AR13 Ch12 (Patreon)

Gregory was already in the yard doing the Peaceful Fist when the two squads for the day shift arrived just before the hour bell. He brought his routine to an end then motioned the two squads, Ema’s and Jackow’s, to stand in front of him. “Fairchild, your squad knows the routine by now, but it’ll be the hour now. As such, I’m having you patrol today as Jackow’s men will be tired and the gate will be better for their legs.”

“Yes, sir,” Ema saluted, as did the women behind her.

“This first week is going to be brutal on you, gentlemen,” Gregory said, turning to the other squad. “None of you have attended regularly enough to have adapted yet. After the first week, it won’t be as bad, and by the end of the month you’ll no longer be tired, but instead you’ll be energized and ready for the day, or nights, as the case will be.”

“Sir,” Jackow said, “wouldn’t it be better for us to start with half-hours as they did? You said yourself before that it would strain them less if they eased into the routine.”

“It would be better,” Gregory said, “and you had the chance to ease into it, but you failed to capitalize on that when the offer was there. Now we need to make sure you’re all brought up to what I see as the base minimum as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, sir,” Jackow said tightly.

“I’ll offer you a deal, Sergeant,” Gregory said, his tone still calm and pleasant. “If you promise to do the full hour yourself, your men can stop at the half today and tomorrow. But on day three they will be doing the full hour.”

The hope on the faces of Jackow’s men was nearly laughable. Jackow was facing Gregory, though not the men behind him, so his silence had hope turning to anger as they stared at his back. After a bit, Jackow saluted. “I accept, sir.”

Gregory nodded, but the damage had already been done. The men in his squad were miffed that he’d taken so long to agree. “Good. Give yourself room from the person beside you, a good foot between your outstretched arm and theirs. Just mirror what I do, and remember slow, controlled movement. You’re stretching out the muscles slowly; if you feel tightness, hold there. The goal is not to push through and injure yourself, but to get your body to slowly adapt and grow.”

The next half-hour had Gregory calling men by name, correcting their positioning repeatedly. When the half-hour came, he dismissed the men then continued the Peaceful Fist, keeping his focus on Jackow, who was sweating and shaking by the time the hour bell struck and then the breakfast chime came.

“Dismissed, get cleaned up then go to breakfast,” Gregory said. As the group started to leave, he walked beside Jackow. “You’ll need to be far more mindful of the forms going forward, Sergeant. You are better than your men, but you were getting sloppy.”

“Because my muscles feel like wet noodles,” Jackow muttered.

“That is a side effect for the first week or two,” Gregory nodded. “Your men will feel it longer since they’re taking half-hours to start. You took too long to agree too, so your men are…unhappy with you currently. Once they see you at breakfast and during the patrol later though, that’ll fade. In three days, when they do the first hour, they will hate me, and be displeased that you couldn’t get them more time.”

Jackow just stared at Gregory for a moment, trying to process everything that had been dropped at his feet. “Foresight?”

“Mostly,” Gregory chuckled, a small knowing smile on his lips.

“Understood, sir,” Jackow said. “Can I go clean up now?”

