Service to Namor

Enlistment

 

    ‘I hate farming.’ Savious thought as he reached out to pull another ear of corn off the stalk.  The summer was coming to an end, and the days were getting shorter and shorter.  Savious looked across the field and could see trees on the far side next to the river.  “Father, how much longer are we going to work tonight?”  Savious asked.

 

   “We’ll keep going until we get this field done.  It shouldn’t take us but a few more hours.” He replied.

 

   Savious continued picking the corn, pulling the ears off, dropping them into a sack, then moving down to the next stalk.  As the sun began to set in the distance, a long shadow was cast upon the field.  Being plunged into darkness Savious looked up to see what caused the shadow even though he already knew.  There in the distance, on the hill over his village stood the castle of Lord Roche.  ‘The Army,’ Savious thought, ‘Soldiers don’t pick corn.’

 

   “Father,”

 

   “Yes Savious.”

 

   “I’ve been thinking about something.”

 

   “Thinking about what?” he replied.

 

   “Well, I was just thinking;” Savious paused, “I’m thinking about joining the Army.”

 

   “Really?”

 

   “Yea.”

 

   “Well, then perhaps we should talk instead of picking corn.  Let’s go ahead and call it a night.” His father replied.

 

   ‘Oh shit,’ Savious thought ‘now I’ve gone and done it.’  All summer, Savious had thought about joining the Army, watching the soldiers march past their farm, singing songs, and generally in a good mood.  Savious couldn’t help but wonder, what was so hard about it.  Then when Savious would go into town for some errand, he would see the ladies of the castle, wearing their long dresses, and looking very seductive.  Savious wanted it, he wanted to be a part of it, and now, he just told he father so.

 

   Savious’s Father reached the edge of the field before him, and even though the sun had already set, Savious could see that his father’s facial expressions weren’t pleasant.  It wasn’t anger, but sadness, Savious knew that his father wanted him to stay with him, and work the farm.  But Savious didn’t want to be a farmer, he wanted something else.  Reaching his father, he turned and started walking towards the barn.

 

   “Why?” Savious’s father asked.

 

   “Because I want to be noble.”  Savious said.

 

   “Nobles may live the life of luxury, but it is an empty degenerative life.  Farming may never have suited you; but do you really want to be a Noble?”

 

   “Yes father, I do.  I want to serve, and become a citizen of the Empire.”

 

   “You know that life as a peasant is much simpler, and generally speaking you live longer.  Even if they allowed you to become a noble, you still have to start as a soldier.  Soldiers get killed, I swear sometimes I think the only reason we fight wars is to kill off young men. Then there will be more women to serve the Nobles.”

 

   “Yes father, I know that soldiers die sometimes.  But I also know that Nobles live in luxury with slaves to warm their beds.  And one must serve in the Army before they are allowed to become a Noble.”

 

   “This is true,” Savious’s father replied “but while one is in the Army being a soldier, they must also kill.  Have you really thought about all the aspects of being a soldier, the fighting, the carnage, and killing?  Or did you only think about the teenage girl sucking your dick whenever you want?”

 

   “I don’t know, I guess I’ve thought about it.  But anyway I want to join, I’m tired of farming, and the thought of doing this for the rest of my life scares me more than death.”

 

   “You know that if you don’t like farming, I could speak to one of the tradesman in town; a blacksmith perhaps or maybe a baker?”

 

   “No father, I want to be a Noble, not a baker or blacksmith.” Savious replied.

 

   “You also realize that the Nobles must govern their lands, settle disputes, and protect their peasants.  Do you really want that kind of responsibility?”

 

   “Father, every day for the past few weeks, I’ve stood out here picking crops.  The whole time I’ve looked up at that castle and wondered what it would be like to live there.  Some may not have the ambition to try, but I do, I want to live in a castle, my castle, I want to have a dozen slaves to serve me, I want to live nicely, I want to be a Noble.  And the really great thing is, that here, in Namor, I can become one.”

 

   Savious dropped his bag of corn at the door of the barn, and looked at his father.  His father dropped his bag of corn and leaned in to hug his son.  “I may not agree with your decision, but I still love you, and I’ll love you always.”

 

   “I know dad, and I love you too.”  Savious said, while returning his fathers hug.

