Thirty-five youths were waiting at the edge of the field that sat just out of earshot of the castle, awaiting entry into the barracks. It had been set aside as a training area, as it was situated rather conveniently between the barracks in which soldiers resided and the castle in which the commanders lived. This is not to say that those who served in the army were permanently made to stay in the barracks. To require such service from his men was a right of the ruler of the land, but Utarion did no such thing. He knew that many of his men had families of their own, and understanding the critical balance between duty and family, he placed all companies on a monthly rotation.

Each company was made up of almost two hundred men, thereby providing a decent defense within signaling range of the castle. They stayed in the barracks for one month and waited an extra day until the next company had moved in and switched places with them, allowing them to return home. Not only did Utarion provide his capital with a permanent sense of safety, but he gained the ultimate reward that a good ruler could ask from his men: respect. Their morale was high, keeping the men loyal and more than willing to serve their emperor when he called. With more than a few thousand companies in total throughout the empire, not many of the soldiers lived in the barracks more than once or twice in their lifetime.

Etraon glanced about with awe as he carried his pack along with him. He followed Lance through the stone archway that led to the barracks, with Aurelius close behind them. He could hardly believe that three years had passed and that they had finally arrived at the training grounds, the first step on the path of knighthood.

Just a few hours earlier, Etraon ran into Lilith just inside the castle doors as he was about to leave. He’d wondered briefly why she was there, but quickly realized that it would be a long while before she would see him again. A mother’s farewell, he realized, was something that he had never experienced before. This would be his first time away from the castle for an extended period without her and though the barracks were just a league or two away from the castle, the strict protocols of training forbade family from visiting and royalty was no exception. Utarion had made that clear days ago, though Etraon could’ve sworn his father’s eyes had been misty as he spoke those words aloud. Glancing about, he saw that no one else was around and a mischievous glint in Lilith’s eyes told him that she had intentionally arranged it that way.

Now, he had always known that his mother was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, though puberty was causing him to be much less vocal about the fact. It almost seemed as if she had seen the wall that her now teenaged son had put up and had dressed accordingly to tear down that awkwardness before he left her for his knighthood training. Lilith wore a glistening white dress embroidered at the hems with gold and belted at the waist. She looked like a fairy from the tapestries that hung on their walls, radiant and gentle, and his breath caught for a moment in his throat.

He had had the same reaction just hours earlier. Utarion had entered his chambers and silently picked up his son’s boots, proceeding to polish them with a meticulousness that Etraon somehow knew only sprung from the fact that they were his boots. Brushing boots was hardly a duty worthy of a king, but Utarion insisted that despite having punished the boys to training, he wanted to do his part as a father to Etraon and as an uncle to Lance and Aurelius to help them look their best on this special day. Etraon loved him all the more for it. He looked up at his mother now, noting with approval that her bright red hair, just a shade redder than his own, contrasted quite attractively against her dress and her amber eyes sparkled, admiring him up and down as he approached.

“You look very handsome, Etraon,” Lilith said, reaching out to smooth his hair. Her smile wasn’t as bright as it normally was and she was biting slightly on her lower lip. He held her gaze, silently saying all that needed to be said, and she chuckled lightly, tears beading at the corners of her eyes. She held him by the shoulders at arm’s length and Etraon, sensing she needed him very much in that moment, stepped forward and embraced her tightly.

“My dear, dear, Etraon,” she murmured quietly, stroking his head in a barely perceptible gesture that made the back of Etraon’s neck tingle. “You’ve grown so big.”

There wasn’t much he could say to that, so he let her hold him for a moment longer.

“Etraon.” Lance’s voice startled him out of his reverie.

The gates were beginning to open. New recruits typically numbered in the hundreds each year; not all made it, and even fewer met the qualifications necessary to be trained at the capital. There were exceptions however, as those who lived in close proximity to the capital were allowed to join the training there simply because it was the most practical location for them. Each major city within the empire had its own barracks, practice grounds, and high-ranking officers that oversaw the training of the new recruits. The intake of new knights was a serious matter and a thorough system had been set up to see to it that each one that joined the ranks was worthy of doing so.

The recruits were grouped into what became known as bands due to the main purpose of their activities, which was to band them together. Etraon had been worrying about the choosing of the bands for a few days now. Ever since Utarion had rather bleakly informed him that he would have no choice in the band in which he was placed, he could only pray and hope that at least one of his friends would be in the same group, but that decision would be up to the commanding officers. He rather awkwardly prodded Lance’s upper arm, earning a strange look from his friend, and decided that their biceps were probably about the same size. It occurred to him that he actually hadn’t the slightest clue how strong Lance, or even Aurelius for that matter, was. They’d never discussed it. A growing horror in his stomach made him grimace. His possible weakness as compared to his two best friends might well separate them today.

Members of a band would join together as comrades in arms, learning to trust each other with their lives as they studied a variety of topics provided by top leaders in the army. These ranged from, but were certainly not limited to strategy, to weaponry and diplomacy, and even to the basics of cooking. Bands were mentored by a knight that had graduated at least five years before the current class, and it was them who oversaw the training when instructors were absent and kept recruits on schedule for completion of the program. Remaining in the good graces of these mentors was crucial for graduation due to a weekly report assessing each member’s skills, both individually and within the group as a whole.

There were two ways in which someone could be recruited. The first was to be born into a noble family, whose offspring were immediately introduced to the training should they so desire. It was often seen as a passage from boyhood to manhood if one passed the exams to become a knight, a cavalier, a blacksmith, or some other manner of permanent occupation within the army. In recent years, girls were joining the bands as well, some as medics and even a few as knights. This had been a dramatic change for the training program, and additional rules had to be put into place to keep anything inappropriate from happening between the recruits during the training. Etraon had seen only a handful of girls so far today, mostly quiet types. Medics-to-be, more than likely, he decided. A shout from up ahead caught his attention, and he saw the captain of the guard gesturing for the new recruits to hurry out into the barrack’s courtyard. Selection time, Etraon sighed. He stepped out from the shade of the barrack walls into the assembly ground, a large open area in the middle of the barracks that was part grass, part cobblestone.

Here, the current company that was living in the barracks had gathered around them, standing witness to the selection that was about to take place. This was, no doubt, to take that information and return home to spread the word about the latest recruits and the new hopefuls that would become national favorites before the month was out. Their chatter, along with that of the group of excited teenagers, produced a great deal of noise.

“Think we’ll be picked to be in the same band?” Aurelius asked eagerly.

“What?” Etraon called back. He could hardly hear himself think, much less Aurelius’s question.

“I said, do you think we’ll be in the same band?” Aurelius shouted.

“What?” Etraon yelled.

“I SAID-,” Aurelius began, much louder this time.

“SILENCE!” a deep, authoritative voice bellowed from the front.

Author's Note: