Ezra’s stomach dropped as he realized how he knew the voice. He looked around himself, and it wasn’t more than a few seconds before he lay eyes on Adam. His friend the barkeeper from The Dragon’s Toenail stood there looking pretty miserable,
“Hey,” Ezra answered. “What the hell’re you doing here?”
As soon as he asked the question, he realized how stupid it was. Adam stood among the rest of the conscripts with a backpack on and a nervous smile as he saw a friendly face.
“They found you, did they?” Ezra asked, feeling a spike of fear. If it wasn’t so serious, he’d have laughed at his old friend, but instead, he wondered if there would be anything that he could do for Adam. He hadn’t asked anyone anything about what to do about the new conscripts, they’d just been told that they would be under the commanding officers’ control and that they, as the rank and file soldiers, didn’t need to concern themselves with those who’d been levied.
Now, Ezra had to concern himself.
“Yeah, they did,” Adam winced. “Not exactly what I was hoping for.”
The feelings of happiness and acceptance within the army were washed away as Ezra was reminded of just how little he’d wanted to be here in the first place. The warring emotions of comfort and anger came together, but he couldn’t allow himself to focus on them. Instead, everything else slipped away as he nodded.
“What’s going on?” Boyd appeared as Ezra tried to think of what to do.
“Friend from home,” he quickly explained. Then, with a decision made, he turned to Boyd and Adam, saying, “Adam, this is Boyd. Boyd, Adam. You’re both from the slums. I’ll see what I can do to help you out, Adam. Gimme a minute and stay with Boyd. He’s easier to pick out of a crowd.”
There wasn’t anything else to say before he went to try to help. He quickly found Petr, the veteran soldier who was also in the elite squad. The older, stern man worked with one of the sergeants to organize a wagon, and Ezra tried to decide whether he should wait or interrupt or look for Amy. Yoran, he didn’t think, would be able to do anything for Adam for now. Before he came to a decision, though, Petr spoke.
“You’re here for a reason, Ezra. Say what it is and then get out from underfoot. We’re leaving in less than an hour.”
“I have a friend who was conscripted,” Ezra decided to speak as frankly as he could. “I want to help him be one of the soldiers.”
“Not going to happen,” Petr replied immediately. “If you want help on something like that, Amy’s a better bet than me, but the answer’s going to be the same. There was a small, limited opportunity to sign on and prove himself. It’s too late, unless he’s already been on other expeditions.”
Ezra wanted to lie, but couldn’t bring himself to. “No, he’s just a barkeeper. But can I get him to work on the backlines or something? Or fight close to us?”
Petr sighed and seemed to come to a decision. He stepped away from the sergeant with a couple more quick words and met Ezra’s eyes. Behind him, the sergeants moved apace to load up the wagons with barrels and crates of all sorts of things. The thumping of supplies filled the air as Petr put his hands on Ezra’s shoulders and sighed.
“I’ll be honest. He’s going to be in danger,” he said bluntly. “He’s not here to be an officer or support staff. He’s a levied conscript. He’s not going to be here for too long, but he’s not going to get good equipment. The Count and Duke don’t want to throw lives away, so they’re not going to be unsupported or thrown to the monsters.”
“So why can’t he join with us? Or at least one of the other squads?” Ezra insisted.
“You’ve been practicing for two weeks,” Petr answered. “You’re damn talented and I’d say you’ve got a pretty good head on your shoulders. Would you trust your back to who you were when you got here two weeks ago?”
“No, sir,” Ezra replied, understanding where the lesson was going but unable to stop it.
“How about the people who’ve struggled to keep up? Do you think they’ll be strong on the shield wall now, to say nothing of where they were two weeks ago?”
“No, sir,” he could barely speak above a whisper.
“If we could,” Petr continued, “we wouldn’t bring levies on exterminations. There’s always a lot of casualties, and we don’t like it and I don’t think that the Count or Duke does either, though I don’t know the men. But the reality is that the levies are bodies to keep the goblinoids from escaping and raiding villages all around. The levies’ll be spread through all the soldiers to make our lines reach further, because the goblinoid ranks will break and scatter as soon as the last Dragonkin dies. We can’t spare enough instructors to train everyone as much as we’d like to make them more effective without sacrificing the training of the real soldiers.”
Silence settled between them, and Ezra felt a suffocating pressure that seemed to promise Adam’s death. Petr shook his shoulders and continued, “You’ll need to talk to one of the captains if you want to change the organization of the levies relative to us, because the elites are going to be thrown at the most dangerous situations in the expedition because we’re supposed to be good enough to turn the tide. If you convince them, you can probably get your friend on a line close to us, until we’re moved during battle.”
What he didn’t explain but was obvious was that Ezra would have to choose between keeping Adam close and maybe being able to protect him or having him far away and hopefully out of the most dangerous situation. Ezra nodded once as he stepped back. He knuckled at his eyes, unsure of what would be the best possibility for Adam. He could keep running around and try to get something else done, but it was only a few seconds before he realized that there was someone he needed to talk to before he made any requests to anyone.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
This is the reality of fighting, Jormun said, his voice insistent but soft. People die. Sometimes enemies. Sometimes friends. Do what you can, but they need to make their own decisions, just like you do. I’m sorry he’s here.
Ezra couldn't muster up a real answer to that, and instead just grunted. He strode over to Adam and Boyd, who’d been joined by Cord and Leah. Cord was the first to note his approach and watched to see what Ezra would say or do. The other three followed suit as Ezra took a long, calming breath.