 

   “Then I guess you’ll be enlisting tomorrow?” his father said.

 

   “Well, father, tomorrow is the first of the month and Soldiers can only enlist on the first.”  Savious said.

 

   The next morning, Savious woke up early, excited at the prospects that await him.  Building a fire in the stove he placed a pot of water on top to heat up.  Savious reached into the cupboard and pulled out a jar full of coffee grounds.  Coffee was expensive, but it was an expense he would gladly pay.  Years ago his father had introduced him to coffee, it was one habit that stuck. 

 

   Taking his cup of coffee out side, Savious took a chair and sat down on the front porch.  Slowly he began to drink the cup, and watch the sun rise over the fields. 

 

 

   Shortly afterwards his father joined him on the porch with his own cup.  “I guess you’ll be heading for the castle soon.”

 

   “Yea, I may not like farming, but this has been my home, and I kind of wanted to watch the sun rise on it one last time.”

 

   “Last time?  Are you planning on never coming home to visit?”

 

   Savious laughed “Your right father, I’m treating this as if I’m leaving forever, but I’m not.  Soldiers come home, and when I become a noble, I’ll come back and rule this village.”

 

   “Well I don’t know about ruling this village, but I sure hope you come back to visit at least.”

 

   “I will dad, I love you, thanks for everything, and I’ll be back.”

 

   Savious stood up; finishing his coffee he set the empty cup down and walked off the porch, across the lawn to the road, turned left and headed towards the castle.

 

   Savious’s home had always been right on the edge of the town Terre, no one actually lived out by themselves, things just weren’t like that.  A small river wound it’s way around a hill and then out through the flat lands.  Terre was nestled up against this hill with the castle at the top.  As Savious crossed one of the bridges over the river heading in to town he began his walk up the hill.

 

   Reaching the castle several soldiers stood guarding the gatehouse to the drawbridge.  One of the soldiers hollered “What’s your business here?”

 

   “Well I’ve come to join the army.”  Savious said.

 

   “Bout time, I was beginning to think this whole town was full of gutless wimps.  We haven’t had any recruits for over eight months.”  The Soldier bellowed.

 

   “Really?” Savious said questionably

 

   “Yup” The Soldier replied, “But it makes no difference, we’ll get you signed up.  SERGEANT DIRNE!”

 

   Across the drawbridge an older soldier emerged and started walking towards them.  Reaching the gatehouse he stepped over to the soldier, “Pipe down O’Riley Lord Roche could hear you as loud as you’re yelling.  Now what do you want?”

  

   “Sorry Sergeant Dirne, but we have a new recruit.”

 

   Sergeant Dirne looked over at Savious eyed him up and down a bit, “So you want to join the Imperial Army?”

 

   “Yes Sir; I mean Yes Lord.”  Savious responded.

 

   “You had it right the first time, only nobles are referred to as Lord.  Sergeants and Men at Arms are called Sir.  You best get used to it sooner rather than later or you’ll have hell to pay.  Anyway, follow me in and I’ll get you an audience with Lord Roche.”  Sergeant Dirne said.

 

   Sergeant Dirne turned and started to walk back across the drawbridge into the castle.  Savious quickly followed him across into the forbidden castle.  Savious had never been inside, and truthfully this was closer than he had ever been before.  As he walked up and under the great arch leading inside Savious looked up at the stonework and wondered how and who built it.

 

   Once inside Sergeant Dirne turned to the left and started to head down a hallway.  Savious looked around a noticed the floors were made of stone cut very smooth and laid together extremely tight.  The walls were also made of stone, with a large stone arch above.  There were wooded beams and supports in a few places, but you could tell the bulk of the structure was built from stone.

 

   Sergeant Dirne turned another corner and started to head up some stairs.  Reaching the top, he opened a door and stepped through.  As Savious followed he finally saw what it was like to live as a noble.  They entered a vast room fully fifty feet across and one hundred feet long.  Large stone columns rose from the floor into arches across the ceiling holding everything up.  Thick rugs were laid out across the floor so that one didn’t have to walk on the cold stone.  Fire places every twenty feet lined the long walls.  On the far side of the room there was a large stained glass mural of a soldier holding a blood stained sword, and naked women at his feet.  Under the stained glass there was a small platform with a fancy chair.

