Table of Contents – (spoilers)
Outside the fort’s wall on the east slope, Choke’s thirty men were busy digging defensive ditches under the supervision of Sergeant Euan and four footsoldiers. Sergeant Euan was Lieutenant Hamon’s man, who had both previously been charged with policing Spitzer under Sheriff Waters. Indeed, it had been Sergeant Euan that had first put Peep and the lads under arrest outside the Busted Unicorn on the night they killed Orcstabber and his boys.
It was obvious that Sergeant Euan remembered this as Choke approached with Knuckle, Pinch, Dom, and Lenny.
Choke had his strung longbow in hand with a quiver on his back. With his greatsword already on his back, Knuckle carried his strung longbow and quiver loosely together in his left hand, while his right rested on the head of his warhammer. Pinch had his hunting bow in hand and stopped on a little rise that had a good view of the entire east slope. All of it was within his range.
Sergeant Euan was standing at the top of a ditch supervising the men digging. In his hand was a short polearm. About two-and-a-half meters in length, it had a wide, sharp spear head with a blunted, downward-curled hook at its base. The weapon was a common one for sergeants, with the hook being useful for grabbing subordinates at reach.
Two of Euan’s men were down in the ditch, both with stout sticks in hand and just their fighting knives on their belts. From the way the soldiers were moving, and the way the digging men cringed away from them, it was obvious they were not shy about using their sticks. Another soldier with a spear and roundshield was posted at the end of the ditch opposite Sergeant Euan, up on its lip. The fourth soldier was at the lip of the ditch in its middle, with a loaded crossbow in hand.
Sergeant Euan stood eyeballing Choke until he had stopped in front of him. He waited just a little too long before saluting:
“Lieutenant,” he said.
“Sergeant,” Choke said returning the salute.
The men down in the ditch had all stopped working to gape up at Choke. The soldiers supervising them let the idleness pass as they did likewise.
“You would be Sergeant Euan, Lieutenant Hamon’s man, yes?” Choke asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“I do not believe we have been formally introduced. I am Lieutenant Pekot. This is my sergeant, Theodas. Over there, on the bow, is my sergeant, Nikolas.”
“Okay. Sir,” Sergeant Euan said.
“Captain Edison’s orders, Sergeant: I am to relieve you here. You are to return to your duties training Lieutenant Hamon and Lieutenant Cooper’s men.”
“Yes, sir. Any word when the Lieutenants will be coming back, sir?”
“I believe Lieutenant Cooper shall be returning shortly. As I understand it, Lieutenant Hamon is to be on special assignment to the church for the time being. There is no telling how long that might last,” Choke answered, with a dry smile.
Sergeant Euan took a moment to contain his horror at this.
“Thank you, sir,” he finally managed.
“You are welcome, Sergeant. Now, before I dismiss you, I do have a question or two. How are these men being fed? Logistically, I mean.”
“Well, sir, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. When they bugle the meal call up at the fort, we take them in the fort, they collect their mess kits, and then line up for chow. That’s it.”
“Thank you, Sergeant. And how about water?”
“Water, sir?”
“Yes. Water breaks. You have been giving them water breaks, haven’t you? It is a warm, sunny day. These men look exhausted,” Choke said loudly, so that all in the ditch might hear him.
“I didn’t reckon that the likes of them needed water breaks, sir. They can water at chow time. A bit of toughening up will do them some good. Sir.”
“I see. Thank you. Now, as to the tools. I see they have all the digging tools they need. What have you been doing with those when not in use?”
“Right, sir. During the day, when they go for lunch, they leave them with their personal gear in the courtyard, where they sleep and eat. At dinnertime, they put them away in the tool shed next to the stables. Then, after breakfast, they get them back out.”
“I see. Very good, Sergeant. And can I assume that the woodcutting tools are now in that same shed?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you. Now, just one more question, Sergeant: are those two men you have with sticks down in the ditch corporals?”
“Corporals, sir?”
“Yes, Sergeant. Are those two men corporals?” Choke asked loudly, pointing to them.
“No, sir.”
“I thought not. As a question of protocol, Sergeant: is it proper to have men who are not NCOs beating the men? I can only assume you’ve had them beating them, Sergeant. Yes?”
