One week later, Zane awoke once again to the sound of two horn blasts sounding through the camp. This was the first camp meeting since they were placed into their groups.
"Has it been a week already?" Asked Pug from his sleeping bag.
"Yeah," Answered Zane. "Passed really quick didn't it?" They quickly got ready and started for the command tent. After one week he was used to waking up at the crack of dawn so they got up without grumbling or grogginess. This is what one week of army camps gets you, Zane thought. We finally wake up one time. As they were walking his thoughts turned to Rose, as they often did. He had never met anyone like her. She was beautiful, yet she acted as though she would rather be an ugly hag. Though Zane didn't wish she was an ugly hag. He found it very hard to concentrate when she was nearby. His hear leapt every time she spoke to him, and his head jammed up and felt like a cloud of fuzz whenever he talked to her. No matter what he seemed to do, he always seemed to say the wrong thing.
While he was deep in thought, he didn't notice the other three take a right, nor did he notice the tent pole directly in front of him. He walked straight into it and was snapped out of his thoughts by the wood smacking into his face.
Thankfully, Pug and the others didn't notice, and Pug called out, "Where are you going Zane? Get over here or were gonna be late!" He quickly rejoined them and they walked the rest of the way with Zane concentrating a little harder on where he was going. When they made it to the tent, they were, as before, called individually into the command tent.
When they were called they found Oran in the same place as last time, shuffling through papers. He glanced up at them and once again pulled out four sheets of paper.
"Hmmm curious," he said reading the papers. "We usually try to put tent mates in the same division . . . but it looks like we are going to have to make an exception with you four." They looked at each other in confusion and surprise. "Aaron and Pug, you will both be placed in the fourth division. Cliff, you are going to be the Captain of the third division. Zane, you will be Captain of the fourth division."
Zane stared in disbelief. Captain!? He was a Captain? And so was Cliff! There were only four Captains in the entire camp! "Your group training will begin today," continued Oran. "Once a week we will have Nulla Pugna, which is a fight between the divisions. I will enchant a different area each week and you will have fights between the divisions with pre picked scenarios."
Oran excused them and they walked to breakfast among throng of excited people. Group training must have been highly anticipated by the second year trainees, because all of them were bustling with excitement. After they finished the breakfast that they had caught the day before, they were once again called to the command tent by the horn. At this meeting, the four Captains were called forward to receive their medals that would separate them as captains.
Cliff and Zane walked forward and pinned the medals to their newly given armor. The other two Captains stepped forward and Zane gasped. One was the dark haired kid that Zane had beaten him in the sword fighting tournament the week before, whose name Zane learned, was Valdus Mortem. The other was none other than Winston.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he whispered to Cliff. "They let him be a Captain?!"
Cliff looked just as agitated as Zane, but refrained from answering as Dux spoke, "These are our new Captains. Any second year campers may challenge a Captain for leadership of their division if they desire."
He then announced who the Lieutenants and Sergeants for each division were. Zane was pleasantly surprised that Pug was named his Lieutenant. He had three Sergeants, two from the warriors, and one from the archers. He shook hands with his two Sergeants from the warriors. The first one gripped his hand in a crushing grip and introduced himself as Tim Solis. Zane got the feeling that they would not be the best of friends. On the other hand, his other Sergeant gave his hand a friendly shake and introduced himself as Luke Umbra. So far Zane's impression of Luke was a lot better than his of Tim. He didn't bother shaking hands with his Sergeant from the archers, as it was unsurprisingly Aaron.
The divisions then gathered together in front of their officers. Zane was pleased to see that his other scout was Rose, and that Penny was among his nurses. He examined his warriors and was happy with what he saw. Most of them looked capable and willing to fight.
After he had gotten a good look at his division, sessions started again. It was very different from the week before, Zane was expected to keep his soldiers in line and discipline them if they got out of line, he was to make sure that everyone was participating in the training, take roll call each morning, and many other duties that made his head spin. In addition, random people whose faces that he recognized from his group of warrior or archers kept introducing themselves to him. Frank Kelper, George Millus, Alex Tange, Nick Elpo, Jimmy Cindel, and Devon Loit. Way too much for him, how could he be expected to remember all of these names?!
