“What did you do that for?” Niall tried to stand up but a push from Lupa sent him spinning back down. Despite focussing his attention on Lupa, he was vaguely aware of the other Patrol Leaders gathering around.

“You. Idiot.” Lupa could barely spit out the words.

“What?”

“‘What?’ He says, ‘What?’” Lupa squatted next to Niall and slapped him across the face. “I do not care if you die, but you have my girl, Tierra, in your Patrol. You put her life at risk?” She smacked him across the face again then stood up walked a few steps away.

Niall watched her shoulders rise as she took a deep breath. Then she turned back and kicked him painfully in the side. “Do you know what a dire wolf even is?” she asked.

Niall shook his head trying to suck in some air to fill his winded lungs.

“Of course you don’t. You have no idea what you’re getting into because you’re an idiot.” She squatted next to his and her words hissed into his face. “Listen to me, little man. I have fought wolves since I was ten years old. The one time our village had to face a dire wolf, twenty years ago, has gone down in legend. There was only one, a grizzled pack leader that must have lost control of its pack to a younger contender. It was old, weak and hungry. Even so, it took four of our best fighters to take it down. Four of them for one dire wolf. All experienced and strong. Two of them didn’t come back, and one only has a single arm. You haven’t killed anything in your life. You’re just going out there to die, and you’re going to take Tierra with you.”

Lupa spat at him and stalked off into the night.

Niall slowly got back to his feet. The circle of Patrol Leaders parted to let him through.

“Oh, this is just delightful.” Killip’s sardonic tones floated through the night after him as he walked off. “I always knew you were an upstart, Vendra. Never knowing your place. Always showing off. Now even your rabid girlfriend is upset with you. This is where your arrogance gets you. Well done. Very well done. I would wish you luck, but I suspect we won’t be seeing any of you again so luck would just be wasted.”

Niall felt an arm around his shoulder and saw Trintor towering next to him. “Ignore the idiot,” he said. “It’ll be fine.”

With anger at his own foolishness bubbling inside him, Niall shook his head. “No, no it won’t. Lupa’s right. I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m going to get them all killed.”

Trintor stopped him and turned him to face him. “Listen, Niall. What you did back there was brave. Really brave. I wish I’d had the guts to do it. I was brought up to do the right thing, not the safe thing. But I stayed silent because I was scared. You did the right thing.”

Niall looked at his friend before he turned away and continued to walk to the barracks. He took a deep breath and opened the door. The excited chatter in the room died away as everyone saw him in the doorway. Niall saw his Patrol in a small group to one side. He could tell from the looks on their faces that the news had raced ahead of him.

Huff looked at the rest of the Patrol and then walked up to Niall, the rest close behind him. Huff grinned at him. “Sounds like you’ve got some fun lined up for us. Let’s get to it.”

In silence, the Patrol walked to the briefing room. Before they entered Niall turned to face them. “Listen. I just want to say that I know this was my decision, not yours. No one else was going to step up. I couldn’t let those villagers be abandoned.”

Tierra looked at him. “I heard how Lupa ripped into you, but you didn’t do the wrong thing. All of us from the villages know how hard life is. If something like this happened to us we would want help as well.”

Huff nodded. “My family, we have livestock as well as crops. Losing part of a herd at this time of year would be devastating by itself. Now that farmers and villagers are dying, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if we didn’t at least try to help.”

Niall looked around at the Mak, Rafaela and Fangast who were nodding along. “Thank you, guys.” He gave them a grateful smile, then turned and knocked at the briefing room door.

***

The next morning Niall and his Patrol lined up outside the barracks at dawn as they watched the other recruits heading off for their run. They had packs on their backs and their weapons at their side. The previous evening had been spent in a flurry of briefings, requisitioning gear and packing. They had finished late but Niall had managed to grab a few hours’ sleep before the bugle woke them. In a snatched moment, Niall had tried to speak to Lupa following their altercation, but she had just pushed past him without a word.

As the last of the other recruits disappeared out of the gate Corporal Tate walked up to them. She looked them up and down.

“Right, I have the pleasure of leading you on this little jaunt. We’ll be out for several nights so I’ll be teaching you how to Patrol and set up camp in the field. Patrol Leader Vendra, get your people ready, we’re heading out in five.”

Over the course of the day, as they marched away from the army camp, Tate taught the group the nuances of patrolling in the real world. From what to look out for, what to do if they spotted a problem, how to cover each other, how to call for help and more. They started off along the familiar roads around the army camp, but by that afternoon they were moving through areas Niall did not recognise. They were clearly known to Tate, though, as she did not stop to consult a map.