Sergeant Euan stared at Choke for a while as though he were a raving lunatic.
“Yeah, and what of it, sir? Them lot down there aint troopers, yet. They’re just recruits. And, in case ye haven’t noticed, sir, we’re a bit thin on the ground with officers and NCOs these days. Sir.”
“Ah. Of course. I understand. Thank you for clarifying that for me, Sergeant. You may return to your previous duties. I shall take over here. Dismissed.”
“Sir. Yes, sir,” Sergeant Euan said, saluting perfectly.
Choke returned the salute in kind.
Sergeant Euan turned and bellowed with full drill sergeant’s ferocity:
“Soldiers! Fall in!”
His four men hurried to do just that. Once they had, Sergeant Euan led them around the fort’s outer wall to the north slope where the other new recruits were hard at their spearmen drills.
Choke watched them leave, waiting until they were completely out of sight before addressing his men down in the dirt:
“You men! I am Lieutenant Bartholomew Pekot, your commanding officer. Come on up out of that ditch now. Bring your tools.”
The defensive ditch was dug horizontally across the hill, about twenty meters down the slope from the fort’s wall. The downslope side was not much more than a meter deep, but the upslope one was almost two. The dirt from the ditch had been hauled out in big wicker baskets to be piled up above the ditch’s upward side. The loose dirt had been supported by bigger rocks wherever possible, and rough logs had been driven down into the ditch in places to make a kind of retaining wall for the cut out. It seemed, though, that they had run out of timber, because there were not nearly enough logs in place for what had been dug out, and much of it seemed unstable.
To get out of the ditch, the men clambered up on the downhill side, which put them opposite from Choke on the upper.
“Men: come around through there and muster beneath the walls. Bring your tools. On the double!” Choke shouted at them, pointing to a break in the defensive works. He then turned to Knuckle: “Sergeant, head over there and see that they all come along.”
The ditch they were digging started just a few meters uphill from the end of another that looped around to the fort hill’s north slope. The two trenches overlapped a little, allowing a path between them. This break in the defenses was intentional. Of course, it allowed the fort’s defenders to come and go without having to get into any of the ditches. As well, in the event of an attack, the breaks between ditches would serve as choke points to funnel attackers through. These choke points could be easily defended by spearmen, and targeted by archers, crossbowmen, and the catapults up on the fort’s roof. Unbroken ditch works might slow attackers down a little longer, but that time could be well used constructing ladders, platforms, and the like to bypass the defenses.
Knuckle got the men around the north end of their ditch with a good amount of spirited shouting and general harassment. Choke, Pinch, Dom, and Lenny went up the hill to the base of the fort’s tall wooden wall where it was not so steep.
“Men!” Choke shouted as his recruits approached with their digging tools in hand. “Stack your tools here and fall in! Sergeant Theodas! Have the men form up in line for inspection! Two lines deep of fifteen!”
Knuckle leaned his bow and quiver against the wall and pulled his cudgel so that he could properly see to Choke’s order.
“Ye heard Lieutenant Pekot, ye scum!” shouted Knuckle. “Move it! Form line! Two lines! There! There! What the fuck are ye doing, ye fuckin shithead! In line! Don’t ye maggots even know how to form line! You! There! Move!”
This continued for a while as Knuckle shoved, prodded, and jabbed the men into the ordered formation. Once he had them in place, he turned his attention to their posture.
“What the fuck is this!” he shouted. “At attention! You stand at attention for inspection! You! Stand up straight! Arms in! Chin up! Do it, you maggot! Fuck! Now! Now! At attention! Do it! Do it!”
This went on for some time more while Knuckle instructed the men on how to stand at attention. He was very thorough about it. Once the men were all in line and standing at attention to his satisfaction, Knuckle stomped over to stand at their front, at attention himself.
“Sir! Men are all in order and ready for inspection! Sir!” he shouted happily.
“Thank you, Sergeant. Trooper Dom, Trooper Lenny: fall in there at the head of each line. Behind Sergeant Theodas.”
“Yes, sir!” Dom and Lenny said, hurrying to their places.
