise the girl that was the apparent target was the ragged girl from the line up that was with Kearin. Kellendry.

It all felt too big for Rend so he paid it little mind. All he wanted was to pass and to be a guardsman, earning honor for his family and providing some much needed income.

Soon enough the camp was coming to an end and less than half of the boys remained in the bunkhouse.

Danner was among them that had been sent home and Rend missed his new friend.

They stayed up late the night before the ceremony, the bunkhouse officer looking the other way. It was apparently tradition to stay up late the night before and drink watered down cider, pilfered by Russ himself.

Rend was thoroughly enjoying the atmosphere. The camaraderie he felt with his fellow runts was intoxicating. He’d done well in almost everything and at this point they were guardsmen recruits in all but name.

They swapped stories and speculated about the Paladins, drinking cider and joking.

To Rend’s disappointment, The Well, which is what the paladins called their own keep, was apparently further up the pass and it was strictly forbidden to go there. There were rumors that the boy and the girl from the night of the fight had been to it but it was unreliable at best.

They finished their cider and went to bed, Rend smiled to himself. He’d done it, tomorrow was the big ceremony where they’d be named guardsmen and get their assigned cities to work in.

The next day was the ceremony, freshly uniformed, they all stood at ease in a grid formation in the great amphitheater while a crowd of loved ones watched. Some noble politician rambled on but Rend couldn’t remember any of what he’d said almost immediately after he said it.

The politician finally wrapped up and sat as Kearin stood. Her solemn voice carried much more weight than the man before her ever hoped to achieve.

“Thank you families, for coming and for showing your support. As Lord Dawson said, the Guardsmen Steinheim. Every one of the young men and women on the field before you has demonstrated their resolve to serve as Guardsmen and keep our cities and home front safe.”

Kearin paused as she stared out at the sea of young faces.

“First five.” She yelled without preamble.

They had been prepared beforehand that when she read the names of the first five those who were called were to break formation and walk to the front to receive their honors but who was going to be called was left unknown.

“Glennshire!” She called. A young woman broke into a smile not far from Rend and began walking to the front as the crowd applauded loudly.

“For exceptional scores in language and tactics as well as hand to hand combat.”

He had seen her spare and knew that no one would argue the award.

She approached the front and a veteran guardsmen pinned a small round metal to her chest.

“Berkenly!”Kearin barked.

A boy approached next as the crowd once again clapped and cheered.

“For exceptional scores in city warfare and leadership.” He likewise received a metal and stood next to Glennshire, looking proudly at what Rend assumed was his family. Another young woman and young man earned the little round metal of first five for various achievements and scores.

Kearin paused and looked sharply at an individual in the crowd of runts. Rend couldn’t be sure but it sure seemed like she was looking straight at the bruised boy, Gregory. “For bravery in the face of injustice and standing up for what is right as well as exceptional scores in the mace and hammer the final award for first five goes to Quill.”

The boy in question stood there a moment in shock before he remembered what he was supposed to do.

The crowd cheered as Gregory walked to the front and stopped before the other first five recipients.

The applause had died down but now there was murmuring and pointing in his direction. Likely speculating on what had happened and why his face looked such a mess.

Kearin’s strong voice cut through the dull roar of the crowd.

“The Order also accepts a new Paladin into its ranks today.”

The gathering of people grew silent.

“Kellendry.” She said solemnly.

Kellendry approached the line of the first five recipients without hesitation and two paladins broke away from the line of officers to stand in front of her.

“Do you wish to take on the prerogative of the Order of Paladins? To be bound to Huginn and Muninn and to do their will on this realm?” Kearin said seriously in the dead silence of the amphitheater.

“I do.” Kellendry responded simply.

“Then you are now a Paladin of the Order.” Kearin declared and the paladins moved to stand beside her, signaling she was now considered an equal to them.

