An Archaic Memory (3)

Chapter 3

End of Routine

Training days were hard. Especially when there was a storm. Although the heavy rain had drained down to a light drizzle, the wet sand splattered with every lunge. More than once a spear slipped from a guard’s hand, landing on others nearby. Despite being their captain, Liraz performed every kata with the seventh unit. The soldiers of his unit had been practicing with the spear for the past three months. The drill was merely an everyday exercise for them. Besides, he would rather have the spear in hand than shout orders. His eyes followed the ominous strut of Captain Hewanne of the sixth unit. Hewanne liked to bark orders at his men and punish the ones that struggled with the drills.

The seventh unit moved in unison around Liraz.  He watched as 20 spears rose at a forty five degree incline, alongside his own, in a final defensive kata. He twisted his own spear in a circle, letting it slip till his hand was exactly at the center and increased the speed of rotation around his head to a steady four rotations per second. The maneuver was slightly taxing, but it was not meant to last too long. Only long enough to find cover in case of flying arrows overhead. The rotation, theoretically, repelled arrows coming in at 15 charengths/second speed. After two hundred rotations, he pulled the spear down, holding it steady in the second attack kata.

He winced as Holard’s spear grazed his right upper arm in the back in one swift motion. Liraz glared at Holard. The man was scratching the back of his head looking abashed. 

“That was my bad, captain,” Holard said. “I lost count. I was just following your position.”

“Attack formation two!” Liraz yelled, as everyone drew their weapons forward. 

The first row of seven men raised their spears and took a step back as the second row advanced forward beside them. The third row moved to the second row position, while the men of the first row moved another step back to take the third row.

“Sorry,” Holard muttered as he passed Liraz to move forward.

Liraz nodded to the man, smiling as he stepped to his position in the third row, pushing the next step forward with the pointy end held forward. This formation was to push through a shielded enemy, stabbing and cutting through their lines and stepping over fallen warriors.

They continued the cycle for a while before returning to the original formation with Liraz in the first row. The final scraping of feet as the remaining squads scrambled around them announced the end of training.

Fell Units One through Forty Seven were at the training ground today. About a thousand strong. Each unit had about twenty members and a captain. These crews were the first three lines of defense in the East Wing of the Fell Guard. Chaelena had a formidable navy. The ground force was the second line of defense. Everyone had been given basic naval training of course, but the foot soldiers trained intensively in ground formations and weaponry. 

Battalion lord Casraegar stepped up on to the platform at the center. The weapon scouts stood behind him. He was a tall man with short curly hair. He had a small mustache but otherwise was clean shaven. He raised his right hand in a fist and opened it indicating that they could be at ease. The units broke their rigid positions. 

“Fell Guards twenty one, twenty seven and thirty report to the eastern Deepcross coastline,” Casraegar’s voice boomed from the center. 

“Units thirty one through forty seven, you are with the Naval units for the week. Remaining units will continue returning to their training sessions every week. Disperse!”

The entire guard moved to the exit of the training grounds.The units merged as the men in blue uniforms broke free from their units and mingled. Liraz and team followed the sixth unit.

The seventh unit had mastered the spear during their unit training sessions with him. It was now time to move on to heavy swords. Liraz had been dreading being assigned the task of helping the naval unit with the cleaning and restocking of the vessels on port. He was glad, therefore, to return to the their unit training sessions right away.

“Captain Liraz, join us for a moment.”

Liraz turned back to the podium, surprised to hear Lord Casraegar’s voice calling out his name. The Battalion lord had already turned back to the conversation with his scouts. 

“What did you do this time, captain?” Gwen asked. She was one of the newer members of unit seven. 

“Come along lads,” Holard muttered to the others. “Liraz can handle his own mess. Eh, captain?” 

Everyone laughed, Liraz joining in.

“It’s probably the stolen fish that was our dinner last night,” said Liraz. “They know it was you, Holard and want me to take necessary action as your captain. Expect guard duty tonight.”

“Oh c’mon, captain!” 

“Head back to the barracks. You time is your own for today,” Liraz told his unit. He started toward the Battalion lord but saw two of his crew hanging back as others left the training grounds.

