New Direction
Joining the Forces
”Do you have everything you need?”
Ereliara asked him for the fourth time. Valdor sighed, but just smiled to her. He could sense how nervous she was, how anxious of him now leaving to the training to a different city. And he couldn’t really say he wouldn’t have been nervous too. And he didn’t want to leave her alone; although mum seemed to have that certain gear on again, and no doubt she would keep poor Ereliara very busy for now.
“Yes, yes. My armor, daggers, a spare set of clothes, and of course; The letter.”
Valdor nodded and patted Ereliara’s shoulder, giving her a soft smile.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
“Hmph.”
Ereliara scoffed, but he just smiled leniently. She turned away, and her brother knew she was embarrassed -too big to show that she would miss her brother, but young enough to not be able to completely conceal it.
“I will bring you something nice. I promise. As a souvenir?”
He tilted his head a little, to see what kind of reaction it got out of her.
“Really, you would?”
She asked, eyes gleaming, and Valdor knew she was hooked now. Gotcha.
“Yes. of course.”
He promised with a small nod.
At the door he looked back for the last time and gave her sister a hug. Mother was still working, so she wouldn’t be able to come to see him off. Not that he would necessary wanted her to be there, but… some small part of him still wondered how his small family would handle it without him. “Oh! I almost forgot!”
Ereliara suddenly exclaimed and sprinted back in, just to return with a small paper bag.
“What’s that?”
Valdor tilted his head, curious and confused.
“You need to eat on your way to Netehdrez, so I made you couple of sandwiches.”
His sister huffed and pushed the bag into his hands, so he really couldn’t refuse. Valdor stared at the brown bag made of coarse paper, and chuckled.
“Thanks, Liara.”
“Well, they don’t have any shops on the way, and what would happen to us if you were to faint of hunger and some umberhulk would come and eat you!”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. Valdor nodded, hiding his amusement. Indeed, of course, that would be a real threat… oh Liara, I can see right through you.
How many times had he stolen food and gathered scraps to have something to eat, often saving the best bits for his sister and going with an empty stomach, never complaining about it, or even letting his sister know about it when she grew older. Hunger was something he was accustomed to and even when at that age of two decades old he could have easily taken advantage on his sister and eat everything himself, letting her go hungry, as she was too small to do anything about it. And as a girl, she would have easily been able to beg food more efficiently on the streets. Maybe it was because of the shame of their monetary situation, maybe just his caring instinct, who knew, but Valdor had always put her before himself. Even when money was tight, or mother had forgotten to buy food (again), he had sworn to himself that his sister would never go hungry and she would have everything she would ever want, if it was up to Valdor to decide. He was proud of her -she was, as much of her sister, somehow maybe even his daughter, in a way he had taken care of her right when she had been weened off the tit and mother hadn’t needed to keep her with constantly anymore but had entrusted him with the job of watching after the young baby. At first he had been almost disgusted by the smelly, imbecile little thing -the daughter her mother always wanted, and had gotten. Valdor couldn’t deny that he wouldn’t have felt jealous at first -When his sister had been born mother had been all over her, as now she had the heir she had always wanted, already planning bright future for her when she was still a wrinkly five hours old swaddled bundle. And how she suddenly had then miraculously remembered that she also had a son. Trying to be such a good mother after many years of partial absence; to young Valdor, who had gotten accustomed to roaming freely on the streets, that sudden change of attitude hadn’t been easy to swallow. They had fought over it, and not once nor twice had he played with the thought of throwing the new baby under some carriage or leaving it to the mines to die alone or be eaten by some ravenous monster, but never had he had the heart to do that. The baby was innocent, not asking to be born after all, and his heart had slowly melted from scorn into acceptance, and then shifted from acceptance to love. His resolve had grown stronger; he would give this girl a better start in