Chapter 5:
Meeting the Crew
Awaking in the inn he had rented in Chon'sin the previous night, Priam prepared for his first day of instructing.
He had always been told that he was very influential, but he never liked the idea of 'training others'. He had always felt that a man can only become a great warrior by walking his journey alone, not relying on the assistance of others. But this philosophy was proven wrong by being shown the full strength of Chrom's Shepherds. They had meager numbers, compared to his own army, but soundly defeated his men (himself included) through teamwork and determination. It is what inspired him to join them, to become part of one unit instead of a lone wolf.
He arrived at the army's camp and was informed on his new position by one of the lieutenants. He was to sleep in the quarters shown to him (it had too much furniture in it for his liking, he would have to change it later), he was told when meal times were, and what he was supposed to do; to train a group of privates into an elite unit, much like the Shepherds of Ylisse. The elite unit was to be called whatever Priam wished for it to be named, so he pondered it and said that he would come up with a name later.
"Very well," the lieutenant replied, "do you need anything else?"
"Just your name and occupation." Priam answered, holding out his hand.
"My name is Z'eldryn. As to what I do," he said as he pulled out a tome from his cloak, "I train the mages and dark mages. One of my trainees is going to be joining your team, from what I've heard." He shook Priam's hand.
"Sounds good, but I won't be going easy on him, just like the others I will train." He said with a smirk.
"I would have it no other way." He said with a nod, "enjoy the free time before you meet the team." he bowed and left Priam standing in front of his tent flap.
"free time..." Priam then went into his tent to remove unnecessary furniture including a bookshelf, a side table next to his cot, his cot (but not the bed roll, he had to sleep on something), his dresser, and the chest for holding valuables. All that remained in the room was his bed roll, chairs, a table, and his coat hanger. The rest of the furniture was outside to be hauled away later.
"That should do it," he patted his hands together to get the grime off. "I've got about an hour before my first training lesson, so why not train myself?"
He headed in the direction of the sparring arenas, passing many buildings along the way. He noticed that this camp was smaller that Ylisse's, but it still had the stuff he needed to feel at home, a place to eat, a place to train, and a place to rest. The camp had everything Ylisse had, except for his former comrades.
He had brought Ragnell with him to intimidate the new recruits and inspire awe in the group, and just in case there were no extra training weapons.
Seeing that the camp had an excess of training weapons, he placed Ragnell out of sight just in case a newcomer arrived early, he was right in assuming this. He had only been there training but for ten minutes when the first soldier arrived. She was an eager, energetic myrmidon girl. She has long black hair, tied in a pony tail, and was dressed in the typical myrmidon blue outfit. When she spotted Priam, she exploded with her introduction as quickly as she could, "Hi, I'm Tanuitia, but my friends call me Tia. I don't care what you call me, I'm just really...excited...TO BE HERE!" She was starting to get on his nerves, but she continued rambling, "Where are you from? I've never seen you around this neck of the woods, but I guess I don't know everybody, but I wish I could! What is your name?" Priam went to answer, but was cut off. "-you don't talk to much, do you? But the least you could do is say 'hello'. Like this, 'HELLLLLLOOOOO-" Priam instantly put his hand over her mouth to silence her. When she had stopped trying to talk through his hand, he spoke in a quiet tone, "Your first lesson, 'Silence is Golden'. You would have found me much more likeable if you had stopped to listen. My name is Priam, and I shall be training you and your fellow comrades. Now slowly answer my next question using a small amount of words, why are you early?"
He removed his had from her mouth and she spoke slowly, "I was eager to start, sir Priam. My whole life, I've wanted to be a great swords-mistress, like my cousin. I am sorry for my outburst earlier, but when I'm nervous, I just start blabbing away." She sighed as she recognized her flaw.
He grunted in approval, "Good. Then in that case, I would like to see how you handle a blade." He noticed that she had none and handed her a dulled training sword. Then, pointing to a training dummy, he explained, "get a few good swings in to practice before we begin our training, when your other comrades arrive, point them to the training weapons and tell them to get practicing as well. Make sure none of them speak to me. That is your first order."
