Getting through the trials was easier with Lloyd on my side. He helped pick up the slack that I would occasionally drop every now and then. It felt good to have someone on my team, especially when Degamux was out to make things especially harder for him and I. Months went by and the pool of recruits got smaller, either from giving up or from... natural causes. Elimination of the competition in this stage was not entirely regulated by Degamux or any of the other clan leaders. Thankfully, most of the deaths were accident-related, like falling from trees or being stung to death after disturbing a hive of wasps. I think one of the recruits accidentally shot another during a hunting trip. Thankfully, the other recruit survived.
Still, the further and further we went into the months of trials and training, the more fear and anxiety I felt that I would soon end up dead, either by the hands of Ryke or General Warwick and his army, who were now pushing right into Durovian League territory. The recruitment process was sped up for us in order to get us ready sooner. The clan leaders feared that they would be forced to send aid to Lord Durall and his armies.
Whatever Chief Arwulf was planning to do, I knew that I wasn’t going to be very fond of it. But, as much I didn’t like it, he was superior, just as much as Degamux was, so I had to do what he said.
I was beginning to miss Elena. I had no idea where she was or what had happened to her. The war was getting worse and worse everyday while I toiled around learning how to pick berries off of bushes. Just the other week, a regiment of Lord Durall’s riders were devastated when faced against General Warwick’s disciplined armies.
That was one thing I noticed about the war. Lord Durall lacked the numbers, training, and discipline that Warwick had plenty of. And now there was word of mercenary groups employed by the great general being deployed on the outskirts of the battlegrounds. Why, I wondered, would he not send additional troops to the front where he could easily win the war with just sheer numbers? He must have been looking for something, but that was where the rumors stopped and just pure imagination began. I could only learn so much from staying inside camp, but luckily with the trials, I was able to go further and further out from the camp. Any further and I might as well make a run for it when I got the chance.
But I had obligations to stick it through with the training. First, Lloyd was depending on me as much as I was on him. We were the only two people who didn’t dislike or suspect the other of anything. He had become a valued friend through a rough transition in my adventure.
Today Degamux had something special planned for the few recruits that were left. There were at least a couple of dozen when we had first started. Now we were down to just ten. Ryke and two of his friends, five other recruits who didn’t care for either us or him, and Lloyd and I. We had proved stronger, smarter, better than those who couldn’t make it. Coming into the training I was a small, skinny boy. Now, after many hardships, I stood just a bit more of a chance of standing toe to toe with Valen.
Speaking of which, I had not heard much of him since I began these trials. I had seen him occasionally during evening feasts where he sat with others of his level and experience. But I had also seen him accompanied with a bottle. He never spoke much to the others around him and hardly spent time outside. Sometimes I had the feeling that I was responsible somehow, for Howard at least. Maybe if I would’ve gotten out from under the carriage from the other side, they would’ve seen the Andoan officer pulling out his weapon.
We met up at the totem pole where it had all started. I had evolved from the rags I had worn while I was a stablehand to a garb made from a combination of fur and leather. It was handmade like most of the stuff at the enclave. Some of the women had taught me how to fix up my clothes in case they got torn. I had also maintained a bow made to my specific height and arm length. I was fitting fairly well with these people. The recruiting process may have been one thing, but the people were much more friendlier once you got used to them.