Pinch stayed as he had been, standing off to the side, stone-faced, his bow in hand, watching the men.
Choke took his time walking up and down the two lines, looking the men over carefully. They were indeed a sorry bunch of downtrodden wretches. They had obviously been living rough and laboring hard in dirt and filth since their conscription, but it was worse than just that. These men had been at the bottom of every place they had ever been. Most of them were skinny and malnourished, and several of them were visibly ill. The few that were normal physical specimens had already been showing insubordinate tendencies in their reactions to Knuckle’s bullying, with scowls and glares and standing up rather than flinching down.
These men were indeed the dregs of what the Baron had managed to conscript. The pool of recruits had been picked over by the other Lieutenants. These were the ones that no one else had wanted.
Standing in front of his command, contemplating this, Choke sighed. Then he said a quiet prayer to Stron and squared himself up to address his men for the first time:
“Men! I have no doubt that you have heard things about me. About us: the Pekot Bunch. You may have heard we are fearsome killers of bandit and monster alike. I am here to tell you: we are indeed that. As to the bad you may have heard: I can only pray that our conduct going forwards proves that false.
“Now, I understand that you have been given a tough go of it in this, the Royal Bitina Army. You may feel that you have been discarded to be used as laborers, while your fellows are trained up as soldiers. I am not going to lie to you. We all have a tough road ahead of us together. But, I will promise you this: do your best, work hard, and follow orders, and I will have you on your way to being proper soldiers. Together, we can achieve something to be proud of.”
“Ha!” barked one of the men in the back line.
“The fuck was that?” Knuckle snarled as he turned towards the sound.
“Hold, Sergeant!” Choke said.
Choke walked down the line until he was near the area where the man had spoken. Only one of the men there would meet his eye. He was a taller, lanky man in the back row with a thoroughly unpleasant manner to him. When Knuckle had been knocking the men into line, he had looked like he might shove back when Knuckle had given him a poke with the end of his cudgel.
“You there!” Choke said to the man. “Come forward. Right here,” Choke pointed to a spot in front of the first line.
The man looked like he was going to refuse, but followed the order as Knuckle began moving down the line towards Choke, swinging his cudgel in tight little flicks from the wrist.
“What is your name, soldier?” Choke asked when the man had stepped to attention on the spot he had indicated.
“Reece.”
Knuckle had reached Choke’s side by this point, and he lunged forward to scream down in Reece’s face:
“What was that, worm? When you talk to a superior, the first and the last word outta yar filthy fuckin gob is, sir! Ye got that?”
Reece glared up at Knuckle and looked like he might buck, but thought better of it.
“Yes, sir.”
“What the fuck did I just say to ye?” Knuckle bellowed, spraying Reece’s face with spittle. “Are ye touched? You a fuckin cretin? Or do ye just have too much shit in yar ears? What did I say to ye?”
Reece stared back.
“I asked you a question!” Knuckle shouted as he raised up his cudgel, now genuinely angry. “Make me ask it again, motherfucker!”
Faced with this, Reece blanched for just an instant, even despite his obvious pride in being the unit’s hardest nut.
“Sir. Ye said the first and last words outta my mouth should be, sir. Sir,” Reece said.
“Right!” Knuckle bellowed into his face at a range of just a few centimeters.
“Thank you, Sergeant. I think the recruit understands,” Choke interjected.
It took a moment for the murderous rage to recede behind Knuckle’s eyes. Once it had, he stepped back to Choke’s side.
“So, recruit Reece, it seems to me you were not impressed by my introduction to you. Do you have anything to say?” Choke asked, doing his best to adopt Father Morrenthall’s intimidating mildness of tone.
“Sir. No, sir.”
“Are you quite sure? Because I would like to hear what you have to say. As I said: I understand that you have been ill-treated so far in your service to our King. So if you and your fellows have been suffering, then perhaps you can serve as spokesman. I would like to hear whatever grievances you might have. You may speak freely, Reece. This is your chance,” Choke said.
