Rebel Rifles

For the next week, Kevin stayed at the camp as Khun Preem ran the gauntlet of exercises. Every day he was up before the sky was more than a faint pink, and he continued until the entire caldera was cloaked in darkness.

At the end of seven days, he was able to strike the target with an arrow, and win seven out of ten times with the quarterstaff. Even his knife-work had improved. None of the training was at peak strength or agility, but the instructor was sure it was just a matter of practice. "After all, the muscles remember. They just need to be stronger."

His facial hair had also grown in. That was problematic, though, since for most of the other native men, the hair was sparse and limited to lip and chin. Using a razor he could sculpt it somewhat, but it was never going to look like a typical Pra'dee man's face.

He had also started to organize the weaponry. With the assistance of a soldier familiar with guns, they found oil that could be used as a proper cleaner, and together they had cleaned and inspected most of the guns at the training facility. The majority were stored off site, and he had discussed with Preem the efficacy of moving them back and forth versus an onsite inspection.

That decision would be made once the inspections were completed and he could train some instructors on them. The limited amount of bullets was a concern, so they decided to hand pick a few that had the highest accuracy on the crossbow and bow of the current class, to be their test subjects. They were getting efficient with the disassembly and cleaning of the weapons; soon they will be ready for live firing.

Kevin had just finished breakfast when there was flurry of activity outside. It was a supply train of about ten horses, with two riders to guide them. He assisted with the offloading and was happy to find several boxes of ammunition for the rifles.

Past the targets for the bow weaponry, he had set up a firing range, with the hay bales at a much farther distance. He had created paper silhouettes to use in lieu of a simple bulls eye. Today they were going to actually fire the rifles.

A cheer went up when he was coming out of the food cellar. His father must be here! He hurried outside, and sure enough, Thadchai was just dismounting from Smoke. He greeted his father formally. "Welcome Captain Thadchai. I hope your journey was safe."

"As safe as to be expected, son. Khun Mattaya made some stew and fresh bread for you." Kevin beamed. The food at the facility was filling but hardly exciting.

After seeing to the horse, Thadchai, Preem, Kevin, and the two trainees were at the range; everyone else was kept at a distance for now. A table with several sandbags was set up across the firing line. Kevin selected on of the rifles and loaded a single cartridge.

Propping the fore-stock on the bags, he carefully lined up the sights with the paper target. Once he was satisfied, he pulled the trigger.

The noise of the firing ricocheted around the facility. Kevin put the safety on, and jogged over to the target. There was a neat hole punched in the upper chest close to the center. The fixed sight appeared to be accurate. He jogged back to the waiting men.

"I'm going to try one from the shoulder next, to see what kind of recoil it has." Kevin seated the rifle butt firmly against his shoulder and closed one eye to look down the barrel.

A finger squeeze later, he was back down at the end of the range, this time to remove the target and bring it back with him.

He showed the waiting me the two holes. The second one was higher and to the right. "These have a good accuracy and not much kickback. The enemy has some pretty good rifles."

Kevin gave each of the waiting men a rifle and a magazine with five cartridges. They each took turns at the available targets, with varying degrees of success. The guns were then checked and cleaned.

By then most of the morning had gone. The two trainees stayed to complete the inventory when Kevin and the two older men headed to his cabin to talk.

"I think it will be a simple matter to include firearms training for everybody," Kevin said, "I would suggest an hour a day for a minimum of a week should do it. Are there any of the royal guard left? Since they were already trained, it could speed things up." Thadchai shook his head.

"We actually scattered them among our people to act as our eyes and ears, so consolidating them here would be counterproductive. Nevertheless, we need to devise a plan to smuggle each guard a rifle and ammunition for the upcoming fighting."

"I'm worried about Anachak finding guns within the populace, especially since we had few of them prior to the invasion." Preem added.

"They must know we are stockpiling them as we steal the guns from the Anachak soldiers and armories. I think we should cache them in strategic locations that are accessible by our trusted troops. That would reduce the chance of being caught carrying them."

Kevin nodded. "I think that would be best. I'm too new here to know where those storage places could go. If we can hide them in groups of fifty or so, they would be safely scattered."

After they finished their strategy meeting, it was time for lunch. Once they completed their meal, it was time for Kevin to pack up and head back to the house. Thadchai wanted Kevin to get used to the village and surroundings as part of his re-indoctrination.

He ended up riding one of the pack horses, but he made instant friends with Samson, and had no trouble navigating the trail back to the cluster of houses.