"Uuughhh..." I groan out from insufficient sleep as I see the exam's course in front of me the very next day. Bizarre sight of door frames with no walls; archery targets lined up; a wooden wall; and to top if all off, armored men with polearms at the end of it all welcomes me.
Surprisingly, both Lieutenant Wolf and Cat are here, it seems Cat will be simply acting as an additional pair of eyes, while Wolf ensures the exam proceeds smoothly. Guards on the fortress walls glance at us from time to time as well, possibly anxious to see how we'll do.
"As I explained before, lockpick the door as fast as possible, next, two arrows in each target; then climb past the wall; inflict a mortal injury on the guard; finally, throw the other recruit on the ground to pass." Lieutenant Wolf explains the rules once more, of course, maintaining his now almost iconic pose, with hands behind his back. The earthy smell of the ground, damp dirt and gray sky and the stares from above remind me of the day I got here.
"If your lockpick snaps, get a new one and try again. If you run out of arrows, return to the start, if the guard Novice hits you with his halberd, return to the start. Of course, if you are thrown to the ground, return to the start." He keeps explaining. "Moreover, no stabbing the guard Novice in the groin or eyes, please. I hope that is clear. The first recruits to start are Bat, Owl, Fox, Cat, Goat."
Hearing my name called out wakes me up from my morning groggy daze. The course is segregated, one door for each recruit; shared archery targets; shared wall; one guard for each recruit. And, of course, two recruits at the end.
When I think about it, this exam is really the essence of our purpose, a condensation of our training, the most important parts where failure may cost you your life - or worse, is being put under scrutiny.
All the recruits are in place at the start of the course, Owl and I exchange sideways glances. A second here or there shouldn't make a difference, but both me and him take a stance that will allow us to sprint to the door. "Ready." Lieutenant Wolf says.
"Begin!" he yells, other recruits run to their doors, but me and Owl simply shoot to ours like lightning. It seems Owl isn't going to just allow me to beat him. Click. Too bad.
I push the door open, the lock was completely worthless after all - something one would find on doors in cities. It used to take me maybe a minute at best, now it's seconds.
As I grab one of the bows and a quiver of arrows, I take a look back to see how Owl is doing. He's still struggling with the lock- oh, he opened it. Well, it was a simple lock, not surprising. I shoot all the targets with a sharp thwack as arrows hit their mark and discard the bow and arrow. Owl was next to me, hitting some, missing some - but it seems like he'll eventually make it, and soon.
I waste no time running to the wall, it has plenty of gaps and cracks in the planks, so climbing it is very simple. As I climb over the top, Owl almost slams into the wall and starts clawing up, I look back at other recruits, and they either are still lockpicking or shooting at targets. Then it dawns on me:
I've already exhausted my field of expertise. From here on out, it's Owl territory. Uh oh. I'm desperate to make it to the end before him, so I jump down as soon as I can. My path's guard seems to be ready for me, he swings the halberd's wooden point at me, ready to poke me. I draw my dagger-
And roll under his halberd, rendering his weapon completely worthless and deliver a powerful stab in his armpit, "Ow!" he exclaims, but the chainmail protects him, and he raises his arm, signalling that I passed. I take a breather and turn around. It seems Owl gave up on being the first, so he's taking his time climbing down the wall. Other guards seem to have also taken note of my move as well; Owl's guard already seems to be prepared to hack away at him instead.
But all this speed and effort won't really help me if I can't beat him. This is it. I'm going to kick your ass this time, Owl.
Owl draws his dagger and approaches the guard, he leaps into his range, the guard slashes at him wildly-
He then jumps back, the slash misses him completely, the guard Novice tries to recover from the swing to try again, but Owl already leapt back in, and shoves his dagger in his armpit. Guard yelps out in pain in same manner, and raises his arm.
This is it. Come then, Owl. He may have made a lot of progress, in fact, I'm kind of proud of him, but it's time to put him in his place. I trained with Sergeant Boar for this, after all. He spreads his arms out as an invitation, then takes a combat stance. So do I.
All the guards are watching as only one other recruit made it to the top of the wall, and he's taking his time as well. The distance narrows, it's about time to show Owl what I learned.
I lower my stance, we both grasp at each other. Here's Sergeant Boar's secret technique. I start lifting Owl up-
He rams into me, mud beneath my feet proves treacherous. He dives below me as I try to maintain balance, my vision fills with gray and the feeling of slippery mud disappears from beneath my feet.
I can only hear Sergeant Boar's stupid yelling in my head, 'LEVERAGE! LEVERAGE!' As I realize it's already over and we're just going through the motions. Air is knocked out of my lungs with a wet thud ringing out across the redoubt grounds, as I'm slammed into the mud. While I am trying to regain my ability to breathe, I can see Owl clench his fist and shake it, feeling apparently very pleased with himself.
"How do you like that?! I kicked your ass!" Owl says as he leans over me, I am finally able to breathe again; and not in a position to disagree. "Yeah, you did." I simply state the obvious, I'm a bit bitter, but it was a fair win for Owl.
"Of course I did. I mean, I trained so long to kick your ass I'd feel bad if I wouldn't. Man, I thought I was going to mess up at lockpicking or archery. The wall looked pretty bad at the start but it wasn't too hard." He keeps going on and on, but one thing he said raised my eyebrow, hidden behind my second face.
