Part 7

Greza looked up at the giant Human who had his arms folded and one eyebrow raised. 

“Greza.  New recruit,” she said.

“Greza…Sergeant,” he shouted as what she guessed to be as loud as he could.  “The last thing out of your pig sucking mouth will be ‘sergeant.’  You understand?”

“I understand, sergeant.” 

“Who let you in here?  I don’t take any worthless stray off the street.” 

She held up the silver coin.    

“Richkurk said I was alright, sergeant.” 

She noticed his hesitation.  Whoever Richkurk was he had clout. 

“Well, you’re not alright.  You’re far from alright!  You have to prove yourself to me before I consider worthy to shine my boots.”  He then turned his back to her and began walking away.  “Follow me, maggot puss.”

She followed him to the back of the room where there was a doorway with a curtain. 

“This is the female area.  Pick out a bunk.  We’ll start training in a half hour.”

Then the giant Sergeant left. 

She looked around the room.  It had six beds lined up in rows along the walls with trunks at the foot of each bed.  Four of the beds had boots by the trunks and equipment hanging from pegs. 

The curtain parted and a human woman with long brown hair done up in two braids entered.  She had an oval face and round, brown eyes.

“New recruit, eh?  Where you from?”  The woman asked.  

“Roristan, in the Empire.” 

“Never heard of it.   Name’s Nika.”

“Greza.” 

The woman held out her hand and at first Greza wondered if the woman was asking for something.  But then she remembered that Dark Elves don’t shake hands.  It was a human custom so Greza took it.

“Peace and fortune,” Nika said.

“Peace and fortune.  Has training already started?”

“We’ve been here three days so you have a little catching up to do, but we’ll help you out.  So far, all we’ve been doing is marching around in formations, learning rules of the Company, getting yelled at and doing a lot of exercise.” 

She didn’t see how marching in formation was so difficult that it would warrant several days of practice. 

Nika helped her put her things in her trunk and then took her out to the main room where everyone else was.  A few waved, a few smiled and some didn’t look as if they cared.  She did a quick count.  Thirty seven recruits.  Most were human.  There was one Elf female, three Elf males, a Dark Elf male, a male Hobgoblin and a male Saytr.  No other Orks.  Not surprising.  Orks didn’t take to discipline and civilization very well.

“This is Greza from Roristan,” Nika said.

“Have a seat,” one of the male card players said. 

He pointed to a small stool beside the table where three others sat. 

Greza sat down, not sure at all what to do.  What did people do in a situation like this?

“So, Greza, why’d you come all the way out here.  This is dangerous work and it doesn’t look like you’ve even pushed a plow.”      

“I came to fight.”

“Fighting isn’t for girls.  Maybe they can teach you to shoot a gun, but don’t expect to win in hand to hand.” 

The man spoke with an expression that said he thought he knew everything.  He didn’t know everything.  He not only misjudged her but he had also been there for only three days. 

Some of the nearby men nodded in agreement but she didn’t respond.  There would be no point.  Whatever she said wouldn’t be believed. 

“You half Ork?”  One of the men asked.

“That’s a dumb question,” someone else said.

“It’s not dumb.”

“Why ask?  She’s obviously half Ork.  That’s like asking, hey Beno, you Human?”

There was some laughter. 

The man who had invited her to sit down looked up from his cards. 

“You don’t talk much,” he said. 

“Don’t need to.” 

“What did you do before coming here?” He asked.

She saw how little regard was shown to gladiators so she had to think of something else. 

“Worked at a manor,” she said.

“A maid?”  Nika asked.

“Yes.” 

Some of the men laughed. 

“A maid wants to play soldier?”  The card man asked.

“She can play with my soldier,” the Saytr said.

“She could be good for morale,” another recruit said.

“Shut up,” Nika said. 

That just made them laugh louder.

“You came for the men, right?  You wanna be surrounded by a bunch of lonely men?”  A human asked.

Greza didn’t like the implications at all.  She was no “branch seller.”  She knew the Divine Lights taught purity in mind and body and was about to retort with a quote of scripture, but she held her tongue.  No one would care.  It was a religion that few still believed and she doubted these men were religious on any account. 

The men and women continued to throw jokes at each other, some of them very crude.  For some reason they thought they had to be rude to be funny.  It didn’t make sense. 

She ignored them until the sergeant returned and yelled at them to hurry outside and get into formation.   She ran out with the others into the courtyard.  It seemed most of the other training soldiers were gone now. 

They lined up in neat rows and she was placed at the very end of the front rank.  She copied the stiff way the others stood. 

The sergeant began to walk up and down the ranks, glaring at recruits’ faces and uniforms. 

“That was slow,” the Sergeant said.  “If it’s that slow again we’ll be out here all night practicing.”

Then the Sergeant came and stopped in front of her. 

“The damn new girl holds herself better than any of you,” the Sergeant said. 

The rest of the day was spent marching around the courtyard and in different formations.  It was all easy and she didn’t understand why some people had a problem with it. 

But too many turned left when they were supposed to turn right and the next thing she knew they were all doing pushups.

She did feel sorry for the humans though.  They really seemed to struggle with it.  They were out of breath by the end of it.  She didn’t have any problem at all.  She wasn’t even breathing hard when they finished.

When they went to dinner they entered a large room with dozens of tables.  Other units of soldiers were already seated.  They formed a line and were served bowls of soup and bread. 

She had never had so much soup at one time before.  And the bread was much larger and far tastier than the slave food she ate back in Roristan. 

“This stuff isn’t fit for pigs,” one of the men said.

“Dogs, maybe.”

“That would have to be one hungry dog.”

After her belly was full, she didn’t remember the last time that happened, they went back out to the courtyard where the Sergeant sat them all down and taught them about personal hygiene. 

Everything he said was more than obvious.  She cleaned herself every day.  Her Dark Elf masters hated smelly slaves and would beat any slave they found to be dirty. 

Then the Sergeant explained about fornication.  His explanations were very crude but he essentially told them to avoid it because it spread all sorts of diseases and caused personality problems within the unit. 

“So, if you do have to charge with a pike formation, don’t advance toward a friendly unit.  The last thing a unit needs is a bunch of emotional kids crying about his girlfriend cheating on him and then having that girlfriend watch his back in a fight.  I’m serious, recruits.  Don’t do it.  If you’re caught sleeping with someone in your unit, you will be disciplined.”

By the wincing reactions of the other recruits, Greza guessed that being “disciplined” was not a pleasant experience.  She must have missed that lecture. 

The Sergeant’s class didn’t end until well after dark.  Then they were released to go back to their barracks. 

While the others stayed up, laughing and talking about the day’s events, she lay in her bed and put her hands behind her head. 

This felt very strange.  The mattress was more comfortable than she was used to.  She had a warm blanket, hot food and she was equal to everyone else.  She knew there were hardships to come, but for now it was very agreeable. 

Perhaps she was meant to come here after all.