Part 2

The next day, I gathered the young recruits by the trail passing through the bush at the outskirt of Pryden. As the quartermaster, I was the foremost amongst them. I was also the spindliest amongst them by far, and not far off from the shortest. Everything about the way I stood to the way I walked and talked revealed that I had never had anything to do with the battlefield, and would do everything in my power to avoid it.
I clasped my hands, moving between their ranks as I offered them my most enthusiastic smile, only to be answered with scowls and jeers.

“Good morning, recruits. We have armour training today now. As Meruvean Knights, you’re expected to be one with your armour. You will eat, sleep and even dance in that armour!”
My joke didn’t land with the boys or girls. Some of them laughed, but I knew the difference between someone laughing with me and someone laughing at me.
“All right, we will be running the whole course in your full plate today. Don’t expect me to go easy on you, understand?”
I raised my hand, “Ready? Get set… Go!”
I dropped my hand dramatically.

None of them moved so much as a muscle. I strode back and forth.
“You can go now.” I shooed them away, to no avail.
It was one thing when I wasn't trying to get them to obey. Still embarrassing and hurtful being ignored like that, but at least it was expected. Now I was really putting myself out there. I was hoping to they'd start moving, and ended up disappointed.
I chuckled, “Fine, so it’s a bit on the hot side today. Can’t expect you all to run with full gear on your first try. So let’s take the helmets off, at least.”
As much as they hated to obey me, they hated the idea of standing around and bake in that cage even more. So they pulled them off and set them aside.

“Now then, let’s see what you’re made of!” I shouted, but they would not budge.
Their eyes shifted between one another. Some of them laughed at how I, in my attempts to encourage them, played quite the monkey.
“All right, so… I’ll be the first to admit, that’s still full steel armour you’re wearing, and it’s heavy to say the least. How about we pull off the pauldrons? At least for Rank 4?”
The Fourth Rank took off their pauldrons.

I kept commanding them to race off into the bush. They kept ignoring me. They didn’t answer to my addresses. They didn’t even acknowledge that I existed. Not until I told them to remove a piece of armour.
And I did do that. In the end. Piece by piece. Rank by rank. In the end, the First Rank was dressed down all the way to their base layer. Many of the Ranks were well on their way there as well.
In the end, I had to resort to begging on my knees for them to start running. Not even that work. So I stood back up, and headed to the First Rank.

“Tommy… You’re still not up for running, huh?”
The first man of the First Rank didn’t answer.
I sighed, “Well… Can’t really blame you there. Those are some heavy duty clothes. What is it? Cotton? How about you take it off too? See if that will get you in a running mood.”
He looked about himself confused. Then he sputtered out a laughter, “Come on there, I’ve got nothing else down under here.”
“Right. So it stands to reason that you should be able to handle at least that much.”
He scowled at me, “Hey, that's… What!? You’re serious?”
I nodded, smiling.
“No way, no how!” He shouted.
“I only want what’s best for you.” I stated.
“Look, I’ll run the course, all right!” He insisted.
“Oh, that's great to hear!” I clapped, "You go ahead then. Just as soon as you get off that base layer!”

He shook his head, no, “This is not cool!”
“You heard the instructor, Tommy!” His neighbour to his left chimed in.
“Take it off!”
“Don’t be difficult now!”
Some of the girls swarmed over him. Kick and scream as he might, they tore off his final shred of dignity and tossed it to the ground. He tried to hide himself, but all eyes were already on him.

I went to the next in line for the First Rank.
“So, Angie… It looks like that base layer is a bit heavy on you…?”
“Nope! No, nuh uh! I’ll get to running!” She sprinted off into the bush. When I looked at the others with a smile, they exchanged glances shortly. Realization dawned on them. When they were stripping off their armour, they weren’t just stripping off extra weight, but also what protected their dignity. They shot out right after Angie, and the race was on.

I kept up with them as much as I could. Now, some of them championed along well, working up a good sweat. But far from all of the group were in tip shape. I unfortunately had them stripped as well, and those ladies and gents had to complete the course in the nude.
The group eventually ran its course. The winner, who finished up first, was none other than Belinda. She was still in her base layer, of course. Those with least armour had a clear advantage. When she slumped into the grass out of breath, she found herself looking around.
“Hey, where is my armour?”
“Oh, that?” I smiled at her, “I had it sent to get washed while you were away. I hope you don’t mind having to walk around like that.”
At least she wasn’t in as bad a position as those who had to walk around in their nude.

The rest of the group had finished up as well, catching their breath.
“Good hustle everyone! You can take out your armour at the wash right before the next mass. Chief God’s blessing be upon you!”
They walked off, grumbling angry and embarrassed, but with an important lesson learned.

The moment they were out of sight, Bianca dropped from a branch of a nearby tree, “You did great!”
I shot her a grin, “You’re the one who figured it all out.”
“Nah,” She punched me playfully on my shoulder, “Just gave you a bit of a push. You’re a great leader, you know that.”
“Thanks…” I sighed, looking back at her, “And... It was the Queen.”
“Huh?” She cocked her head.
“The Queen of Urklan. She wanted obedient yes-men as bishops. People who would be compliant with whatever plans she cooked up. My nomination suited her poorly. So she began hustling me by taking away my land, or filing a bunch of phoney legal charges against me. I wrote to her court trying to reason with her, but they only ever sent back the same old evasive overly-ambiguous trash that all politicians write. But there was one piece of advice that persisted throughout our correspondence: why don’t you join the Meruvean Knights.”
“Ouch.” She winced at the story.
“Yeah, the message was clear. I take the oaths, and renounce all worldly or ecclesiastical titles. When she jailed my brother, I had little choice.”
Bianca clenched her fist, “That lil rat! Going around treating innocent people like pawns in some game! You can’t help it if you got caught in some bigger game outside your interest or agency! And then she went ahead to ruin your life!”

I shrugged, “I kinda learned to make peace with that. Being part of the Meruvean Knights isn’t so bad. Sure, it’s not easy all the time, but what’s life without the occasional trial?”
“If you say so.”
“Really, maybe you should consider joining.” I advised.
“That’s the plan.”
"The what now?"
“It’s really something of a lifelong ambition of mine." She explained, "Have to settle something with my father.”
"Then why haven’t you joined already?” I inquired.
“Yeah, I’d love nothing more. But I can’t. Not until I’ve repaid the debt I stacked up throughout the years. Something in the line of 550 dukats.”
I blinked, “Ah. Wish I’d known that before taking lessons without first discussing the price.”
She laughed, “Nah, you’re good. You did shave after all, like you promised.”