CLANG, CLANG, CLANG
I woke up with a start and hit my head on the roof of my bunk - that was the bell everyone had warned me about which meant it was five in the morning and the day for knights (and knight apprentices) had begun. Today I was due to go to the fifteenth for training with the other new knight apprentices. First though - breakfast! I pulled on my new clothes, the boiled leather jerkin was stiff and uncomfortable but I guessed I'd wear it in eventually. Next I pulled out my jacket, which seemed to be the uniform of the militia knights. The jacket I'd been given was in many ways like the one I'd seen Sir Erik wearing. It was cut the same, short for a jacket, only coming down to the waist with sleeves that were half open, secured with buttons. My jacket lacked the ornate embroidery and braiding his sported but still had neat white piping in the places Sir Erik's had sported braiding. The lapels were decorated with the emblem of the fourteenth company on one side and my squad number, seven, on the other.
I finally pulled on the jacket and suddenly noticed there were a new pair of boots in the trunk as well. I picked them up, slid open my bunk and perched on the edge looking out into the room. It was a manic scene of half dressed knights milling around, seemingly aimlessly, but they were still managing, slowly, to get ready. In the light I could see more of the common room, it was furnished with some nice small tables, a bookcase and a cabinet, a sofa and armchairs, enough for seven; the chairs looked worn and well used but comfortable, which I soon confirmed as I collapsed into one and used the opportunity to lace my new boots.
“Morning young Neesh,” Sir Pelli greeted me, as he sunk in the chair opposite me, “first day is always nerve wracking, especially when you meet the stuck up nobles some of the other companies like to recruit.”
“Isn’t Sir Flynn a noble?”
“Right you are,” Sir Pelli grinned, “He’s alright but he’s benefitted from six years of education at the hand of yours truly, showed you how the world really works didn’t I Flynny.”
“You certainly showed me something,” Flynn called back from where he was rummaging through his bunk.
“Anyway,” Sir Pelli continued, “if any of those nobs give you grief you’ve got to remember the only language they understand is a firm punch to the family jewels.”
“From what I heard, young Neesh has already done just that to the son of Lord Brinkin,” Sir Yale said.
“I did?”
“Yeah in the first round of your sword trial,” Sir Yale said, “only one of his mates not to make the cut thanks to that.”
“You might have to watch yourself there Neesh,” Sir Micah said, “you might get some grief from his friends; just don’t get yourself into trouble, keep your head and let the instructors sort it out.”
With a much more ominous feeling in my stomach I headed to the latrine and then across the yard to the mess hall. I sat down with my rest of the squad as they trickled into the hall and a big bowl of porridge was placed in front of me by one of the serving girls. I ate hungrily despite my nerves - if there was one thing I had taken from my wilderness experience it was to always eat when food was offered to you. I had just about finished up when Sir Steven came up to me.
“Here Neesh, you may not be quite a knight yet but you’re part of the Malin Militia and the Fourteenth Company, and as such you should have a blade better than that rusty dagger, this isn’t much, just something we had in the stores but from today it’s yours. Treat it with respect and it will serve you well.”
He handed me a bastard sword, it was actually lighter than the practice blade I’d been given at the trial and although my muscles still strained to hold it level, it was much easier to wield than the practice blade had been. It was also a fair bit shorter which suited my size a lot better. The scabbard was attached to a belt which I put on tightly, the sword hung comfortably from my hip.
Apparently all set I made my way to the fifteenths headquarters. It was located in Eastgate Ward, like the fourteenth's it was built against the city's walls but it was a much larger complex as it swelled with scores of knights apprentices every day. The city continued to amaze me, just like evening didn't seem to diminish it, even this early morning the streets were busy with people going about their business. Queues were already forming at the ubiquitous doubles stands, and women were carrying net bags full of produce from one of the many of the city's markets. Children darted everywhere whooping and screaming with excitement. I think even if a city this size has existed in Trieste it would still have never been as loud and vibrant as Malin.
Eventually though I had to come back down to earth as I realised the entrance to the fifteenth was in sight. A similar set of doors heralded the entrance to the building, that were wide open and knights apprentices were flooding into the building. The emblem of the fifteenth was a sword with the scales of justice balanced on it's tip. The fifteenth, as well as training was responsible for the Militia's internal policing (whereas the militia maintained general law and order in their ward with support from wherever auxiliaries were stationed within the ward). The whole concept of organised policing was a new one to me, perhaps even more radical was the concept of knights also being held accountable to the law by their own fellows. Sir Micah had explained to me that the eleventh, the command company in turn held the fifteenth accountable, they in turn were accountable to the Council, which was accountable to the Court of Final Pleas which was in turn accountable to the chair of the council. Checks and balances was how he described it. It was all very confusing but I liked that law, governance and justice here was not made at the whim of a small group of nobles. Even if I didn't really understand it yet.
