Iron and Wood #Wattys2017

Memories- Two

Shal hit the ground hard, her face scraping into the gravel.  Her sword clattered beside her, sliding a foot away.

"Get up, Sung," Columer groaned, annoyed.

He was sixteen, in a very bad mood.  To have been assigned to spar with the cadets was something he considered beneath a fully initiated Templar.   He had already marched into battle under the Emperor's banner, and would never let any of the cadets forget it.

Shal was eleven. She pushed herself up onto her hands and knees, spitting sand.

"The cadets were wrong about you," Columer watched her struggle to her feet, weighed down by her first set of armour and the heavy training shield. "They said you were stronger than most in your cycle. I wonder if Dairine's made a mistake for once."

"I am strong." Shal bent to pick up her sword. "You hit me before I was ready."

"In battle, you have to be ready for anything," Columer informed her.

Shal bit her lip. She let go of the shield, letting it roll away, and held the sword in both hands.

"Ready."

"The mighty warrior casts away her shield as an unnecessary burden, does she?" Columer said mockingly. His dark eyes narrowed with malice behind the slit of his helmet.

"Stop making fun of me." Shal adjusted her helmet. "It's heavy."

"If you don't want to train with the heavy shield, maybe you should ask Dairine to transfer you to Phalanx." Columer smirked and gestured across the training yard, where another group of cadets were training with lighter swords and spears. "I bet you would put that boy to shame."

He was pointing at Felix. The brown-haired boy was now the smallest in the cycle. It seemed like the others were growing around him.

"Felix is my friend," Shal said angrily.

"You call him a friend," Columer drew closer. "Do you know what they would call him on the battlefield?"

"What?"

Columer lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Dead."

Shal threw her sword away, lunging at the bigger boy. Columer's eyes widened in surprise, and his blunted mace thudded to the ground as she knocked him over, his helmet falling off.   Shal landed on his chest and socked him squarely in the jaw, drawing back her arms to punch him again and again. Blood spurted forth where her gauntlet connected with his lip.

The initiated Templars had barely looked up when the cadets abandoned their training, crowding around the melee, cheering, hooting and laughing. Columer and Shal were both yelling, their loud voices unintelligible over the children egging her on.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

The children suddenly parted, falling silent, except for Shal, who continued her assault until a rough hand grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, pulling her off the bigger boy. She finally stopped, spinning around to see Dairine looking furious.   Columer staggered to his feet.

"She's insane!" he pointed at Shal, wiping the blood off his mouth. "She attacked me!"

"She's eleven years old, Templar!" Dairine snapped at him. "Are you telling me you could not take her?"

She didn't wait for an answer, grabbing Shal by the collar of her shirt and shaking her roughly.

"Why?" Dairine demanded.

"He—he..." Shal struggled for words. Dairine began to haul her back towards the door of the training yard.

"Run laps until I return, the rest of you!" she shouted at the remaining cadets.

The door slammed behind them, cutting off the light from outside. Shal's heart began to sink.

"Please don't report me to the Captain," she began to say when Dairine turned to her. The Templar raised a hand, and Shal fell silent.

"I vouched for you, Sung," she said angrily. Her lips were pale, pressed together in anger.

Shal imagined receiving some kind of beating. She had witnessed it happening to the older cadets, but never one from her cycle. It was the sort of thing they speculated about in the dormitory, when they wondered what happened to the weaker children, those who disappeared. The original twenty had now shrunk to fifteen, the last vanishing just two weeks ago.

"Animal's blood for the next week," Dairine said, watching Shal for a reaction.

Shal bowed her head, nodding. She felt a strange relief, even imagining the hunger and tiredness that would plague the next seven days.

Dairine looked even more disappointed in her.

"You must harden your heart to humans, Shal." She leaned in, speaking quietly. "Or starve."

Shal nodded again.

"Go back to the dorm, then." Dairine pointed down the hall. Shal had never been so glad to.