The first thing Jaune did once the fighting was over was stagger over the hill they'd come down, yank off his helmet, and empty his guts onto the grass. He heard Cardin's heavy, familiar footsteps come up behind him as he rolled back onto his haunches, red-faced and sucking in sour-tasting air. When the larger man shoved a water-skin in front of his face, he snatched it and sucked down long, desparate drinks until he choked and the man barked a short, harsh but amused laugh.
"Breathe, brother, breathe." He said, kneeling beside him and resting his hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I swear, the water won't try and make its daring escape if you slow down."
"Y-Yeah." He grunted meekly, capping the leather sack and handing it back to him. "Sorry, I just-"
"Adrenaline is a hell of an intoxicant, Arc." Winchester cut him off, offering him a hand, "Don't worry about it."
He took the man's hand and let him tug him up, and then accepted his helmet back from him. As he pulled it on a mounted Knight, covered in mud and with a dent in his breastplate but uninjured, rode up to them. He looked each of them over, and the sick on the ground, and Jaune felt his cheeks heat up and ducked his head.
Then, he grunted, "Winchester, take our Brother to the carriages for water and bread. Then help with the dead."
"I can-"
"Rest and recover." The Knight cut him off, "Most of the new-bloods will be. There's no shame in it. But plenty to be found in pride's consequences."
He wanted to argue that he wasn't a child, that he was a Knight now and had even killed a Grimm. Not alone, of course, but he'd beaten it down. And now, being shuffled off like a child with a stomach-ache, he felt insulted. Like the other two men thought less of him because of it all.
But…
"Alright." He forced himself to say, "Thank you."
"Humility is a rare trait." The older Knight praised quietly, bowing his head when Jaune looked up, "I've had to threaten every other young hopeful so far. I'll have my eye on you, Brother."
"Uh…"
Cardin saved him from stammering something embarrassing, luckily, by laying a hand on him and chuckling, "Come on then, Arc. Bread, water, and a place to sit."
He was lead back the way they'd marched, to a spot where the carriages had circled and the Chastened had erected a camp. He could already smell the smoke from their fires and the food cooking, and see the flat-topped roofs erected over the fires in case it rained. Off to one side of the camp were much of the regiment, walking around, tending to their equipment, or just sitting and laying in the grass while Chastened ferried drinks and food around to each of them. One of the knights, a pale woman around his age with vibrant blue hair tied in buns on her head, grabbed one of the Chastened women and dragged her off to the woods.
He… Put it out of mind.
It wasn't his business, after all, and none of the Knights seemed to mind.
To the other side of the camp were tents in a long, quiet row in the shade of the trees. He only saw a few Knights there, mounted and forming a perimeter around it. Chastened, and a few Humans too, moved through the tents with trays of supplies he couldn't make out. But these men and women wore gloves and aprons. Some were bloodied and stained, but by what he couldn't be sure.
Cooks, maybe? He could smell roasting meat and onions, pungent even from here, so maybe they were preparing a celebration?
'Or a funeral…?' A traitorous part of his mind whispered. And he couldn't even fault the thought, he'd seen Knights die. And didn't know how many had died that he'd missed. For now, he refused to think about it and simply found a spot to fall on and catch his rest, watching the wind blow the trees.
XxX----XxX----XxX
Twenty.
We lost twenty Knights that day, either killed outright or so badly mangled that they would never fight again. While I rested in the sun, those wounded Knights were being cut and sewn like torn trousers. Stitched back together and closed up, while a priest prayed. How they kept them quiet, I'll never know. Gags, maybe. But come the evening, the dead would be arrayed in shallow graves and burned, before they were buried to return to the soil from which all men supposedly came.
All while we feasted on the rations that had been sent for them and now would go uneaten…
But what else was it supposed to be used for? The potatoes didn't care who ate them, after all. Food was food, and wasting food was wrong. Noble or not, the Knights understood that.
So we rested, ate, drank, and quietly mourned. I was lucky in that respect, at least - I was all mourned out, and hadn't known any of them besides. I was fine, then. But the others…?
We made camp there for the night and most of the next day, patrolling the edge of the woods in small formations to search out any lost Grimm. Only one group found any, and for their efforts they lost another Knight to the surprise. But it died, and they returned victorious, so I suppose it was a victory.
Then, we rested another night.
