Zane hopped down from the wagon and looked around him. They were in a deep canyon somewhere in eastern Terram. Years ago, the river had been redirected away from the canyon to clear a space for the encampment. Sand colored walls of the canyon rose to frightening heights all around him. He looked up and tried to see the top of the canyon but looking up made him feel dizzy so he concentrated on the ground. Pug and Rose dropped down beside him and also took in their surroundings.
"Welcome to paradise!" Came the sarcastic voice of "Old Dirt Face," which had quickly become his nickname. He gestured with fake grandeur at the mass expanse of tents spread out in the canyon. "Everyone get in line to be assigned to your tents."
They fell into line behind all of the other recruits and waited in line.
"For some reason I imagined this place a lot different," Pug said.
"It's not quite as exciting as I imagined either," replied Zane
"Well what did you guys expect?" Rose asked. "Unicorns and butterflies?" Zane laughed, but Pug replied seriously,
"Well, I at least expected there to be a couple of buildings." Rose shrugged,
"Were here to be toughened up, giving us buildings would be going easy on us. Plus, they probably move the camp fairly often to avoid being found." Pug stuck out his tongue. Zane chuckled and looked toward the front. Rose turned and entered the girl's line, leaving Pug and Zane in the guy's line. Zane noticed that the girl's line was much shorter.
Luckily, he and Pug were two of the first in line. They were already approaching the front. It turned out that the tent assignments were easy. There were four people per tent, and they took the first four in line and put them in tents together. This was fine with Zane and Pug, as they were put in a tent with Aaron and someone whose name they didn't recognize. The two walked through the camp looking for their tent number.
Along the way the spotted the young hooded man who had broken up the fight between Zane and Winston. He was heading into a massive tent at the middle of the encampment.
"I wonder who that is," Zane said to Pug curiously.
"I don't know . . . but he must be important if he's going into that tent," Pug replied scowling. "and here I thought I was lucky that to be only sharing a tent with four people for once." He shrugged, "Oh well, I won't complain." Zane nodded and stopped. He spotted the tent with their number attached to the side.
"Here it is," he said gesturing toward it. "Let's go in and see if your still not complaining." Pug sighed and they pushed aside the tent flap. The tent was surprisingly roomy, and not at all complaint worthy. In the center of the tent was a small square table with four chairs around it. Spread out in the corners of the Octagonal shaped tent were four simple sleeping bags, each with a old chest nearby along the wall. A well-built young man sat cross legged on the sleeping bag to the right of the entrance polishing a sword. Aaron, who must have passed them as they admired the mysterious mans large tent, had beat them there. He was seated at the table scribbling on a piece of paper. He looked up when they entered,
"Hey guys! Looks like we're rooming together. Cliff and I already picked out our beds. The front two by the door are ours. You guys can have the two in the back," he said gesturing toward the back of the tent. Zane looked at Pug,
"You can choose first. It doesn't matter to me," he said.
"Ok sounds good," Pug replied, "I think I'll take this one." He walked back and took the bed on the left side of the entrance. Zane made his way to the one on the right and opened the chest. He put his meager bag of possessions on the bottom. Then he unclipped his sword and slid his shield off his back, putting them on top. When he finished putting away his things he went and sat down at the table across from Aaron. Pug had finished unpacking before him and was already seated next to him. He glanced back to where Cliff was still polishing his sword; he had short curly blonde hair and dark brown eyes.
Aaron saw him watching and whispered, "He's not really the talkative type. All I've been able to get out of him is his name."
"Well it can't hurt to be friendly, we will be living together after all" Pug said standing up from the table. He motioned at Zane to follow and walked over and stood in front of Cliff. "Nice to meet you Cliff my name is Pug, and this is Zane," he held out his hand to him. Cliff ignored his hand and glanced up at them for a moment,
"Likewise," he said, immediately returning his attention back to his sword as if nothing had happened. Zane sat back down at the table with Aaron and Pug.
"Told you so," Aaron replied smugly.
"What do you mean? I think we will get along just fine," Pug answered with a grin. Pug barely finished his sentence when booming horn sounded twice throughout the camp.
"What does that mean?" Zane asked.
"Ah, old dirt face mentioned this before. I think it means we are supposed to meet at the command tent," Aaron replied. Zane stood up from the table and followed Pug and Aaron out of the tent.
"Come on Cliff!" Pug called as they left the tent. Cliff stood, carefully put down his sword, and followed the group a few paces behind