It felt like he had just dropped off to sleep when he woke up to a horn blaring out a fanfare. A loud voice echoed around the room before the last notes had faded away.

“Parade rest outside. Five minutes.”

Looking over Niall could see Sergeant Strang turn and march out of the room. Through the window a red glow on the horizon, suggesting the sun had not yet risen. Despite his weariness, he jumped out of bed and started to get ready. Waking at dawn wasn’t unusual for him anymore. It was clear that was not the case for many of those in the room as some just rolled over in their blankets and carried on sleeping.

Niall was one of the first to put on his uniform and was just putting on his socks when the doors of the barracks burst open. Three other soldiers charged in holding spears. “Out. Now. Out.”

Niall tried to pull on his boots but, before he could do so, the shaft of a spear came crashing across his knuckles, jarring the boots from his hands. “Out.” One of the soldiers was screaming in his face. Niall felt a hand grab him and throw him towards the door. He felt a boot on his backside and scrambled to get away from it out of the door.

Niall emerged blinking into the sunlight. In the middle of the parade ground stood Lieutenant Bligh, leaning on a cane and reading a book. Behind her stood the Sergeant glaring at everyone. He saw a few of the recruits starting to line up and, with Devon’s advice to run everywhere ringing in his ears, he jogged over to join them. The parade ground was uncomfortable, but not unbearable, underfoot. It only gave him limited satisfaction to see that only one or two of the others had time to put on their boots, the others barefoot like him.

As he stood in line he watched as singly, and in small groups, the remainder of the recruits started to emerge from the barracks. It was clear many of them were not moving of their own volition. They were in various states of undress with almost none of them wearing their boots, and some still in their pyjamas, clearly still half asleep.

It took a good ten minutes before they were all lined up in some semblance of order, most blinking blearily into the morning light. By that time, Niall’s feet were chilled and he could feel the morning dew soaking the ends of his trousers.

Eventually the Lieutenant stood straight and tucked her cane under her arm. Slowly, she put the book back in her pocket and looked at them all. Niall felt the pale blue eyes pass over and dismiss him. The silence grew thin and tight. Long moments later the Lieutenant spoke.

“This is pathetic. Sergeant, get these people properly dressed before they come back into my sight.”

With the aid of their spear butts, and not a small amount of swearing, The Sergeant and Corporals herded the recruits back into the barracks and into their uniforms. Niall pulled on his boots with a sense of relief.

When they came back outside and lined back up the Lieutenant had not moved at all.

“Was that five minutes?” Lieutenant did not shout but her voice reached to all of them.

Niall stood there not wanting to speak out. Clearly he was not the only one and no one made a sound.

The Lieutenant gave a nod to the Sergeant, who let out a shout.

“Follow me! Keep up!” He started off at a jog across the parade ground.

The recruits looked at each other and then, as the Corporals started to scream at them and thwack them with the shafts and butts of their spears, they all took off after Sergeant Strang. Niall winced as they left the gate of the army camp. His new boots were not perfectly fitted and within moments his feet were starting to chafe.

Huff jogged up next to him. He glanced around to check that none of the instructors were nearby then hissed at Niall. “Heal yourself, you idiot.”

Niall felt as if that was deserved. It was clear everyone else was Healing themselves. He released a stream of Spirit and felt the immediate relief. More comfortable now, Niall was able to look around. While he was no athlete, it was apparent many of the recruits were far less fit than he was, clearly struggling even to run for a few minutes. The pace was not too fast, but Niall was glad of the time he had spent dashing around the woods with Kiran and Gwen.

The Sergeant led them out of the camp for around two mile before he allowed them to turn around and return. With much panting, eventually they were all back and fallen in, in a ragged formation.

The Lieutenant leant on her cane, seemingly absorbed in her book, as they organised themselves. As the last of the recruits took their place she straightened again and spoke in her quiet, carrying voice. “Until I tell you otherwise, there are only two things you may say outside of the barracks and the mess hall. They are ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘No, sir.’ Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Niall and a few of the others yelled this out. A few joined in raggedly while others remained silent. Niall mentally sighed.

The Lieutenant pulled out her book again and gestured to the Sergeant. “Follow me! Keep up!” the Sergeant yelled.

This time they were all quicker at following the Sergeant as they ran out of the camp. Healing himself from the start, Niall experimented with different patterns of Healing as he ran. He eventually managed to focus his Spirit into a thin stream that mended his cuts and bruises immediately while also allowing him to continuously replenish his Spirit reserves so they didn’t drop.

In that state of Flow, Niall almost started to enjoy himself. Much like all other forms of exercise, running was not an activity he had taken part in since school. Now with his general health better than it had ever been, going for a run down a tree-lined road in the early morning air gave him unexpected pleasure.

As they arrived back and fell in, Niall found he was having to work hard to keep a smile off his face. The Lieutenant kept them waiting as she finished the page she was reading before she looked up again. “While you are here you will do everything with full effort. That includes responding to anything I, or my staff ,may say. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir” roared out from all of the recruits.

The Lieutenant started to slowly pace in front of the militia company, Sergeant Strang walked close behind her. They stopped in front of one of the recruits. The Lieutenant slowly looked him up and down. “When you first came out here you were still in your night clothes. Did you think you were appropriately dressed, recruit?”

“No, Sir, sorry, Sir.”

At a twitch from the Lieutenant the Sergeant hit the recruit in the stomach with the butt of his spear. The man collapsed into a coughing heap on the ground.