life than he had had, and maybe some day she could have his back when she would remember how good he had been to her. That was the initial thought, but now, when the little bundle had grown into a beautiful young girl, he was nothing but proud of his sister. He loved her, even when he wasn’t much of a talker -but he had made sure she knew it by his actions. He would always be there, taking care of her. He would be her rock, her safe haven. Always. He gazed back at the city at the gates. He could catch a small sliver of glimmer he thought to be the lake behind all the buildings, before bettering the position of his old beaten backpack and heading out. By foot it took at least twice as long to get to the other city than with a lizard, but Valdor could not afford a one. And even if he could have, he wanted to save the money in case there would be sudden expenses when setting down to the new and scary life of a soldier-in-training. He hadn’t heard a beep from his friends. Most likely Yanta had gotten them and rumors would start to circle soon, but too late for him to hear in time. He knew it could look a bit bad from some direction, almost like he would have ratted out the whole thing to the guards and gotten the others arrested, when he got out like it was nothing. Yet he knew his friends wouldn’t think like that. At least he hoped so. Especially now that he was going to the army. But he would explain, and they would understand… At that point Valdor didn’t know one thing; he wouldn’t be seeing his friends anytime soon. First night he spent sleeping on the roadside, dagger in hand, but luckily nothing came and ate him. The second night he got to the midway tavern Duduk quite late, so he slept outside again, leaning on the outer wall of the house, in the shade of a big mushroom’s cap. He didn’t want to bother the honest entrepreneurs by hoarding a table to all himself and sleeping on it, without paying for the room. He would have, of course, loved to rent a room but those were expensive. The third night he got to join a traveling merchant and his group by the fire, and he also got a lift from them, sitting on the back of one cart, and nearing the night of the fourth day, the walls of Netehdrez finally started to appear in front of his tired eyes. “Don’t you know, lad, that it’s the nightguard already?”
The Soldier at the gates sounded mostly annoyed when Valdor approached them.
“Please, sir, I have important business in the city!”
He tried to plead and look very apologetic, but the guards had probably heard the same story million times before.
“And what would that be?”
“I’m joining the Yanta, sir, and today is the last day to report for the duty…”
“Oh, Erthvyll, let the boy through, Yanta needs all the recruits it can get!”
Laughed a tall, very busty woman in leather armor, possibly the man’s superior, and slapped Valdor on the shoulder.
“Off you go!”
Valdor bowed deeply, even when he was almost swept down by her slap, which had probably been meant as a friendly one. He wandered through the sleepy city, towards the direction he remembered the barracks had situated. Luckily, they weren’t too hard to find, he just had to follow the main road. Finally, he made it to the barracks and guards at the door stopped him, again.
“I came to report for duty.”
Valdor explained hastily, getting burrowed brows from the guard. The other one was holding a huge lance, broad-shouldered like a rothé and Valdor, even though he was used to feel small, felt suddenly even smaller.
“New ones? I thought everyone had already arrived. Well, come in then, I’ll take you to see Captain Wyvernmaw.”
The older soldier took him by the shoulder and led him in. The barracks were still busy, bustling with soldiers coming and going. Well, maybe the proverb that the Army never sleeps was right.
The man stopped at an important looking door and knocked. Valdor gulped a little and straightened his back, to look more presentable.
“Ma’m, we got a latecomer.”
“What?”
Woman’s irritated voice made Valdor’s stomach turn upside down. She looked fierce, as much as Valdor dared to look at her, when they stepped in to the office.
“Huh, I see… You can go.”
The door closed behind Valdor’s back and he stared at his dusty, worn boots, fingers nervously fidgeting with the hem of his tunic.
Pressuring silence. “We don’t hire kids under 20 without special reasons. Go back home to grow up.”
She sighed. It wouldn’t have been the first underaged enthusiast to try to slip in the army without their parents knowing about it.
“But I’m 38, ma’am.”
Valdor mumbled, embarrassed, scratching his neck.