She gave a few hops of excitement at realizing the importance of an order, but then took a serious face to salute Priam, "Right away, sir Priam." and she began attacking the dummy.
Before returning to his own training, he examined her attacks and critiqued them in his head. She certainly is eager. She lacks training with a blade, but is still full of a certain strength and gracefulness. She accidentally tapped her shoulder with the blade as she was swinging it and rubbed it in pain, I'll need to make sure she uses a bronze sword instead of a normal iron or steel sword. He resumed his training.
The next arrival was a man on horseback. He was young and seemed laid-back, as if nothing was really going to affect his small joy. He had brown hair, he was tan, and was in his late teens. He dismounted and waved to Tia, but was told exactly he told Tia to tell them. She follows orders to the letter. I'll have to remember that...
The young man gave her a quizzical look, but she simply pointed at Priam, who pretended he didn't notice, and she resumed her practicing.
The young man gave a shrug, picked up a lance and a sword, and started to practice. He constantly switched between sword and lance. He is trying to be balanced at everything, he is a lot like Stahl. He continued to watch them practice with his peripheral vision, observing every success and mistake they made to assess what kind of person they were.
As they continued, he heard two sets of flapping wings, one was the sound of a pegasi, the other sounded like a much, much larger one. As he widened his peripheral vision, he noticed a pegasus knight with Ylissean armor (it was common to see, because the pegasi flourished in Ylisse, so that explained the armor) She had silver hair and was around her late teens. But then, Priam was shocked to see a huge griffon with a small boy on top. The lad dismounted and Priam guessed his age was around Ricken's age when he had first met Ricken.
The two riders followed suit of the cavalier: they said hello to Tia, she informed them of what to do, they both shrugged at each other and began practicing.
He began examining them, They are probably brother and sister, seeing as that they bare such a strong resemblance to each other. He watched under the guise of training, the girl was taller than the average woman for her age, but not by much. Her white-silver hair matched her brother's. Priam saw that the sister had helped her little brother reach the axes, much to the boy's discomfort. She handled her lance well as he sensed an aura of magic energy surrounding her, She would be better off as a dark flyer in the future, and her brother, he turned to see the small boy swinging the huge training axe with much discomfort, he isn't going to be much of a problem, the griffon should carry the extra strength he needs to do some damage with that axe. And he seems attached to it, so we won't make any sudden changes with his class.
Two more arrived in the same fashion as the previous groups. There was a mage (Z'eldryn's protege, no doubt), and a knight. The mage was a young man in his early twenties clad in the typical mage attire (minus the hat). He wore a cocky smile on his face and walked with pride as his blonde mohawk flowed in the wind, I am definitely NOT going easy on him. He thought and then examined the lady-knight next to him. She dresses her hair much like Maribelle's. She had brown hair in curls all the way around with bows to hold them in place, but when she spoke, it was gruff like Sully. She seemed to hate when the others asked her about the hair, making him wonder what her parents are like.
He took a quick look at the roster, getting ready to do roll call, for that moment had come, but he noticed that he was one man short. He examined the roster twice more to make no mistake, but there was still one remaining.
He went back to his training in hopes that the last recruit would appear. Thirty minutes later, a mercenary-clad man stepped out onto the training fields. He was about the same height as Inigo, with hair that was a dark blue color, and he appeared very muscular, with a scar going down the left side of his face. His hair was longer than most, causing his hair to be slicked behind his head using a red bandana, removing the option of bangs altogether. But he wore a face of anger, and appeared very appalled by the others being there.
Tia tried to explain what Priam had ordered, not using his name, but he put his hand up to stop her from talking. "I know what you're going to say, alright? I don't want to hear you talking anymore." With that, he picked up a training sword and assaulted the training dummy.
He is impressive with a blade, Priam thought to himself, but he is also extremely tense toward his comrades, and I don't like loners. I'll have to 'unwind' him in the weeks ahead.
Priam, finding all soldiers accounted for, called them to attention. "shoulder-to-shoulder line!" The group dropped their training weapons back on the shelves of weapons and formed a straight line.