The Lieutenant sighed, “On your feet, recruit. You’re allowed to say two things only. What are they?”

The man staggered to his feet. “Yes, Sir. No, Sir.” Niall was impressed at the man’s ability to think despite the abuse his body was taking.

“You see. You do know. Was ‘Sorry, Sir’ on the list?”

“No, Sir.”

“No, Sir. It was not, Sir. So do not use it. I do not want apologies. I want you to do what you are told.”

Lieutenant Bligh moved along the line and stopped in front of Niall. He stiffened but stood as straight as he could looking straight ahead. The Lieutenant leaned forward. Niall could feel the woman’s breath on his face. “Show me your feet, recruit.”

Niall looked at her in confusion. He started to lift a foot when he saw the Lieutenant nod at the Sergeant. He found himself falling through the air to hit the ground with a thump that drove the wind out of his lungs. It was only then he felt the pain on his calf. He looked up to see the Sergeant spinning his spear back to rest at his side.

The Lieutenant face appeared above his. “When I give you an order you do not think. You do not hesitate. You do it. Do you understand recruit?”

From the ground Niall yelled, “Yes, Sir.”

The Lieutenant tossed her cane in the hand so the curved handle was nearest the ground. Niall felt his ankle being lifted off the ground. Niall sprawled uncomfortable but did not dare to object as the Lieutenant inspected his foot. He felt his ankle being released and the Lieutenant gestured at him to stand. Niall scrambled up and stood at attention as best he could.

The Lieutenant leaned back into Niall’s face. “Do you have LeatherSkin, recruit?”

“No, Sir,”

“How about IronSkin?”

“No, Sir.”

“Do you have any form of Skill that would explain why, despite these being standard, shoddy, army-issue boots there are no blisters or even slight chafing on your feet?”

“No, Sir.”

“Then the only explanation is that you Healed yourself. Did I give you permission to Heal your feet, recruit?”

“No, Sir.”

“No, Sir.” the Lieutenant repeated. “No recruit, I did not give you permission to heal yourself. You do what I tell you and only what I tell you. Sergeant Strang, another lap if you would..”

“Follow me! Keep up!”

Niall winced as the butt of a spear slammed into his thigh dropping him to his knees. He turned to the see the Sergeant already at the barrack gates. Another spear handle in his side got him running. He followed the Sergeant and grimaced as the blisters on his feet opened up but forced himself to move.

Unsurprisingly, Niall found this run significantly worse than the first two. Judging from the yelps and curses from around him he was not the only one. Without the constant healing the cuts he got as he ran soon multiplied and he could feel each of them sting as they rubbed against his socks and boots. Nonetheless, Niall gritted his teeth and pushed on through, forcing himself to add speed until he was in the middle of the main group and then staying there until they arrived back to fall in.

The Lieutenant did not bother even looking up from her book as the Sergeant and his staff checked the feet of the recruits when they returned. Eventually they were all back on their feet and lined up to face the Lieutenant.

She put her book back in her pocket and turned to face them again. She was about to speak when she paused and walked over to stand in front of the recruit next to Niall. He was a short man with long brown hair. His eyes flicked back and forth as the Lieutenant approached. “Do you think I am an idiot, recruit?”

“No, Sir.”

“And yet you tried to deceive me. Did you think I wouldn’t notice you using your healing Spirit all the way on the outward run?”

“No, Sir.”

“Did you think you were too good for militia training? That you knew what you were doing better than I did?”

“No Sir.”

“But you did it anyway.”

Without any warning the Lieutenant’s hands moved in a blur. She grabbed the man’s wrist with one hand and forced him to his knees. With the other she punched the back of the man’s elbow. A crack sounded across the parade ground and the man fell face down onto the floor, his arm twisted in an unnatural way. There was a moment of silence and then the man’s sobs, muffled by the mud of the parade ground, sounded out.

The Lieutenant dropped the man’s wrist. “Ignorance can be forgiven, insubordination cannot be tolerated. You will need to get that fixed. Unfortunately, you can’t do that until I dismiss you. And you are very much not dismissed. I tried to teach you the easy way, but you chose the harder lesson. Who am I to refuse your choice?”

The Lieutenant ignored the sobbing man at her feet and talked as she walked back to the front. “You thought that pathetic fight yesterday between those two recruits was a one off? You thought the Sergeant was acting out of turn? You think these six months are going to be about anything other than life and death?

“To be clear, I do not care if you live or if you die. In six months, I will leave you and return to a proper military command where people know what they are doing. I will not look back. However, I won’t have one of you die either when we are out in the field, or when you are back in your private hell holes because you don’t know the basics. So, you will listen and you will obey and you will learn, because if you don’t then I will teach you the hard way. Sergeant, again.”

“Follow me! Keep up!”

As everyone around him started to run, Niall looked at the man sobbing on the floor next to him. He didn’t know him but he knew it would not end well for him if he did not come on the run, regardless of the state of his arm. He made a decision and stripped off his shirt. He knelt down next to the man and took his arm. Healing may be prohibited but he refused to do nothing. Vague memories of first aid from a course at work came back to him and he strapped the man’s arm, ignoring the sobs of pain. He then lifted the man to his feet and pushed him towards the gate.

Niall looked around before he started to run himself. The Lieutenant was staring at him, then to Niall’s surprise, the Lieutenant gave him a nod before absorbing herself in her book.