The Archknight dismounted and walked over. “Now, now, young Jaymes. Relax,” he said, inviting Jaymes to stand at ease. When the young man did so, he continued, “there are fifty men standing guard. I am placing you in charge.”
For a moment, just the thought of commanding fifty men, most of them older and more experienced, frightened Jaymes speechless. After briefly considering running away, then just as quickly banishing it, he licked his lips and nervously said, “Yes, sir, right away, sir.”
The Archknight only smiled and watched as Jaymes donned his chain-mail armor, sheathed his hand and a half sword, then walked off toward his first command.
After a few steps, Jaymes turned and inquired, “Is this my father's request?” He phrased the question politely.
The adjutant chuckled, “No, it's my order.”
“Thank you, Sir Garan.” Jaymes said, just as polite as before. As he turned on his heel and walked off, the older knight smiled. One day that young man will make a fine Grand Master.
As the young novitiate walked up where his men were, he paused a moment to watch them building a palisade. Since time immemorial, the knights had always carried their fortifications with them, while on patrol, or when traveling. Each unit carried enough wooden poles to build an enclosed area twenty foot by twenty foot, where they could sleep, eat, and relax, while not leaving themselves opened to night attacks by enemy forces.
He watched his men work for a few minutes, and noted that some of them were technically his superiors, but for tonight, he was their leader. Upon noticing him standing there, they stopped what they were doing and came to attention.
This has got to be a test, Jaymes thought as he looked around, noticing errors in the layout. Like every other initiate, he had studied the correct way to set up a camp, how to set up a defense, how to fight in close quarters, and where to put the lookouts, and this camp didn't look right.
“As you were,” he stated as he looked around. So be it. If it's a test, I'm going to fix this mess. If not, I'm going to ream them new ones. “This camp needs to be fixed.” He stated, looking around again. “The command tent is in the wrong place, the horses are set up on the wrong side of the palisade, and the mess tent is facing the wrong way.” He gestured toward the offending items. “Now, let's get this fixed before someone shows up and embarrasses us.” He watched as the men looked at each other, and then nodded.
“Aye sir,” a Shroud Knight said as he turned to the rest of the men. “See, I told you that this wouldn't work. Let's get this fixed before he does.” The other men grumbled amongst themselves, but did as they were told.
“Oh, by the way,” Jaymes commented, “If you ever mess up this bad again, I'll make you take down the whole palisade and start over again. Is that understood?”
“Aye, sir.” The men replied as they hurried back to work.
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