"You have got to be kidding me!" Alaric blurted out spraying scrambled eggs over the table and nearly hitting Era with the half chewed breakfast.

Her eyes narrowed and Alaric got the feeling that he should have thought this through before blurting out, he swallowed and then asked again, quieter and with a more serious voice.

"You want me to train with the recruits? But why? I have enough things on my plate as it stands, spending days training in the barracks is the last thing I need right now." The statement was half true, yes he had things to do but none were really pressing, a snowstorm had locked down the entire region and it would be weeks before any messages could be sent via raven.

Era frowned at him and sighed.

"Winter suggested the training, he is under the impression that a bit of combat training would be good for the scribes in this city. For the young ones anyway most of the council and the scribes would probably break their backs on the attempt on lifting the wooden swords." She looked at him, one eyebrow slightly lifting as her eyes traced over his figure.

Alaric's mood darkened, he may not look like it but he had been the apprentice of a carpenter. Carrying wood and hammering nails until his hands bled, a couple of months behind a desk was not enough to take away years of pain and suffering. A smile crept on Era's face.

"Now that's the face of someone I wouldn't want to cross... too bad I already know you." She stopped, a strange look taking place in her eyes.

"Remember how to make that face Alaric... I think you are going to need it one day..." the moment passed and Era shook her head.

"Get to the courtyard, Winter and his recruits should be arriving any second now. You do not want to be late to his lectures Al, always remember that whatever you will learn out there your future soldiers will know as well. The more you know about them the better you will be able to command them... A fact that most of our generals here seem to have forgotten."

Era turned back to her work and it was clear he had been dismissed, Alaric turned around and grumbling exited the chambers of the grandmaster. Era was waiting for him, he was looking at him questioning, it seemed like Era had not told the other boy either about the training.

"We are to gather in the courtyard... Winter is going to train the scribes in combat, supposedly it should help us later on." Letra's eyes widened, he was even thinner than Al and if he was any judge the boy had never worked a day in his life.

"What will we be training? I can't beat someone with a sword! I hate violence! We would be better off without the need to kill each other." His voice got a higher pitch as he spoke blood rushing to his face.

Letra was getting seriously worked up about it. Alaric raised a hand to calm him down.

"Hey, we need to get going, Winter dislikes people that are late... and something tells me we do not want to be disliked by the man."

When the two of them reached the courtyard there were about forty people in it, among them the other scribes and a lot of dirty boys and girls neither of the two had seen before, the new recruits.

"So glad the two of you could join us!" A deep voice sounded from the side, when Alaric turned he saw Winter again. The first time had been during the attack at the gates, back then he had been impressive. Now, without soldiers surrounding him he made even more of an impressive figure.

White hair covered his head, bound back to stay out of his face. He was clean shaven and about twice as wide as Alaric, thick muscles had his limbs the size of small trees. Scars covered his bare arms, despite the cold he was dressed in a sleeveless shirt and simple dark green pants.

"Apologies, Era had to talk to us before this started and we-" Alaric stopped when Winter raised a hand.

"No need to explain, I understand. Now we have a simple rule here, if you get here late you will do ten push ups if you are the first of the late people to arrive, twenty if you are second, thirty if you are third and so on..." He gestured to the five people on the floor, Alaric's heart skipped a beat, next to him Letra gasped.

"You can decide which one of you is the seventh.. and which the sixth." Alaric and Letra exchanged a look neither of them could do that many push ups.

"I do the seventy, you carry me back to the room once we are done." Letra nodded in agreement and the two of them began.

At twenty Alaric's hands were shaking, a burning sensation spread through his arms. Sweat covered him and the cold winter air had him chilled to the bone. Every move hurt now, when he got down for push up number twenty one his arms stiffened at the bottom and would not allow him to get back up.

With a grunt he gave up and stayed on the ground gasping for air, next to him Letra was already down too, his face a dark red, sweat on his forehead. All around them the late comers suffered similar fates and a thin pale man that arrived last had to sit down when he heard he was to do a hundred push ups.

His chest cramped when he tried to push himself back up again having him sink back on the ground, boots stopped in front of him as Winter looked down on him.