This wasn’t the first time. He had always been tiny -not just short, but petite in general, in all aspects. Maybe that had been why mom hadn’t really cared about him at first -he had been too small to lift any rocks, too puny to be proud of. But then she had noticed that she could take advantage on it, in a very motherlike way. She never tired out but tried to make the best out of every situation. Back then she had understood she could use him scout further into the mine shafts; to crawl into the tiniest crooks and crevices. He had been useful, and very proud of it, but it was hard work. He was constantly hungry and tired very easily. And at some point, he just felt sleepy, when the hunger had gone away. Sometimes, if mum didn’t need him at that moment -there isn’t always need for a small one to check collapsed tunnels and whatnot- he had tried to get something to eat, and ran along with the rest of the kids of the block. And when he was small, he was also quite fast. He got good at picking up stuff. First, things people just dropped -they dropped a lot of things on the ground, things they didn’t know they would miss, or then things they didn’t really cared if they lost; old scraps, half-eaten bread rolls, old shoes, keys, sometimes even coins, but like a good boy he usually had brought them to Mother, if no one noticed him taking them. If someone did, they usually took it from him, by force.
The older girls living the next door sometimes took him into their plays, when they were playing ‘matrons’. He got to be their husband, sometimes their son too. But more often than not, they were having a feast, and if they didn’t make an inedible dinner out of mulch and mud, sometimes the girls wanted to spice up their play with real food. And those little morsels of stale mooncake or yesterday’s bread’s hard crust was all he ate that day. But he got by. And he didn’t mind playing when he got something to eat. And the girls had noticed that too. Eventually they grew out of it and Valdor himself became better at gathering something to eat for himself. Stealing from the marketplace was something he had often resorted to, but dumpster diving was better- even when you had to fight with cockroaches and rats to get something for the dinner.
“Name?”
“Valdor.”
“… Family?”
The captain sighed and shook her head, eye twitching a little. It had been a long day and now this imbecile was brought before her, when she would have preferred being in her own bath tub soaking in hot water amidst the bubbles.
“O-oh, uhm, Bloodworth, ma’m!”
Valdor answered and Captain Wyvernmaw opened the ledger to check the name. It matched, surprisingly. She grunted. If this cocky boy thought he could waste her precious time, he was wrong.
“Well, you sure took your time to park your lizard.”
She scoffed at him, and Valdor hastily blurted out in defence;
“I don’t have a lizard!”
And then remembered to add:
“Ma’m!”
Valdor didn’t see it, but the Captain in duty raised her annoyed eyes to see this little scrub that had been found on their doorsteps. She immediately noticed the tired look on the boy’s face, dust that had gathered on his cheap-looking, but neatly patched clothing. No jewelry, no spidersilk, not even a proper sword, just a pair of old daggers which looked like taken from a local butcher’s, worn out and dull. Hair was cut unevenly and had not been styled. It had been a while since this boy had seen a proper bath. Or a full bowl of soup. Captain Wyvernmaw counted one plus one. She was a smart woman. And the family name didn’t ring a bell.
“So, you walked.”
It was not question, but Valdor nodded anyway.
“I came as soon as I got the letter!”
He underlined but quieted quickly when she glanced at her -not that much annoyed anymore. It was clear this boy, even if he looked just half of his age, slim and skinny, unevenly kept, had probably done his best to get here in time. It took a few days for the letter to reach Zaetron, few days to get here, especially without a lizard. This boy -or somebody in charge of him- was determined to get him into Yanta, and she knew it would only be foolish to say no to any new recruits. They had standards, and yes, true, weakest ones dropped off after the first initial weeks, but if he would stick around, he could make a passable soldier. At least some more fodder between her and the pale skins.
“You aren’t going to get a room in any tavern at this hour. Stay in the sleeping quarters with my permission for this night. And ask for leftovers from the kitchen, they always have something for the late shift.”
Well, she wanted to get to the bubble bath, and this boy was on his way. Best way to get rid of him was to make it quick and easy. And just by looking at that thin frame made her own stomach growl in a way that reminded her to have a nice warm meal before the bubble bath.
