Time had passed once again, this time another two weeks during which the camp had undergone some alterations. The small huddle of buildings close to the camp palisade had expanded, the smith was now much large and had moulds running out into the open ground as well as a team of people banding mail for the whole working day, a time consuming process. The mill was now up and running, the water wheel turning slowly to provide a regular melodic rhythm to the entire area. Achim's laboratory had not changed but he was a one man team and did not require additional space. If he were testing anything likely to explode he would take it out to the deeper desert that lay to the east of them. Some days loud thumps or snaps could be heard as his mixtures exploded with various intensities, either by accident or design. The tents and ramshackle shacks were now slowly being replaced by more solid wooden and mud structures, though only a few existed it was the beginning of a trend that would lead to better accommodation. Further more close to the river a larger mud structure had been erected to serve as a temporary school for the children. The irrigation channels and the land around them had now been seeded and small shoots were emerging from the soil whilst a little further up stream a small artificial lake had been dug, fed by the river, the water flow controlled in and out by a slews gate. Inside this reservoir the newly recruited Zora lived, small semi submerged huts lined the edge of the reservoir and served as their dwellings.
However, looking around the town now in the heat of midday a keen eye would notice that there were almost no men around, only old men, young boys and the lead blacksmith, everything else was being done by women so where were the men. A sound like thunder answered this question. Some way towards the dessert but not as far as Achim's testing grounds was a large stretch of dry compacted earth around which a few huts had been made for storage purposes. Currently in the middle of the dry compacted earth were the entire human male population of the village save one or two acceptations. They presented an odd sight for now, most looked like proper soldiers. With well fitted chain shirts hung over padded leather armour to absorb the shock of blunt weapons, over the chain shirts were single piece white sleeveless tabards that hung most of the way to the floor, partly covering legs defended by a slightly cheaper version of their torso protection where patched of mail had be sewne directly onto the padding in critical areas. Upon their hands they wore rough cowhide gloves and the same upon their feet, both a light brown colour. Upon their heads they wore largely Norman style helmets, simple shallow cones with a nose guard but one or two had added face protection, oddly however all ears were exposed, the reason for which was not readily apparent. As for equipment they all possessed large wooden rectangular shields with a thin outer metal layer in turn covered by a white fabric to make army identification easy. At their sides they wore broadswords put they were also all equipped with spears.
Another group of people who looked properly equipped were wearing nearly identical clothes to their spear wielding counterparts save they wore the type of protection the more regular footmen wore only on their legs all over. These men stood slightly away from the first group and wore a broadsword at their side but lacked shield or spear, opting instead for a bow and quiver of arrows. The bowmen were in turn split into two, those who were roughly six foot in stature, strong and hard working had the larger, immensely difficult to draw long bow whilst the others were equipped with short bows, smaller equivalent of their big brothers and easier to use though shorter in range and less penetrating over long distances.
A third distinct group was present, quickly distinguished by the fact they were on horse back. The horses were un armoured but their riders most certainly were, they possessed full body chain mail protection and their helmets were like Sankt's as well. In fact they could easily be confused for Sankt, the main differences being that Sankt's arms were covered by his white robe, these people had no such clothing, merely the same sleeveless tabard the foot men all had nor did they have a white headdress wrapped around their helmets. They did however, posses identical shields and hand and a half swords specifically asked for of the blacksmith by Sankt but unlike Sankt they did not posses the lengthened strap needed to do that odd surprise of Sankt's. They did however, all have primitive lances which were effectively thicker, heavier, longer spears with a far more savage head to them.
It has been said however, that only most of the people present looked properly equipped. At the back of every group were people in civilian clothing with only rough wooden versions of their counterpart's equipment, looking like children's toys. These were men receiving the exact same treatment as their tooled up colleagues, the only difference being their equipment was still under production by the black smith and his team. The sound of thunder earlier was the sound of all the feet coming to attention mere moments before dismissal where upon they all began to swarm down into the village to see their families and do whatever it is they wanted to do with their evening. They had just gone through a hard day's drill, learning the various combat formations and their proper usage, Sankt was determined not to simply equip his men, form them up and send them forward, he was going to create a unique, highly skilled professional army, second to none and that he could use time and time again in other wars around the world if need be. Sankt had been personally training the men that day along with Ruld and Nusstai, Achim was currently oddly absent. Link was now approaching up the shallow hill, no longer upon crutches and passed through the mass of white robed warriors, occasionally receiving warm greetings from one or two, once he had reached Sankt Link said.
"Nice fellows you have there. Nice training as well, I have never seen some of the stuff you lot were doing."
Sankt nodded eagerly, an effort somewhat dampened due to his helmet before retorting.
"Indeed, hopefully the enemy will never have seen it either, when it comes to open warfare I think we are well trained, we just have to keep on drilling them, after that only combat can improve a man. We lack siege weapons though, we are going to need to do something about that if we want to assault clock town directly. Still, we are doing well. How is Midna by the way?"
Link sighed and scuffed his feet about for a moment, looking at the dusty earth, clearly not all was well. Eventually he managed to say.
