The next few weeks flew by for the unit. The town patrols had minor scuffles with drunks or criminals, but nothing serious. When one bar fight started in the middle of a crowded building, it highlighted the need for them to keep their smaller weapons on hand. Commander Tudyk had nothing but good reports for the men, which Willof made sure to acquire copies of.
Besides the patrols, the men were excelling in the formal marching patterns that Willof was teaching them. He was just beginning to incorporate multiple squads for more advanced patterns. Gregory did his best to learn when he wasn’t on patrol with a squad.
Tudyk did send squads of men out to spar with Gregory’s men. That proved two things: that the naginata’s reach was a major advantage against non-elite squads, and which guards Tudyk should know were the worst bigots. Those guards sneered or leered at the sisters as they assisted the units in training, leading to an incident of note. Basal laid out one of the guards who’d been harassing Dot out of view of the others. Gregory personally took the injured guard back to Tudyk for discipline. When he’d returned, he took Basal aside and spoke with him, then Dot. Dot was surprised, then admitted she was interested in the younger man, but that he’d have to wait for his age day before she would tell him yes or no about courting. Afterward, she helped him with his tasks, as he’d sprained his wrist in the scuffle.
~*~*~
Gregory grinned as he looked over the new obstacle course. The workers had finished it the day before the normal unit day, so Gregory decided to open it up for the entire unit to run.
“You spent a good amount of money on this,” Davis said.
“A bit,” Gregory chuckled. “It’ll be used by a friend next year, so I’m fine with it.”
“Did you have a preference as to which of them you wanted to be sent to this town?” Willof asked. “I can arrange that.”
“I’ll leave that up to you. I’m not going to pick between them. Besides, Yuki and Jenn will have done the same thing. Just let Daciana, Nessa, and Victoria have our three towns. I know there will be others from the clan here, too.”
“No more than six can, but yes, I’m sure all six towns that can be used will be.”
“I’m guessing the platforms are there for a reason?” Davis asked, dragging the conversation back to the course.
“Those obstacles have a few ways they can come into play. There’s a door under each so you can switch the arrangement without it being obvious.”
“That’ll be interesting. Who are you going to task for that job?”
“One of the sisters. This way, none of the men know.”
“Not going to do it yourself?”
“No. I’ll start using my foresight on runs to try to help catch the traps.”
“That bigger flat area,” Willof pointed out, “is a combat area?”
“Going to get a squad or two of town guards to hold that point. Also, if you look to the side of the rope crawl, you’ll see a bunker. I’m going to have Basal and Hanz there to throw things at anyone who doesn’t stay down like they should.”
Willof laughed. “Gregory, was this in Lighthand’s later journals?”
“No. It just… felt right,” Gregory said a little slowly.
“This course is a little weaker than what you and the men will face in the tournament, but it’s not bad. The bunker and fighting area are the bigger ones I can easily see to point out. But considering the new twists, you might’ve touched on all of the possible tricks.”
“Shall we find out?” Gregory grinned. “I’ll lead. You all follow a few feet behind so you can see what happens when I trigger each new area.”
“Follow the leader,” Davis nodded.
Gregory stepped up to the starting line, then raised his hand so the men could see that he was ready. Davis and Willof stepped up to his sides— but a couple of paces back— before raising their hands.
The men on the ridge murmured, wondering what the trio were up to. Townson took a deep breath, then shouted to begin. That cut the conversation off as Gregory raced forward.
Gregory didn’t use aether to speed himself up; he pushed it into a few seconds of foresight, instead. Both Willof and Davis gave Gregory a couple of heartbeats before they ran behind him.
The first obstacle up on the run was what would’ve been the water pit. Gregory chuckled as he leapt at the edge. He made it halfway across before he slowed to a walk, moving his arms as though he was swimming through mud. Part of him knew that, when they ran the course for the tournament, the pit would be filled with mud or stagnant water, so it was best to act like it now. The other two hit the pit and copied his movements as Gregory pulled himself out on the far side.