“Want us to hang back, captain?,” Ruce said. Druin stood beside him, looking menacing as ever. They still stood with their spears held at attention. 

“Guys, we’ve talked about this. Relax. You’re dismissed for the day,” Liraz said. “Go, I will be back in a minute.”

The two followed the rest of the crew reluctantly. Ruce and Druin had been soldiers before coming to Chaelena. They had served on the Nelnian army. They had been part of the seventh unit under a different captain even before Liraz joined it, but it bothered him that they still felt alien to him. The members of unit seven were closely knit. Liraz liked to think that they felt comfortable enough to treat each other as friends. But it had been been almost impossible to get through to Ruce and Druin. They participated in every activity with the crew, true, but he never knew if they enjoyed it. They treated everything as part of their duties.

He brushed the thought aside as Casraegar’s voice became clearly audible. He was discussing with the scouts about weapons training. There were 4 of them, and Liraz recognized them all. He had attended gatherings with them along with other captains. Liraz stood at the edge behind the Battalion lord and waited.

“… then we move to hand combat. Let’s maintain the training momentum,” Casraegar was saying. “We are recruiting more men everyday. Discipline is key, gentlemen. The war is never over, it merely stays dormant. Like a dragon.

“Let’s double the patrol starting this week. I want first hand information from our scouts than wait for the bell to be rung each time there is an attack. We collectively own the first lines of ground defense. I cannot have my battalion trying to get to the front after others have already arrived. The first lines of defense will arrive at the shores before the others. That is all,” he barked at the scouts. He glanced to the right and turned to look directly at Liraz.

“Ah Liraz,” Casraegar said. “Great form today, son.”

“Thank you, sir. Everyone is dedicated to the cause. ”

“I have no doubt,” Casraegar said. “The scouts here tell me that you are insistent on daily training for your men. Unit Seven was the only one to not make any mistakes today.”

Liraz felt the tinge from the wound that Holard had caused earlier. He nodded to the Battalion lord. The trickling blood had left a small stain along his arm. Casraegar, however, seemed not to have noticed.

“Your squad is far too ahead, son. And what this I hear, you already requested for archery equipment?”

One of the scouts made a coughing sound. It was a poor disguise for a scoff. Casraegar turned to the man. It was Flailan, the weapon scout for swords.

“You have something to add here?”

“Yes lord. Unit seven has already moved on from Archery, sire. Captain Liraz had us scout heavy swords for unit seven last week.”

Liraz sighed.  “I hate to be unprepared, sir. You never know what weapons might be available when in battle.”

“No,” Casraegar said, turning back to him. “You never do. It is very well that you want to be prepared. But you cannot be moving at a different pace than everyone. Our strength lies in our numbers. We move together in battle. I cannot have one unit at a different pace than others.”

“With respect, sir,” Liraz said. “I will have to disagree. It is the job of the captains to train their units to the best of their abilities. Our strength lies in our skill more than our numbers.”

The scouts looked at him in disbelief. And Liraz bit back on speaking further. Casraegar was a kind man, but his patience had limits. He valued all his units equally and took pride in training. Suggesting that the training was not enough would push him the wrong way.

“I apologize, Lord Casraegar,” Liraz said quickly. “We will scale back on the training and focus on other chores.”

The Battalion lord did not speak immediately. He looked at Liraz calmly. He strode to the edge of the podium. 

“Scaling back is not an option, captain,” he said. “You’re weeks ahead. I understand your responsibility to your unit. But you will respect mine. I have to hold to everyone under me. And not every captain is as skilled as you. I am sure they are trying their best, in their own way.

“I suggest you step away from training for the next three months. I will not bury you in everyday chores, you’ve earned that much. But you will not be training. I have assigned scout duty for you and yours.”

He glanced at Liraz’s horrified expression and laughed. “No, not scouting for weapons. You will be looking out for new recruits. I have allowed you to travel to other cities. On the island, mind you. It will take your mind off training. Everyone needs their days off, captain. Unit seven has been on call for the last three years. We don’t want you to burn out, do we captain?”

