A Pleasant Journey

A murmur of voices slowly brought him back from half-sleep. Soon, the afternoon sky was blocked by a young face. The man could be twenty at most, with light stubble and short spiky hair. Raph's eyes traced down his neck and onto the chest covered by the blue robe.

'jackpot..'

"Can you hear me?" Asked the man and leaned in. Raph strained his neck and moved his head up and down in an ugly nod. "Where is your squad? what are you doing here?" chimed in another soldier from somewhere. Raph pointed to his throat and weakly groaned. After they gave him water and seated him upright next to a tree, he could finally take a look around. Surrounding him were around twenty Blessed of various ranks, all dressed in their typical blue robes. They were still chit-chating and somewhat relaxed, but he could feel the suspicion in a few gazes.

"I fought in the battle of fort Most, and got separated from other squads. After it was over, I tried to join the wandering groups that left for the warcamp but ended up getting lost. I spent a week trying to survive in this wilderness until you found me. I lost all my weapons and my uniform is in shreds."

After his little speech, the men went silent for a while with just a few whispering in the back. He lifted his Arm and let them see his mark through the hole in his sleeve. Raph felt his heart beating in his throat when the soldiers inspected the little Insignia with scrutinizing gazes. "Alright." finally said the man that first found him. "We are going to the southern warcamp so you Can join us."

They gave him new, fresh clothes that he humbly accepted with the excuse that he would change after washing himself. "What is your name?" asked the leader after they got on the way. "Mitchell." Raph lied without hesitation. There was no way anyone could recognize him here, but he still preferred to keep his real name hidden. "Alright Mitch, I also fought at the battle of Mist. Lieutanent Adrian Feathers, in charge of squad 125. We joined the fight on the western wing after the southern district fell. What was your squad's position?" he asked and looked at him.

"I was part of the first wave that fought at the eastern wall." answered Raph. "Really"? Adrian raised his eyebrows. "How did you get separated from your group then? I heard the assault on that side went smoothly." Raph bit down on his tongue to calm his anger and tried to control his voice as much as possible. "We pushed to the Emerald gate, and when it exploded I lost sight of them. After the battle I headed straight for the camp, as those were our instructions. Unfortunately i didn't meet them on the way." Adrian didn't speak any further and seemed lost in thought. The sun soon set behind the horizon and the group stopped in the middle of a clearing to prepare for sleep.

While they were preparing fire and food, Raph went out to a nearby river and after making sure nobody was watching, quickly washed himself and put on his new clothes. The cold water soothed his aching cuts and wounds and cleaned the dirt of his tanned skin. He couldn't cut the new robe up for no reason, so his disguised mark was now useless. He quickly unwrapped it and threw the rotting piece of skin into the water. Now that they somewhat accepted him into their circle, he could just draw one and nobody would suspect a thing, unless he was asked to perform a spell. He returned to the fire and helped himself to a piece of meat offered by Adrian. When no one was looking, he grabbed a piece of coal and hid it in his pocket. After a little bit of small talk and polite chatting with the other soldiers, he excused himself again and went a little bit further from the fire to sleep. He covered his arm with his body and with the piece of coal precisely started drawing the mark from memory.

"What you doing there?" Raph got startled and quickly closed his fist around the coal. "Just looking at the moon. I didn't hear you coming." replied Raph while turning to see who was bothering him. Adrian nodded and sat on a wide stump next to him. "You know, you are one of the first apprentices i've seen that seemed nonchalant about almost dying. Most of the new, soft Blessed start complaining as soon as they leave their little academy and don't stop until they become masters." Raph showed a little smile. "Or until they die." Adrian looked at him with surprise. He stared at him for a few seconds and then his silence turned into laugh. "Thats true. However the apprentice casualties are estimated at only 10-20% in their first year. Less than 3% in the second. Most of them keep droning on well past that." He sighed. "I wish they would spend more time in the battlefield instead of learning politics and playing war at the academy." Raph sat up against a nearby rock and looked at Adrian in a new light. "Thats true. Most of our curriculum included tactics, political study and governing basics. We trained only for six hours a day." he smiled a little. "But didn't you also graduate?" Adrian shook his head. "I received my blessing for valor in battle from one of the masters, and Water God chose to accept me. I had been a regular soldier before that." Raph whistled in awe. "You must have slain a dragon or something to get noticed like that." Adrian chuckled. "It was the battle of Heartfall. One of the masters was shot down by enemy blessed and he just managed to land close to me. I ran into the crossfire and dragged him to safety while bombarded by spears and magic. Thought i would leave my scorched bones there, heh." Raph nodded in acknowledgement. "That was lucky. And brave." They exchanged a few more stories until the fires went out and Adrian finally went to sleep. Raph relaxed and wrapped himself into his blanket.