 

   And women, lots of women were there.  Naked women chained to the pillars, women in cages, women bound to each other, women walking around doing things, women cooking on the fires.  Some were naked others were wearing something that sorta looked like a dress.  It was a dress of course, except it had a slit running up the front left leg; from the hem to the waist line.  From there it turned into something like a corset which stopped just under their breasts.  After that things changed slightly.  Some had chains running up to collars, others had cloth or straps of leather, but none covered a single tit.  Every single woman in the room had her breasts exposed.  It of course was the same outfit that Savious had seen before, except they always wore a long blouse as well when they were in public to cover their wonderful breasts.  It didn’t take long for Savious to realize he was looking at the infamous slaves.

 

   Savious’s jaw would have falling all the way to the ground, except his dick sprang up so fast that it blocked the fall.

 

   Sergeant Dirne looked over at Savious “I had the same reaction, but you need to pull yourself together.”  He said.

 

   “Yes Sir.” Savious mumbled back.

 

   Sergeant Dirne signaled a man standing nearby over, whispered something in his ear and then looked back at Savious.  “This is Man at Arms Avaya, he’ll take care of you from here.” He told Savious.

 

   “Yes Sir.”

 

   “Son follow me and try to act as if nothing else is going on.”  The Man at Arms told Savious.

 

   “Yes Sir.”  Savious replied.

 

   As Savious followed the Man at arms down the big room, he looked over at one of the columns.  A nude slave girl’s arms were shackled to a ring over her head stretching them up tight.  She also had shackles on her ankles, and chains pulled her legs wide apart.  There was another woman, dressed in black leather straps crisscrossing back and forth; running all over her body, yet somehow her nipples and pussy were still exposed.  The woman in leather was leaning in next to the shackled slave girl, she appeared to be whispering something in her ear, but in her other hand she had a whip, but she wasn’t holding it right.

 

   As Savious walked closer to the two women he noticed that the one dressed in leather had the handle of the whip shoved up the shackled girls’ pussy.  The woman in leather was fucking the shackled girl with the whip handle.  In and out she was driving it.

 

   “You like things in your pussy don’t you.” The leather woman said.

 

   “Yes Mistress.”  The shackled slave said with a trembling voice.

 

   “Tonight, for punishment, I’m going to give you to first platoon.  They have thirty six men in their ranks right now.”  The leather bound woman said.

 

   “No Mistress, please don’t, I can’t handle that many.”  She pleaded with a slight hint of fear in her voice.

 

   “Oh, you can and you will;” She continued “You are going to get fucked hard and long, one cock after another, after another, and another.”

 

   “I’m sorry Mistress, I’ll never do it again, I promise...”  She continued, but Savious was no longer close enough to hear.  He desperately wanted to turn around, go back and listen and watch but the Man at Arms was walking and he had to follow.  What could a slave do that is so bad to get that as punishment he wondered?

 

   Shortly after words, the Man at Arms reached one of several doors at the far end.  Knocking on the door he stepped back and waited.

 

   “Yes,” a voice came from the other side.

 

   “Lord, sorry to bother you, but we have a peasant who wishes to enlist.” The Man at Arms said.

 

   “Really?”  The voice said

 

   “Yes Lord.”  The Man at Arms said.

 

   Savious heard a chair scooting, a man walking, and then the door opened.  There in the door stood a man, who looked his father’s age.  Grey hair, small scars on the face, a full bead with some grey in it as well.  But besides that he looked to be a very powerful man; standing tall and confident in his uniform.  Savious knew this was Lord Roche, of the village Terre.  “Well then perhaps I should go to my throne.”  Lord Roche said.

 

   Lord Roche walked over and stepped up onto the small platform that had the big luxurious chair centered on it.  There were four slave girls on the platform already, two on each side.  They appeared to be chained by their collar to a single point on each side of the chair.  All four of the slave girls were completely nude.  As Lord Roche set down he ran his hand down the back of one of the slaves on the right; “Exhibit.” he commanded.  Turning away from Lord Roche she went down on all fours, bowed her head to the floor exposing her pussy directly to Lord Roche.