Ereliara asked him for the fourth time. Valdor sighed, but just smiled to her. He could sense how nervous she was, how anxious of him now leaving to the training to a different city. And he couldn’t really say he wouldn’t have been nervous too. And he didn’t want to leave her alone; although mum seemed to have that certain gear on again, and no doubt she would keep poor Ereliara very busy for now.
“Yes, yes. My armor, daggers, a spare set of clothes, and of course; The letter.”
Valdor nodded and patted Ereliara’s shoulder, giving her a soft smile.
“Don’t worry. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
“Hmph.”
Ereliara scoffed, but he just smiled leniently. She turned away, and her brother knew she was embarrassed -too big to show that she would miss her brother, but young enough to not be able to completely conceal it.
“I will bring you something nice. I promise. As a souvenir?”
He tilted his head a little, to see what kind of reaction it got out of her.
“Really, you would?”
She asked, eyes gleaming, and Valdor knew she was hooked now. Gotcha.
“Yes. of course.”
He promised with a small nod.
At the door he looked back for the last time and gave her sister a hug. Mother was still working, so she wouldn’t be able to come to see him off. Not that he would necessary wanted her to be there, but… some small part of him still wondered how his small family would handle it without him. “Oh! I almost forgot!”
Ereliara suddenly exclaimed and sprinted back in, just to return with a small paper bag.
“What’s that?”
Valdor tilted his head, curious and confused.
“You need to eat on your way to Netehdrez, so I made you couple of sandwiches.”
His sister huffed and pushed the bag into his hands, so he really couldn’t refuse. Valdor stared at the brown bag made of coarse paper, and chuckled.
“Thanks, Liara.”
“Well, they don’t have any shops on the way, and what would happen to us if you were to faint of hunger and some umberhulk would come and eat you!”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. Valdor nodded, hiding his amusement. Indeed, of course, that would be a real threat… oh Liara, I can see right through you.
How many times had he stolen food and gathered scraps to have something to eat, often saving the best bits for his sister and going with an empty stomach, never complaining about it, or even letting his sister know about it when she grew older. Hunger was something he was accustomed to and even when at that age of two decades old he could have easily taken advantage on his sister and eat everything himself, letting her go hungry, as she was too small to do anything about it. And as a girl, she would have easily been able to beg food more efficiently on the streets. Maybe it was because of the shame of their monetary situation, maybe just his caring instinct, who knew, but Valdor had always put her before himself. Even when money was tight, or mother had forgotten to buy food (again), he had sworn to himself that his sister would never go hungry and she would have everything she would ever want, if it was up to Valdor to decide. He was proud of her -she was, as much of her sister, somehow maybe even his daughter, in a way he had taken care of her right when she had been weened off the tit and mother hadn’t needed to keep her with constantly anymore but had entrusted him with the job of watching after the young baby. At first he had been almost disgusted by the smelly, imbecile little thing -the daughter her mother always wanted, and had gotten. Valdor couldn’t deny that he wouldn’t have felt jealous at first -When his sister had been born mother had been all over her, as now she had the heir she had always wanted, already planning bright future for her when she was still a wrinkly five hours old swaddled bundle. And how she suddenly had then miraculously remembered that she also had a son. Trying to be such a good mother after many years of partial absence; to young Valdor, who had gotten accustomed to roaming freely on the streets, that sudden change of attitude hadn’t been easy to swallow. They had fought over it, and not once nor twice had he played with the thought of throwing the new baby under some carriage or leaving it to the mines to die alone or be eaten by some ravenous monster, but never had he had the heart to do that. The baby was innocent, not asking to be born after all, and his heart had slowly melted from scorn into acceptance, and then shifted from acceptance to love. His resolve had grown stronger; he would give this girl a better start in life than he had had, and