Galen and Tomas walked over the upper left side of the field to gather with the other twenty three novices. They all stood around Elite Smithy. He was an older man with gray hair and a wrinkled tanned face. Galen saw that Smithy’s eyes were a clear blue as he looked out over the novices.

“All of you are starting with me, which means agility. We want to see how quick you are, and how far you can run without getting tired. One day soon you will be training to go through the Sentinel Course. The course is dangerous, and it is almost impossible to complete, but it can be done. Today we will start with just one part of the course. You will all have to follow me,” said Smithy.

The group of novices and three Elites followed Smith as he quickly walked away from the field and the Fortress towards a few trees. As they got closer, Galen could see a series of apparatus set up in a line between the trees. The first set seem to be logs that were handing from long rusted metal beams that were held up by huge old tree trunks.

Past that there was a long wooden ramp that led to a small platform where beyond it, many fat poles stuck in the ground. Galen could see more logs hanging on the sides by these poles. Beyond the poles was a long platform with many curved blades tied up to each side. The blades were on poles held by heavy rope, so they would swing. Lastly there was a high platform with an old looking rope ladder.

Smithy stopped the group in front of the hanging logs.

“We will start with the log bump today, in a month or so we will progress on to the pole hop, then the blades, followed by the leap of death.”

“Wait,” said a young man with dark brown hair not far from Galen. “Are you saying that in a few weeks, we will be running through swinging blades?”

“Yes,” said Smithy. “Is that a problem?”

“Won’t we die if we are hit with the blades?” asked the man.

“You will be in some sort of armor, and the blades aren’t all that sharp. You will get knocked around a bit and nicked up, but you probably won’t die.”

“Probably?” asked the man with wide eyes.

Smithy eyed the young man carefully, and then he turned to all the novices in his group. “You should know as an Elite of the Sentinel that every day you wake up, there is a chance that it could be your last day. As Elites we don’t know when or where we will be called into action. We could be sent to the far end of the kingdom or beyond if the king or High Captain wills it. We could be put up against forces with 50 times our men. I have been in fights like it. If you are so worried about losing your life during a simple training exercise, I believe you will need to excuse yourself now.”

The young man looked down, but he did not leave. Smithy looked at the young man for a moment, but said nothing to him. He looked at the other Elites and nodded to them. They walked to the logs and stationed themselves on each side. Galen could see they each went to a different rope that was hanging against three of the large tree trunks. The three Elites looked at each other and nodded and then all pulled their ropes. The logs that were hanging started swinging and spiraling back and forth.

“You will run straight through the logs to the other side. If you fall, the Elites will stop the logs and you will try again. You will get three tries today. Now line up,” said Smithy.

The novices all looked at each other, wondering who would volunteer to be first. Galen wasn’t scared, but he wanted to watch the movement of the logs for a few turns so he could plan his run. Finally, the young woman they had seen earlier in the Fortress stood in front of the log bump. Everyone else fell in place behind her.

Smithy looked at the woman. “Are you ready?”

The woman looked at him and nodded.

“Go, then,” said Smithy.

The woman walked up closer to the log bump. She watched the logs for a moment, and then made her move. She dodged one quickly, and moved a few spaces forward. She spun to avoid being hit by a log from her left, and she ran forward. She turned to her left and bent backwards as a log came at her, it swung just by her head. She moved forward a few more steps, when Galen realized she misjudged one of the logs that hit had another one. She turned, but could not get out of the way. They log hit her in the back and she dropped to the ground.

The Elites pulled the ropes to stop the logs, and the woman jumped up to walk quickly to the beginning and restart her run.

Smithy looked at her. “Not too bad for a first try, are you ready to go again?”

The woman nodded. She didn’t make it to the very end during either one of her tries, but she got very far during the last one. Smithy looked pleased with her performance as the woman made her way to the side to watch, moving her shoulder around that had been hit hard by a log.

Galen watched closely as four different young men tried. The first one didn’t get very far during any of his three runs. The next one seemed to have figured it out by his third, but wasn’t fast enough to dodge the last three. He was hit on both sides by heavy logs. It took him a moment to stand up, but he seemed to shrug off the hits. The third one didn’t have much luck just like the first man. Another woman tried after that. She did well, but could not make it to the end.