 

     Looking over at the two on the left he said “Perform” Immediately the two on the left laid down kissing each other while their hands explored the others body.  Fingers instantly found wet cunts to penetrate and nipples to caress.  Then reaching over to the one remaining slave on the right, he placed his hand behind her neck and said; “Service.”  The slave scooted in closer to Lord Roche and began massaging his cock through his uniform.

 

   Reaching down Lord Roche started to rub the pussy of the slave bent over.  “Well, Man at Arms, proceed.”  He howled.

 

   “Lord, this young man has requested to enlist in the Imperial Army.”  The Man at Arms said.

 

   “Young man, what is your name?”  Lord Roche asked.

 

   Savious looked up at Lord Roche, he could see the slave bent over rocking back and forth on his hand.  Even though he couldn’t see, he was sure that Lord Roche now had a couple of fingers crammed up her cunt, and she was fucking them.  “My Lord, I am Savious.” He responded.

 

   “Savious what?”

 

   “Just Savious Lord.”

 

   “Where are you from?”  Lord Roche asked.

 

   “I grew up here in Terre, my Lord.”  Savious answered; while trying not to watch the two women lying on the floor.  One of them had rolled on her back and spread her legs apart, allowing the other to finger her pussy better.

 

   “Is your father a citizen?”  Lord Roche asked, as his fingers started to really drive into the slave’s cunt.

 

   “No my Lord, my father is a peasant, a farmer.”  Savious said while he watched the slave that had been rubbing Lord Roche’s cock, unbutton his pants pulling his cock out into the air, only to cover it again with her lips.

 

   “Well, you can’t have only one name and serve in the Imperial Army, you could go by Savious Terre, since you were born here.  Or you could take your father’s name in addition, the choice is yours.”

 

   “Then I shall go by William Savious, Lord.”

 

   “Very well, William Savious do you have any idea at all, about what it means to serve the Empire, to be a soldier, or a Noble?”  Lord Roche pressed on.

 

   Savious could see the slave rocking back and forth, driving her pussy back harder, pushing Lord Roche’s fingers in deeper and deeper.  It was obvious that she was nearing an orgasm.  Savious could see the other slave’s head bobble up and down slightly while she sucked Lord Roche’s dick.  Looking over he could see the slave lying on her back had now taken the others tit in her mouth and was sucking on it.  Summoning up all of his courage, he responded.  “My Lord, I have grown up a poor farmer, for years I have worked the fields for a few ounces of silver a year, and for years I have watched the pretty women be sold off into slavery so that nobles, like yourself, could enjoy them.  Lord I wish to be a Noble, I wish to live in a castle like you enjoying good food, and warm nights.  I want to command men in battle, become wealthy and powerful.  And I hope that some day, I can watch two women making love while I have a beautiful slave fucking my fingers and sucking my dick whenever I want.”

 

   “Now that is probably the most honest reason yet that I have ever heard to join the Army.  I’ll warn you however;” Lord Roche said as the slave fucking his fingers exploded in a scream of ecstasy and slid off his hand to the floor.  “That all of this enjoyment comes with a price, you can not simply take the position of Lord with all of it’s enjoyment without paying the price in responsibility.  William Savious, if you still wish to serve you must swear to protect the innocent, defend the citizens of the Empire, uphold and enforce the codes of the confederacy.”  Lord Roche said.

 

   “I do my lord.” Savious said.

 

   Two days later the train came to a stop; Savious knew they had arrived at Camp Fury.  Looking back over the past couple of days, it was hard for Savious to imagine that so much happened over such a short period of time.  After Lord Roche swore him in, the Man at Arms put him on the first train out with Sergeant Dirne.  Evidently Sergeant Dirne was to ensure that Savious made it to the induction center.  The best Savious could figure, was that everyone who enlisted went to the induction center then from there they went to their training location.

 

   A large man who looked like he never had a happy day in his life boarded the train and looked down the car.  In a loud booming voice he yelled “YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO GET OFF MY TRAIN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN...” by then everyone realized they needed to get moving.  Hurriedly everyone started to grab their stuff and head for a door.  “FIVE, FOUR...” The man continued, Savious looked forward, six people were in front of him, there was absolutely no way he was going to make it.  Reaching over he opened a window threw his stuff out and dove through.