Finally clear, Gregory jogged toward the next route on the course. He was being led away from one of the newest platforms, but another one of them was just ahead of him. It was a balance beam over a pit. It had been reinforced so multiple men could cross it without breaking it. A small sign warned them that the pit would be water; he knew that if he fell off, he’d have to act like he was swimming again. As he balanced across the six-inch wide wooden plank, he knew some of the men in full gear would have trouble with it, especially with it being thirty feet long. Six inches was more than wide enough for him to run down, as he wasn’t in full gear. Willof and Davis were just reaching it as Gregory ran off the far end.
The men on the ridge chatted, debating every obstacle Gregory got to. Each squad was formulating ideas on how to best handle them.
The third spot was the fighting area, which was a disappointment without people to fight. Gregory didn’t let that stop him from acting like it wasn’t empty. His naginata appeared in his hand as he stepped a foot into the opening. He began to flow from kata to kata as though he were dismantling a squad of opponents.
Davis and Willof both grunted when they approached the spot. Forced to copy Gregory, they drew their weapons. That had the men talking excitedly. It was clear they figured town guards would be stationed there to fight them, or that they would have to mimic the officers if there weren’t.
When he reached the end of the fighting area, Gregory let his naginata vanish into his ring. Glancing back, he nodded in approval; Davis and Willof executed their own katas based on the sword as they crossed the open space.
Next up was another of the new platforms. His foresight told him what was about to happen, but he wanted the crowd to see the danger. The wooden platform was divided into squares with small gaps between them. Gregory’s first step was fine, but as he went to step on the next, it tilted toward him. He jerked back and the square that’d shifted tipped to a forty-five-degree angle. Gregory’s naginata came back out, and he slapped each new square before committing to a path.
The men on the ridge started talking excitedly about what they were watching. Glasson’s men were especially excited, as they would be ahead of the others like Gregory was now. It would be their job to mark out which squares were safe.
~*~*~
Gregory grinned as he waited for Davis and Willof to finish their runs. The two men finished in near sync, both catching their breaths. “I think the new course will offer some new challenges. What do you think?”
“Yeah,” Davis panted. “Weapon practice through the one area was a good idea.”
“There’s no way out of the angled platforms if someone falls,” Willof pointed out.
Gregory pointed back to the obstacle Willof had spoken of. “Two crawl spaces. If they fall in, they crawl out and have to be carried the rest of the way.”
Willof grunted. “Scouting will be important, then.”
“It will be. That obstacle wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it’ll work.”
“What did you want?” Davis asked as he caught his breath.
“I wanted them to space it far enough apart that each square had to be leapt to.”
“That would be much harder…” Willof murmured. “I can see the reason, though; it’ll make the men react faster. If the platform is large enough, then they can maybe balance in the middle and rush to jump again.”
“Yes. They’re coming down, so take a break.”
Polka and Dot came running up to Gregory. “Did you want us to change the course, sir?” Polka asked.
“Reset the new obstacles and change them up as you want. Leave the path alone for this run, though.”
“On it,” Dot said, racing past him.
Gregory laughed as Polka yelled after her sister, then chased her.
When the men gathered, Gregory addressed them, “You’ve all seen it. We’ll be running in full gear again starting tomorrow. One of the sisters will be out here to manage the course every day. If there’s no one in the fighting area, then you practice katas while moving through it. Any questions?”
“We’re still scouting ahead, right?” Glasson asked.
“Yes. As you saw, it’ll be more important now so we know the right path.”
“What’s with the bunker?” Bunson asked.
“I’m going to recruit Hanz or Basal to sit behind it,” Gregory chuckled. “Some of you have a habit of not staying down under the ropes. The person behind the bunker will be throwing things at you. Treat them like arrows. If you get hit, you’re injured or dead, which means you have to be carried out.”
A couple of the men got nudged by their squadmates, as they were the worst at keeping themselves down when doing the crawl.
“Anyone else?” Gregory asked, and no one else asked anything. “Okay. Once Polka and Dot finish resetting things, we’ll give it a run.”
A cheer went up as they headed for the starting line.
Davis snorted, coming up next to Gregory. “Never thought men would be that excited for an obstacle course.”
“Few courses have the diversity of this one,” Willof said. “Or maybe it’s just the effort their commander puts in for them?”
“Both,” Davis laughed. “Then again, I have to say he’s made me strive, too, so I can’t fault them.”
Gregory just shook his head as he went to join the rest of the unit.