XxX----XxX----XxX
"Gods, I thought you said I'd get used to the walking…" Jaune grumbled, rolling his foot to ease the aching in his ankle while Cardin ate his stew.
"Did I?" He snorted around a spoonful of potato and fresh-caught venison, "I meant you'd get used to the aching feet. Sorry, my mistake."
"Horse's ass."
"At least I smell better than one." Cardin countered, "Eh, Dove?"
"Suck an onion." The quiet Knight said, "It might even help your breath."
It was as they laughed that he felt a gently hand on his shoulder and turned, smiling and expecting Deery.
Instead, he was met by a woman near his age, with dull white hair and quiet blue eyes. She was dressed in the normal, cloth uniform of the Order, and had her arm in a sling. When his gaze met hers she smiled prettily and straightened. She was a slight woman, but he could see the muscles of her arm - slight, but powerful.
"I already thanked Brother Winchester," she started quietly, "but… I couldn't find you this morning."
"I, uh, was…" He blinked, "With my tutor."
"Ah, yes, I'd heard your… Servant was teaching you." She smiled prettily and, gently, sat beside him with her legs folded almost daintily under her. Quietly, she said, "I came to thank you, Lord Arc."
"For…?"
"I dragged her out." Cardin grunted, setting his bowl aside, "But you stunned the Beowolf. That let me drag her out."
"You saved my life. More-so than Brother Winchester did. And with far more risk, as well. I fell, but because of you, I escaped with naught but a bruised shoulder. So I…" She turned to lay a hand on his arm and smiled even more prettily, tipping her head so her bangs drooped over her eyes. "I came to thank you."
"Uh…." He blinked, "You're welcome?"
"Alright, c'mon, Dove." Cardin grunted as he stood, "Let's see about that shield of yours. Eh?"
"I suppose we should…"
"And Liza." Cardin grunted, gesturing at Jaune and sirking, "He's about as dense as my mace. Don't beat 'round the bush or he won't get it."
"Ass!"
"Very well then." She chuckled as the man suntered off. Leaning in, she whispered through the mail of his coif and into his ear, "I would very much enjoy you coming with me to my tent, my Lord. A hero deserves his spoils, hmm?"
"O-Okay." He stammered, rising stiffly with her and letting her drag him off towards the tents while his heart hammered away in his chest. The church taught chastity as a virtue, he knew.
But he was not fool enough to say no to a very willing, beautiful woman.
XxX----XxX----XxX
He woke up the next day to find the woman already dressing in her gambeson and, unsure what to do, sat up. She turned to pay him a smile, leaned in to give him a shockingly chaste kiss, and then turned back to her armor without another word. He took her silence for a cue and didn't say anything that would risk making things awkward and simply joined her, pulling his armor back on and then shuffling out after her to join the rest of the formation.
Cardin found him and clapped him on the shoulder, grinning, "A man at last!"
"Don't make it weird…" He said, watching Liza chuckle and slip away towards one of the forward formations. Smiling, he shook the man's hand off his shoulder and asked, "We're marching?"
"Half an hour and we are, aye." He nodded, flicked him a look, and then said, "We'll be cutting across the plains a bit, to another village further towards the coast for supplies. So… You won't have to see the place again."
"A-Ah…" Ansel… Part of him wanted to, admittedly. But another, almost treacherous feeling, part of him was just grateful not to have to march back through the ash and smoke and iron taste in his mouth. Which he felt more strongly, he couldn't say.
But then, he had no say in the matter, did he?
Which was at least a convenient excuse to make himself not think about it.
"Anyway, I'm glad you had a better night than you did a day." Cardin grunted and rolled his shoulder, adjusting his armor's fit a bit as they meandered over to a pot of stew boiling over a fire. He spooned them both a bowl and handed him his, eating as they paced away and Jaune turned to watch a Chastened pack up the tent he'd been in.
After a moment, he asked, "Do you know where we're headed?"
"Not back to the old walls, that's for sure." His friend said, "We're headed towards the coast. We came to answer a call of Grimm, but now we're just a band at march."
"Looking for trouble?"
"In a manner of speaking, sure, we're off lookin' for trouble." Cardin chuckled, "The coast is full of Grimm, more often 'n not. And if we're lucky, we can catch some Faunus where they shouldn't be."
"Raiders?"