 

   “ONE!” The voice boomed behind him as he flew through the air to land on the ground with a thud.  “WHO THE FUCK JUST DIVED OUT THE WINDOW!” Savious heard as he stood up.  Looking over he saw the large man walking straight towards him.

 

   “I did, Sir.”  Savious said, feeling reassured in saying sir instead of lord since he was wearing the same rank as Sergeant Dirne did.

 

   “AND JUST WHY DID YOU DIVE OUT OF MY WINDOW!”

 

   “Because I was told to exit your train in 10 seconds sir, and I didn’t want to fail.”  Savious said.

 

   “Good, now everyone else, you have 10 seconds to get back on my train.  TEN, NINE, EIGHT...”  Savious watched as the remainder of the group tried to board, exit, board, exit, board and exit again, before they finally made it.  On the last trip, several people dove out the window.

 

   “Everyone line up, I want four rows of soldiers, one arms length apart.  Good, now I am Drill Sergeant Richards; for the next six months I will be teaching you how to be an Infantryman.  Our commander is Knight Remos, he is a Lord.  Now for you numb nuts that don’t know rank, a Squire commands a Platoon, a Knight commands a Company, a Baron commands a Battalion, a Count commands a Regiment, and a Duke commands a Legion.  Dukes answer to the Emperor.  You are Warriors, you will fight, the smallest unit is a team, teams are three warriors and a team leader.  A Corporal will be the team leader, and he commands team, 3 teams make a squad, Sergeants command squads, and three squads make a platoon.  3 Platoons make a company, get the picture.”

 

   “Um, I have a question” a voice from the back said.

 

   “SHUT THE FUCK UP, First off, YOU address any and all NCO’s, that’s Non Commissioned Officer’s, as SIR.  Corporals, Sergeants, and Men at Arms are NCO’s.”  Drill Sergeant Richards yelled.  “Now, it is my job to teach you how to fight, and how to act like soldiers.  While you stay here, I will be your platoon squire, but you do not address me as Lord.  You will elect your sergeants.  It will be Knight Remos’s job to teach you why we fight.  I will get you at 0400 hours in the morning, then Knight Remos will get you from 0900 hours until 1300 hours, every day.  Then you belong to me again until I get tired.”

 

   “First thing first, we need a place to live.  So everyone let us start building a barracks.”

 

   Savious was beginning to think he made a very huge mistake.  It took them three days to build their barracks.  On the second night it rained something fierce, and being that winter was setting in, it wasn’t a warm rain, it was cold.  After sleeping in that everyone seemed a bit more motivated to finish the next day.

 

   Training, was training, they learned about rifles how to shoot rifles, how to clean rifles, how to fight with a rifle when it doesn’t have ammunition.  They learned about formations, how to stand in formation, how to fight in formation, how to travel in formation.  Ambushes, traveling over watch, sitting over watch, traveling under watch, bounding, cover, concealment, rally points, assembly areas, avenues of approach, grazing fire, suppressive fire and on and on and on.  Savious had no idea that being an Infantryman was so complicated.  One good thing, Savious finally found out that the songs he heard the soldiers’ singing wasn’t songs, but cadence.  Soldiers sing cadence to make sure they stay in step.  But it was still fun.

 

   The thing Savious really liked the most though was their four hour block of instruction with Knight Remos.  As time went on, Savious began to understand more and more of how Namor worked.

 

   “Lord Remos,” a recruit asked one day in class “how can a civilization that teaches and practices freedom condone slavery?”

 

   “What do you mean by that recruit?”

 

   “Well, citizens and nobles have the right to bear arms, everyone has the right of religion, freedom of the press, right to trial by jury, and such.  We practice democracy, we elect our corporals, the corporals elect their sergeants.  Squires and knights are appointed and then confirmed, but then knights elect their barons.  Even the emperor is elected by the dukes.  We have the Senate to represent the citizens, and they are elected.  Namor is a great country, things are fair, and we are free to do anything we want; but we have slaves.  That just doesn’t make since.”  Said the recruit

 

   “Recruit that is a very good, if not long winded question.  So let me ask all of you this.  Does anyone know how Namor started to practice slavery?”  Lord Remos paused for a while, then after no one answered; “No, well then I guess we need to change our class today to history.  You see, before the time of chaos, man was very advanced technologically.  Mankind had machines that flew in the air, vehicles that traveled hundreds of miles an hour, communication equipment that allowed a people to talk as if they were standing next to each other, even though they were separated by the ocean.”