maybe some day she could have his back when she would remember how good he had been to her. That was the initial thought, but now, when the little bundle had grown into a beautiful young girl, he was nothing but proud of his sister. He loved her, even when he wasn’t much of a talker -but he had made sure she knew it by his actions. He would always be there, taking care of her. He would be her rock, her safe haven. Always. He gazed back at the city at the gates. He could catch a small sliver of glimmer he thought to be the lake behind all the buildings, before bettering the position of his old beaten backpack and heading out. By foot it took at least twice as long to get to the other city than with a lizard, but Valdor could not afford a one. And even if he could have, he wanted to save the money in case there would be sudden expenses when setting down to the new and scary life of a soldier-in-training. He hadn’t heard a beep from his friends. Most likely Yanta had gotten them and rumors would start to circle soon, but too late for him to hear in time. He knew it could look a bit bad from some direction, almost like he would have ratted out the whole thing to the guards and gotten the others arrested, when he got out like it was nothing. Yet he knew his friends wouldn’t think like that. At least he hoped so. Especially now that he was going to the army. But he would explain, and they would understand… At that point Valdor didn’t know one thing; he wouldn’t be seeing his friends anytime soon. First night he spent sleeping on the roadside, dagger in hand, but luckily nothing came and ate him. The second night he got to the midway tavern Duduk quite late, so he slept outside again, leaning on the outer wall of the house, in the shade of a big mushroom’s cap. He didn’t want to bother the honest entrepreneurs by hoarding a table to all himself and sleeping on it, without paying for the room. He would have, of course, loved to rent a room but those were expensive. The third night he got to join a traveling merchant and his group by the fire, and he also got a lift from them, sitting on the back of one cart, and nearing the night of the fourth day, the walls of Netehdrez finally started to appear in front of his tired eyes. “Don’t you know, lad, that it’s the nightguard already?”
The Soldier at the gates sounded mostly annoyed when Valdor approached them.
“Please, sir, I have important business in the city!”
He tried to plead and look very apologetic, but the guards had probably heard the same story million times before.
“And what would that be?”
“I’m joining the Yanta, sir, and today is the last day to report for the duty…”
“Oh, Erthvyll, let the boy through, Yanta needs all the recruits it can get!”
Laughed a tall, very busty woman in leather armor, possibly the man’s superior, and slapped Valdor on the shoulder.
“Off you go!”
Valdor bowed deeply, even when he was almost swept down by her slap, which had probably been meant as a friendly one. He wandered through the sleepy city, towards the direction he remembered the barracks had situated. Luckily, they weren’t too hard to find, he just had to follow the main road. Finally, he made it to the barracks and guards at the door stopped him, again.
“I came to report for duty.”
Valdor explained hastily, getting burrowed brows from the guard. The other one was holding a huge lance, broad-shouldered like a rothé and Valdor, even though he was used to feel small, felt suddenly even smaller.
“New ones? I thought everyone had already arrived. Well, come in then, I’ll take you to see Captain Wyvernmaw.”
The older soldier took him by the shoulder and led him in. The barracks were still busy, bustling with soldiers coming and going. Well, maybe the proverb that the Army never sleeps was right.
The man stopped at an important looking door and knocked. Valdor gulped a little and straightened his back, to look more presentable.
“Ma’m, we got a latecomer.”
“What?”
Woman’s irritated voice made Valdor’s stomach turn upside down. She looked fierce, as much as Valdor dared to look at her, when they stepped in to the office.
“Huh, I see… You can go.”
The door closed behind Valdor’s back and he stared at his dusty, worn boots, fingers nervously fidgeting with the hem of his tunic.
Pressuring silence. “We don’t hire kids under 20 without special reasons. Go back home to grow up.”
She sighed. It wouldn’t have been the first underaged enthusiast to try to slip in the army without their parents knowing about it.
“But I’m 38, ma’am.”
Valdor mumbled, embarrassed, scratching his neck.