Liraz visibly relaxed. A recruitment drive. Only recruiting scouts did those. They had a way of making young men and women  join the armies of Chaelena. Although the armies were not actively expected to go on recruitment drives, it wasn’t unheard of. He suspected that this move was made so that unit seven remained busy and away from training for the next three months. He didn’t say anything. 

“We will start on this expedition in a week, sir,” he said. Casraegar nodded his approval.

Liraz saluted the man. Then he turned on his heel and left the training ground. 

***

“An excursion you say, captain?” Gwen asked.

It was late in the evening. The rain lashed outside unit seven barracks. They had 3 barracks in all. The middle one was for the captain, and it separated the two barracks – one for men on the left and one for women on the right. Since each building was of the same size, they often used the captain’s quarters for meetings, strategizing and also as an armory. The men and women’s quarters were mostly used for resting. 

“Yes,” said Liraz. He sat at his table with the maps spread out. “No one has taken time off in three years. I am surprised no one has even asked for one in so long.”

Liraz sighed, exasperated at explaining the situation to them three times in a row. Only six of the unit were in his quarters at the moment. He had thought of telling the crew the following morning about the leave of absence ordered by Caseraegar. But with the maps open on his table, he couldn’t avoid the questions.

“Are you ill, captain?” Druin said. The man looked genuinely concerned. He was from Nelne. He had the characteristic features of a Nelnian soldier. Broad shoulders and a tall silhouette, slight tan to his dark skin tone and blue eyes.

“He might be deluded, Druii,” said Holard. He was sharpening his spear at the end of the captain’s quarters. “It is the storm, makes you dull when you don’t move around so much.”

“I am perfectly fine, thank you,” Liraz said.

“We cannot go on an excursion, Liraz,” said Holard. “Not while everyone is training hard for battle. Besides we are on a roll here. I mean did you even pay attention at training today? We crushed every unit.”

“Crushed?” Liraz raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes. Crushed. You know, it means we did so much better than them. C’mon captain, what is this really about?”

“I told you precisely what this is about. We cannot be crushing other units. We should be working together with them on the battlefield. Besides, this was not a request, it is an ordered leave of absence from Lord Casraegar himself,” Liraz said. 

“But where would we go, captain?” Gwen asked. “We cannot leave the island under any circumstances. We have no family.” 

Gwen was born on the island. She didn’t know her parents very well. They had been killed in one of the invasions from the South. She had a small figure, barely five feet tall. Her eyes were slightly brown, although you could only see it in the sunlight. Otherwise they seemed glossy black. She picked up a map from the corner of the table without asking, which left Liraz gaping. Ordinarily, being a new recruit, she barely did anything without his permission. This was surprising for all of them.

Chaelen soldiers were instructed to forget their past. They would never be allowed off the island except for war. There was a special circumstance where the best scouting groups were sent to other territories to pick up recruits. But that rarely happened anymore. Liraz was a recruit from one of those scouting drives. He had been caught in a crime, and had expected to spend a few years imprisoned in Shiraz. But a twist of fate had brought him to Deepcross on Chaelena. He remembered the day he was brought to the island.

“We are to go on a recruitment drive. On the island,” he said. “I am looking into which areas we would cover in the next few days.”

“Recruitment drive?,” Gwen said. “You mean as a scout?”

Liraz nodded. He returned to the maps on his table. The map of Lethos marked all the cities and the territories they fell under. Chealena was on the east coast. The nearest city was Deepcross, named after the well known prison. That would be the obvious place to start. But he looked beyond that. To the West territories of Lethos. Casraegar was right in a way. It would be a good to take a break for the unit. They had been training incessantly for the last few months.

“I will be announcing the travel tomorrow morning,” said Liraz. The group around him nodded.

“We are not-”

Liraz held his hand up to stop the conversation.

“I shouldn’t have brought it up now. It has been decided, we will be taking a break. We will train, but at a much slower pace. I will deal with all your questions tomorrow. We will gather by the barracks after breakfast. Tonight I will be making plans of our travel.”

They left him then. He sat at his table for hours after that marking and writing on the map. The light in his cabin dimmed a few moments later with Liraz sleeping soundly at his desk.