Norok strode through the facility library proudly. He felt good. In top condition really. If Will wanted to get into it right now, Norok was sure he could demolish his squad leader in twenty seconds flat. He could keep Will suspended in midair for months, maybe shake his bullets right out of his portals. Lucky for Will, he had proven himself indispensable today, and was now removed from Norok’s hit list. Or at least, he was for the afternoon. Norok was never sure what tomorrow would bring, after all.
The library was a massive tower, a cylinder of bookshelves rising to the sky. A spiral staircase wound around the room, with scattered people in uniform reading books on its steps. On the ground floor was a series of desks and tables, covered in Fable’s oldest records and maps.
Kell had told Norok if he wanted to know more about the anatomy of magic, this was where to go. But as Norok scrunched his nose at the smell of aged paper and dust, he concluded that he didn’t care enough to spend the afternoon in a silent, stuffy room. He scanned the room, looking over the inhabitants for someone who looked weak enough to work for him.
Towards the back of the room stood a young recruit. Her uniform was haphazardly buttoned, and her black hair was a tangled curly mess rolling down her shoulders. She bit her fingernails, practically trembling as her eyes searched the lower shelves. Norok could see her chattering to herself between bites, her voice wrought with anxious squeaks. A silver sword sewn into the shoulder caught Norok’s eye. Mark of a nerd, he thought, recalling a similar sigil on Will’s uniform.
Norok strolled casually forward. He shoved his left hand into his pocket, pushing up his glasses with his right to look down at her more properly. “Yo.”
The girl jumped. A slew of short, unintelligible noises flew from her mouth before she finally managed, “D-d-do I kn-know you?”
“Name’s Norok,” he said. He tilted his head up, pretending to look thoughtfully over the bookshelves above. “I’m new here.”
“O-oh!” She straightened up. While her eyes remained lowered, twitching sporadically, she extended one incredibly sweaty palm out to Norok. “Eleanora. B-but you can call me Bash.”
Norok nodded. He took her hand with a devious grin before abruptly pulling her closer to him. “How would you like to help me out, Bash?”
Her face flushed a bright crimson. “W-w-with what?”
“I’m looking for information,” Norok said in a low voice. “Information on magic stuff. Where it comes from, how to use it, that sort of thing.”
“I-I’m sure the lady at the circulation desk could--”
“I don’t want her,” Norok interrupted. “I want you. To help me, that is.”
Bash uttered another slew of noises. It wasn’t his best tactic. Norok certainly didn’t feel the greatest about flirting his way into her good graces, but he’d feel worse threatening her. At least this way, she’d leave with something to dream about. He would simply give her another line or two, then leave the library with enough books to never have to come back.
“I just don’t know where anything is here,” Norok explained. He kept his tone low, gentle, staring intently at her. “And I don’t really have a whole lot of time today. If you could just put all of the books on magic aside for me, I’d really appreciate it.”
Bash took a deep breath, pulling her hand out of Norok’s grasp. She steadied herself, raising her eyes to meet his. “I-I could help you, but given that I don’t know you, it’s only fair th-that we help each other.”
Norok shrugged. A catch in his plan, sure, but Bash was still shaking like a wounded dog. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be more than Norok could handle. “Sure, whatever. Let’s do my thing first, then we can do yours.”
“No!” Bash shouted firmly. A chorus of irritated hushes quickly followed, causing Norok to wince. “I mean, no. We do my thing first.”
“Okay, okay,” Norok sighed. He furrowed his brow. “What do you want?”
“I want…” Bash swallowed, and Norok could see the sweat beading down the right side of her face. She curled her hands into fists, planting herself firmly. “I want Will’s plans for bootcamp.”
Norok blinked. “You want Will’s what?”
“H-he writes them down every year,” Bash said carefully. “Leather journal, b-bottom right drawer of his desk. I want you to give it to me.”
“But we’re already here,” Norok argued. “Why would I go steal Will’s diary when my books are here?”
Bash frowned, visibly mulling the thought over. She quickly replied, “Th-then you can tell me the plans yourself!”
“I don’t know the plans. We haven’t gone over them yet.”
“W-w-well…” Bash bit her lip. “What have you been tr-training for?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Norok thought back to the simulation chamber. “Sharks, I guess?”
“Sharks… He’s thinking marine combat…” Bash murmured. She pulled a small notepad from her inner pocket, scrambling to write it down. “Where does he have you all placement wise?”
“Irina and my sister on the sides, Will in the center, and Kell and I behind,” Norok said. The whole bootcamp thing didn’t really matter to him anyways. It sounded like another military tradition Will was going to be annoying about, and it was way easier to answer Bash’s questions than comb through the book-ridden maze.
Bash nodded vigorously. She closed the notebook with a triumphant slam, wincing at the repeated hushes from the other visitors. She gave Norok an uncharacteristically confident smile.