“Well at least you are trying… I do have to say that this is more disappointing than I would have expected… On your feet recruits!” The shout had him flinch slightly as he rolled on his back looking up to the commander.

The man’s eyes squinted slightly as he looked at the boy, something that could have been recognition shown in them before he looked away again.

“Form up into a line!”

Letra helped Alaric back on his feet, both of them had difficulties standing upright, Alaric’s muscles burned and shivered slightly.

“You will now be given a wooden sword and shield, these weapons will not leave your side for the winter. If I find any of you not carrying them I will beat some sense into you!” Alaric swallowed, he had remembered Winter as a kind man, not this aggressive brute of a teacher.

“The men you will be training with have survived battles and shed blood in the name of this rebellion, respect them and listen to what they have to say!” The soldiers behind Winter were not what you would expect from war heroes. Thin and rugged in appearance, dead eyes that seemed to look right through the recruits. None of them reacted at the comment from Winter, one coughed and spit a bit of blood later, Alaric was thinking about what he would need to do at the victory procession to have the few that survived look like the heroes they were supposed to be, a lot of more food would be needed for sure.

Winter split them into groups of five, mixing the scribes and recruits so there were never more than one scribe in a group. The seven veterans and Winter were just enough to keep the groups as small as they were intended.

Alaric wondered about the numbers, he had expected more recruits to show up, there had certainly be more of them when he and his friends had arrived...

The Veteran they had been assigned to looked at the five kids in front of him, four boys and one girl, a large girl to be sure but she looked like she had worked very rarely in her life, her eyes glancing at a boy next to her, a good looking fellow with blond hair and a white smile.

They were given their wooden swords and shields, Alaric was surprised, the swords were very well made, winter wood, with thin lines spreading over it. A material used to make especially sturdy pieces of furniture, they could not have been too cheap.

“Now, the most important thing for you to do is raise your shield, this shield will be your lifeline in a battle, drop it and you might as well kill yourself since none of you will survive without it.” The voice was rough, as if stones were grinding in his throat, hoarse from screams.

The pretty boy stiffened his back eyes focused on the soldier in front of him, Alaric did the same and saw that the veteran had shifted his attention to him, the eyes still with the same unyielding stare that had pierced the other boy.

“Now, some of you might not be fit for combat, which would be the reason why you are scribes and not soldiers but knowing how to defend yourself has never hurt anyone. Only the process of learning it does.” Letra snorted a suppressed laugh, he probably thought it was a joke, Alaric did not want to be in his shoes right now.

The veteran smiled at the small boy and signed for him to step forward.

“Now, I am going to demonstrate on how to block a couple of hits with your shield. Mr. volunteer, would you mind trying to hit me?” The smile was melting from Letra’s face as he nodded.

Bravely he stepped forward and thrust his sword at the veteran who easily blocked it with his shield, the next strike was downwards and Letra took another step forward to try and hit over the shield, the wooden blade was blocked again with only a small shift in the veterans posture.

After about twelve hits Letra was tired and their teacher stood upright and signed for the boy to raise his shield.

“Now, try to block my attacks just the way you saw me do it.” Without waiting for a response he launched forward, Letra raised his shield just in time to block the first attack.

The sound of wood striking wood echoed through the courtyard. Letra nearly lost his shield, stepping back he regained his posture just in time to block the second attack, the impact set him back another step as the third attack, a thrust, hammered into his shield slightly spinning the boy.

The teacher stopped and Letra dropped to the ground.

“This is why you get shields! Getting past one is very difficult and if the opponent knows how to use a shield losing is nearly impossible for him! You might not win but with a shield you can hold out long enough for someone to come to your rescue. One of the most important things you are required to do on the battlefield is to stay alive!” Letra dropped her shield and began massaging his hand, the teacher looked down on him.

“Pick that shield back up girl.” Letra looked surprised but did so without a comment. The Veteran attacked the sitting boy, with a yelp Letra managed to raise his shield and block the attack, but the impact nearly threw him to the ground.

“Never drop your shield! The next time I see any of you let go of it I will beat you until you have to be carried back to your rooms!”

Alaric grew suspicious that maybe this training would be a lot harsher than he would like it to be. But maybe, some of the soldiers knew what had happened to Wolf and Summer, maybe even Erik.