The Order at least had the decency to separate the women’s bunks from the men’s. That meant she was in a large room filled with bunks, only eleven of which were taken. She put her pack on the bunk next to Charity’s, but the woman picked up her own gear and moved it to the other side of the room.
Point taken. No one wanted to bunk with a noble.
Phileas’s screaming echoed down the hall. Kate and Charity ran to where the others were, the few other women in their training class hot on their heels. As one, they marched to a large audience hall.
There was even less fanfare than the night before they left the castle. A large, grey-haired man stepped up on the platform and looked over the newest class of recruits.
“I’m Major Gillet Dirksen, commander of this training facility. I would welcome you here, but many of you won’t be staying. The next three months will be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life, and that includes basic training in other countries’ armies.” He looked right at Sampson when he said it, somehow finding and picking him out amid the crowd.
“I’m not going to give you all a big motivational speech. Instead, I’m going to tell you about the Order. I mean, the real Order, not the neat and tidy little fantasy others think exists up here.
“The Order of the Fire was created for one reason and one reason only: to keep the demons on their side of the gates. That’s it. We’re not heroes; we’re not knights. We are men and women who go out there and kill demons every day. Period.
“Now I’ll tell you something that no one outside knows. You’ll find that if you try to tell anyone about this, leastwise anyone not in the Order, your mouth will lock up and you won’t be able to do it. So don’t bother. Here it is: demons cannot be hurt by normal weapons. A demon in the wild might as well be made of stone for all the good your swords and other weapons can do against it.”
Kate’s sudden inrush of air made those around her turn and stare. She swallowed and looked toward the floor until she couldn’t feel their gazes anymore. If demons couldn’t be hurt by normal weapons, how did she knock the demon out in the trials? Did she have some kind of abnormal power to hurt them? Could she be the hero who could finally end the war that had waged for almost eight hundred years?
“Before you go crying home to your mommies, let me finish,” the commander said. “The Order has magic that helps in this regard. In fact, our name reflects it. You may have noticed the large gemstones, about the size of your head, in different parts of the fortress. These are the firestones, and they are what allows us to harm the demons.
“There are three in the fortress, large enough that they cover the entire grounds with their power. They are magical stones that weaken the demons enough so that, though they may still be faster and stronger than most men, they are vulnerable. I’ll explain more of this later, for those of you who are still with us. It is enough to say that we stand a fighting chance against demons here in the fortress. If you meet them outside the fortress, well, I hope you have a god to pray to.”
The commander introduced some of the staff, including a slender man with captain’s rank on his shoulder who had the worst posture she had ever seen. From the side, he looked like a question mark. But Kate’s mind was not on the introductions. The large red stone set into the column she had seen earlier must be one of the firestones. If humans could not harm the demons without the magic of the stones, their situation was even more precarious than she had thought.
“Now,” the commander said, “I want to call your attention to the large bell in front of me. It has a definite purpose, and some of you will interact with it before your time here is done. Simply put, it is your way out. If training becomes too much for you, or if you realize that the life of an Order soldier is not for you, just strike the bell. You will be given supplies and a small stipend, and you will leave here forever to go where you will. I would say that there is no shame in belling out, but that would be a lie. The truth is that you would be a failure and have no part in this army.
“Keep this in mind. People have died during training, so the bell may become your best friend and savior. That’s all I need to say about that.
“There is one more thing you need to see before you are released to go to your bunks. Your drill sergeant will show it to you. He will be your only point of contact during your training, unless you run afoul of the rules, in which case others may get involved. You don’t want that to happen.
“Good luck in your training. I would wish that you all passed and became members of the Order, but there has never been a class that didn’t lose recruits. I look forward to seeing most of you at the graduation ceremony.”
With that, he abruptly stepped down and exited through a side door.
Phileas was waiting at another side door. “All right, you tiny, leafless saplings, get in line and follow me. I have a special treat for you.”
Conversation broke out among the recruits, but no one talked with Kate. Phileas hadn’t told them they needed to stay in their squads, so she hurried to get right behind him. If she couldn’t talk with others, at least she’d be one of the first to see what they were to be shown.
Phileas eyed her as she fell into step behind him, but he didn’t say anything. They went through several hallways until they reached one that seemed darker than the others. It also felt different. Lonely, almost. A chill like a cold finger ran up Kate’s back and she shivered. Several others around her visibly did likewise.
The hall stretched on for a long way, with no other doors but one at the end. When they got there, Phileas looked back over his recruits and apparently was satisfied that they were all there. He opened the door and led them in.
The enormous room was probably three times longer than it was wide and held only five massive cages.
In each, there was a demon.
Memories of the demon at the trial and the voice that invaded her mind sprang up, but Kate pounced on them and smashed them down into the bowels of her consciousness. She smiled as she thought of knocking the demon out in her trials, picturing it clearly.
She gasped again.
“What is it, girly?” Phileas said. “Do the demons scare you? You’ve seen one before.”
“No, they don’t scare me. I just realized something. The demon in the trial, its cage had firestones set into the frame. Small ones.”
“Yes,” Phileas said slowly. “That’s very observant.”
“It just finally made sense,” she said, forgetting to whom she was talking. Her eyes lost focus, and she stared at the ceiling high above. “I was able to injure the demon because the stones made it possible. I—” It came back to her suddenly that she was in a room full of other recruits, and she was talking to her very strict drill sergeant.
Phileas had a look on his face she had not seen before. It seemed like surprise. Or shock.
“That was you?” he said. “You were the one who knocked out the demon in the trials? With your bare fists?”
The lump in Kate’s throat must have grown to the size of a watermelon. She couldn’t get any words past it, no matter how much she worked her mouth. With great effort, she finally wheezed out a “Yes.”
“Well, well, well. I look forward to seeing how you do in your training. You’re right, of course. We keep the demons weakened and have Order personnel on standby whenever we do the trials. Even one demon getting loose could cause mayhem. Take your look, now, and get out of the way. There are others who need to see, and then you’ll need to hit your bunk. Your training starts tomorrow.”
Kate did as commanded. She noticed that the demons, though recognizable as the same type—the front-line troops coming through Hell’s gate—had different appearances. One had a larger, hooked nose, where another had bigger horns, and the third was taller and wider than the other two. The fourth and fifth were different than the others but seemed identical to each other. Kate supposed it was like with humans, lots of variation though, in general, they had the same shape and form.
After everyone had a turn, they all headed to their bunks. As the sergeant said, they were to start their training in earnest the next day, and Kate planned on setting the tone for her training.
10
Kate was up even before Phileas screamed at them to rise. On her way to the dining hall, she picked out the location of another of the large firestone talismans the commander had described the previous night. She now knew where two of the three of them were. If what the commander said was correct, it wouldn’t matter if she was near them or not if demons attacked, but she felt more comfortable knowing where they were. If the worst happened, she would angle to fight as close to one of the firestones as possible.
Breakfast consisted of some kind of lumpy mush with plenty of bread on the side. Kate had always eaten more than anyone thought wise for a young lady—memories of Charlotte telling the air that her lady would become as big as a house ran through Kate’s head and made her smile—and she did not stop now. She had three bowls of the…well, whatever it was, and nearly two whole loaves of bread. She knew how much she would be burning off with her training and wanted to be well-fueled. The quizzical looks bounced off her as if they were a gentle rain.
“The heart and soul of the Order forces,” Phileas Darknoll said when they were all arrayed in the courtyard after breakfast, “is the shield wall. There is no better way for us to defend against the forces of Hell when they come through the gates.
“When the gates open, we never know what will happen. There may only be a few hundred demons trying to rip through us to rape and pillage the world, but there may also be thousands. The more there are, the more important it is to keep the wall whole. Think about that. Keep. The. Wall. Whole. If you are the one who breaks and allows the demons to put a wedge in the wall, you may be responsible for killing all of us and allowing the world to end.”
He glared at them, letting what he said sink in. After a few moments, the silence was so uncomfortable, some of the recruits started moving their mouths, as if preparing to speak. Kate silently wished them to keep their mouths shut. When Phileas spoke again, it was a relief, a great weight lifted off their shoulders.
“The concept is simple,” he continued. “So simple that even the toe slime that you are should be able to understand it.
“Kate!” he yelled, so abruptly that Kate couldn’t help but to jump. It was a small consolation that everyone else did, too.
“Yes, Sergeant,” she said, wondering what she had done wrong. It almost seemed as if Phileas could read minds.
“Come here.”
Kate ran the ten feet to the sergeant and stood at attention in front of him. She was wearing her sword and holding her shield in her left hand.
“I want to use you for a little demonstration,” he said.
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Do you know what a shield wall is, recruit?”
“I do, Sergeant.”
“Good. Tell all these miserably malodorous milksops who may not be as smart as you.”
Kate groaned inside. He was not helping her by singling her out. As it was, no one would speak to her because she was a noble. If Phileas drove them apart any more, she would have a rougher time of it. She really had no choice, though.
“The shield wall is when the Red stand shoulder-to-shoulder, shields up in front, like this.” She put her shield in front of her, stepping her right leg back to brace herself in a strong stance. “With everyone close, the shields touch and make a solid wall to defend against attackers.”
“That is correct,” Phileas agreed. “And what is the purpose of doing that?”
“It is to keep the demons back en masse, Sergeant. They will try to charge and break holes in the wall. Once they do that, they can use their claws and teeth to rip us apart from the sides and back. The only way to prevent that is to stop their charge and then use our swords once they are immobile with our shields in front of them and their fellows behind, pushing them into our blades.”