 

   “What happened Lord?” another recruit asked.

 

   “The governments forgot who they serve.  Governments exist to serve the citizens, and only the citizens.  Our purpose is to protect the Empire, and the citizens.  Everything we do is for that purpose.  We enforce laws, laws that protect the citizens; we defend the boarders from enemies who wish to harm our citizens.  That is why we are elected by our subordinates instead of appointed by our superiors.”

 

   “The prior government forgot that lesson, they became more and more oppressive and eventually the people rebelled.  After the rebellion the entire world ended up in a state of anarchy, a total absence of government.  Any person could do anything, without fear of punishment.  Of course, if you did something that pissed off someone who was bigger than you, then you would most likely get killed for it, but they wouldn’t be punished either.”

 

   “Lord, how could a rebellion cause the whole world to collapse?”  Another recruit asked.

 

   “Well, the biggest reason was the money.  You see today we use gold and silver for our currency right.  Well, then they didn’t, they had what is called a fiat system.  They printed money on paper and said it was valuable.  As long as the governments stayed in tack it was because the government said it was.  But when the governments collapsed the value of the money also collapsed, people who were wealthy found themselves desolate.”  

 

   “After many years without any structure the world descended into a dark age.  Technology was lost; the knowledge of how things worked was lost.  To make matters worse, certain natural resources needed were near depletion.  Which in turn prevented us from even rediscovering how something was done.  Then along came Jonathan Ardus, the first Emperor.  Emperor Ardus was taught by his grandfather; who was a soldier from the old times, and he was also a philosopher and historian.  Armed with the knowledge from his grandfather’s teachings, he knew things others didn’t.  Emperor Ardus managed to collect together enough men and created a small army; sure it was less than a battalion by our standards today, but having that many men working together then was quite an accomplishment.  With his Army Emperor Ardus managed to carve out a small section of land next to the Mississippi River for his soldiers and their families to live in.”

 

   “Everything was fine, until word got out about a safe haven, and then all of a sudden people from all over wanted to immigrate in.  Namor, wasn’t large enough to support everyone, and the empire had to expand in both land and military.  Then as the empire expanded, a crime problem arose.  The empire wasn’t large enough, and it wasn’t generating enough money to support a police force dedicated solely to fighting crime.  So he used the soldiers to protect the empire, by catching the criminals.  Once the criminals were caught and tried, they had to be punished.  Once again Emperor Ardus didn’t have enough manpower to have someone dedicated exclusively to their punishment.  So the criminals were assigned to people he trusted, the officers in the Army.  The officers were instructed to work the criminals harder than they had ever been worked before; and punitive slavery was born.  As the empire grew, the officer’s had to be appointed over other officers, using a bit of history Emperor Ardus resurrected the titles of nobility; knight, Baron, count, duke, and Emperor. ”

 

   “OK, my Lord, but then how did we get the other slaves?”  The original recruit asked.

 

   “Well, that too was simple.  One day at a trial that Emperor Ardus was holding a woman came before him for stealing something insignificant.  She confessed to the crime right away, so it was a simple matter of sentencing her.  But Emperor Ardus had never had a woman commit a crime before, and quite truthfully he hadn’t even thought about it.  But as he looked at her he could tell that she was poor and hungry.  Emperor Ardus asked to see her in private, and once she entered his private chambers she dropped to her knees and begged him to be forgiving, that she would do any task that he commanded, ANY task.  Emperor Ardus immediately saw a problem.  Can anyone tell me what it was?”

 

   After a minute or so, Savious raised his hand; “Lord.”

 

   “Go ahead Savious, what do you think.”

 

   “Well Lord, it is obvious that she was willing to perform sexually for the Emperor.  And since she was poor, hungry and confessed; she probably committed the crime solely to get caught.  I would imagine that a slave would still be clothed and feed, and if one wasn’t clothed and feed they would commit a crime to obtain those essentials.” 