Reece met Choke’s eye for a long moment, gauging his earnestness. Choke likewise took this chance to evaluate the man in front of him. There was no doubt that the man had pride, and reason to have justifiable anger at its ill treatment. However, there was something more to him; a shifty and sneering air that reminded Choke of clever, opportunistic predators he had known growing up in the Pekot school. Choke decided that he did not like this man Reece.
Reece had likewise come to some sort of decision regarding Choke, because he spoke up:
“Alright then, sir,” he said, ignoring Knuckle’s sharp inhalation of anger. “It aint like any of us signed up to the army of our own free will, right? We was all doing our own thing, and got dragged in. And I get that’s the way of it in the world, so I aint complaining on that front, right? And I aint so stupid that I think a soldier’s life is something other than toil and misery. I aint a bit bothered about laboring. I been doing that all my life.”
Reece paused here to watch how Choke was taking this so far. Choke was listening earnestly, so Reece continued with more confidence, warming to his speech:
“So, yeah, sir, it aint like I’m drifting around in some fantasy about what oughta be. But, sir, what’s been happening here aint right. They’ve been knocking on us something fierce. Any little thing and they give us a crack. And two silver a week we was promised! And three square meals a day! And two weeks we’ve been at this digging and we aint seen a bit of coin! And them square meals?”
Reece paused here to laugh sarcastically. A number of the men in line joined him in this, while others grumbled and shifted about restlessly. Reece went on more emphatically:
“Yeah! Some good feed they throw on for us as a reward for all our hard work. Watery soup and moldy, maggoty bread! Not fit for pig slop what they feed us! And then they beat us when we can’t work fast enough! It aint right, sir! It aint a bit right!”
“I see,” Choke said loudly. “Thank you for bringing this to my attention, recruit,” Choke said.
“Yeah!” Reece now shouted, missing Choke’s cue that he had probably been speaking long enough. “And here we are, sir, sleeping outside in the fuckin weather, while every other man that got pressed in with us is sleeping up there in the fort! And why is that, huh? Why is it we’re treated no better than dogs, when the others get treated so square? Why is that, huh?”
Knuckle started moving on Reece at this, but Choke reached out to put his hand on his shoulder to halt him.
“Thank you, recruit. That is enough. You may step back into line,” Choke said loudly.
“Yeah! Why is that? I’ll tell ye why, boys!” Reece shouted, actually turning away from Choke and Knuckle to address the men behind him. “It’s because them others got proper officers, and we’re stuck here with this— uhhhgh.”
As Reece neared the point of his speech, Choke tapped Knuckle’s arm and gave him a quick look to authorize violence. Reece doubled up with a horrible grunt as Knuckle drove the end of his cudgel like a punch deep into his gut.
“I said that was enough, recruit!” Choke shouted down at Reece. He then waited until Reece’s grunts and gasps had settled down into normal breathing.
“On your feet, recruit! Stand at attention!” Choke shouted at Reece.
Reece took his time dragging himself upright to do so.
“Recruit Reece!” Choke bellowed. “I hope you are grateful that Sergeant Theodas stopped you before you said anything to me that would warrant a flogging!”
Choke waited for a long moment for this to sink in properly. As he waited, he noticed that up on the fort wall above them, several soldiers were now at the defenses, watching the show.
“Recruit Reece! Are you grateful to Sergeant Theodas for saving you from a flogging? And before you answer, you had best remember his previous lesson on the correct way to address a superior! Are you grateful, recruit?” shouted Choke.
“Sir. Yes, sir,” Reece said.
“I can’t hear you, recruit!” Choke shouted.
“Sir! Yes, sir!” Reece shouted back.
“Good! So, if you are grateful to Sergeant Theodas, then you should thank him, shouldn’t you?”
Reece glared at Choke at this. Choke met his look with a look of sharpened steel.
“Sir! Thank you, sir!” Reece shouted.
“Who are you thanking, recruit? Me? Thank Sergeant Theodas properly!” Choke shouted.
“Sir! Yes, sir!” Reece shouted back at Choke before turning to Knuckle: “Sir! Thank you for saving me from a flogging! Sir!”
“Better!” shouted Choke. “Now get back in line, recruit! And remember this the next time I give you an order!”
“Sir. Yes, sir.” Reece said before hobbling back to his place in line.