Anyway, I had procrastinated enough, if I left it any longer I'd be late. So I took a deep breath and headed into the fifteenth. I was immediately struck by how much bigger the space inside the palisade was. The training yard was about four times the size of the fourteenth's and all four sides were surrounded by a colonnaded cloister above which were four stories of windows. Clearly the fifteenth hosted many more knights than the fourteenth or they had much more spacious living arrangements. Anyway it was clear from the disordered rabble of young men in the centre of the training yard that was where I should be too.
I slunk my way into the crowd hoping to avoid notice, thinking of Sir Micah's warning before breakfast. I should have known though that trouble always found me no matter what I did. As no sooner had I stopped moving and started to take in my fellow apprentices someone shouted at me
"Hey you, the short arse!" came a haughty voice. I turned in the direction of the voice to see four older teens approaching me. Their jackets were the same as mine but I could tell everything else about them was of much finer quality than what I was wearing. They were even wearing steel cuirasses rather than boiled leather. Yep these were definitely that annoying boy's friends I had been warned about. Even more annoyingly they had the muscles to back up their swagger, the guy I'd stabbed in the nuts must have been the runt of the friendship group. Well that was just great.
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“Yes? Can I help you?” I said cooly.
“You’re the one who cheated to beat Jerrant?” The tallest boy was clearly the ringleader. He had shoulder length chestnut hair, in fact it was a lot like my own, except I had tied mine back into a short ponytail again, whereas his was hanging loose in waves.. To be honest he would have been attractive if everything in his facial expression wasn’t locked in a grimace of disgust. Well two could play at that game.
“Funny, if I cheated you’d think I’d have been disqualified, yet here I am and where’s your friend? Right he’s not here.”
“You should watch your tongue lowlife,” said another boy with shortish blond hair parted to the side and a trimmed moustache, “what backwater did you blow in from anyway?”
“Trieste,” I said automatically before my common sense, which said I shouldn’t tell these creeps anything about myself, kicked in.
“Wow, that is a shithole little kingdom,” the boy replied. Much to my annoyance I noticed that the final two boys had moved to my side encircling me. I stepped back slowly, my hand twitching, wanting to reach for my sword but I knew that would be pointless, these boys were all going to be well trained - and had likely passed their sword or hand-to-hand combat trials - whereas I had got lucky and had been given a free pass. If I’d seen them coming and I had a shortbow then violence might have been a viable plan (ignoring the likely consequences) as it was I forced my right hand to keep still by my side and not to reach across for the sword.
“The fourteenth? Well at least they put you in a company full of scum like you; what is it they say about the fourteenth Rodhri?” The blond boy said to the first one.
“A company of masons, carpenters and arrow fodder, not real knights really,” Rodhri said. So that was the reputation the fourteenth had - I looked at the lapel badges the two boys in front of me sported, one was a horse’s head and the other was a sun. Sadly I had no idea what they meant but no doubt from their swagger they were high ranked companies - I had picked up that the first three companies were somewhat considered elite and the whole first ten companies were referred to as the fighting companies whereas the remaining five all had specialist roles - and only the thirteenth (intelligence and signals) and the fourteenth ever recruited knights apprentice - and with the exception of the fifteenth were all much smaller than the other companies.
“We’ll see about that,” I said, a little lamely.
“No you won’t,” Rodhri said, and suddenly I felt myself grabbed by both arms and hoisted off my feet, “trash like you gets taken out.” I struggled but I couldn’t free myself, all I could do was kick and although I’m pretty sure I got some good ones in from the grunts and subsequent increased roughness they were handling me with I wasn’t succeeding in stopping myself being thrown out of the door. That was until I heard a familiar voice.
“Put the kid down,” it said.
“Fuck off and stay out of our business,” I heard Rodhri say.
“Well you’re fucking with one of my friends so I’m pretty sure you’ve made it my business.”
“Look I don’t know who you are but if you don’t get the hell out of here right now you’re going to regret it.”
