Chapter 14: Guardians
When he entered the planet of the supposed guardians he ended up in a big, highly decorated entry hall. Several knights came to him with their hands ready to unsheathe their swords. Their plate steel armor was clean and shining, normally showcasing wealth, however, this armor was a standard issue for these guardian soldiers
Steve quickly explained what happened before they could ask any questions and so they escort him towards a room similar to the war room of the General in the Kingdom of knights. While the layout was similar, with the big table in the middle, this room was more filled with people discussing and working. These people were not dressed in armor or had any weapons for that matter, they only wear a simple robe.
"From where is this information? This kid says the Swit market was overrun by a strong army all of a sudden and you believe him?" the old man with white hair yells at the knight after he explained Steve's situation.
"I never said I believed him, that is your job to figure out, old man!" the knight smirks and left.
"Tell me everything! I have a lot of work!" the old man unhappily pushed Steve aside from the entrance.
"I am just a merchant kid, but I was forced there to help with supplying archers arrows and such, but the enemy attacked our back, using their numbers. I managed to escape and come all around the city here through the gate,"
"This enemy came from the gate, is that right?"
"Of course,"
"How many?"
"Couple thousand? They had great steel armor and used muskets,"
"What is a musket?"
"Ehh..." Steve sighs while trying to explain it to him. At least the old man showed signs of being convinced.
"Hmm, fine...I will take this info. You can stay here or leave if you wish, but to use the gate you will need permission," said the old man at the end and kicked Steve from the room.
He was now safe! Nobody really paid much attention to him wandering the hallway towards the gate until a normal-looking soldier in medium armor put his hand on Steve's shoulder. Steve jumped in surprise, not expecting that some random soldier in plain-looking armor would care about him.
"Are you alone, kid?" the soldier looked Steve in the eyes.
"Yes?"
"Going home?"
"You can say that,"
"Where are you from?"
"Planet called Earth," Steve thought that mentioning that won't hurt, but that was a mistake. The soldier smiled and made two other soldiers take his arms.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Take his sword! We will make a good soldier from you! By the law of the guardians you are now a recruit!" said the man and Steve were so taken back he didn't know what to say. People around looked at Steve mostly with indifference, but it was an indifference different than he experiences before. This time it looked like they thought he is in no danger. Before he could even order his thoughts, they took him away from the room and led him from the castle.
"Wow," he couldn't hold his breath seeing the magnificent city below the castle. It was big and filled with smaller castles. The city was white, almost shining because of the use of marble and stone. Right now he was standing in the tallest castle, which was impressively tall for medieval society.
"Hm, it is always fun to see newcomers' faces, but try to look up as well," the soldier laughs.
"I am on a fricking moon!" says Steve surprised even more as in the sky was a planet.
"He, he...move it! We are going to test your skills and then you will train to be the greatest soldier in all the worlds!"
They left him in a yard with dozens of other kids around his age. Steve looked around and was relieved when most of the boys were smiling. Maybe this wasn't as big of a deal as he thought.
"I am sorry, I don't know what is going on here, why are you all calm and almost happy?" he simply asked to calm down.
"What, you don't know?"
"It is a great honor to be chosen!"
"Yeah!"
"It is?"
"Of course! The soldiers of the guardians are held like kings in all worlds! We will be living in prestige and peace!"
"You know what a soldier is, right?" Steve skeptically asked the boys.
"Of course! But nobody dares to attack the guardians! Not to mention they will teach us how to kill and defend! Even how to take over a city!" all the other boys were so noisy, that Steve rather stopped talking to them and thought that maybe training could be useful. Well, it wasn't like he could leave without knowing a bit more about this place.
After a while, they were tested in archery in which Steve did alright, although more people hit the targets close to the center. Two best kids were taken away and the rest got wooden shields and swords.
"Make couples and fight with honor. Don't injure each other, we are not in war, this is just training that will decide your future," said one soldier. "So no pressure!" he added jokingly. Steve was very unsure but thought that picking his foes well should be also valued, so he looked around and came closer to a skinny kid dressed in normal dirty clothes. The kid was probably a year younger and a bit smaller than Steve.
"Shall we spar?" the kid asked Steve and he nods. They both readied their weapons and were waiting for the order to start. Steve focused on the boy and tried to remember what he was taught.
"Begin!" Steve never attacked first while training at the castle, so he waited for the kid to do so. Thankfully he picked his foe well because he yelled and run at Steve head-on. That calmed Steve a lot. He stepped to the side and hit the boy in the chest with the sword tip. The boy falls on the ground and stays there holding tears of disappointment. Since Steve won the first fight so easily he confidently looked around to see that most fights were still going.
"The losers go to the side and watch the rest, winners will make couples again!"
Now, when Steve approached somebody they backed off, because he finished the fight so fast, so it took him some time to find an opponent. It was now a kid with red hair, wearing a bandana and iron boots.
"Nice to meet you,"
"Hi," Steve nodded and prepared his weapons. The kid did so as well.
"Begin!" The kid attacked Steve with a strike from his left side with his shield, but Steve backs off. The ginger wasn't done though and attacked with a strike from above. Steve blocked it with a shield he never used before. He was completely on the defensive side, just putting his shield to places he saw the enemy is going to hit with his sword. It wasn't a strategy or anything, he simply wasn't ready to attack, and also sometimes he blocked his own view with his shield.
His foe also was getting faster and faster, since he realized that Steve is not attacking and thus he stopped carrying about his defense. Steve was getting tired from receiving all those hits but was getting used to it and when the enemy tried to attack from above he gripped his sword tightly and tried to hit him in the chest, but while he does so he is hit in the side with the enemy shield which he didn't expect. They both stutter, but since Steve was a bit more used to getting hit he handle it and hit the redheaded boy to his right side.