“You got any good news?” Adam asked, his voice tight. “I could use some.”
“Kinda,” Ezra answered. “Short answer, you’re not a soldier. That’s not going to change, and there’s nothing I can do about that. You won’t be in my squad or anything. I can, however, maybe ask around and see if I can get you to be stationed near our squad.”
“Yeah, that,” Adam immediately jumped onto the option. “That’s better than being just with strangers and hoping not to be killed.”
“Well, it might not be,” Ezra said. “Something we haven’t had any opportunity to talk about is that I’m on the elite squad.”
“So I double want to be by you. I don’t see what the problem is,” Adam replied.
“Well, we’ll be put in the places where it’s most dangerous,” Ezra explained. “I don’t know exactly what they mean by that, but while I’d try to help you, you’d probably also be in more danger than you would have been somewhere else.”
Adam opened his mouth to say something else, but Leah spoke up. “Tell me the truth right now. If you have to choose, will you stay in the line we’ve worked on or will you go to try to protect Adam here?”
Her eyes burned as they met his, and Ezra blew out a long breath before he answered. “I don’t know. I think I’d stay in the line. That’ll protect us all a lot better than running off somewhere and hoping for the best. But I don’t always make the best decisions.”
Leah nodded but said nothing more. Instead, she stepped back and Ezra and Adam’s eyes met again.
“That’s a pretty hard decision to make,” Adam said, his voice shaking. “Yesterday I was thinking I’d get some dinner, and then I was pushed out by a couple thugs who I crossed a couple years back. Didn’t think they still remembered me. But they knew where I was hiding and forced me into the draft. You know, they were the ones who were wrong in the first place.”
“Adam,” Ezra cut him off, “You’re rambling. You’ll need to make the decision sooner rather than later. Try to be close to me and maybe be in more danger, or risk being wherever you’re assigned?”
“Uh, fuck,” Adam licked his lips, his eyes flicking back and forth. He took a deep breath, and then shrugged. “Instead of positioning, can I maybe buy some better equipment? The spears they’re giving us are just wood with the tips carved to be sharp and fire-hardened. No shields.”
“So, you’re going to get stationed wherever they tell you, but have the money to try to get some good equipment?” Ezra confirmed.
“Well, nothing great,” Adam shrugged, “but I’ve got almost a gold worth of silvers stored up. That should be able to get me something, right?”
“Maybe. I’ll see what I can do. Give me the money, and I’ll see what I might be able to buy. I’m not sure if they’ll offer the opportunity to buy while on the march.”
With those words hurrying him, Adam pulled a cord from under his shirt where his money hung and handed over his purse. Ezra took it and nodded before looking to find Yoran.
The quartermaster’s apprentice hadn’t been present in most of the training except the group drills and combat training. Instead of conditioning, he was off doing other things, and right now was no exception. Ezra eventually found him outside of the quartermaster’s office, where he was desperately cataloguing various pieces of equipment that were then being hauled off to the wagons.
“Yoran!” Ezra called out as he got closer. “Can I buy some extra equipment?”
“Hm? Oh, sure. Now’s probably the best time,” the shorter, somewhat chubby boy replied, “because we have extras that won’t be coming along.”
“Great,” Ezra said. “How much is a regular spear and shield?”
“Together’s seven large silver,” Yoran replied, “but you don’t need those. I was thinking you might be buying a helmet or something.”
“I’ll get to that,” Ezra promised. “But for now, just looking to help out a friend with some basic equipment.”
“I’m not supposed to use our soldier equipment for the levies,” Yoran shrugged. “I could get in trouble.”
“Is there any problem if I buy extra equipment, then?” Ezra asked, desperate. “Like, if it’s mine and I just let someone else use it when I’m not, what’s the problem?”
Yoran looked back and forth, and eventually he shrugged. “I can’t get you another shield, but a spare spear, helmet, and additional layer of leather armor will run you five large silver.”
“Half a gold. Okay, then how about you throw in three more pairs of heavy woolen socks while you’re at it?”
“Fine. Six and a half large silver,” Yoran hissed. “Now get out of here.”
Ezra smiled broadly as he accepted the load and jogged back to Adam, where he explained what equipment went where and how to march with it while also returning the excess funds.
“So who were these thugs that crossed you?” Ezra asked the question that’d been rattling around in his head for a while. “I’l make sure we pay them back when we come back.”
“They’re here too,” Adam explained. “They were going down, figured they’d bring people they hated down with them. Not sure how they learned where I was hiding out. It was—”
“Attention!” Captain Riyal’s voice boomed over the hundreds of people standing around, and it was immediately clear who the soldiers were and who the levies were. The soldiers fell into parade rest wherever they were while the levies looked around more confused than anything else.
“We’re on the march effective immediately! If you leave the army’s immediate area, you will be considered a deserter, and will be punished for cowardice. Soldiers, you will be marching in the ranks you were drilled on yesterday. Levies, you’ll be travelling under the command of Sergeants Oscar and Laurel. If you piss them off, I’ll warn you now that you’ll regret it! Soldiers, you’ll lead the way so that you can break camp for our levies who will be playing catchup. Now, Lieutenant Georg, lead them out!”
Riyal stepped back as Georg started shouting orders. Ezra looked at Adam, who stood there with his equipment in his arms and his eyes wide. Boyd, Cord, and Leah, as well as Amy, Petr, and Yoran fell in line as the small elite squad stepped to the front of the formation.
“Now,” Georg commanded, “march!”