Chapter One

In which Billy's imagination begins to set up an adventure.

William slowly walked up to Thomas, who was standing in the middle of the training yard.  "Glad you decided to come," he said, a smile on his lips.  William simply shrugged, and sat down.  "The other trainees are getting a speech before they choose their weapon.  I don't think you need it," Thomas replied to Will's silence.  He quickly caught the long rifle Thomas had thrown him.  "This," Tom said, "is a sniper."  William examined the long rifle, runnung it through his hands.  "What's it for?"

"It's for shooting far away targets.  You're always hidden, and you're usually alone.  It seems perfect for you."

William nodded and raised the scope up to his eye.  "Let's try aiming for that target, alright?"

Will nodded, and lined the red dot up to the middle of the target.  He tried to keep it steady, and pulled back the trigger.

He almost jumped.  The recoil!  He should have been prepared for this!  He put the sniper down and examined the target.  He missed.  Thomas frowned.  "Well then," he said, "let's try something else."

A few weapons later, Will sat down.  Sweat dripped from his forehead.  "I-I guess I'm just not good enough."

"That's ridiculous, you ARE good enough."

"But I haven't done good with ANY of the weapons you showed me!"

"There's still one more," Tom smiled as he approached the weapons shed.  He came back out, holding a sword.  "Try this," he said as he tossed Will the sword.  He look at the shining blade, and held it out.  "Now," Tom grinned, "Come at me."

"What?

"Attack me.  How are we gonna know how good you are?"

"But...I can't attack you!"
"Yes you can.  Now do it or I'll attack you first!"

"Bu-but..."

"HYEA!"  Thomas let out a yell as he swung the sword in his direction.  Will raised up his sword at the last second,  parrying his blow.  Will stepped back.  He sighed and struck back.  Tom grinned as he blocked Will.  The battled continued, each of them swinging and blocking, engaged in a deadly, graceful, dance.  Thomas finally hit Will's clothes lightly, using the back of his sword.  "Well, it seems we've found your weapon."

 

Will walked with Thomas through the castle while the other recruits trained in the courtyard.  "You start training with me tomorrow, William.  Today, I'll show you around,"  Thomas explained as they walked to the castle's underground.  "Thomas, do you know where the...uhhh...women are?"

Thomas grimaced.  "You're about to see."

When they approached the bottom of the stairs, William's jaw dropped.  The basement was filled with girls, all of them scowling.  They were all doing various chores: cooking, sewing, repairing weapons, all of them scowling.  Will's jaw dropped.  "You can't do this!"

"I try to stop it, but the other members of the council don't agree with me.  They think women are disgusting."

"That's awful..."

"When YOU get into council, I want you to stop this."

"But the council is only for people who have survived 3 YEARS of battle!"

"You can make it."

 

Thomas brought him to his new bedroom that night.  "Tomorrow you get paired up with your new squad."

"Alright then, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

William spent hours thinking about what was happening.  The women slaves, getting into the council, learning about the sword, and his squad.  He finally closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note

It is finished. The woman slave thing is not sexist, just...that's what elementary school boys do. Don't worry though, there will be female characters soon enough.