"She, well. She still hates this place, the only reason she stays and occasionally helps is because she wants this business over as quickly as possible. Truth be told when your hold over her is gone I would not be surprised if she tried to kill you. I can't work with her like that, she is going crazy so I stay away. Any time I try to convince her you are not inherently evil she spurns me like I am a moron, not worthy of having my opinion considered."
He took a few steps away and turned his back on Sankt, not out of spite but out of sadness and frustration at Midna's actions, little did Link know however, that Midna was having doubts, very few true but what had been said thus far had some small effect upon her. Plus she was missing Link awfully, she had been doing so for years but know she knew that he was within easy reach and still the two could not come together because of this surprisingly trivial argument. After all it was not whether or not they could trust each other, though Link may still have issues there, but whether they could trust a third party. But in typical Midna style, although she recognised the whole thing was perhaps a tad overblown her stubbornness insisted that Link be the one to back down, even though she was the one with doubts not him. Sankt was of course utterly oblivious to all this and instead took a step towards Link and lay a reassuring hand upon his shoulder.
"Well, try to get her onside. Normally I would advise you stop paying attention to her all together but that option seems to cut both of you up rather roughly. Besides I actively want Midna on side, don't ask why call it instinct. As for how to do that, well I will need time to do some pondering."
Link nodded his head for a moment, it was true he did not want to turn away from Midna, in his heart of hearts he knew that she deserved it, that woman had injured him grievously but he also knew he did not want to turn away. He simply cared too much for such a logical response. After a while Link turned to Sankt and said.
"Why do you care about whether Midna is on board or not?"
Sankt snorted and shook his head.
"I said don't ask. I remember saying before however that it was like an instinct or a compulsion."
Link looked confused, as did Ruld but Nusstai was nodding beneath his hood slowly before he contributed.
"Yes, I get the same thing. Heavens know why though."
This only made Link look more confused, pointing a curious finger at Nusstai he said with a raised eye brow.
"You too? This makes no sense, if it were something to do with Zant and Sankt being kin, then that may make a shred of sense, only a shred though. But throwing you in with things really doesn't."
Nusstai shook his head in mutual confusion, everyone was just going to have to accept that this situation at present made no sense. Add to this the fact that the present company currently had no time to spend on idle chatter, it had been some time now since the last venture, Sankt believed that his identity trick would no longer work. Still, he was determined to gain as much popular support as possible. Hake had reliably informed Sankt that the Deku shrub people who dwelt far to the south were fiercely independent of the main town and that they had some truly unique abilities that would be more than useful. So Sankt resolved to talk to these people next. He had done enough drilling here for a while, and Hake would oversee that side of things whilst he was gone. Plus there was of course the ever watchful eye of Achim to make sure no one misbehaved. He was one of those sort of people who just knew if something was up, he could feel it in his bones.
So Sankt was able to leave the camp confident it would be defended, but not him. After all word must have reached his double that Sankt was about and causing mischief. Doubtless heavily armed patrols would be out looking for him. So he decided to take company with him. Link was an obvious choice, though not fully trusted he was of course an excellent fighter and during negotiations he just had an aura of amicability that made one and all near by instantly get along, well most of the time. Hake and Achim needed to stay at the camp and Ruld would just slow everyone down if a quick get away was in order. Nusstai was quick and reliable, so Sankt called him over as well and then the though of Midna hit him. He did not want to leave that little trouble maker alone, even if Achim was near by, plus exposure to his works and methods may convince her of his goodliness. He never pretended to be perfect but quite frankly Midna was pushing it. With a wave of the hand he dispatched a runner to go and find her, wherever she may be and bring her to the front gate. He went off in search of Urko and eventually found the great white horse staring intensely at Epona whilst she for her part walked around nervously, unable to think how to react to the situation. Walking up to his horse Sankt patted him gently and whispered in Urko's ear.
"Now now, you have to be nice to her. Come one, we've got work to do."
Vaulting up onto Urko he then rubbed the horses neck before walking him gently to the castle gate, he saw Link go into the makeshift stables to get Epona just as he was leaving. Nusstai upon his brown mare was already waiting at the gate, he was never one to hang about. Midna was also present, oddly she was sitting upon Nusstai's horse, just behind him side saddle and the pair were locked in what appeared to be earnest conversation. Sankt was surprised by this turn of events. He was also perplexed and even intrigued when the pair looked flustered when interrupted? What had they been doing? Something Sankt, or perhaps no one else was supposed to know about maybe? Sankt made a mental not to gently grill Nusstai latter, this was interesting after all. By the time Link arrived the pair had stopped their earnest whispering, looking as if they had never done anything of the ilk at all. Though Link was also confused as to why Midna was ridding side saddle with Nusstai, he came to the conclusion that it was the lesser of the evils. After all relations with Link and Sankt were hardly warm at the moment. So putting all these anoing little problems to the side for a moment the group rode out to the lush plains and then south, to the even lusher forest and swamp. The trip was uneventful rather oddly. Sankt had expected to be intercepted by some form of patrol but there was nothing. He smelt a trap, things were just plain too easy right now. Still, if it meant he could make good time so be it and with hard ridding in chilly silence the group were soon on the edges of the steaming swamp.