Tomas was one ahead of Galen. During his turn, Galen watched closely for any patterns he could find with the logs. He started trying to calculate when each log would swing, depending on when they were released. They swung high at first after the ropes were pulled, and started spinning and dying down after a few minutes.

Tomas had seemed to decide speed was the way to go. It did not go well his first run, and he was hit hard rather early. He jumped up quickly, ready to go again. This time he made it farther, but wasn’t able to spin away in time in the middle of the run from a log that hit him in the back, knocking him over.

During his third run, something happened that gave Galen an idea. Tomas had made it over halfway through, when a log hit another log and slowed some of its momentum. The log hit Tomas, but it did not push him over. Tomas was able to absorb the blow and move on. He still didn’t make it through the three that were swinging at the end, but his run was still more successful than most. He jumped up off the ground with a grin.

Galen stepped up for his turn with a definite plan in mind. He wasn’t sure if it would be considered cheating, but no one had told him he couldn’t do it. The trick would be catching the log at just the right time. His first run, Galen dodged the first few high swinging logs. He made it with some effort through the first and middle of the course. He got to the three swinging logs at the end and tried his plan. He paused for a moment, waiting for his chance. As a log came by, he grabbed for it, but he had not timed right another log swinging from a different way. The log hit him in the side. A hot flash of pain when through Galen’s shoulder, and he was knocked down.

Galen stood up after the logs had stopped and walked back to the beginning. He knew he could do this. He concentrated. He easily made this time through the beginning and the middle. He stood very still between the swinging logs at this back and the ones to his front. He waited for a few minutes, watch the three swinging logs.

He took a deep breath and then braced himself, catching the log on his right. He held it up and it clacked with the one coming to his left, causing it stop swinging as it spun in a circle. He then turned to the third log swinging at him from the front and caught it with the log in this hand, holding it up high. When the log was as high as he could get it, Galen let go of the log in his hand and ran to the finish. He exited the course and walked over to the other novices who had run through the course.

“He didn’t do it right,” said a harsh voice from the line of novices still waiting to do the course.

Galen turned and saw that it was Bax, the man who had been rude earlier.

“Why do you say he didn’t do it right?” asked a voice behind Bax. Bax turned and Galen looked to see the High Captain staring at Bax.

Bax looked the High Captain up and down with annoyed look. “He didn’t dodge those end logs, he used another log to move them out of the way.”

“Elite Smithy,” said the High Captain looking at Smithy. “Did you say the novices had to dodge the logs?”

“No, Captain, I only said they had to make it to the other side without falling down.”

“It sounds to me as if Novice Galen listened to the instructions and used them to his favor. Wouldn’t you agree Novice Bax?” asked the High Captain.

Bax looked like he would not agree, but he only glared at the High Captain and said, “Yes.”

“You are speaking to your High Captain, Boy,” said Smithy angrily. “You will address her as such.”

Bax looked at the High Captain and said. “Yes, Captain.”

The High Captain looked at Smithy and said, “Please continue, Elite Smithy. I will try not to interrupt your session again.”

“You may do as you wish, Captain,” said Smithy.

The High Captain smiled slightly and nodded as Smithy told the next novice to go. Galen noticed that Roderick looked at Galen and gave a very small smile in his direction. Galen only nodded slightly in response.

The rest of the line went through without too much incident. One boy tried to do what Galen did, but he could not catch the log and was thrown down to the ground. Galen got a small amount of pleasure watching Bax struggle to make it to the middle all three times.

Next their group was sent to the stables. Galen had no problems with this session. He had ridden horses his whole life. They all took turns galloping over rough ground with their horses, and weaving around trees. Galen had no issues on his run, besides that guiding the horse sometimes hurt due to his sore shoulder.

Galen could tell this session was one that showed who had grown up with ready access to horses, and who had grown up with limited experience. Most of the higher born sons and daughters did well with this run. Galen noticed the red hair woman from earlier had no problems with her horse, making Galen think she must have belonged to a wealthy family from a different village. Bax surprised Galen with his skills since Galen knew Bax grew up as the son of a baker.