He then picked up the roster and walked to the start of the line where the cavalier stood.
"Name, class, and class rank." he barked at the young man.
"Jack, Cavalier, level 3, Sir." he replied in a shout.
"Have you seen much battle?" Priam asked, he had one question for each of them, each different.
"Only the occasional Risen that plagued our town, sir. So only three skirmishes." He said as if defeated.
Priam stepped forward, "Name, class, and class rank." he barked at the next person in line.
"Aramis, Mage, and I'm at level 7, sir." He said in a cocky manner, pounding his chest,. Priam found it irritating.
"Is Z'eldryn a good teacher?" Priam asked.
"Uh..." Aramis was completely confused of how this man could have known his tutor. "Y-yes, he is but... how do you know him? He is not well known outside the mages."
Priam ignored him and moved on, "Name, class, and class rank." he barked again, this time to the pegasus knight.
"Clarisa, Pegasus knight, level 5, sir." She sounded a bit like Cordelia with her affirmative.
"Do you visit Ylisse in the spring with your brother?" he asked in a casual tone. The others looked at each other, wondering what these questions had to do with fighting.
"No sir," she said with a sigh of longing, "we only visit for diplomatic reasons. I've heard it is beautiful in the spring..."
"Did you meet this fine steed there?" he asked and pointed to the pegasus behind her, eating grass.
"Y-yes sir." she said with a stutter, "how do you know these things?"
He moved on, "Name, class, and class rank." he bent over to the boy next to her.
"Nathaniel, Griffon Rider, level 1 sir." he replied and attempted to deepen voice and stand taller. The others snickered. While the boy had a slightly deeper voice than Ricken, it was only that, slightly.
"Where do you see yourself in five years?"
"What?" he said with a chuckle, "what kind of question is that?" Priam shot him a serious look. The rider quickly realized the import of this quiz and replied, "I am hoping that, under strong guidance, I will become strong and tall."
Priam moved on, satisfied with the answer he received. "Name, class, and class rank." he called out.
"Helen, milord." She attempted to speak like a noble, and she was doing fairly well. But Priam heard her speak to her friends faintly, and knew it was not her real voice. "Knight, level 6."
"Why do you speak in a voice that doesn't belong to you?" He asked with a serious face.
She was astonished, and dropped the charade. "My parents are of noble lineage here, they figured if I talked and looked like a damn noble, then I would move up easier in this team. I'm sorry if I offended you."
"Name, class, and class rank." he barked at the last person in the line. He seemed a little more gruff with this young man, hoping to show that he was irritated by his lack of respect.
"Raphael, Mercenary, level 10... Do I win the prize?" He said in an annoyed, sarcastic tone.
"What excuse do you have for being late?" Priam inquired loudly, as to demand respect.
"Get off my case. I was late because I couldn't find my shoulder armor," he patted on the armor on his right side, "SOMEONE," looking at Aramis, "thought it would be funny to place a spell on it so that every time I got close, it would shock me."
"It wore of after five minutes..." muttered Aramis, who was a little upset that he ratted him out.
Priam was still upset with the young man, not exactly sure why, but he let it slide. He then set up a table. They were all still standing in the formation, when he placed a log on the table upright. He then stood on the opposite side of the table, with the recruits on the other side.
"I have been placed in charge of this little band of misfits," Some of them frowned and showed discomfort at hearing 'misfits'. "to turn you into an elite unit capable of extraordinary things. For us to be great, we must be basic. Consider yourself a novice. Forget all that you have learned, combat-wise. You are now part of a team and you will learn to fight-" he leaned to Raphael, "-as a team. No longer as a solo unit."
After he had finished his short speech, he picked up Ragnell from where it was hidden and unsheathed it. The group was astonished, their eyes were as big as dragonstones. Even Raphael showed interest, which surprised Priam.
He pointed Ragnell at the log that was upright on the table, raised it to strike, and made three swings "Hyah, Rrargh, Yyyah!"; two horizontal, and one vertical.
A couple of them stifled a laugh, Clarisa let out a sigh, and Raphael changed his expression of impression to depression. Aramis let out a hearty laugh.