He was starting to feel as though he wasn't cut out to be a Captain. But when he voiced this to Rose, she reprimanded him, "You are perfect for the Captain position! Do you think Captain Dux remembers the names of every one of his soldiers!? Or doesn't feel overwhelmed sometimes!? Of course he does!"
"You really think I'm cut out to be a Captain?" he asked already starting to feel better.
"Isn't that what I just said?" Rose replied with a huff. "You can be really stupid sometimes you know."
"Sorry!" Zane replied though he was smiling. He felt loads better already and talked his responsibilities eagerly. That afternoon by dinner, Zane was feeling completely fatigued. It was announced at dinner that Nulla Pugna would take place that afternoon. Zane was freaking out when he heard the announcement.
"Already! Tonight!" he said aloud scrambling out of his chair. He had to prepare all of them! So many things he needed to do! They weren't ready for that yet!
"Whoa! Take it easy man," Pug said. "What's got you so worked up?"
"I've got so much to do before the Nulla Pugna!" he said frantically.
"Well, hey! Don't mind me, your Lieutenant, just sitting here doing nothing. You can give me some of your jobs you know," Pug said.
"Really?" Zane said freezing on the spot.
"Well yeah," Pug said laughing. "That's kind of what I'm here for."
"Thanks Pug," Zane said already feeling some of the pressure lift.
"No problem," Pug responded. Zane looked at the end of the table and saw Cliff standing, his eyes popping out of his head.
"I need to find my Lieutenant!" he said scrambling off towards a different table. They all burst out laughing, and suddenly the pressure of being Captain seemed unimportant. He shared the tasks with Pug, and soon everyone was ready for the Nulla Pugna. Everyone had armor that fight ok at the least, everyone had a weapon that they felt comfortable with, and all of the archers were ready under Aaron's command.
Now the four divisions were gathered in the designated area for the week, which was just an empty part of the canyon. Zane stood with Pug and his Sergeants before his division as Captain Dux spoke.
"The rules for this week are simple. Divisions one and two will wear red and be one team, and divisions three and four will wear blue be the other. You will fight a simple battle in the canyon without cover or obstacles. The canyon has been enchanted the same way that the fighting circles were for the warrior evaluation. Fatal attacks will knock you out until the battle is over. Blue, you will start on the east side of the canon by the forest. Red will start on the west at the edge of camp. You will march towards each other and fight. You will go to your starting position and wait. You will begin at the sound of the horn."
Cliff and Zane lead their divisions in a march toward the east side of the canyon. Zane happy to be working with Cliff, and when they reached the forest, they set up a headquarters among some rocks. Zane and Cliff called in their officers and had a meeting about their strategy. Part way through the meeting the horn blew and they gathered their troops and prepared to march. As they were about to head out, Zane grabbed Pug by the arm.
"Pug, take Rose climb onto the cliffs of the canyon, stay unseen, take your bows and try to take out one or two officers and then high tail it back here alright." He told him.
"No problem boss," Pug said with a big smile and a salute. He started away but Zane stopped him again.
"Tell Cliff what you are doing first. Ask him if he can send his scouts to do the same on the other side of the canyon." Pug nodded and took off with another salute. Zane lead his troops toward the center of the canyon. Pug returned with Rose just as the other two divisions came into view.
"Captain," Pug said seriously, "One officer down and a couple soldiers."
"Where are Cliff's scouts?" Zane asked.
"They ran into scouts from the other divisions and are out of the fight."
Zane grimaced. "Rose, go report to Cliff. Pug, stay here in case something happens." Rose left and Pug stood to his left.
"Do you think the strategy will work?" he asked watching the opposing teams grow closer.
"Hopefully," Zane replied dismally. Their plan was simple, but risky. They had combined their archers into one large group. This made them more effective, but also more vulnerable. The archers would fire on the warriors blocking the enemy archers, while his Sergeant Luke would lead a group of soldiers into the fray and take out the archers. Zane had told Luke how important his job was. The archers would not be able to fire for fear of friendly fire after he broke enemy lines. When Luke breaks through the enemy lines, the same plan would be enacted on the second group of archers, except it would be led by one of Cliff's Sergeants. Sergeant Tim Solis and the other of Cliff's Sergeants would protect the archers and serve as the second line of defense. Zane and Cliff would lead the rest of the soldiers into battle.