Choke gave the moment a little time to breathe before he addressed all his men in a loud voice:
“You may stand at ease, men.”
A small number of men slouched out of standing at attention. A few others looked around, confused. Most continued standing at attention, their eyes glazed. A number of those were swaying perilously.
Choke sighed.
“Men! At ease! That means you do not need to stand at attention!” he shouted.
The rest of the men slowly relaxed their postures. A couple of them started scratching themselves. One actually squatted down.
“Men! I did not say to slouch! Standing at ease does not mean you all get to slouch about like a bunch of drunks! We take pride in ourselves in this unit! Stand at attention!” Choke shouted.
With weary looks and some audible grumbling, the men again stood back at attention, for the most part, properly. They had, at least, learned that lesson well enough.
“Eyes here! Watch!” Choke shouted at them. They he turned to Knuckle: “Sergeant: Stand to attention!”
Knuckle smartly stood to attention.
“Sergeant! At ease!”
Knuckle took a wider stance with his legs apart and clasped his hands in front of him, with the cudgel still in his right.
“That is at ease!” Choke pointed to Knuckle. “Now! Men! At ease!”
The men copied Knuckle’s posture without too much trouble or variation.
“Good! Now, men, I wish to thank recruit Reece for speaking his mind. I want all of you to know that if you have something you wish to discuss with me, I am willing to listen. Seek me out to do so when time permits. Now, as for the recruit’s complaints: I will do my best to remedy the poor conditions you have been living in. You should not be sleeping rough outside the fort. You should not be eating poorly. I will remedy this.”
Choke paused a little to let the men think this over.
“However, as to being knocked around a little. This is the army. This is military life. If you disobey an order, if you idle when you should be at work, if you show insubordination: you will be chastised! If this is disagreeable to you, then I suggest you follow orders and work hard.”
Choke paused again before continuing:
“As to the question of pay. You are not yet in the Royal Bitina Army. You are recruits. Once you are trained, you shall begin drawing pay. If logistical difficulties mean that coin cannot be provided, your pay shall accrue. That means you shall be paid everything you are owed as soon as the coin is available. You have my word on that.
“Now. Finally. As to the issue that recruit Reece raised about why you have been suffering such poor conditions. He seemed to be about to suggest that the reason why you have been treated differently than the other recruits is because I am your officer. He, and others among you, might be thinking that because I am of low birth, an orphan, and of Scythan blood, that I am not a proper officer. And this is why you, as my men, have been treated poorly.”
Choke paused to look over the men, seeing who would meet his eye. Reece and a few others did.
“Well, I am here to tell you that this is not the case. You have been mistreated because you have not had an officer. You have not had a leader to represent you. To stand up on behalf of you. That situation has now changed. I am your officer. And I shall do whatever I can to get you what you deserve.”
Choke paused again to look over his men. More of them met his eye. Some of those that did seemed hopeful about it.
“I trust you understand me! Now! We are going to relocate into the fort! Alright, get to it, men! Get your tools!” Choke clapped his hands like he was back at the Pekot school herding youngsters about.
“Sergeant Theodas, stay with the men and keep them in order,” Choke said.
Knuckle nodded and moved with the men, barking at this one or that to hurry up as they gathered up their tools.
As the men picked up their picks, shovels, and baskets, Knuckle organized them into a small column behind Choke: two men wide and fifteen deep. Once they were all in place, Choke turned to Knuckle:
“Alright then, Sergeant: with me into the fort.”
Choke strode up the beaten down track around the edge of the fort’s wall to the main gate on the north slope.
“Forward, march!” Knuckle bellowed at the men to get them moving.
As the platoon came around the fort, the other units of men at their formation and weapon drills down the hill paused to stare up at them. Choke saw that Sergeant Euan was now mounted on a basic riding horse, overseeing the training. The other NCOs running the units soon got the men back to whatever they were meant to be doing.
Sergeant Euan turned his horse away from the fort to pointedly avoid noticing Choke and his men going by.
Choke chuckled to himself, glad to know that he was under his adversary’s skin. Then he walked proudly on into the fort, leading his men: the unit that was already known in the fort as Pekot’s Bushrats.
Muse Vassal 