47

The march out of the academy was a grand affair with the blowing of horns, cheers from proud instructors, and even small fireworks shot up into the sky above them as they walked out of the gates and onto the main road. This celebration was not for the Penitents, but Michael appreciated the pageantry of it anyway. They, he noticed, were all positioned to march in the center of the regulars. This hid them from view of anyone they passed while marching, and also ensured that they wouldn’t be able to make a run for it.

During the march Michael was given the collateral duty of assisting with managing the supplies. There was a physically older recruit that was assigned the job, but he was hopeless at it in comparison. Aside from the supplies for their march, there were also additional goods that were meant for each of the three fronts. They consisted primarily of dried goods, but there were also a number of fresh uniforms, arms, and armor, and they were also bringing a dozen extra horses that needed to be cared for on the way. Michael kept track of everything without much difficulty. The normal troops might have been likely to try to swipe things here or there, but among the idealistic knights there wasn’t any trouble. Michael mainly had to fend off Marcus, who seemed certain he could turn a profit on a few items if he had the chance. How he could do so was beyond Michael, nor did it matter since his answer was always no.

The Penitents were largely gloomy, not eager to be sent to war to die, but the young knights were full of youthful excitement. They wanted to make their families and their country proud by slaying the savage Tusynians and bringing home glory and honor. At one point they even started singing marching songs.

We march, we march, with hearts so true,

Our blades are sharp, our spirits too!

The Tusynian cowards, they will see,

No foe can break our unity!

Through valleys deep and mountains high,

We raise our banners to the sky.

The Tusynians tremble at our sound,

The sons of Stent will hold our ground!

Fear not the dark, nor the cruel foe,

Together we stand, tomorrow they’ll know

We are the heirs of all of Hume,

In victory’s light, we’ll bring them doom!

It wasn’t quite as catchy as Yankee Doodle, but he was a little biased. The march was relaxed, meaning that they weren’t forced to move in unison, but on those few occasions where they ran into merchants or militias from nearby towns moving along the road, Lance had everyone move into tighter formation to show off a bit. The looks on the faces of the citizens that saw them were full of warmth for the sons and daughters of their country that were going to fight for them. It was easy to see how the young soldiers that marched around them could get so swept up in everything. It was by design. The whole country seemed to have a focus on the military. Not that the US was much better—he had distinct memories of commercials that showed Marines fighting dragons even though every real Marine he’d met told him that it was all bullshit and their favorite thing had been the taste of crayons.

The first night they made camp in a wide clearing off the side of the main road they were on. Just as they were made to march in the center of the formation, the Penitents’ tents were toward the center as well, and even when they went to the latrines, they were watched. It made sense—this was in a lot of ways a prime time to escape. With their brands, though, the second they were out of sight or traveled too far, they would be struck with tremendous pain until they could be hunted down and executed. That was if they weren’t simply left to writhe in agony until they died anyway. Still, Michael could understand the temptation.

He looked up at the three moons. The green one was full, but the silver and gold ones were further away in the sky, looking a bit smaller and only half and a quarter full. He wondered idly how they affected the tides. He was certain that Stent had a coastline—the fish he’d eaten had tasted like they’d come from saltwater rather than fresh, though he couldn’t identify what the fish itself had been.

Toward the middle of the next day’s march, there was a call for the column to halt. There was something happening at the head of the column, and he thought he could see Lance leaning forward in his saddle as if talking to someone on the ground. He heard whispers of questions all around him, but no answers.

“Tain, Jakub, Michael, Pyotr, Ollie, Davi, and Marcus, front of column!” came a cry from ahead. Michael exchanged a quick look with his friends, and they all assembled and made their way to the front.

Lance was waiting for them, having dismounted from his horse, and he was speaking to a short, squat man wearing a simple but clean green jacket with brown trousers, riding boots, and a bright yellow cap.

Lance acknowledged them as they arrived but looked to Jakub and Tain when he actually went to speak. Tain was Rein’s brother from the Festival of Blades that Lance had beaten.

“This is Headman Durn of Rundling, a village a short ways east of here. He tells me they’re having trouble with a titled stag. It’s slain three of their hunters and has gained Deeds from it. Tain, I want you and Jakub to take these irregulars to take care of it and return to the main column afterward.”

“Pardon me, sir, but… shouldn’t this request be sent to the nearest town’s militia?” asked Tain, not quite hiding his distaste for the idea.

“We have sent a request, sir, but the town was just levied to send troops and doesn’t have anyone to spare,” answered the headman.

Lance nodded at him. “And we will help you. Tain, Jakub, you have your orders. You’ll have a healer and a mage with you. Killing a titled beast is a near guaranteed Deed. You are two of the only ones with control brands that aren’t in command.” He smiled and clasped both of their arms. “Enjoy the break from marching.”

Tain sighed and looked at Durn. “How far is your village?”

“Less than a day, sir. I took my horse and wagon here.”

Jakub smiled at him. “Wagon, eh? You were confident you’d be able to get the help you needed.”

Durn smiled. “I’ve never known knights fresh from the academy to refuse a request, sir.”

The headman didn’t acknowledge Michael and the other Penitents, speaking only with Jakub and Tain as they made their way onto the wagon and started toward his village. Jakub and Tain didn’t acknowledge them either, but from what Michael knew of Tain’s history, him ignoring rather than interacting with Takers like them was likely a good thing. As they rode, a light drizzle started to fall, and Michael and the others took the weatherproofed tarp fabric used for their tents and pulled it up over themselves to keep dry, though it was tempting not to. Michael imagined it looked dramatic seeing droplets of water fall down the tip of his helmet’s faceplate. Marcus had a fully waterproof cloak he threw on, part of the specialized kit he had as a dragoon, and Ollie simply muttered under his breath, and the rain ceased hitting him, droplets striking a shimmering purple shield floating above his head.

As Jakub and Tain spoke with Durn toward the front of the wagon, trying to learn more about the stag they’d be hunting, the Penitents were forced to occupy themselves.

“Glad we don’t have titled beasts in our world,” said Davi as he fussed a bit with his helmet strap under his chin. “The rainforest would be full of even deadlier frogs.”

“Pyotr would have to deal with even worse polar bears,” said Ollie with a smile.

“There are no polar bears in Russia. We have brown bears and shatoon bears, which cannot hibernate and grow feral.” He shook his head. “One of those with a Title would be a fearsome thing.”

“You’d have a dingo titled ‘Baby Eater’ back home, huh, Ollie?” said Michael with a smirk.

“Better than ‘Pizza Rat’ roaming our sewers.”

Marcus laughed.

“What’s funny?” asked Davi.

“Just imagining all the drug dealers with tigers and lions in their houses. They’d start trying to get only titled ones and get themselves killed trying to use them to look fierce.”

“Did you… know many drug dealers in your old life?” asked Davi.

Marcus sighed. “I knew some, yeah. I wouldn’t try arresting me, though, I think we’re out of your jurisdiction.”

Michael exchanged a glance with Pyotr. That was the most definitive information they’d gotten about Marcus’s past since they’d all arrived at the academy.

They traded a few more ideas of what animals may have had Titles back home, and before too long Rundling came into view.