As the first two divisions grew closer, Zane saw that Valdus marched among his warriors in the front lines. Winston followed his troops and watched the battle from behind. Coward, Zane thought. He wanted badly to smash through everyone and thrash Winston, but he had to remain calm and stay put if they wanted to win. If their plan worked he would get his chance with Winston.
The two opposing groups stopped forty feet apart. Zane knew what they had to do. He nodded at Cliff.
"Attack!" they both yelled. Normally they would have waited for them to attack, but they had to by some time for Luke and the other Sergeant. It would be harder to notice them advancing on the archers if they were all attacking. After the attack command was given, mayhem was unleashed. Zane hefted his shield over his head to protect him from the arrows that rained down from the enemy archers into their ranks as they charged forward.
Zane and Cliff were among the first to reach the enemy lines. Zane had never imagined such chaos, he blocked attacks from all different directions as he found himself engulfed in a sea of whirling red and blue. He knocked down two enemies and was momentarily not fighting. During this short lull, he found Valdus fighting in the mix not far from him. Zane signaled to a group of three soldiers behind him, recognizing one of them as Frank from earlier that day, and they fought their way viscously toward Valdus.
One of Zane's comrades was knocked out by a soldier with a spear, another was hit with a stray arrow. Now only Zane and Frank were left of the group. Frank reached Valdus first and attacked him, whirling his double bladed axe. They heavy weapon was slow and Valdus dodged the blow and rammed his sword into a gap in Franks armor. Frank collapsed knocked out as Zane made it to him. He charged forward and locked into one on one combat with Valdus. After dodging a particularly close attack from Valdus, Zane rolled away to get a quick glimpse of the battle field. In his quick glance, he saw Cliff not far away fighting two officers at the same time. He also noticed that one group of archers for the opposing team was knocked out. Luke was leading what remained of his men to the second group of archers.
Zane jumped back into battle with Valdus and they were sitting at a stalemate until Zane, using a move that he saw Captain Dux execute, spun sideways around Valdus, he blocked with his sword, and since he was at Valdus' side, it left an opening. He slammed his shield into Valdus' back and he fell forward. Zane ran forward and kicked Valdus' sword out of his hand. He was preparing to knock him out of the battle when he heard someone screaming to retreat and saw Winston running past him leading a group of soldiers toward their back up defensive lines.
"Coward!" Valdus yelled. Zane turned in surprise and watched as Valdus stood and gave chase after him. From the look on Valdus' face, Zane had a feeling that Valdus wasn't following Winston to regroup with his soldiers.
Zane was still staring in amazement when he heard a yell,
"Zane what are you doing?!" Zane turned around. It was Cliff, not all of the soldiers had heard the retreat command, and were still fighting with Cliff and several others. Zane rushed to his aid and joined the small fight. Together they defeated the remaining soldiers and there was a small break in the battle as the two teams regrouped. Zane surveyed the remaining soldiers and found that about half of their beginning force was left. He rounded them up and assigned the remaining three Sergeants to groups of soldiers. He found Aaron among the archers and learned from him that the archers had retained minimal casualties.
Zane was walking along the lines preparing the troops to reenter the battle when he spotted Luke organizing his group of warriors.
"How did your mission go?" Zane asked him.
"Not the best," he replied. "The first part went well, we got to the archers and too them out. But The other group didn't fare so well. There were more soldiers guarding that side than ours. So when I Saw them fall I led the group to those archers and we succeeded in knocking out about half of them before they called retreat."
Zane gave him a pat on the back, "Good job Luke," he told him proudly.
Luke grinned and said, "Thank you sir."
"There's really no reason to call me sir," Zane told him. Luke nodded and continued his job. Zane took his place next to Cliff at the head of the group.
"You should probably talk to them before we attack," Cliff said when he appeared.
"Why don't you?" Zane asked. Cliff just looked at him as if he had asked him to jump into a pit full of poisonous snakes. "Fine, I'll do it." Zane turned to the group of warriors and began to speak, "All right listen up boys. We have a tough battle coming up, they have regrouped and are going to be dug in and waiting for us when we attack. I know that you cannot die, but fight as though your life really does depend on it!" A halfhearted cheer went up from the warriors.
