The troops lined up dutifully and came up one by one to report their information efficiently. Judging by the discipline, they probably aren’t just peasant conscripts. If aristocrats and peasants are even a thing in this world. One by one, pages began to fill, and with a little help from the man beside me, I was able to spell the weirder names correctly. We had about a one-to-three ratio of troops, favoring the defenders. Which makes sense. Once the able bodies were through, I moved to the ones that were unable to come to me.

Tent to tent I moved, and by the end of It, I had over one hundred and sixty-three names. Finally, I turned to the man that helpfully relayed my intentions and gestured for his name. “Guillemot Bon Adle, at your service,” he said with a small bow. “I am affiliated kingdom of Kelmot, and as you probably know, I took a mage's attack to the chest.”

Well, that’s a family name if I’ve ever heard one, a noble for sure. I scribbled it down and finally closed my notebook. Now to separate the Kelmot’s from the Helaska’s. I found a Kelmot flag, which was the one with the dragon, and placed it at one side of camp. Then I found a Heaska flag, the one with the serpent, and placed it on the other side. The soldiers themselves will have to do the rest of the work.

I brushed aside the tent flap and felt my mind instantly clear. I swear, I wasn’t this sensitive to sunlight before. I placed the cadaver I brought in on the middle table. With steady hands, I meticulously cut the man open. Dead from shock, a leg was blown clean off by magic. After making sure he would be a good teaching model I shook my apprentice awake. Time to put the four other dead men to use.

POV shift---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I woke up bleary-eyed when something gently shook my shoulder, it was teacher. I tried to shake off my tiredness and stand up but found my legs wouldn’t respond. I could hear an audible sigh come from behind the unnerving mask. Quickly a hand dipped into his robe and pulled out a small bowl of powder which he placed underneath my nose. My eyes quickly widened, and I felt the energy of a thousand suns. Unfortunately, it only lasted a short second, but I was certainly up and moving now.

With renewed awareness, I could hear the movement outside and could see the faint rays of light penetrating the tent. I almost worked myself half to death yesterday, if it wasn’t for some of the friendlier soldiers helping me to set up tents, I would still be stuck outside. Light by candlelight, I saw a man on a bloody table. I almost threw up a bit when I saw that someone had dressed the poor guy like a simple deer. His red mussels were exposed to air while his skin hung loosely to the sides. Even after all the stuff I had to deal with yesterday, I was still sick at the sight.

Teacher grabbed my arm and forced me over before rummaging through the man’s insides. I was glad I couldn’t smell it. With a flick of his wrist, the large man brought out a small notebook that he was writing in when I first saw him. On a page that flipped open in a slight gust were very detailed depictions of what I was seeing now. Arrows pointed every which way, labeling everything. I hardened my heart when I realized his intention, looks like class begins once again.

My mind greedily absorbed all it could as teacher demonstrated how magic and practical implements could work together almost seamlessly. I also was forced to absorb the inner working of the human body. Just imagining the flood flowing underneath my skin and how a simple stab could unleash it all made me queasy. Once we were done with the first body, teacher unceremoniously tossed him to the side and another one magically appeared in his place.

Before I could even react, teacher ran a hand across his stomach, creating four bloodless valleys. He shoved a small notebook similar to his into my hand and gave me a look that screamed, get to work. He was always a practical man, much more so than my mother who rather shove theories down my throat than anything else. I took my recently gained knowledge and began taking notes of the injury in detail. I would rather not disappoint the guy that regularly warps space like it was simple as a morning stroll. Once I was finished with notes, I was given a small needle and another look which translated to, now fix it.

By the end of my torture session, the body was filled with patched-up wounds and my hands shook from pain and exhaustion. My small glimpse of freedom was then ruined by another body appearing from nowhere. I wanted to wail and scream but that would only delay my fate. I raised my shaking hands to begin but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. My teacher drug me outside and gave me a waterskin. I guess it's break time. I slightly cringed when I saw it was now noon. Six hours of working on a corpse.

I took my gloves off and found several new blisters. I flexed my hand and winced, I’m not looking forward to the rest of the day, or tomorrow for that matter. I sighed and tried not to collapse. Following my teacher, I began to check and replace bandages of every injured man we came across, while also putting to use some of my new skills. It was grueling work but hardly as bad as sitting in a musty tent and ripping apart corpses. Soon, a line of people began to form, the work was, thankfully, pretty repetitive so I could turn off my brain a bit.