"An' more." He nodded, "Sometimes, if you get North or South enough, you find little camps of 'em. Setting up where they think they won't be found, in the mountains or woods."
"Like, settling?"
"Mhm." Cardin grunted, "Dove's Da told him about it, too. He was a Wanderer back in the day. Tracked down his fair share of their little camps."
"And…?"
"Burnt 'em out." Cardin shrugged, "S'what you do with an infestation, eh?"
"Yeah…" In spite of himself, all he could imagine was a little clutch of huts and families. Imagining those on fire, ash and dust… It turned the taste of the food he took a bite of to buy himself a moment of thought to sour ash. Finally, for a change of subject, he asked, "What's a Wanderer?"
"You don't know?"
"I've heard the word, I feel like, but…"
"Right, yeah, village life, village taught." Cardin grunted to clear his throat, and flicked him a look like he expected Jaune to take offense. When he didn't, the larger man relaxed a bit and sighed, "Well… Wanderers are Knights, like us. But… Alone."
"Like, totally alone?"
"Not always." He shrugged, "But where Knights move 'round in cohorts, Wanderers will be at best a team. Four, five, maybe six of 'em. No more. Plenty of 'em wander all alone, too."
"Gods, that sounds…"
"Crazy?"
"Y-Yeah, crazy." He'd been about to say 'lonely', actually, but that worked too, he supposed. Before he could say anything else he heard the quiet bun-ba-boon of one of the horns and everyone started falling in, dropping their bowls in a loose pile by the pot as they went.
Jaune shoeveled down a couple more swallows of meat and potatoes and fell in with them.
As he'd been told, they started their march along the forest's edge and continued on for hours until they eventually found another wide break in the trees, and a road into the woods. This road was wider and better paved, with long longs embedded into the dirt to either side of the rough stone slabs laid out as a path. Every now and again there were little tone towers topped by Dust-light sconces, but a third of them had either broken and fallen or just sat empty, their crystals removed. And all of it was covered in the thinnest layer of green moss, obscuring the logs and the stone alike.
The trees here were thicker, too, and left the ground beneath their thicker canopies more barren than around Ansel. Roots broke up through the top of the soil, snaking along around rocks, pebbles, and sunken, rotted limbs as far as the eye could see. Sturdy shrubs clung to life in the dark forest, and mushrooms and vins snaked around and up the trees themselves, covered in thorns, flowers, and bright, dangerous colors.
After a while, he heard one of the mounted Knights speak up, as they had before, "And thus the Gods did bid their servant, go forth! Into the dark places, the quiet places. Spread unto them light - of the Gods and of Man - and chase from them the Beasts."
Without the threat of Grimm, jaune wasn't as frightened as he had been before.
But even so, he listened as the mounted Knights told their tales.
It was better than wallowing in the silence with nothing but the ache of his feet for company, at the very least.
The trip took two days, and in lieu of any clearings to set up in, they were forced to scatter among the trees for each night spent out in the woods. But, for all the anxiety that seemed to put the other, older Knights into, nothing came from it. At least, aside from an aching back from sleeping on uneven ground. But some stretching dealt with that, more or less, so he didn't mind.
But, finally as the evening came on the third day, he spotted a break in the woods further ahead. They emerged onto wide, open farmlands, filled with sewn beans and other similar, short-lived and crop-kind crops. The fields stretched on towards a village built around a tall hill, surrounded by the open fields. The village itself sort of spun around the hill, houses arrayed around four or five roads that spiraled down from a hall at the top to the short palisade wall that surrounded the base of the hill.
They came to a stop outside a wooden gate, where land had been cleared and some tents for the merchants of the settlement had sprung up to either side of it. They covered crates and barrels, and were fronted by rough wooden stalls covered in vegetables that the villagers milled about.
At least until they came in, and the Chastene set to work lining the wall and the fence that ran along the edge of the inner-most fields with more tents.
"Ho there!" A burly blonde man called down from the top of the palisade, smiling and waving lazily. "Good evening and welcome to Patch! I hope you find everything to your liking!"
XxX----XxX----XxX
I decided Jaune deserved a good day, damn it.
Also, Chastity as a VIRTUE is what the Church teaches here - not a requirement. None of these men and women took vows of chastity as part and parcel of joining. Some Orders WILL feature such vows, but this isn't one.
Just to preempt the obvious point of contention. Lol.