"Finish!" the soldier yells and Steve sits on the ground and breaths heavily. He just now realized just how much he was sweating. He was tired, thirsty and his side hurt like hell, but he also was happy that he managed to win.
"Well damn it! I got careless! Good fight!" says the ginger and smiles at Steve who also laughs and nods.
"Yeah, it was fun!"
"Great! Now the people who were waiting go to fight and the rest will go refresh for a bit!" Steve was glad that they were not too hard on them and also that he could talk to this kid.
"My name is Relf, I come from the Zayun people!" the boy introduced himself.
"I am Steve and I come from the Earth. Right now I am lost from home, so I decided to take refugee here for now,"
"I am sorry to hear that, but I cannot help you, I don't know this Earth place. Where did you learn to hold a sword?"
"I had a soldier to teach me a few times when he was bored,"
"I see, you got me, but it is not going to happened again," Relf said and a soldier standing next to them bend down to them.
"You can train together if you want... you were both terrible, but not trash as some of those kids, it all depends on your special skills,"
"Special skills?"
"Yes, if you have something you are good at, you might be picked by a captain."
"Yes! Please tell me what should I know!" the redhead was suddenly full of energy again.
"Just be good! There is a lot of them and they all want something different!"
"You mentioned special skills... what are those?"
"Right now they test if you are even worth teaching, but to work under a captain you need a special skill or to be a good fighter. Since you both are definitely not great fighters you need to show some special skills,"
"The winners who are waiting will fight their last fight now!"
"Good luck!" Steve nervously smiled at Relf and looked at the handful of people going to the yard. Most of them looked really though so he was glad that the few skinny smaller ones were looking to fight each other and bow to the new enemy. It was a dark-haired tall teenager, very good-looking with a bronze bracelet on his left hand. He also when readying his weapon was holding it differently, it looked a bit like he knew what he was doing.
"Begin!" Steve jumped back feared by the enemies sure hold, but the foe didn't even flinch. They were looking at each other and Steve finally attacked when the enemy moved his shield to the side, but it was a simple bait and Steve was soon laying on the ground after two hits to his chest.
"Damn it! This is the end!" the soldier yelled after a while. Steve could finally go back to the side not even talking to the good-looking kid. It looked like everybody could fight only three times, so he was let to a different testing ground already. This time it was much more embarrassing because he was one of those few that could not read and write. It wasn't needed, but they had to wait so that somebody will record their question to fill in their documents.
"Name?"
"Steve,"
"Your tribe?"
"I come from independent world Earth,"
"Independent world he? Interesting, interesting...What is that world policy about other worlds?"
"I am not sure honestly since I got lost and separated from my people. I was a runaway and used the exploration supply cart to run from a city, but didn't expect to find myself in a different world,"
"So they are new?"
"I am pretty sure they are,"
"What is their level of weapons?"
"We used spears and bows, well not me, I've never hunted,"
"So no swords?"
"Maybe large knives, but no swords," Steve lied. While it was tempting to mention nukes, it would only confuse the man.
"Good. Now tell me what kind of skills you can offer to us!"
"Hmm, well I spend several months living in different worlds, so that might be a skill by itself,"
"Tell me something specific!"
Steve was thinking about this for a while now, but he could not tell him about his ability to understand and use the technology of alien species. Since that could be maybe too valuable, or seen as a heresy. They also were more advance than the Kingdom and so he couldn't just try to look smart.
"If you have nothing, just say so!"
"No wait...let me think a bit,"
"Kid, we don't have the whole day!"
"I know how to make a g..." he stopped himself. He remembered why he came here. Relf hyped about this job too much, but Steve didn't come here as a volunteer and decided to stay just to learn some self-defense. Maybe even use the guardian's influence to gather information.
"Sorry, nothing comes to mind,"
"Fine," the soldier stamps the paper, and Steve sights.
"Don't look so down! We will test you a lot and everything will be added here, so don't worry!"
"Thanks!" The next stop for Steve was a dining room where he got a bowl of potatoes, carrots, and meat stew, which was actually pretty good. The kids were now all together and Relf soon found Steve.
"So what special skills do you have?"
"Hmpf! They are too awesome to let them know!" said Steve sarcastically and made Relf laugh.
"Yeah, I just put some hunting and cooking,"
"Cooking counts?"
"Of course! Even the army needs cooks! Well... not that I want to be one!"
"Damn..."
"Did you heard that several people were already picked up by a captain?"
"Really? Well good for them!"
"Man! I want to work under a captain!"
"I would like to train with you, so I don't care where,"
"That would be nice!" All of them now went back towards the yard where they made a small obstacle race. Steve smiled nostalgically, although this one looked tougher. The soldier explained the rule of this test. The first part was rope climbing, the second was a lap around the yard then crawling under some planks on the ground, after that another round. Then you were forced to pick up a sword, helmet, bow, arrows, and run several rounds with them.
Steve was going fourth and was a bit nervous climbing the rope, but thankfully he grew some more muscle on his arms and climbed it in normal time. While running he even smiled. This was really like PE at home.
Except for the part when he had to suddenly arm up with a sword and bow as fast as possible. He also was so tired after all that running that he stopped looking at other kids and was breathing heavily.
"The last today test is a horse course! Only people who know how to ride one can go, though!" Steve was kind of glad he could only watch people displaying how well can they ride. Relf couldn't ride one either so they could talk a bit, but they were both tired and a bit disappointed that they are not doing so well. In the end, they picked up beds next to each other and fall asleep the second they hit the bed.
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