 

   “Absolutely correct Savious, that was one of the problems before the time of chaos.  People who had no way to support themselves or people who couldn’t figure out a way to support themselves would commit crimes so the state would take care of them.  Savious see me after class.”  Knight Remos said.

 

   This puzzled Savious, because in the four months of training so far no one had been asked to stay after class.

 

   “Emperor Ardus realized also that this woman committed a crime only to obtain food, clothing, and shelter.”  Knight Remos continued.  “So Emperor Ardus imposed a new decree in the Articles of Confederation, the slave codes.  Under the slave codes, any person who is convicted of a crime shall be sentenced to a term of slavery, the term of slavery shall start from the moment of auction with the proceeds from the auction going to the injured party.  This way, the criminal is punished, the victim gets some retribution, and it costs the government nothing.  Further under the slave codes, any person may volunteer to be auctioned as a gratis slave; no permanent injury may be committed against a gratis slave, and the proceeds from the auction go to whomever the gratis slave wishes.  So now our system practices and teaches freedom; but we have slaves.”

 

   “Lord, if slaves volunteer, then why can only nobles own them?”

 

   “Well, it’s more or less a reward.  Initially there weren’t enough slaves, but as time went on more and more volunteered.  As more volunteered it became more socially acceptable, so you had more volunteer.  Now since we have been practicing it for quite some time it is very acceptable.  I’d be willing to wager that at least half of your mothers were slaves at one time, and no one thinks ill of them because so many do it.  Some woman have even made careers out of being a slave, selling themselves over and over until they are rich themselves.  I’ve heard of a slave being sold to a duke once for several hundred pounds of gold.  But never the less there still isn’t enough for every citizen to own slaves.”

 

   “Lord, why peasants?”  Yet another recruit asked.

 

   “Well, for starters Emperor Ardus needed a way to encourage people to join the Army.  Later it was kept because there are two basic kinds of people those that are willing to do for themselves and those who need help.  Peasants need help, if any person is willing to step out on their own they need only join and serve one term, six years, for citizenship.”

 

   After class Savious approached Knight Remos, “Lord, you requested my presence.”

 

   “Yes Savious, you seem like a very bright young man; I was wondering why did you join the army?”  Knight Remos asked.

 

   “Lord, I wish to be a noble.”  Savious responded.

 

   “I see, Drill Sergeant Richards seems to think that you would make an excellent noble.  And I think you would too.  It is my understanding that your Squad has already elected you as their Sergeant.”  Knight Remos said.

 

   “Yes Lord.”  Savious said.

 

   “Savious this is my last cycle as a training commander.  After your class graduates I’ll be transferred to a new post.  I’m hoping that I’ll be elected Baron shortly there after.  It is a remote post that is difficult to fill, and therefore promotions are fast.  I’m sure an intelligent young warrior like you would be elected sergeant in no time.  Once you become a sergeant I could appoint you to squire.  Interested?”

 

   “Yes Lord Remos, very interested.”

 

   “Good, with bright squires working for me, I’m sure to move up.  I’ll mentor you and make a fine noble of you.  We’ll begin your noble training this weekend.”

 

   “Lord, we were scheduled for a pass this weekend.”

 

   “Well, if you rather spend the weekend playing poker with your squad...”

 

   “NO! I mean Lord, no I’d be happy to begin training.”

 

   “Don’t worry Savious, you’ll need the pass anyway to recoup.”  Knight Remos said with a peculiar smile.  “Now get going, I think Sergeant Richards is planning on a road march this afternoon.”

 

   For the rest of the week, Savious was unsure about the upcoming weekend.  On one aspect, just what kind of training does a noble need?  And why would he need time to recoup?  Granted nobles were all in great shape, but so was Savious, so once again why would he need time to recoup.  And what was with that odd grin, it was almost spooky, as if Lord Remos knew of some great pain that he would experience.

 

   Never the less, first thing Saturday morning Savious awoke, went to the mess hall ate his breakfast and walked over to the castle.  Granted, it wasn’t much of a castle, but a noble’s residence was always referred to as the castle, no matter what it looked like.  Walking up to Lord Remos’s private door, Savious knocked.

 

   “Who is it?” Savious heard Lord Remos say.

 

   “It is I Lord, Savious.”

 

   “Enter.”