The rules and vows

I woke up due to the water that was poured on my face. I was startled as i looked at other new members on their knees.

We wore our night garments,and were inside a circle surrounded by fire torches.

"Kneel!",a person in front of us, outside the circle commanded.

I knelt immediately.

The others outside the circle wrapped their faces and wore black garments leaving only their eyes revealed.

Only one person did not cover his face, it was the person who commanded me to kneel, Morris from achievers.

He started talking with his hands on his back, "you listened to the rules in the morning, but that's not all you should know about unknown".

Unknown?, Is that what they call this place.

He continued, "when you all finish learning here and passing all the evaluations, you'll be given another test in the palace to test your skills and after you pass you will be chosen as a red eagle warrior".

Red eagle warrior?, They were the soldiers that escorted nate to the palace that day, you mean i get to wear that cool armour and cape?, So this mean I'll be able to enter the palace freely?, I wonder what the future holds for me.

Morris continued, "we are not going to be any soldier, am sure some of you have heard of the red eagle warriors, when there is war, majority of us go out into war while some remain in the palace to protect the warriors, if you die, you died for our country".

Morris walked with his hands at his back," protecting the king is our first priority, but we are also called the night warriors".

He stopped walking and exhaled," There are many corrupt officials in the court, from the highest to the lowest rank, when we perceive corruption, we find a way to destroy it and make things right by finding evidence."." When we are blocked,we kill when necessary but otherwise,make them unconscious".

" I know I said our first priority is to protect the king but when the king overuses his power to an extent,it's called craziness and even when he doesn't help the peasants...,we kill him".

Ki...ki.. kill!,kill the king?,I felt chills run through everywhere in my body,it was fear.

Whispers were heard among ourselves,the new entries, but why wouldn't it,he's talking about killing the king,am sure he is just relaying to what the grand master instructed.

" Silence!", Morris commanded and continued," while we are red eagle warriors,we work for the king but who we are the night warriors we work for a royal who wishes to not just protect the king but the peasants".

It's either we find him or he finds us and if we don't wish to work for the royal who seek us,we kill him.

Right now,we serve the first prince,prince kylis".

" Long live prince kylis",we all chorused.

" Also,when the war becomes hectic,as achievers we'll join and it also applies to the rest of you when you reach achievers stage".

" And lastly,anyone who spills the secret of us being the night warriors,will be killed, remember this ,is better to kill yourself than to spill the secret".

I gulped in fear and my knees were really hurting me.

" One hand on your chest and the other one up,repeat after me!",Morris commanded," if i spill the secret of being a night warrior,i should be killed".

We repeated in fear,I even heard someone crying,I know it's a girl.

"Repeat after me again!,no matter the torture I receive,I wont say anything about the night warriors,it's better to kill myself".

We repeated after him.

Two papers were shared to everyone kneeling.

" What is in front of you,states all the rules and the vows you've just made,loren you can read it so your friends won't think it's a trick".

I read it aloud still on my knees and after that a bowl was brought forward,it contained blood,I was scared.

"Don't worry,it's the blood of an eagle,you can use your blood if you want",Morris reassured.

It was  passed from one person to another,which we were told to place our palm lightly on it and place our palm on the two papers.

"Loren",Morris called and I answered.

"Ask each of them for their full names and write it for them,still on your knees".

I crawled and asked the 48 boys and 48 girls asking for their names and writing it,my whole body hurts,I regretted saying I can read and write,I almost cried but I held it in.

"The first copy is for yourself and the second copy is for your parents,the vows will be repeated every stage,The grand master said no new members will be brought in after you for now,till after ten years and the ones for your parents will be submitted back to us tommorow after it's dried.

so if you die, we can send it to your parents".

After that we were told to stand up without getting any help from anyone,my legs were weak and it was wobbling.

Then we went back to our rooms,I laid on the bed thinking if my parents,sister and nate.

I don't know if nate was able to adapt to princely life,he must be enjoying himself.

The next morning,we woke up to the sound of drums,we washed up and was told to go to the place of learning.

But before we entered the place of learning,we picked out a plaque from a box,each plaque had a number written on it from 1 to 6.it represented each sections of learning.

I got number 2,I doubt my roommates will be in the same section as mine.Each section was boys and girls mixed.The girl that cried always was in my section,her name is Maddie,also dibengi, kelv and Thomas were in my section.

I learnt that we were to chose again as we move to other stages.

Each stages had six evaluations. In baby crawling stage,all the evaluations was literally apart from riding a horse and the test was held every quarter if the two years.

Apart from being in the room,my roommates and I hanged out during lunch and breaks,Maddie,the cry girl, became close to us.Dibengi was noisy as usual, vitskit still asked lot of questions about things we don't know,among the twelve of us the oldestest which was kelv and he was like a real older brother to us.

My master started teaching me the way of the dagger but only at night,he said he was instructed by the grand master.i don't think any of us have ever seen the grand master,I was curious.

I started reading art of war and other military books,sometimes even at night.

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Four years have passed,my height increased,I still continued to read war books and learn other martial arts,four years remaining.