“Excellent. Spoken like you are almost intelligent.”
Kate knew better than to thank the man, so she remained silent.
“I know what some of you pathetic, pimply, plebeian pukes are thinking,” he said. “How can this tactic work with the shields shaped as they are?”
The recruits looked at their own shields, some switching their attention back and forth between theirs and Kate’s, comparing them. Hers was of greater quality, of course, since she had brought her own instead of accepting the general issue shield, but otherwise they were the same. They were round with one side an unbroken edge and the other a series of jagged teeth. They were large enough to cover a good portion of a person’s body, but they didn’t compare to the phalanx shields of the nearby kingdom of Galette, which were bigger and rectangular and provided protection from head to toe.
None of the recruits said anything, waiting for the sergeant to continue.
“Well?” Phileas said. “What about it? What do you notice about the shape and size of our shields?”
Still no one spoke.
Phileas glared at them, waiting them out.
Finally, Sampson tired of the game and spoke. “They are round, not fitting together easily as the shields of Galette’s army. They are not large, leaving a good portion of the body unprotected, such as the legs or the head, if attacks come from above.”
“Yes,” Phileas agreed. “Anyone who knows anything about fighting other humans would see the flaws immediately. Then why do we use such shields? Why not go for the large box shields or at least kite shields?”
Again, no one had anything to say. The recruits looked at the ground, at the sky, at their own shields, anywhere but the sergeant. Some actually kicked at the ground.
“Kate!” Phileas yelled again, and despite her vow not to do it, she jumped again.
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Do you know the answer to my question?”
Kate was really starting to hate this man. He seemed determined to create an impassible gulf between her and the other recruits. “Yes, Sergeant.”
He held a hand out and lifted his brows. “Well, out with it, recruit. Are you too stupid to understand I’m telling you to enlighten these miserable muck-sucking morons?”
“No, Sergeant. The shields are shaped and sized like they are because they have been found to be the ideal configuration for fighting demons. The forces of Hell rarely use projectile weapons. In fact, most of them use no weapon at all, only their teeth and claws. That being the case, it is unnecessary for us to worry about arrows. The round shields are easier to use, advantageous when fighting devolves to individual combat, and the serrations along the edge are useful as weapons. Their lighter weight means the Red can sustain the shield wall for longer periods of time without fatigue.”
“Ah, we have a scholar in the warlike ways in our midst,” Phileas said sarcastically. “But you’re right on all counts. Now get back in line.” He turned back to the others. “Now that we have answered your unasked questions, it’s time for you to learn to use your primary defensive weapon. And yes, I said weapon. Kate here has the right of it. A skilled fighter can use the shield as both defense and offense. But we’ll get to that. For now, gather in your squads and spread out in single file.”
The squads practiced staying together and moving back and forth while not allowing the shields to break apart. Kate saw it for what it was: a complete disaster. None of her squad, except for Sampson, seemed to have ever even held a shield before, let alone moved around with it in front of them.
“I can’t see anything,” Wilfred said for the third time when he tripped and fell as everyone else was moving forward. The others looked at him disdainfully, but
they weren’t much better.
“We’re ready for combat,” Arronax said triumphantly. “No demons will get through us.”
Unfortunately, Phileas heard the young man’s boasting and decided to show him the error in his thinking. He brought over a squad that had been at the fortress for a month already and had worked together in the shield wall competitions that were ongoing. To Kate, they even looked more like soldiers. It was probably in the way they carried themselves and held their shields. She did not look forward to going head to head with them, not with her squad.
“When I shout go, you will try to push your opposing squad out of the courtyard,” Phileas said. “Ready, go!”
Kate’s squad didn’t stand a chance. Before they had so much as gotten together in a line, the other squad was already touching shields with them. Touching was a relative term, of course. Kate had her guard up, and when her shield clashed with her opponent, the other man bounced off, much to his surprise.
Wilfred didn’t fare so well. He was launched through the air to land in the slush behind him, at the side of the courtyard, his shield ten feet from where he landed. Arronax withstood one of the other shields for a moment, but then the shields to either side of it caused him to spin off into the snow as well. Once their wall was broken—which took all of about five seconds—none of them could stand against it. Kate twisted to avoid solid strikes from the other shields, even slamming hers hard enough to make one of the other squad’s men fly off his feet, but it was a losing battle. The remaining members of the opposing squad rushed her with their shields together and pushed her into the snow with the rest of her squad mates.
“You had to open your mouth,” Sampson said, trying to brush the slushy, grey mess from his clothes.
Arronax only grimaced.
Their training didn’t consist solely of shield training, of course. There were other exciting skills to learn, such as making their bunks and keeping their equipment maintained. They found out, too, that there was a special treat for those who were destroyed in a shield wall match with another squad.
Call of Fire Page 8