“Oh I doubt that, Rodhri Cahill. And don’t think I haven’t clocked you three as well: Gilbert d’Orrif, Arraf Fenfir and Bodey Dramstrong. Want to know who I am? I’ll give you a clue, see that building over there,” he said pointing at one of the sides of the courtyard, “well it’s named after my uncle, the uncle who trained me every day since I was eight years old.”
I felt myself being released immediately and I fell awkwardly, clearly I hadn’t fallen from high enough for acrobatics to kick in, then again it was just a reduction in damage not a guarantee I’d land on my feet. I dusted myself off to see the guy who had crashed into me as he lost the final of his sword trial and a fuming Rodhri and confused looking Gilbert.
“Come on squirt, we’ll be late for whatever is going on here,” he said taking me by the arm and dragging me back to the crowd.
“Thanks, uh,” I said, realizing I had no idea who he was.
“Alex, Alex Commorof,” he said, “and so you know from the start my uncle is Lord Paval Commorof, the previous Captain-General of the Militia, but don’t worry about that, he’s not as scary as everyone thinks. Anyway, what’s your name or am I going to be calling you squirt for the rest of time?”
“It’s Neesh,” I said.
“So no last name?” he said, “figures, well you’ll be Neesh Walls or something when someone gets round to giving you a last name - they’re not very creative down at City Hall, so if you can think of something you prefer do it quick and go down and get registered.”
“Thanks for the advice,” I said, meaning it for once.
“No problem, so you’re in the fourteenth huh?” he went on.
“Yep, according to them it’s the best company in the militia, according to those jerks it’s a company of tradesman and arrow fodder.”
“Well every company says they’re the best company so make of that what you want, though it’s not surprising. I think tradesmen and arrow fodder isn’t quite true either - I mean there’s a bit of truth there, the fourteenth needs more practical skills than most companies and reconnaissance is always a risky job, but whatever your role they’re both honourable callings.”
“Well I’m a scout so I guess I’m arrow fodder,” I quipped.
“Ah well, you’re a small target, sure you’ll be fine.”
“What about you, what does that star on your lapel mean?”
“First company,” he grinned, just a bit smugly, “I won my hand-to-hand trial and you know I might not look it but I’ve had a lot of expensive tutors so I’m no slouch on the academic side.”
“Impressive,” I said, making a whistling sound of appreciation.
“Still I heard you scored very well on the archery, put one of those arseholes in their place and aced the academic tests,” he said, winking at me, “there’s definitely a story here for some scruffy kid from the sticks to tell isn’t there but don’t worry I’m not asking you to tell me what it is.”
“Thanks,” I said, “I’m sure you’ve got a few of your own.”
“Oh yep dozens,” he said, “anyway I meant it Neesh, you seem like a nice guy and I think we should be friends.”
“Sounds good,” I said, “friends then? Reckon we can pick up a few more or do you have a whole fan club waiting here.”
“Nope, splendid isolation I’m afraid, famous uncle puts people off,” he said, “but hopefully we can find a few more people who have no idea who I am.”
I didn’t have a chance to say anything more as a knight came up to us with a stack of papers.
“Right, shut up you lot, I’ve got your timetables here, each of you has had a personalised plan created based on your trials performance and the requirements of your commanding officers.”
“I’ll call you up and you can see what’s what and then we’ll have a walkaround so you all know where everything is, and pay attention as you’ll be expected to have committed everything to memory by the time you arrive here tomorrow.”
About ten minutes later I had my timetable and was comparing it with Alex's. Basically I had hours of weapons and fitness training - basic swordsmanship, horse riding, horse archery, stamina training, strength training, hand-to-hand combat, and just a smattering of academic lessons. Alex in contrast had advanced swordsmanship, battlefield tactics, lance training, foreign languages, history and strategy lessons.
The rest of the morning was being shown around the sprawling grounds of the fifteenth, where our classrooms were, the lockers to store our personal weapons, where to go draw training weapons ahead of each day and where the washrooms were so we could clean up after physical training. I had lunch with Alex in the fifteenth’s mess hall - and I did notice the stares we were getting but did my best to ignore them. In the afternoon there were various athletic competitions which went about as well as you might expect, although at least I wasn’t last in everything. Still it meant by the time I was able to head back to the fourteenth I was exhausted.
What a day I thought and judging by my timetable and the fact there were two stamina training sessions waiting for me I imagined tomorrow was going to be even more exhausting. Still at least I think I've made a friend.