Niall forced himself to absorb Tate’s instructions. The instructor may be blunt to the point of rudeness but it was clear she knew what she was talking about. The responsibility of leadership weighed on Niall’s shoulders. He was very aware that if he got something wrong it may not just cost his life, but the life of his friends as well.

Corporal Tate set a brisk pace. Niall did not mind it. He had surprised himself with how much he had enjoyed the physical activity and the fresh air over the past months. From being the sort of person who would be short of breath after climbing a couple of flights of stairs, he was now someone who could march in leather armour carrying a heavy backpack and weapons for hours.

The Patrol stopped for a break in the middle of the day for a cold meal, but before they set off again, Tate demanded they train their weapon skills. Early evening, the recruits followed the Corporal off the road into a large clearing with a stream cutting through one side.

“We camp here tonight,” Tate said.

Within a few minutes they had all been allocated different tasks from gathering firewood, to digging a latrine, to standing watch, to preparing a meal. Niall was glad of the experience he had gained on Devon’s small holding. While domestic activities were now second nature to him, it was clear Fangast and Mak were as clueless as he would have been a few months earlier.

As their dinner bubbled over the fire, Corporal Tate gathered them together for another training session.

“Listen up,” she said. “For obvious reasons your training has been focussed on tactics for dealing with two legged opponents, whether those are Bulvine or human. We’re going to be fighting dire wolves. That’s going to need a different approach.”

The patrol spent the next hour being drilled on the tactics they needed to absorb if they were to have a chance against the dire wolves. Tate also invited Tierra to provide some insights from her experience with wolves. Niall listened intently to everything that both of the women said. He had volunteered his patrol for this and he would do whatever it took to bring them all back safely.

Eventually, they were done for the evening and sat around the fire eating their venison stew. Rafaela stood to one side on guard duty, but still able to listen to the conversation. Niall finished a mouthful of camp bread then turned to Tate. “Can I ask you a question, Corporal.”

“You can ask.”

“Why did you volunteer to come along for this? You must know the chances of success.”

Tate took another spoonful of her stew before answering. “Let me tell you a story. If we’re going to fight and die together then you should know something about me.

“I grew up in a hamlet on the frontier. It was my Ma, my Da, and my three brothers. It was a hard life but a good one. We didn’t have much, but we were always well fed and warm and we laughed all the time. I was happy.

“Then it all changed. One day a Bulvine raiding party came knocking. They took all of our herds with them and killed two of the farmers who tried to stop them. Burnt down five of the houses as well, including ours. It was just before winter, so we got through the snows the best we could. Sharing what we had, foraging what we could. It didn’t matter though; we were all hungry all of the time. Not everyone in the hamlet made it.

“When Spring came around, we didn’t have the money to buy new animals. My Da said he would go off to find work and send money back. I never saw him again. Eventually my mother gathered us kids and took us to the nearest town. That was a week’s walk away. By the time we got there we were starving and stumbling with tired. Eventually Ma found work doing piece work sewing. We survived but we were always hungry and cold and sad. Ma took to drink. I can’t say I blame her. The memories of our farm seemed like just a dream.

“So, I know what it’s like farming on the Frontier. I know what it’s like to feel helpless as everything you’ve worked for, sacrificed for, disappears and there’s nothing you can do about it. I know how that village is feeling and, if I can do something to make it right, then I will. I tell you true, Patrol Leader Vendra, if you hadn’t volunteered your Patrol to come out here, then I would have come by myself.”

When Tate finished the only sound was the crackling of the fire. After a long silence, Tate got to her feet and cracked her back. “Right, we should turn in. Watches are set for the night. Make sure you don’t wake the rest of us unless there is something worth waking for.”

Niall had the third watch, but, despite the exertions of the day, he found himself lying awake thinking of what Tate had said. There was the stirring of something he did not recognise inside him and it took several hours before he eventually drifted off.

The second day, Tate took them off the road into the surrounding woods and fields as they marched and there was no let-up in the training during the breaks. With only a small group to focus on, Tate made those training sessions even more intense than those which Niall had experienced back in camp. The imminent fight sharpened all of their minds while Tate pointed out and corrected even the smallest of errors.

Niall was frustrating to be picked on so closely, but by the end of the evening training session, Niall could feel the benefit of the intensive tutelage from the experienced soldier. That night the combination of the physical and mental exertion from the day meant Niall was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The third day followed the same pattern as the previous one. But on the fourth morning, Niall was jerked out of his sleep by a shout. He scrambled to where he had left his sword the night before and drew it, looking around for danger. He did not spot anything except for Huff standing in the middle of the campsite and the other members of the patrol rushing to pick up their weapons.