Chapter 8-5

Garkhen slept deeply, but soon he was awoken by a messenger with his orders. He read over them quickly. They were simple, ordering him to report to Sgt. Gerim, as the Captain had said, but helpfully containing a few concise instructions on where said reporting was to take place. 

Soon, the young half-dragon was handing said Sergeant his orders. The man looked at them for a few moments, then back up at Garkhen.

“Being reassigned to me, Private Garkhen?” Sgt. Gerim asked, then continued without giving time for Garkhen to respond, “We'll be glad to take you, but don't expect it to be easy. After last night...” 

He shook his head slightly. “We may want your healing abilities as much as your combat skills.”

“I would prefer to use the latter to preclude the need for the former,” Garkhen replied, quietly.

“Well, what's your specialty, then, Private?”

Garkhen thought over the question for a moment. “I am a Warder of Bahamut. I am trained for defense, by both physical and magical means. In addition, my armor is made of adamantine, despite its appearance, and is finely crafted and enchanted.”

The Sergeant's eyebrows raised a little at that, but after a moment's pause he asked, “And what can you do on the attack?”

Garkhen's hesitation was more pronounced. “I have some few offensive spell-prayers... I have my breath, and a little training with a mace.”

Gerim sat back a bit, frowning slightly. “Hmmm...” He thought for a while, then seemed to have an idea. “Our squad supports an archer formation's flank. You will be on our flank right next to them. Last night, those walking dead tried to scale our walls. Make sure they don't get to the archers. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir!”

“Good. Now I'll introduce you to the rest of the squad.”

The introductions didn't take long. There were supposed to be a total of twenty-five soldiers in a squad, but right now they were at nineteen, with Garkhen. Two of the empty spots were just because Telarnen didn't keep all his squads at full strength, but the others were wounded from last night. Once they had been introduced, Sgt. Gerim ran them through a few drills. Garkhen... did not perform very well at them. Eventually the Sergeant dismissed them.

“You've never been a soldier.” His tone of voice made it clear he wasn't asking a question.

Garkhen answered anyway. “No, sir.”

“Well now is not the time...” The Sergeant shook his head. “But the Captain wouldn't have assigned you to me if he thought you'd be a liability. Just... make sure not to hit anyone on our side with anything.”

“I will not, sir,” Garkhen replied, stiffly.

“Dismissed.”

********

Garkhen is... definitely not a trained soldier. Nor even a trained warrior, really. He was much more interested in the more... scholarly portions of his training.