Michael, Ollie, and Lance had a few drinks and exchanged more stories about what had happened since they’d been separated. Lance let slip that he was infatuated with the Lady Delia, which Ollie immediately began teasing him about, but the teasing stopped once Michael told Lance about Davi.

  Lance stared at his ale for a few moments after Michael told him, then took a long sip. “He seemed invincible. I wouldn’t call him full of life, but he was such a steady, certain man. You don’t expect rocks to die.”

  He looked up at the bartender, a portly man pretending to polish a glass nearby, but clearly eavesdropping.

  “One for me and one for the dead,” he said.

  The bartender nodded and poured two more mugs, handing one to Lance and placing the other carefully at the empty space next to him.

  Michael looked at him questioningly.

  “An old tradition. It’s a big deal in Stent and here in Old Hume. Not sure about the rest of the continent. The bartender will leave that mug there and once we leave we’ll all take a sip of it until it’s gone.”

  “Oh, like a Libation. We had some cultures that did that too.”

  “Libation? We call it pouring one out for your homies. Marcus would be the expert on that,” interjected Ollie, then looking at Lance he got more serious. “I’m sure Davi would’ve appreciated it though.”

  Their mood dampened, the three men sat in a reflective silence until they decided to leave. They each took a hearty gulp of Davi’s mug, with Michael finishing it off, and Lance guided them to one of the barracks he knew had empty beds. It was full of sleeping squires, but they slept easily through the clattering of Michael's armor even before he thought to muffle himself. Once he was out of his heavy armor he climbed onto the small cot, said some prayers, and fell asleep.

  …

  Michael was awoken by the sounds of a man striking two cymbals together. He bolted upright, reaching for Ruin, but realized that it was just one of the knights there to wake up the squires and get them to the training yard.

  The knight got to Ollie and grabbed him by the ankle to try and drag him out of bed, but stopped when he realized he didn’t recognize them.

  “You new recruits?” he asked. “They didn’t tell me we had any more squires.”

  “Nope, just conscripts that were told to sleep here,” said Michael.

  “So you can release my ankle unless you’re feeling a bit fresh this morning.”

  The knight quickly dropped his ankle. “Sorry about that,” he said with a bit of embarrassment in his voice before following his squires out of the barracks and to the training yard.

  Michael yawned a bit and stretched. It was the break of dawn, just around when he would’ve awoken anyway. Ollie on the other hand, rolled over and went back to sleep. Michael made his way to the training yard and found an unused training post. He practiced his mace swings while simultaneously generating shields in various areas around himself, practicing dividing his focus into multiple places at once and picturing how to use his barriers to protect those that might be standing with him. He considered asking for a spar, but realized it would probably take something like four of the squires and soldiers training for him to work up the right amount of sweat. Instead he looked for somewhere to bathe and found an ice-cold waterfall on the edge of the Hollow at which a number of people were bathing or cleaning clothes.

  He cleaned himself under the bracing water before putting on fresh clothes and making his way to where he found a number of soldiers eating. It was a breakfast of some kind of freshwater fish along with toast that had a kind of odd cheese spread across it. It wouldn’t do his breath any favors, but it was good, and he felt restored after the workout, wash, and hot meal.

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  When he was done he went to wake up Ollie, but he wasn’t there. He activated his Eyes of Love ability and traced the threads to see that he and Lance were having breakfast together and he’d simply taken a different route to the barracks than they had away from it. He blinked away the thread and made his way to them.

  “Good morning Michael,” said Lance. “Ollie told me you’d be at the training yard for a while.”

  “I was, but it’s getting harder and harder to work up a sweat lately. I decided to clean up and eat early instead.”

  “Good. You were starting to reek.”

  “Not all of us can use magic to give ourselves a quick whore’s bath every morning.”

  “You could if you coiled your channels.”

  “I can’t. I’ve tried multiple times now. Something about it seems incompatible with me.”