The crowd was silent. A new Paladin hadn’t been named in many many years and it normally was cause for celebration but the air was still. Then there was a single person clapping, it was Gregory.

The boy's purple face was split into a grin and he was clapping loudly, looking genuinely happy as he stared at the new paladin.

Someone else started clapping in the formation of recruits and soon everyone was clapping and cheering.

Rend joined in, despite not knowing her personally he was happy for her. After the night of the fight he’d heard she had been homeless and had no family prior to coming here. Now she suddenly had hundreds of brothers and sisters and would likely never be hungry again.

Kellendry looked a little embarrassed by all the attention but she smiled and stood tall regardless. Once the roar died down Kearin once again spoke.

“You are no longer civilians and are now recruits. See your bunk commander for your assignments. Families please stay in the courtyard outside of the amphitheater. The recruits will be out momentarily. Recruits, I will see you in two weeks for training. Dismissed!”

With that the crowd stood to leave and the freshly minted recruits all filtered out of the amphitheater to collect their belongings and meet their families.

Rend was expecting to simply collect his things and ask if he could stay in the compound rather than travel home. He couldn’t afford to hire transport home and it was unlikely he’d get lucky with another caravan again.

He collected his sparse things, feeling more than a little homesick as he listened to the others talk excitedly about going home and seeing family.

He sought out Russ and received his certification.

He slung his embarrassingly small sack of personal items over his shoulder and approached Russ who was just handing out the last folded letter to a happy recruit. “Recruit Russ, can I ask you a question?”

The young man turned. “Happy to recruit Rend, what’s on your mind?”

“Well, I don’t have anywhere to go. Home’s a long way away and my family can’t afford to come see me. Can I stay here until training starts back up?” He asked hopefully before adding hurriedly.

“I can work, chop wood, wash dishes, whatever is needed.” Russ looked at him for a moment and then nodded.

“I think that’s fine, I’ll need to get approval from my superior but you’re not the first to ask so I imagine you’ll have a spot. Why don’t you go to the courtyard and find me afterward. I’ll have an answer for you then.”

Rend agreed and left, carrying his meager possessions and walking slowly to the courtyard. He wasn’t eager to see all the happy families being reunited and leaving together.

He made it to the courtyard and realized most of the families had already left, only a few remained.

Gregory’s family was among those still talking and laughing. Kellendry, still flanked by vigilant paladins, was standing awkwardly among the Quill family as they talked. He looked around at the rest of the people and was surprised to see a woman standing off to the side. She was accompanied by a small girl that clutched a basket in her hands.

“Rend!!” The small girl screamed as she dropped her basket and ran to him. He kneeled down and held out his arms. The girl slammed into his chest and he picked her up.

“Whinny! What’re you doing here?” He asked with a smile. His mother answered as she walked closer and hugged him around Whinny.

“We couldn’t let you graduate without having someone from the family here to see.” She let go and stepped back.

“Yeah! We got to rides in a wagon!” Whinny yelled directly into Rend’s ear.

His mother smiled proudly at her son.

“I’m so proud of you son. I knew you could do it. Do you know where you’ll be assigned?”

Rend shook his head. “Not yet, we get our orders after we’re all the way done training. And thanks mom, I’m real glad you’re here.” She smiled broadly at him again.

“Well we’d best be off. There’s a caravan master that said he knew you and we could ride with them but he’d only wait two more days while they loaded cargo.” Rend smiled back. “Aye, best be off then. I just need to tell my commander first” He hitched his little sister higher on his hip and listened to her tell stories about the wagon as they found an officer and then left the compound.

He smiled and nodded at her as she talked, laughing at her jokes and asking questions. His heart felt light in his chest and he squeezed her a little tighter. He was a guardsman now, Whinny would soon be able to afford new clothes and maybe even a toy or two. His mother and father wouldn’t have to work themselves to the bone everyday and he was glad, glad to do it for his family, glad he was a part of something bigger and glad to serve his queen and the nation of Steinheim.