Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The silence woke me. I opened my eyes and turned on my back. The world around me faded out, but I resisted the urge to fall back to sleep and sat up from my cot. Better to get up now before being forced to. I stood up and stretched my limp arms, then clothed myself for the day. A jacket, linen shirt, and cargo pants. I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulder and walked to the window. Outside, the town had already begun to come alive. The other small buildings around me and the the trails they had leading to the road where being occupied with people moving about. Willow and dogwood trees collected last night's rain, as well as the blades of grass that stretched across wherever there wasn’t a road of dirt. The roads all had merchant carts and went towards the center of the city, where there were shops, buildings, town squares, barracks’, and the throne palace. I turned away from the small window and headed out to the other room. My master was standing there, looking blankly at me. Well, he was my master until today.

“Well, you did your work, and I housed you. Now get out of here.” Said the man. I turned towards the wooden door and swung it open. I looked back at the man and said,

“You promised me pay. Can I have some?” I stammered.

“Clay, you've been a terrible slave since the day you were able to work. Now get the hell out of my house before I whip you again!” He shouted. I turned and stepped out of the door, closing it behind me. The grass flattened beneath my feet as I walked away from the abode and onto the dirt road. So much for any starting money, I thought.

The roads became denser as I walked towards the inner city, the cottages becoming closer together.  I spotted several other kids making their way to the schoolhouse. The fields in the distance gleamed with wheat as the farmers swooped in to begin harvesting. The high mountain forests where rooted next to the fields of open land surrounding the village. The sky was gray with hints of rain still in the clouds, despite last night’s downpour. I walked by the advanced knight combat training grounds, with men suited in full gleaming armor simultaneously drilling their sword strokes, completing various cuts to the straw dummies in front of them. An instructor yelled at the boys, calling them out for their mistakes. I glanced at them from the road. Their shouts echoed through the air. Camps filled with tents where stationed next to them, housing the trainees. That's where I’ll be sleeping tonight, I thought.

I turned my head away from the camps to see a small grove of willows, with a man sitting against one, faced towards the training site, with parchments of paper in his hands, scribbling on them. He was cloaked in gray and had a knife on his belt and a hood shadowing his grizzled face. I found myself staring at him. He glanced up at me with eyes of green. I quickly averted my gaze to the front of my path and continued walking. But a couple paces ahead, I snuck a glance back. Nobody was there. I did a double take before deciding to think about other thoughts on my mind.

The town center was densely packed, with higher and smaller buildings with merchant carts. The dirt road changed to cobblestone. People shuffled aimlessly through the streets with blank expressions on their faces. I picked up on small talk.

“I just don’t think he’s figured out the meaning of the community!”

“Just name the books as antiques, sell em’ and hopefully you get enough money before the district shuts ya down!”

“I heard they caught another spy. They say he was the last one.” Some of it made no sense. Mumbles filled the crowd as a black figure with a round red helmet and dark armor rode a stallion through the streets, people clearing the way in front of the knight. His helmet was nothing but a round shape covering his face with two slits for eyes to see. I heard they were just for intimidation, and that they were trained to fight with their eyes closed.

The Royal Knighthood. The ultimate law. I kept my gaze forward but my eyes on the man as his black horse trotted through the crowd. They served their purpose like they were born into it. Nobody questioned them. Nobody had to. Nobody wanted to.

I finally reached the school building, a stone house with a wooden door. No windows. That's what I hated about this building. No access to the outside world. Just a room of black lessons and speeches.

“Just one more day”  I told myself as I swung the door open.

The schoolroom was low-budget, with only a couple hanging candles, barely giving sufficient light. To the far side of the room was a chalkboard and to the left of that a desk. In front of me were desks occupied with children my age and older and younger, all talking to one-another. They all had similar clothing and parchments in front of them with an ink pen. The sound of children echoed off the stone walls. I took a seat on the closer side of the mentor’s desk, sitting next to kids I never knew. One recognized my face and turned away from his conversation and towards me. I looked at him, then back down at my parchment.

“Hey.” He said. I gave no response.

“You're that kid.” No response.

“The one with two swords.”

“What do you want.” I gave in.

“Do you think they'll put you in advanced knight training?” He asked.

“Hell no. They don't tolerate me.”

“But you're good enough.”

“Doesn't matter.”

“You would make a great Royal guard with your double swords.”

“That's not how the system works-” I stopped myself. I didn't know what I was saying.

The teacher entered the room, releasing a deadly silence over it. He was a regular man, with a small stubble of a beard. His hair was black and he was middle aged. He wasn’t insane. But the district didn't teach…

“Good morning students. Today, you all are near your 14th birthday, and will be let out of the teaching academy and distributed to the training of your own subject.”

I fiddled with the paper in front of me. “Today, however, we will be straying away from our spelling and living courses. And you all past the slavery owning exam. You all have learned safety, but in today's society, we have the blessings we know as the Royal Guardsmen. But even them and you are in danger from more threatening forces.”

I looked up.