  “Probably takes too much brain power. It’s okay. You just focus on healing and smashing.”

  Lance chuckled at that. “The Captain wants to meet with us in,” he held up his hand to the sun. “About a finger of time. I’m to get my first assignment and I assume you are as well.”

  “Do you think he’ll put us together?” asked Michael.

  Lance shrugged. “It’s possible, but I was expecting to be put in charge of a small squad of knights. I asked around and we haven’t gotten a lot of conscripts like you two, but when we do they usually just stay serving wherever they are. I’m not sure where exactly you two fall in the chain of command.”

  “Too early in the Shanghai process to have the kinks worked out I guess.”

  “Shanghai?” asked Lance.

  “Old name for the conscription process back in our world. Don’t worry about it.”

  Lance nodded.

  After they were done eating they made their way back to the domed building and were directed to meet the captain in the central chamber. Inside Blake and Laird were already waiting, talking with the captain. They both seemed a bit refreshed, having had time to eat a proper meal, rest, and wash themselves. Their armor also seemed to have a fresh polish to it.

  The Captain looked up at them as they entered.

  “Welcome Sergeant,” he said, slamming his fist to his chest.

  “Thank you, ser” replied Lance returning the gesture as the three of them joined the Captain and the other knights.

  “I have, thanks to the information shared by Knights Blake and Laird, decided on everyone’s order. First though,” he turned his attention to Michael. “Thank you for the healing you provided yesterday. To see so many promising young knights restored to their full selves is a balm in these trying times.”

  Michael nodded. “I was just glad I could help them.”

  “Had I not heard of all of your exploits in detail from Blake and Laird, I may assume you were merely saying that.” He turned and walked to the plinth on which sat his helmet and claymore. He placed his helmet on his head, and took his sword in his hand. “On that note, I would ask that you Michael, and you Ollie kneel.”

  Ollie and Michael exchanged surprised looks.

  “You’re knighting us?” asked Michael.

  “Yes. As Knight Captain I have the authority to grant knighthood as I see fit, and in these extraordinary times I see two men who have joined our causes and fought valiantly for a realm that is not their own. Now, as I asked, kneel.”

  Michael and Ollie did as they were asked and the Captain raised his sword, placing it on Michael’s left shoulder.

  “Do you swear fealty to the Crown and Realm of Hume?” he asked.

  Michael hesitated, he’d been so caught off guard by what was happening he hadn’t thought this part through. “I’m not sure that I can swear absolute fealty. I feel it’s my responsibility to help people in the name of the gods, whether or not they’re from Hume.”

  The Captain was still for a moment and laughed a bit. “Do you know what we consider Hume here? I know in other places they call only this small part of our once great kingdom ‘Old Hume’, but for the sake of our titles we do not share that distinction. To us, Hume is everything from the southern ocean to the northern one.”

  Michael had not known that, though he had noticed that the locals never referred to it as ‘Old Hume’ as he’d grown used to hearing in other countries.

  “That makes more sense to me, but I still worry about the fealty aspect.”

  The Captain looked thoughtful for a moment before he spoke again. “Do you swear to do all you can within your power to protect the people of Hume? To do all you can to protect the realm and its monarch?”

  “That I can swear to,” replied Michael.

  The Captain moved his sword to Michael’s left shoulder. “Do you swear to follow the principles of Honor, Duty, and Strength as a member of our knighthood?”

  Michael nodded. “I do.”

  The Captain moved his blade to Ollie’s shoulder and repeated the oaths, which Ollie also accepted.

  “With that, I declare you both knights of Hume. As knights I assign you, along with Blake and Laird, to work under Knight-Sergeant Lance. Your first assignment is to meet our forces in Lataxia and work to seal the rifts that have cut the city off from the main roads.

  He turned to face Lance. “Lance, do you accept Sers Michael, Blake, Laird, and Ollie under your care and accept this mission?”

  Lance bowed his head and slammed his fist against his chest. “Yes sir.”