"You trained? You mean, you specifically trained to be able to outdo me?" I ask him. "Yeah. You were always kind of, shitty at close quarters and dagger-fighting. But, everything else came so easy to you, it's incredible." He continues, "Even now, that door was what? Three seconds? Five? You hit all the targets instantly, too."
It's strange. This whole time I thought I was trying to catch up to Owl, but he thought he was trying to catch up to me. Somehow, despite not being able to beat Owl even once, I feel like I won. After all, he was looking up to me so much he got better at archery, lockpicking, he even managed to scale the wall. I chuckle to myself a little bit, Owl extends his hand, "Anyway, you really need to pay attention to what you're standing on. Come on, get up. Pass the exam already." he says as he pats some mud off of me, lifting me up.
Rest of the recruits seem to have made it almost to the last part, as the recruit from before managed to get past his guard as well, when Owl and I were talking.
Defeated, I walk back to the start. The doors were already re-locked, quivers re-filled, and next batch of recruits is already half-way past the course. Lieutenant Cat motions me to prepare to run the course again, as some of the defeated return as well. Wolf picks out more recruits to replace those that passed, and my second attempt starts.
Despite faint disappointment, it does not dishearten me at all. I was placed at a different door this time, but despite the lock being different, it's not any more complicated at all. I easily complete the archery part and quickly hop over the wall, leaving other recruits in the dust. As I draw my dagger, I see Owl staring at me off to the side, I realize that the guards are probably well versed in whatever tricks we may pull on them by now, so instead of doing something unorthodox, I decide to exploit the guard's bulky, restrictive armor and play it safe.
As expected, few clumsy dodged stabs later, I catch the halberd, and run towards the guard while shoving his weapon away. He recoils already, before I even get close, and I give him a gentle courtesy stab in the armpit. "Ow." Poor Novice. Entire rank above me, but serving as a pincushion for recruits.
After the guard, my opponent is someone unknown - not that I completely don't know him; I see him from time to time, it's just I never really talked to or interacted with him much. Since he made it to the end, I'm not going to underestimate him. I will treat him just as if I'd be fighting Owl. I'll use Sergeant Boar's secret technique again.
The recruit flies and slams on the mud so hard even Lieutenant Wolf glances at us from across the grounds, as the muddy thud bounces off the defensive walls. I ask the recruit if he's okay, considering I threw him a lot harder than I expected I would, but he soundlessly motions 'I'll be fine' with his hands. He can take it in stride, at least.
I walk up to Owl and the rest, who are already chatting among each other. "Well, looks like you passed." He says. But an empty feeling inside remains. That recruit just wasn't the same. "Yeah. It wasn't you, so it was a bit easy."
He laughs, "Hey, don't go around insulting your buddies." Everyone who passed is in high spirits, while the rest keeps struggling. We watch other recruits for a bit, then play rock-paper-scissors to see who's going to give the last one another chance. Owl loses, so I stop Owl from immediately crushing the poor recruit, and instead get everyone to do another round, excluding Owl. This time, it lands on the same recruit as the one I beat.
He challenges the last recruit, and surprisingly, or perhaps not so - the fight is pretty even. Eventually, the last recruit manages to slip his opponent in a similar way as Owl slipped me, and topples him. This means everyone passed - two or three hours or so into the exam.
The victorious recruit helps the other one get up, it's nice to see the brotherly spirit is so prevalent, I glance at the Lieutenants and I can see them watching us, talking, nodding from time to time for some reason. We gather up and walk up to them.
Lieutenant Wolf is already waiting for us, with his signature pose, while Cat is hiding himself behind Wolf slightly, crossing his arms.
"Congratulations, recruits. The exam is concluded for today, I'm pleased to see none failed, and you finished relatively quickly." he continues, as Cat paces behind him. "And with that, you are no longer recruits; You are now of the lowest rank - Novice. You are freed from the responsibility of daily training, but mind that the morning and evening assembly is still mandatory, no exceptions."
I grin, but my metal face conceals me. At last, after a long year, constant training, hard work, I truly became one of the redoubt's natives. A mere Novice I may be, but now I truly belong here. My mind starts to wander slightly, thinking about how everything I learned will help me in my future missions, but Lieutenant's voice helps me return to reality.
"That being said, you are free for the rest of the day. Take your time resting, celebrating, or maybe joining one of the training sessions to further sharpen your skills. I think Sergeant Snake should still be there. No, Lieutenant Cat?" He asks, turning to the Lieutenant pacing behind him.
"I believe so." Cat says, in almost whisper. If not for the fact the fortress grounds are nearly completely quiet, aside from birds chirping in the distance, no one would hear him.
"Well, that's it for now, Novices. Dismissed." We all instinctively salute - it has been drilled into us this whole time, after all. Owl and I head to the mess hall despite it being way too early for a meal, and simply sit down to talk. Owl finds it knee-slapping that I went as far as asking Sergeant Boar for help in beating him, but he admits he was spending almost every single waking moment training to beat me.
In the end, he realized it's not possible, so he settled for the second best option; simply not falling behind too far behind was enough. As long as Owl got a chance to prove himself against me in the exam, he'd be satisfied, or so he says.
It's incredible how Owl managed to both humble me and fill me with pride. The idea of me being second to anyone in the exam didn't even occur to him. It really is like having a younger brother look up to you as someone invincible. The conversation turns mostly inconsequential shortly after. I leave to clean my gear of the mud, catch today's meal, and immediately fall asleep. A welcome change from the usual.