“As you know, the Daramian districts are spread all around the Greenlands and are connected to one another and to the main kingdom. However, our society is not just perfect yet, for other things can get in our way. These things include ragtag kingdoms wanting our riches and crops, evil assassins who want to see the world burn, and much more. These b******s have tried to destroy our society, killing our lives, and destroying our excellent districts. Spies, thieves, it goes on and on!” The man said as he slammed his hand against the board. “You will write this on your papers. You will copy down what I write on this board.” He began to write. “The outsiders must be killed. They must all be caught and tortured. The land outside of the districts are terrible, cruel places filled with darkness.” I began writing. “It is full of Thieves, monsters, and reckless society.” I slowed my writing until I stopped. I looked around, the other kids scribbling down the words on their papers. Then I raised my hand.

“What boy. What is so complicated about this.” He pointed to the board.

“I was just wondering… why these people are attacking us.” I got out.

“It is because they are cruel. They want to collapse us.”

“But why?”

“Boy, you don't need to know. That's not your job. I don't know why. But don't ask and you won't feel ashamed. Just do your job and the district will do theirs. Now, write what I write.”

. . .

The mentor made us fill our paper until we were finished. Then he turned around and waited until we had copied what he wrote.

“Next you will be given another parchment. You will write your apprenticeship of your choice on it and hand it into me. This will be your career for your life.”

He started walking around passing them out. Some kids started to feel nervous, some talking to each other on what they should do.

“Silence!” The mentor yelled. “This is not about happiness. This is about servings the Daramian kingdom. If you do not like it, you can all be sent back to slavery.” The kid's chatter was replaced by pen on paper. After this, they would go on to serve their purpose. Hunter. Mapmaker. Craftsman. Builder. It goes on and on. I knew what I would write. The only thing I could.

Swordsmanship.

I scribbled it down along with my name and handed it in and then returned to my seat. The kid looked at me. He had brown matted hair with green eyes.

“I chose swordsmanship too.”

“Really.”

“Yup. Wouldn't that be cool if we were both Royal Guardsman?”

“Sure.” I turned away from him.

Once all the slips were turned in, he read them over, then placed them on his desk.

“Very well. You may now report to your sections of apprenticeship. Class is over.”

Kids stood up and shuffled out, opening the door and walking in different directions. I and only two more people walked forward onto the trail leading to the barracks. A pole with a shield and sword marked the entrances to the camp. Tents aligned all around me, in circles around bonfires. Trainees sat around, chatting, laughing, betting, and more. They were all different, from people my age to adults who were at least  40. Next to the field of tents were fenced off zones with anything from straw dummies in intense mud to obstacle courses in thick sand. Tables were full of blades of all kind. A man in his thirties walked up to us.

“You're the new trainees. Have any of you been in training before?” I raised my hand. “I know you, you're the demented double kid. I'll have you punished if I see you using one hand.” He spat.

“Understood.” I lied.

“Well, we thought we would have sufficiently more trainees than some newborns and a demented double kid. We got lots of new tents. Pick one, drop your stuff off, and then come to ground A so you can show me what you got.”

I found a vacant tent and marked it with two crossed sticks. I kept my pack on and headed to a fenced off area with an etched tablet that said A. I entered the zone. Men were drilling strokes on straw dummies, hacking away at them until the head flew off or was penetrated through their straw bodies. The man was waiting for Us.

“Pick a dummy and start whacking.” I walked to the table of swords and picked up a light double-edged iron sword. Its grip didn't fit as well as other swords. Nevertheless, I took it and walked to a dummy. I hesitated and looked back at the man. “Well, go!” I turned back around. Gripping the handle of the blade with both hands, I lifted my sword above my head and bent my knees while I swung down, but I switched my knee bend to whirl to the left, bringing the sword around me and using the momentum of the spin to crash into the dummy's neck, spraying small bits of hay out of the dent. It was the size of a small bird.

“Very good.” The man said as he walked over away from me. The other students began doing simple strokes as I continued to execute my two-handed ones, using the momentum of my turns to slam dent after dent onto the dummy. After every few strokes, I would look back to see the mentor. He was mostly occupied with the other trainees, constantly correcting their strokes. I finally, choosing the most precise moment, let go of my sword. My body relaxed and I felt the ultimate control and balance of the sword. I spun it around with one hand, and turned once, smashing the blade into the neck, its head spinning off the rest of the straw.  Several heads turned, the drilling stopped. I put my other hand on the blade and continued to drill as if nothing happened. But I must have slipped because just as I felt I was in the clear, my pack was clutched and I was thrown to the side. My head hit the hard dirt and exploded with pain. Next, a wave of kicks started smashing my ribs. I curled up to weaken the blows, but it didn't help. “Damn’ it BOY! When are you going to LEARN!” He shouted.

Reviews

[CBH]

Okay, so first I just wanted to point out that the mentor said "killing our lives", so I don't know if you meant to put that. The main character (his name is still unknown to me) is a very likable one, but I wish I knew his age a little earlier. At first I thought he was an adult until he had to go to school and later I learned he was fourteen. This isn't a genre I typically read, but I'm trying to widen my horizons, so I gave it a shot. It's great for there to be a lot of unknown in the first chapter, but a name would've been nice. The word choice is a little shaky here and there, but as a writer I tend to have the same problem. I will continue to read in my free time though :)

[Cliffey]

Thank you so much for this review! I didn't expect a reply to this! I will continue to better my story. Thanks!