The training was hard, much harder than Alaric had initially expected, after the first hour of basic training consisting mostly of strengthening Winter began to teach them the basics of sword fighting. The shield was always with them and dropping your guard or dragons beware the shield resulted in the harshest of punishment.

After a while Alaric began to understand why the training was set up like this, with the strengthening exercises in the beginning all the sword fighting was done in a state of exhaustion, something that would happen a lot if they ever had to fight in a real war. Traun, their instructor was a strange man to talk to, he rarely talked for longer than a couple of words at a time and never drunk, which made him the only one that didn’t.

After the first three days Alaric managed to have a sitdown with the man and ask him about the disaster near the pass, he felt responsible for what had happened.

At first Train had no intention of talking to him but when Alaric mentioned he had a friend serving with the scouts he began telling what happened there.

“Wolf and Summer had managed to track down enemy troops in the area, our commander had sent word that they were to only soldiers in the area and probably here to find and kill all of us.

So they decided to strike first, lead them to a nice little place they could rest in and set an ambush.

When the sun was still down, and all of their men were asleep Wolf and the twins took out the guards that had managed to stay awake and signalled for us to get to work. We were halfway done cutting the bastards throats when someone fucked up and the remaining soldiers managed to withdraw and stand their ground against us.

Wolf tore into their flanks and Summer lead the charge against the center of the enemy formation herself.

We nearly had all of them when another group of soldiers attacked our flank where Wolf was, he took two arrows to the chest before he knew what was going on...” the man stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing.

“Summer lead the last line of defense as we retreated into the mountains and towards the pass, the enemy were nearly a hundred strong and we had lost most of our soldiers during the first charge.

I saw Summer getting stabbed when she held the rear guard… the twins were nowhere to be seen but… the last command Summer gave way to get over the mountain pass and towards Blackriver as fast as we could.. So we did just that.”

He stopped and the arm holding his cup of tea shook slightly.

“Have you met anyone called Erik? Should have joined you during your last stay in Blackriver before you left for the enemy territory.” Alaric was not done hoping yet, Erik might still be alive.

“Sorry kid but most soldiers change their name when they join the us… and everyone that joined us in Blackriver is dead now, the last one of them to stand was Wolf and he took two arrows to the chest when he went back to save Summer.”

The soldier was quiet for a while, the only sound was the other recruits and their teachers eating.

“Let that be a lesson to you, never try to be the hero when you have been told otherwise… bad for you health.” His tone was bitter, as he took a sip of his apple juice, grimacing as he swallowed.

Alaric took it as a sign not to press him any more for the evening and returned to Letra and the other recruits of his group.

“So? What did he say? Any news of your friend?” Letra asked as he pulled the chair out for him, he was slightly slurring his words. Alaric sat down and took a big gulp of his mead before he answered.

“Seems like the last of the Blackriver recruits died during the ambush…” It felt wrong saying it out loud, like something was only slowly settling in his mind.

Did that really mean Erik was dead? Was that how he ended in the middle of an ambush slaughtered at the very beginning of the rebellion? It felt ridiculous his friend would die like that.

No glorious songs, no great heroic tales would be told about him, he died a recruit in a war that had barely begun. Then another thought crossed his mind, most soldiers died like that… Alaric felt as if something had pulled the ground from under his feet, an unsettling feeling having him spin in his own thoughts as he took another sip from his drink.

Letra and the others were quietly talking among themselves and he was surprised to realise he couldn’t understand a word they were saying.

Now only he and Cara were left and she was in somewhere behind enemy lines gathering information… a job that most often ended in death as well. It dawned on him that it was a very likely possibility that he would be the last one still alive within a year or so, hidden behind the walls and soldiers of Blackriver while everybody else was either dying or fighting for their lives.

The role he had chosen was not the one of someone on the front or behind it but rather a puppet master pulling strings and fighting from the comfort of his desk. A bitter taste rose in his throat, he signed the barkeeper for a bottle of mead and took a big sip as soon as he got it into his hands.

Letra sighed next to him, “That bad?” he asked, Alaric just took another gulp and signed for another bottle.