2 Marching Orders

Marching at the back of the formation James was able to look around with out the soldiers noticing and taking issue. On the way out of village before the gravel road turned into a dirt road, he noticed a signboard with fancy letters and the word Springvale.

"Nice name for a such a small village." James said.

As he continued to look around he didn't notice much, a large meadow with farmland on the left as far as he could see with the right side being similar, except for a large mountain range on the horizon. "What a boring area to live in." He thought.

As the formation marched past the outskirts of the village the landscape became more barren, large patches of dirt and dead plants took over the once prosperous grassland. James turned to the villager on his left and whispered to him asking what happened to the area.

"Hey friend, why is everything dying around here?"

"No idea, it started a couple months ago, we had a few hunters of the village that lived about this far out. Those hunters had to move back as all the animals in the area either died or migrated elsewhere. About a week ago 4 of the hunters formed up and went to investigate the cause however they haven't come back yet" the villager said.

"Oh, that's kind of weird, do you think it's demons or monsters?" James asked.

"Hmm, I guess it could be but we've never had anything like that in the area before. The most we've ever had to worry about is some wild wolves getting at our livestock or some poor harvests. The names Marshall by the way, we should talk more once we reach camp, we'll get in trouble if they catch us chatting back here."

"Sure, thanks Marshall, my name is James."

They then continued marching in silence, smoke from a fire appeared on the horizon. One of the knights next to knight Thomas turned around on his horse and yelled, "The camp is just ahead, remember to meet up with the quartermaster to get your gear, you'll be sleeping in a tent or under the stars tonight, first come first serve. Sunrise tomorrow knight Thomas or knight Morals will give you your squad assignments, if you have any skills or training inform Quartermaster Miles when you receive your gear." He gave everyone a cold stare before turning back around.

When they arrived at camp knight Morals had them line up single file in front of the Quartermasters tent. After a few minutes "Next" was heard and the next person in line would go into the tent, the ones leaving were caring a backpack of supplies, wearing a leather body armor and carrying either a sword or a bow. James ended up being towards the middle of the line and was unable to gather any information on what assignments were given out from those leaving the tent. "If I had known they were going to give weapons away I wouldn't have bought any from the blacksmith" he thought.

James looked around at the camp, it wasn't at all what he was expecting. Approximately 10 large tents were setup excluding the one for supplies and equipment, he figured they could hold 20-30 people each. The tents were setup in a circle about 10 meters from the fire pit in the center of camp. Over the fire pit was what looked like a large cauldron being heated up and what smelled like either porridge or some kind of soup. There was a large staff like banner planted firmly in the ground in front of one tent with a golden eagle statue with it's wings spread at the top of it. The banner was black with a embroidered wolfs head at the center and a red outline around the border of the banner, "That has to be either the knights crest or the troops crest" James thought. He looked towards the front of the line and estimated there was about 20 people in front of him.

As time went on and the line grew shorter James was finally next in line, he heard the familiar voice shout next and walked forward to enter the tent. As his eyes adjusted he saw a older man with a short grey beard and wrinkled face sitting behind a long mahogany table, his glistening green eyes were scanning over the papers that were stacked on top of the table. The man looked up as he heard James enter the tent.

"State your name, occupation and any skills or talents you have." The man said.

"Sir, my name is James, I was a student for several years and have no current occupation and I am skilled with a bow." Said James.

"You can call me Quartermaster or Sir Miles." He said as he took a blank piece of paper, dipped his quill in some ink and began writing something. "You said you were a student, what did you study? Do you have any knowledge of logistics or military strategy?"

"Yes sir Miles, myself and the other students worked briefly for a transportation organization where we assisted in tracking of inventory. We also had discussions during history lessons of wars and possible tactics that could have changed the outcome of those wars." James said.

"Hmm...." Miles paused and thought for a period of time. "Tell me, what would you do if the enemy blocked off your supply route to the west, you and your unit have less than a weeks worth of supplies, and another enemy unit is approaching your position from the north. Also, before the enemy movement you were tasked by your commander to hold you position as it's a strategic point for future operations and you would be strictly disciplined for leaving."

James thought for a moment, surprised at the depth of the question. "I think it depends on what the terrain is like and the composition of both my unit and the enemies." he said and stopped to look at Miles, noticing that he was not saying anything he continued. "If we're tasked to hold a hill and we're a archer unit we would have the high ground and could fortify the base with traps and debris to make it harder for the enemy to reach us. In any situation scouts must be sent to monitor the enemy movements and gather intelligence about their unit makeup, as well as sending someone to headquarters to request aid and notify them of the situation. If there are any towns in the area that are loyal to our force I would have them transport supplies to us."

Miles held up his hand stopping James from continuing. "The enemy makes it past your traps and is about to overtake your position, will you continue to fight or retreat?" he stared at James and asked.

"I believe the value of well trained troops out weighs the value of a position that will be over run by the enemy. Time, money and resources will be saved if I would be able to bring those troops back." James said.

Miles finished writing some information down on the paper before looking back at James and saying. "You will assist knight Michelle in the bow squad, report to her immediately after leaving the tent. Pick up your gear from the corner of the tent, you can just trash that cheap bow you have, the ones here are made from a high quality iron bark tree branch. You're dismissed."

"Thank you Sir Miles." James saluted, grabbed the equipment from the corner and left the tent.