“Thank you, Norok. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Yeah, no problem,” Norok grumbled with a shrug. “So, magic stuff?”
Bash laughed awkwardly, her face nearly as pink as Norok’s hair. “O-oh, um… I’m actually not sure where everything is here either… This is m-my first time in the library.”
Norok narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“B-b-but I’m sure if we just a-ask--”
“I thought,” Norok said pointedly. “You worked here. You look like you work here.”
Bash gave an offended squeak. “I-I-I’m wearing the same uniform as you!”
Norok scowled at her. “You have the thing, though, the same thing that Will has and you know him.” He pointed bitterly at her shoulder sigil.
Bash fidgeted uncomfortably on the spot, twiddling her fingers. “Well that’s because I’m--”
A sudden slam echoed out from behind, as the doors to the library were thrown open. Norok looked over his shoulders at the commotion just in time to see a young girl striding directly towards their aisle.
She fully grabbed Norok’s chest, shoving him aside without another word and throwing her arms around Bash’s neck. She began sobbing hysterically into Bash’s collar, as Bash awkwardly raised her arms to pat her gently on the back.
“There, there,” Bash said. “What happened?”
The girl pulled back, shouting at the top of her lungs, “I lost to Irina Smirnov!”
Bash sighed. She pulled the girl out of the aisle by the arm, ignoring Norok’s protests as she left the library.
Norok crossed his arms, looking over the hordes of shelves and dusty books everywhere. “I’ll just ask Kell,” he finally sighed, and shuffled out.
…
In the conference room, Will jabbed at the map on the projector screen with his finger firmly. “We’ll take the path through Halltown, around Linnstan and cut to Bootcamp through here.”
Irina clicked her tongue dismissively, her legs thrown up on the table before her. Daimona snored loudly next to her, drooling on Norok’s shoulder. Kell raised his hand slowly. “Won’t that take longer, though?”
“I’ve calculated the pace we need to maintain to get there in a week. It’ll be brutal, but it’ll build our endurance, and it’ll give us time to practice our positions in the field.”
“Halltown is middle of nowhere, no?” Irina replied. “Why stop there?”
“That’ll be the best point to restock our supplies before moving through the wilds,” Will answered.
“Then why not stop in Linnstan?” Irina asked flatly. Norok snorted at her brutal eye-roll, startling Daimona.
Daimona wiped her mouth, eyes bleary with sleep. “What’s Linnstan?”
“The capital,” Kell whispered.
“The only interesting place in this useless country,” Irina added. “We stop in Linnstan. That route suits me.”
Will glared at her. “And if you were the squad leader, I’d respect that call. But you didn’t pass your exams, did you Smirnov?”
Irina grumbled, picking at her cuticles with the very tip of her kindjal. Kell gave her a solemn pat on the back. She elbowed him in return.
The projector clicked, and a new slide appeared on the screen. It was a bird’s-eye shot of a massive, dense forest, with six man-made clearings placed parallel to one another. Will cleared his throat before continuing.
“This is what we call bootcamp,” Will explained. “Here, we will face off against our assigned rival squad in front of our respective sergeants to determine growth, strength and capability.”
The projector clicked again, this time showing a grainy image of two battling recruits. The first had her legs locked around her opponent’s torso from behind, holding a silver dagger angled towards his terrified left eye. The other had his baton outstretched, a great blaze billowing from the end.
“While it’s hard to say which rules the sergeants will employ for bootcamp, it is expected that we will be engaging in direct combat with our fellows.”
The final slide featured the man with the baton again, only this time he stood victorious, a silver and blue medal hanging from his neck.
“Glory is the obvious motivator here. This year, I intend to crush them viciously,” Will paused, his gaze shifting from Norok to Daimona. “...That’s almost not impossible.”
“Aw, thanks,” Norok replied sarcastically.
Daimona snored again, as if on cue.
“On top of glory, though, there’s also the fact that if we perform well here, we will have access to the first round of mission assignments. In the past, winners have taken the operations that bring the most pride to Fable, leaving the losers with diplomatic slop.”
“We’ve been stuck on base for a while now,” Kell said, giving Norok a bashful look. “You could say we’re pretty tired of it.”
“Exhausted,” Irina replied bluntly.
“Now,” Will carried on, pulling out a leather journal and placing it on the table, “I’ve called in a few favors to get some further information on Squad 57’s roster. For the most part, there’s been no changes, but that just means we’ll be facing the same major threats from before.”
As he opened his journal, he revealed a single, black and white photo, featuring a familiar face. Norok’s eyes widened, his mouth falling open as Will’s final words began to sink in.
“Their captain, Bash Lotsvatinus, is our greatest enemy here. It will take all of us-- and I mean all of us-- to take this woman down.”