"Nice awe inspiring speech," Cliff told him.
"Shut up. At least I gave one," Zane said defensively. They led the group in a slow march to the west. They had to march for several minutes before the defending army came into view. They were lined up with their shields locked together and spears at the ready sticking out between the gaps. "Get ready boys! This is it!" Zane yelled. "Charge!"
They surged forward and plowed into the sea of spears and shields. Zane used his shield to block the spear to his right and his sword to severe the one on the left. Then he jumped forward and knocked out both of the attackers and ran farther into the fray. Cliff used a very different strategy, plowing into the line head on and taking them out. The fighting wore on four a long time and the sun was setting by the time the battle was winding down. They had fought through the enemy lines until they found Valdus. Cliff and Zane double teamed him and he stood no chance, going down easily to the two of them. Their archers were a vital part now that the other archers were gone. They rained down arrows at Aaron's command wherever a group of red appeared.
Zane fought through the enemy warriors with Cliff at his side, the enemies stood no chance without their archers or Captains. Zane was not surprised that there was no sign of Winston in the fighting. After only a couple more minutes of fighting, the horn blew twice, signaling the win for the blue team. Cheers went up from the remaining fighters and the knocked out slowly began to wake up. Zane turned to his team.
"We won! Good job guys!" he yelled. They shouted and cheered in victory.
"Another awe inspiring speech," grinned Cliff from beside him. Zane laughed and patted him on the back.
"Let's Pug and Aaron and get some sleep. I'm dead," he told him. Cliff nodded and said that it sounded like a good idea. As they were walking away, Zane noticed Valdus waking up on the battlefield. He strode over to him and offered his hand to help him up.
"What happened to Winston?" Zane asked.
Valdus took his hand and allowed Zane to pull him to his feet. He brushed the dirt off himself and replied, "I took care of the coward myself. First he didn't fight with his team in the front lines, but demanded that he oversee the fighting from the back. Then as soon as the tide of the battle turns your way he signals retreat and runs away." He spit on the ground. "Someone should challenge him for the Captain position if you ask me."
Zane nodded. "We don't like him much either," he said motioning to Cliff.
"I need to go round up my division. Winston can do what he wants with his, but I need to make sure that there are no injuries."
Valdus left them to themselves and Zane said, "That's not a bad idea don't you think Cliff?" Cliff nodded and they divided up and began rounding their divisions together to check for injuries. Zane walked through the ranks of his guys, thanks to Oran's enchanting, there were no serious injuries. However, there were several nasty bruises from blunt attacks that weren't fatal. He was examining a nasty bruise to the head that was worth a trip to their division nurses when Pug and Rose stumbled up to his side covered in dirt and sweat.
"Oi Captain," Pug said tiredly.
"What happened to you guys?" Zane asked concerned. Pug was, for the first time since Zane had known him, too out of breath to speak much.
He motioned for Rose, who looked to be in much better shape, and she began, "While you guys were busy in the main fight here," she gestured at the canyon. "We were having a fight of our own on the canyon cliffs." She was speaking of the countless cliff paths that snaked through the canyon. Many of which were his from view from the bottom by rocks and boulders. "We ran into a group of scouts from the read team. They were leading a small group of warriors, trying to find a path that would take them behind our lines. We fought them off with help from the scouts in Cliff's division."
"Wow," Zane said surprised. "Good job guys. I had no idea." Pug nodded and sat down against a rock. Rose gave Zane a concerned look. "Find Aaron, and tell him to bring Pug back to our tent. He needs to rest," he told her. Before she could go he pulled her out of earshot form Pug and asked, "What happened to him?"
"He won't say," she said deeply concerned. "We were separated and when we found each other he was like that. He hasn't said much since." Zane frowned and thought hard as she walked away. What would have happened to Pug that he wouldn't talk about it? He finished up checking his soldiers and began walking back to their tent through the now pitch-dark camp. He told Cliff what had happened to Pug, and Cliff wrinkled his brow and looked concerned. But otherwise he didn't voice an opinion on the matter.
Zane went to sleep that night with much more worrisome things going through his head than the stress of being Captain.