“Dismissed, Sergeant.”

~~~

Breakfast was over, and Gregory was waiting at the gate to the yard as both Ema’s and Jackow’s squads left to start their day. Jackow led his men with a bit of an odd gait, his legs not fully recovered from the earlier exercise. Ema’s squad trailed the other out, the women all smirking as they marched. They knew the strain Jackow was experiencing, and what the others would be learning about soon enough. To a woman, the squad saluted him as they left and Gregory bowed as a magi to them. Even they were gone he stayed by the gate, and a couple of minutes later the reason he was there came his way.

“Guru, welcome to the empire’s compound,” Gregory said, bowing to Nandin.

“I see you were expecting me, Gregory.”

“Your being here was set the moment one of the victims yesterday approached you,” Gregory said, then motioned to the yard. “My office is this way. Let me lead you.”

“To be welcomed on friendly terms is an honor,” Nandin smiled as he walked behind Gregory.

Leading Nandin into his home, Gregory took a seat in the small sitting area, pulling out a tea tray and pouring for both of them. Taking his cup, he sat back to sip as Nandin got comfortable. “How might I assist you?”

“I’m sure you know, but I will do as required,” Nandin said softly, chuckling. “The locals who were injured yesterday, and their families, are confused about what to feel or think about what transpired. A squad of your men attacked them, but one of them tried to intervene and was brutally beaten too. You arrived and slew the squad, minus the one, but then you went further. You provided healing items that none of them, or even I, could afford to help them avoid lasting injuries. In fact, none of them are injured at all this morning. These events have caused them distress, not because part of your unit attacked them; most of us expect to be treated badly. But the fact you didn’t condone it, not only that, but you excised quick justice and then went further to help them, and not just your single man who had tried to stop it.”

“I did what should have been done by anyone,” Gregory said.

“We both know that most magi would never do what you did. That is why the people came to me confused about what they should be feeling.”

“I’m not sure what I can do to help with their conflicted feelings,” Gregory said.

“Nothing, the same as me. In time, they’ll come to understand, but for now they have to grapple with their own emotions. I had to come to see you, though, so they know I’m doing my best to assist them.”

“Sometimes it’s not what we can do, but just the act of trying that matters most.”

“Precisely,” Nandin smiled, sipping the tea he held.

“You can let your people know that the squads will be on the gate and patrolling as they can. I will be walking the streets a few times a week as well.”

“You will?”

“When there aren’t enough squads, the magi can take over one of the duties as needed,” Gregory said. “So I will be, yes. There will also be night patrols a few times a week too. The best I could do with my squads was divvy them up to ensure that the village is as safe as possible.”

“Safe from what exactly?” Nandin asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The answer I’m supposed to give is bane beasts. But we both know it also includes any signs of rebellion.”

“We haven’t had a bane beast attack in years. Those beasts do wander the dunes, but they rarely come to the village. The wall keeps them out. If we didn’t have the wall, the village wouldn’t exist as it does. The beasts in the dunes would have come every night to drink and feast. Any water source in the desert is where animals, bane beasts included, congregate to get their water.”

“And the wall makes this one unviable for them to get to,” Gregory nodded. “Has no bane beast ever tried to penetrate the walls?”

“They do at times, but most fail, and the few times one does manage to enter the village, I’ve dealt with them, or my predecessor did.”

“That would be something to see. We know very little of death magic in the empire. It’s one of the rarest magics, much like my foresight.”

“It isn’t widely known outside of Limaz. Our people go to every settlement they can to ensure souls can return to Mortum. Even your empire has allowed us to set up in the temples. There is a clan in the empire that follows the ways of Mortum, the lesser ways at least. They’ve slowly begun to replace gurus in some temples.”

“Gentle Repose,” Gregory said. “I’ve heard of them. They have people in the capital and a few other major cities. They only accept those with death magic.”

“Yes,” Nandin nodded. “It was a highly debated point in our capital. One of our highest gurus traveled to the capital to speak with that clan as it was formed. The clan head was respectful and actually follows Mortum’s teachings, at least where they don’t conflict with empire law.”

“I’m surprised you know about them and have heard so much,” Gregory said.

“I have family that is highly placed in the temples,” Nandin smiled.

“Then why are you here?” Gregory asked.

“Where should I be?”

Gregory chuckled as he sat back sipping his tea. “A far more philosophical question than most would deem it to be.”

“The desert lets us open our minds and souls to the universe,” Nandin said. “To look upon nothing can be soothing as one meditates. You should try it. Most evenings I sit on the western wall and meditate.”

“I will take your offer when I can. For the next few months, it will be best if I ensure my people are settling in.”

“Of course,” Nandin nodded.

~~~

The pair chatted a bit longer until Nandin took his leave. Gregory worked on the sundry paperwork involved with holding a post until close to dinner. An hour before the dinner bell, with the sun low in the western sky, Balno’s and Dema’s squads gathered.

“Gentlemen,” Gregory addressed the group, “today Dema’s men will be doing a half-hour. Except for you, Dema, you’ll be doing the full hour. You need to acclimate faster than your squad. Balno, your squad is on patrol tonight, as Dema’s will need the ability to lean as they adjust to the Peaceful Fist. I won’t be making rounds tonight, but I trust none of you does anything dumb like sleeping on shift.”

“Sir, why have us patrol?” Dema asked. “Couldn’t one of us just split for day patrol and covering two nights with the other three days off?”

“Could you? Would you personally want that, Dema?”

Dema glanced away. “I was thinking Balno would—”

“Nope,” Balno cut him off. “If we do it this way, we both rotate to days next month. Your plan would keep the squads stuck on the various shifts we have, and not rotating duties at all.”

“The duties and rotation will stay as is,” Gregory said, cutting off the pending argument. “This isn’t a debate. You can be upset and irritated by doing patrols at night. As long as you do your job, without issue, that is all that matters.”

“Yes, sir,” Dema said a bit stiffly.

“Now I will lead you through the Peaceful Fist. I will call out corrections to you if you deviate from the correct forms,” Gregory said, then he fixed Dema with a pointed look. “Deliberately making mistakes will upset me. That is not what you want to do.” His gaze drifted to the men behind Dema. “None of you should want to find out what that means.”

“Yes, sir,” the men said quickly.

“Good, now let’s begin.”