This wasn’t the first time. He had always been tiny -not just short, but petite in general, in all aspects. Maybe that had been why mom hadn’t really cared about him at first -he had been too small to lift any rocks, too puny to be proud of. But then she had noticed that she could take advantage on it, in a very motherlike way. She never tired out but tried to make the best out of every situation. Back then she had understood she could use him scout further into the mine shafts; to crawl into the tiniest crooks and crevices. He had been useful, and very proud of it, but it was hard work. He was constantly hungry and tired very easily. And at some point, he just felt sleepy, when the hunger had gone away. Sometimes, if mum didn’t need him at that moment -there isn’t always need for a small one to check collapsed tunnels and whatnot- he had tried to get something to eat, and ran along with the rest of the kids of the block. And when he was small, he was also quite fast. He got good at picking up stuff. First, things people just dropped -they dropped a lot of things on the ground, things they didn’t know they would miss, or then things they didn’t really cared if they lost; old scraps, half-eaten bread rolls, old shoes, keys, sometimes even coins, but like a good boy he usually had brought them to Mother, if no one noticed him taking them. If someone did, they usually took it from him, by force.
The older girls living the next door sometimes took him into their plays, when they were playing ‘matrons’. He got to be their husband, sometimes their son too. But more often than not, they were having a feast, and if they didn’t make an inedible dinner out of mulch and mud, sometimes the girls wanted to spice up their play with real food. And those little morsels of stale mooncake or yesterday’s bread’s hard crust was all he ate that day. But he got by. And he didn’t mind playing when he got something to eat. And the girls had noticed that too. Eventually they grew out of it and Valdor himself became better at gathering something to eat for himself. Stealing from the marketplace was something he had often resorted to, but dumpster diving was better- even when you had to fight with cockroaches and rats to get something for the dinner.
“Name?”
“Valdor.”
“… Family?”
The captain sighed and shook her head, eye twitching a little. It had been a long day and now this imbecile was brought before her, when she would have preferred being in her own bath tub soaking in hot water amidst the bubbles.
“O-oh, uhm, Bloodworth, ma’m!”
Valdor answered and Captain Wyvernmaw opened the ledger to check the name. It matched, surprisingly. She grunted. If this cocky boy thought he could waste her precious time, he was wrong.
“Well, you sure took your time to park your lizard.”
She scoffed at him, and Valdor hastily blurted out in defence;
“I don’t have a lizard!”
And then remembered to add:
“Ma’m!”
Valdor didn’t see it, but the Captain in duty raised her annoyed eyes to see this little scrub that had been found on their doorsteps. She immediately noticed the tired look on the boy’s face, dust that had gathered on his cheap-looking, but neatly patched clothing. No jewelry, no spidersilk, not even a proper sword, just a pair of old daggers which looked like taken from a local butcher’s, worn out and dull. Hair was cut unevenly and had not been styled. It had been a while since this boy had seen a proper bath. Or a full bowl of soup. Captain Wyvernmaw counted one plus one. She was a smart woman. And the family name didn’t ring a bell.
“So, you walked.”
It was not question, but Valdor nodded anyway.
“I came as soon as I got the letter!”
He underlined but quieted quickly when she glanced at her -not that much annoyed anymore. It was clear this boy, even if he looked just half of his age, slim and skinny, unevenly kept, had probably done his best to get here in time. It took a few days for the letter to reach Zaetron, few days to get here, especially without a lizard. This boy -or somebody in charge of him- was determined to get him into Yanta, and she knew it would only be foolish to say no to any new recruits. They had standards, and yes, true, weakest ones dropped off after the first initial weeks, but if he would stick around, he could make a passable soldier. At least some more fodder between her and the pale skins.
“You aren’t going to get a room in any tavern at this hour. Stay in the sleeping quarters with my permission for this night. And ask for leftovers from the kitchen, they always have something for the late shift.”
Well, she wanted to get to the bubble bath, and this boy was on his way. Best way to get rid of him was to make it quick and easy. And just by looking at that thin frame made her own stomach growl in a way that reminded her to have a nice warm meal before the bubble bath.
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