Success at last!

Or at least, that is how it seemed at this time of my life.

We had moved out of the weapons training phase of our education in Legion life, and

were just beginning to embrace the responsibilities of our position.

The Lady and the training command saw fit to honour me with the title of ‘Acting Senior

Legionnaire’ of our little squad, and I must admit the prospect was more than a little

daunting. It seemed a title with little actual influence, but a surfeit of blame just waiting

to be allocated if we failed.

Ah well, it is times like this that define us as men, yes?

Admittedly, it was not so much the work itself, but the way in which we were going to do

it that loomed heavy on my mind. As a squad we were still to develop into a cohesive

unit, and the horrors that could not only be inflicted on a small bunch of new recruits in a

city like Coranan, but by untrained troops…Let us not dwell on such unpleasantness.

The months before our first patrol had been relatively quiet, but then again, considering

the uproar that had surrounded the Pay-wagon debacle, most things would suffer in

comparison.

I continued my association with The Lady of Paladins, attending not only the Soratir

when I was able, but seeking out the priests with questions of my own, accepting

anything further that they were willing to share. Now that I had begun to learn my

letters, I was most eager to read from the Holy Scriptures and their associated codicils.

This was not to be however, as I was duly informed that these were solely for the use of

the members of the clergy.

The holy fathers were instrumental however in helping me in the interpretation of the

lessons to be learned from the sermons, even as Nico helped me understand the

mechanics of writing itself.

Other than that, I used the time to familiarise myself with the more experienced soldiers

that were around me, picking through their tales and experiences for any titbit that I could

use to help myself avoid the pitfalls taken by those before me. The thoughts of ‘my

fellow engineers’ were invaluable for this, their sage advice coming to my aid later in

life, saving me from failure uncountable times…

I like to think I also made some friends during that time, as well as learning some

valuable lessons…

By the time of our first assignment, I was keen to take the reins, though I could already

tell that my time in a temporary command role was not going to be easy, mutterings of

discontent were rife, but I chose to ignore them.

Sergeant Gelak had taken me aside and described the basics of what we were to do, but I

had a feeling that patrolling the largest city of Tharda was not going to prove as easy as

he let on. Certainly he iterated more than once that we were not an occupying army,

and that the citizens of our streets were not the enemy. Sometimes I wonder if that man

had more than a little precognition…

Certainly we saw more than a little action that first night, but nothing that we could not

handle: A robbery, a few episodes of drunken disorderliness, vagrancy, etc. Three

events, however, still remain in my thoughts to this day, and all of them occurred on that

night…

The first of which was the slaying of three young boys in the enacting of our duty as city

watch. “Ah…” I can almost hear you say “…surely they deserved it if you caught them

in the commission of a crime”, an argument that has been used many times, to justify

just as many acts.

I know for certain that the one I tried to stop died purely by accident, but that does not

excuse the act itself. As a soldier I should have expected that some underfed street urchin

would not shrug off even a light wound to the leg from a spear, and I seek the Lady’s

forgiveness for that act to this day. The other two, though dealt by Grunth, were done

under my command, and even though I have never sensed any remorse for these acts by

him, I seek Larani’s Grace for us both…

The second was involved in a much more ‘convoluted’ event, one that was to have

ramifications much further on in my life. It involved what we later discovered to be a

double murder, and an attempt to control the destiny of the fledgling ‘Teamsters Guild’.

A scholar of sorts (whom had aligned himself with those seeking the Guilds formation)

had been silenced using extreme force and, during the ransacking of his small residence,

had brought about the death of his young wife as well. Fortunately Nico and Sylud saw

to the care of the child that remained, allowing me to find the small diary that had been

hidden away beneath it’s bedding.

We had reported the crime to the Red Guard when we concluded our watch period, but

not the existence of the book, the consequences of which I will not yet mention here…

The third, and perhaps most disturbing incident, involved an encounter with a triumvirate

of Morgathian Priests. Far be it for me to preach religious intolerance, but the rites of

Morgath have long been despised by me, and if I could I would eradicate them from the

face of Kelestia.

This was one of the first times in my life that my sworn duty to the State conflicted with

the dictates of the Lady’s teachings, and left me in a quandary that stays with me still.

The diversification of spiritual and Secular Law often brings about a problem for those

who enforce one or the other, but for someone who must please both masters…

The cries of the Priests’ chosen victim were what first caught my attention and until the

time they identified the man as a Heretic, I was more than willing to confront them and

their activities, regardless of the (admittedly sensible) pleas of Legionnaire Maladon to

leave them be.

This was reinforced by Sergeant Gelak whom, when I inquired later on, informed me that

the various Churches stood outside the reach of temporal authority, and were allowed

autonomy when dealing in Canonical Law.

I regret now my weakness at that point, but this is of no relief to that poor man who was

dragged off to suffer in some dark pit beneath the city streets, but I beseech the Maiden to

watch over his spirit still.

And though I failed to save that man then, It has led me to make a life decision, an oath to

myself and the Lady of Paladins that I have kept to this day.

Never again!

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Next Story.

Written By: Shane Saunders (a.k.a Lothar of Barkus)