"HAHAHA! You think that you're so great, but you didn't even touch the log! HAHAHA!" It was true, the log did appear untouched.
"Are you sure?" Priam said as he moved to the side of the table. Looking directly at Aramis, he snapped his fingers and the log fell to six pieces as if it were divided up by two horizontal swings and one vertical. Perfectly clean cuts. A look of awe passed over each of their faces.
"My name is Priam. Descendant of the Radiant Hero, Ike. And I am going to turn you all into soldiers." He said with pride, "our meet-and-greet time is up, so don't expect to see it this easy from here on out. Lunch is in a couple minutes, do not rush eating. When the hour of lunch is over, return here for your first training exercises. And bring towels to wipe up the sweat and blood. DiiiisMISSED" He smirked, saluted, and left them so he could train.
After he had left, Aramis was the first to speak. "There is no way that buffoon descended from Ike!" he huffed, "he is too full of himself."
"On the contrary, I think he is what he claims." said Jack, who was already on his way to the mess tent.
"I still think my cousin could beat him in a fight," Tanuitia declared, "but he still has my respect, my cousin talks a lot about how noble he was in the Fell-Dragon War. What about you, Raphael?" Raphael didn't hear Tanuitia, and remained staring at where Priam once stood.
"Hey, we'd better get going," said Nathaniel, "the food will get cold and I still need to feed Ashnard," he motioned towards the griffon who replied with an eagle's screech. "he gets quite moody if he doesn't eat."
"Well, seeing as Jack left us to eat, we should join him to make his meal more comfortable." Clarisa said with a smile.
"Let's go," Helen continued, "if I don't eat soon, I ALSO get moody."
They all left for the mess tent except Raphael, who was still standing where they were in formation. He sighed out of relief, "...I can't believe it..." he said under his breath with a smile. and headed up toward the mess tent with the others.
HEY!...Thank you everyone for your reviews and follows! Because just when I think that this story ain't doing so good, I get a review, or a follow, or a favorite.
I just want to do a quick summary of each character (if you don't really want to hear my opinions on the characters, just skip to the bottom):
Tanuitia: I forget where I got this name, but I really couldn't find a better one... She obviously is extremely perky and next chapter will reveal why she wants to be a myrmidon so badly.
Jack: Yeah, he is quite a bit like Stahl, laid back, always hungry, and a cavalier, but there is a major difference in him that we will get to in much later chapters. Just saying, he is more like Brock from the Pokemon anime.
Clarisa: For this character, I basically copied Cordelia. It will be revealed later who she has a crush on. She tends to baby her little brother, even at his protests.
Nathaniel: I had a friend named Nathaniel and I figured this would be a good name in this series. He is treated like a child by everyone except Jack and Priam, who understand the strength you must have to control a griffon. (Yes, I named it Ashnard... I was running out of names...)
Helen: I haven't really developed this character that well... She is going to be majorly conflicted for the rest of the story, jumping between her noble self and her true self. She may encourage betting in one moment, and then get on to Aramis for arm-pit farts the next moment. This brings us to our next character...
Aramis: This was the name of one of the Three Musketeers. This musketeer was the one that never wanted to fight, yet fought anyway. So this character should have been named Porthos, but that doesn't sound like the name of a mage, does it? He is pretty confident in his magical prowess and doesn't back down from a challenge. He obviously still doesn't respect Priam, but he will come around eventually.
Raphael: This guy is going to be a challenge to write... I've tried to design him to be like Raphael from TMNT, specifically the series from the early 2000s. He eventually will become the second protagonist in this story, following his thoughts and actions in later chapters.
I just want to say thanks again for opening this story. I'm still looking for ideas for other first-gen parent pairings. If you have an idea, feel free to share it. PM me anytime, I will quite literally talk to anyone (unless you are a fish, me and fish are on no-speaking terms at the moment...). Leave a review of what you liked, disliked, or what I should work on as a novice writer. Feedback is always appreciated.
Have an excellent day!
~TheSearcherer
(P.S. Happy Birthday, Olivia!)