Thirteen – Training Part Two

Back in camp, Raidon's punishment is carried out immediately. Held by two of Captain Bras' men, he is taken to the square in front of the canteen. There he has to undress, exposing his pale skin to the bright spring sun. Then the captain personally gives him the whipping. Although Raidon does his best not to scream, he begins to moan at the third stroke. The pain is immense!

When the punishment is finished, he isn’t even able to stand up by himself. The others of his squad have to help him.

Then Major Quinn walks out of the mess hall.

"What's going on here!" He shouts.

"Just a punishment for this recruit, sir," the captain replies.

"And why is that?" Asks Major Quinn.

"He broke the peace during the patrol."

"Is that so?" The officer major looks at the recruits. One of them speaks:

"He asked for a break because we had to march the entire patrol at twice the normal pace, sir."

"Double? That was not the order. Why is that, Captain?"

"It was just the normal pace of my horse, sir. He is trained to keep to the standard pace."

Major Quinn starts to get angry and his head turns red.

"Why, in the name of the gods, were you on a horse? You have to command infantrymen who have to carry all that weight of those heavy harnesses. It's a miracle they made it!"

"So what? They're trained to wear it, aren't they?" The captain replies indignantly.

Major Quinn looks amazed and exhausted.

"Fall out, recruits, and you too, captain," he says. Then he walks away, mumbling about young idiots who think they know everything.

The next day, Raidon can't get out of bed to put on his armor. A doctor is sent to the barracks to see if he can do anything for Raidon. He smears a disgusting smelling paste on the wounds, but even then Raidon can't get up.

"You're going to have to rest for two days, recruit. Lie on your stomach for those two days and then you should be able to get up again."

"Two days of being bored?" Asks Raidon. "Can't you arrange for something to read?"

"I understand that it’s a long time if you don’t have nothing to do. I'll see what I can find for you."

The doctor keeps his word. Less than ten minutes later, a guard comes in with some old books.

"Here you go, recruit. Delivery from the doctor."

The first book is a manual. This time not about the training part of the legions, but more about the structure of the order of Mithras. Since he has nothing better to do, Raidon begins to study the religion. Some things even have a pretty good connection to what they do during their training.

‘The manifestation of Rank, Awards and Decorations can only be seen on the armor. But since the harness can be changed, stolen or otherwise lost, it differs per wearer which awards and rank are shown on the harness.'

This is just one interesting fact contained within the book. Another is:

‘The position from the civilian point of view is not the same as from the point of view of the army. For example, a civilian rank of site commander may be a military rank of captain or major. While a civilian rank of regional prefect can be a military rank of major or higher.'

Before this, Raidon had no idea that there were different ranks within the New Legion. He also did not know that these were shown on the armor that the soldiers wore. The way Raidon reads this, also means that nobles such as the captain or major are only temporarily in charge of the New Legion. In the New Legion, it is apparently the case that the different ranks are assigned by the armor (or the deity), which cannot be bribed. This makes Raidon a lot happier. It also makes him even more motivated to read the book as quickly as possible.

Two days later Raidon is finally allowed to participate in the training again. Now more than ever, Raidon is determined to become a great soldier of the New Legion and not just a warrior. He came across the distinction between those two in one of the books. When he returns to his platoon, they have just started training spears in formations. Raidon missed a day of this, but that's not all that noticeable. And everyone is happy to have him back.

'Had a nice holiday?' Is one of the comments he immediately has to endure. The bond between the recruits is becoming better and better.

During the next three weeks they go on patrol ten more times. Now even the captain has to walk, which he certainly does not like. Raidon, meanwhile, continues to study the books he has been given by the doctor. Every free moment he has, he is reading. For example, while the others take a massage or if the group goes for a drink in the mess hall (during one of the few free moments they have), he takes a book with him.

At the end of the three weeks he has read all the books he was given. Unfortunately, he has to return them to the library. He would like to see if there are more manuals. However, this turns out to be impossible because recruits are not allowed to enter. Three days in a row he tries and each time he is sent away. However, one of the clerks does confiscate the doctor's books.

