The Call of the Warrior

The Recruiters

After seeing the children safe with their parents, Anna took the long way home. The thoughts in her head kept coming back to the same thing. And she didn't like it. Ivar had been working so hard on their house, and her father had built such pretty furniture for them. Not to mention how disappointed Katia and her own mother would be.

All her parents ever wanted was for her to be happy and safe. They thought Ivar would make her those things.

The path turned and revealed the house she had grown up in. There was a carriage in the yard. At first, she thought it was one of the villagers who had stopped by. But it was a large carriage, much larger than any in the village. Black canvas covered the roof and draped down the sides. At the moment, the sides were rolled up to reveal two benches.

She walked on, wondering who could be visiting. Perhaps it had something to do with her father's work? Worry nagged at her mind, fluttering just out of reach. She hurried her steps.

Two men were standing on the other side of the carriage. Her father was talking with them, occasionally glancing back at Katerin, who was holding on to Caleb's arm.

Anna's heart stopped, and she ran. Her father's voice was calm. He stood tall and had the same look on his face as he did when he went out in his inquisitor's robe.

The men said something Anna couldn't hear and her father wiped his face with his hand and turned away.

"What's going on?" Anna asked, out of breath from the tension more than the run.

"Oh, Anna." Katerin's eyes were filled with tears. "They want to take Caleb."

"What?" Anna looked at the two men. They wore cuirasses under their cloaks and swords at their waist. Both of them had dark hair, but one was scruffy and unshaven, where the other one had a smooth, youthful face.

"You're from the Defence." She looked at Caleb. He kept his eyes on the ground, but she could see his hands clenching.

"Tell them Caleb isn't well enough to go." Her father gestured at Anna and turned around as if he could make all of this go away by not looking at it.

"He isn't." Anna spun to the recruiters. "He's sickly. He always has been. And this winter was very bad for him."

"That's not what we hear." The scruffy man said. "Word around the village is he's well enough to plow an entire field. If he can do that, we'll find something for him to do at the Defence."

Caleb looked up at her with sorrow in his eyes.

"I knew we shouldn't have told anyone," Bertram said and clutched his forehead.

"Sounds like you're trying to get out of doing your duty," the young recruiter said. "Serving at the Defence should fill you with pride. It's an honor to take part in the important duty of keeping Wenara safe. If it wasn't for us, you'd be overrun with the creatures from the desert."

"No, you don't understand." Katerin's voice was breaking. "He really is too weak to go. Look at him."

Caleb twisted uncomfortably as she pushed him forward.

"He looks fine to me," the scruffy one said. "If he is as weak as that, he'll get kitchen duty or something. Or he'll toughen up and in two years you'll get back a man. Every family goes through this and if we let every protester off the hook, we'd be fighting the blasted cats in every village in a year. You knew this was coming. He has five minutes to pack his things or we take him as he is."

Their parents began protesting again, but all Caleb did was look at Anna. With a small shrug, he went inside.

"Can we delay?" Anna focused on the scruffy recruiter. "Can we wait until next year?"