Then the first peloton is split into the five squads. To practice more, they have to patrol per squad. Each squad gets their own route. As for captain Bras, the recruits know how to conduct a patrol and therefore he doesn't feel that it’s necessary to accompany them. This way he can stay in the camp to take it easy with his friends.

Raidon and his roommates are assigned the area furthest from the camp, namely patrol 5. It's really just a small path that runs through an uninhabited, wooded area. This is a patrol that involves a full day of marching.

"You have the patrol that is equal to the number that is on your barracks," the instructor explained earlier. "After a few times the routes will be switched up and then you will get a new route to patrol."

Since Captain Bras is not present at the patrols, there is no one in charge. When the five patrols are ready to go on the road, there is no one to give the go-ahead. In the end it’s Gareth who says:

"Well, shall we? We don't have all day."

This causes some laughter within the group, but they do move out. Just marching in their small groups of ten.

This is the first patrol they make on their own. Therefore, everyone is quite nervous at first.

"You’ll see that we’ll come across a patrol of Chakras or something," James notes.

"Idiot, the Chakras are all on their own side of the border. They don't just raid this far behind the lines." John also seems quite nervous, because while making the nippy remark, he goes with his right hand to the short sword on his right leg.

Despite the nerves of the first half hour, it doesn't take long for everyone to be a little more relaxed. Instead of looking around all the time, they now start talking among themselves. After all, that's what they did during the patrols with Captain Bras.

Raidon is just talking to Gareth about the things he's read in the textbooks, when the first arrows fly through the air. At the moment they are in a somewhat denser part of the forest. The path is very narrow, and it doesn't look like a lot of people pass by here. This is also noticeable due to the overhanging branches and the weeds that crawl halfway over the path.

The first moment the recruits notice something of the attack is when James suddenly seems to stumble. Immediately he turns to the man behind him.

"John! Don't push like that."

"What are you blabbering about? I didn't do anything."

But then Raidon sees the arrow on the ground. It seems more intended for hunting small game than to kill people. The arrow has a round sphere on the front with which small animals can be stunned.

"Guys, look at that at your feet."

John and James now also notice the arrow. John bends down and picks it up. At that moment, the others see another arrow flying through the air, right where John's head had been a moment ago.

"Shit, Chakras!" Shouts John.

Then many more arrows fly through the air, but now also arrows with sharp points.

Fortunately, all the arrows bounce off their armor. Here and there someone stumbles a few steps to the side because more of those weighted arrows hit them. Everyone looks in horror at the place where most of the arrows come from.

There is not much to see between the trees due to the vegetation that seems extra dense there. There are still some arrows flying from the bushes, but they seems to be thinning out.

The patrols with Captain Bras did not prepare the recruits at all for an attack during a patrol. The only thing the recruits know about a patrol is that they have to march a certain distance. The surroundings are only looked at from the path they follow. There is no one who specifically pays attention to whether there are enemies around.

Suddenly there is a lot of shouting and rumbling from the bushes. With a loud crackle, a whole piece of the vegetation falls away. It looks like that part is fastened to a frame of branches.

Now a whole bunch of men come out screaming from behind the hidden opening in the bushes. More shouting from the path shows that from the front another ten men come charging at them.

Just to be on the safe side, Raidon also looks at where they come from, and damn, there are another ten men coming.

The recruits are still stunned. They practiced a lot during their training, but then it was always clear what they had to do. If no one tells them what to do now, they will soon be defeated without putting up a fight.

Then Raidon finally takes the initiative. If no one else makes the decision he, as the youngest of the group, will do so.

"Form a circle! Backs to each other!" He shouts.

This is one of the formations that the platoon has practiced, so they know exactly what to do. In a single moment there is nothing left of the indecision that was just there a moment ago.

The others react immediately. Faster than they ever did during training, they form a circle with their shields and spears pointing outwards. All the training from the past few weeks has apparently had its use. Within a few moments, there is no longer a gap between the rectangular shields. The only thing left to see of the recruits are their feet and the top of their helmets.