On Tuesday morning the day after the handful of Snow Lions who wanted to showed up for their afternoon classes, Leon grabbed a dozen trainees and made the trip back to the tower to pick up the Snow Lions’ breakfast.  He kept them moving as quickly and quietly as he could; he didn’t think the tower was being watched, but he decided to be cautious anyway.

Upon arriving at their tower, he left the group a few hundred feet into the tree line and personally scouted out the area immediately around their old residence, only calling them to pick up the food when he was satisfied that no one was watching.

After they returned to the caves and the rest of the Snow Lions had eaten, their training began.  The Senior Instructor had arranged for the materials he needed to teach first-aid to be delivered with the food.  The same things taught to the rest of the battalion at the training field was taught in the Snow Lions’ camp in the hidden gorge.  The three Instructors even had the three third-tier mages help out with the class—after ensuring that all three knew what they would be teaching, of course.

Leon wound up showing the three guys he usually hung around with how to properly apply bandages and tourniquets, as well as the proper application of healing spells—he still remembered the inability of many of the first-tier Snow Lions to use the healing spells on those who’d been assaulted in the capital not long ago, and he didn’t want a repeat of that failure.  The application of bandages and tourniquets was practiced with the actual medical equipment, while applying healing spells was practiced with simulated spells that only lit up with bright light when correctly activated.  They couldn’t heal the tiniest of splinters, but they could be used repeatedly, making them perfect for training and instruction.

After several hours of this, Leon led his group back to the tower to carry their lunch back to the camp, following which the Senior Instructor had the first-tier trainees head back into the caves to meditate and practice their breathing exercises.

It had only been three days since they lost their banner, so most of the second-tier trainees still felt too much shame to show their faces during afternoon classes.  Consequently, most of them did as they had on the previous day: staying in the caves and passing the time by joining the first-tier trainees in meditation.  Castor and Alphonsus decided to do likewise.

However, Leon had no intention of missing his enchantment class.  A handful of other second-tier trainees felt the same, so he led them back to the tower and gave them strict instructions to meet him back at the tower after classes were over.  They didn’t want to lose their camp’s greatest strength—its hidden location—with a few moments of carelessness.

The group attended their classes, much to the lessening astonishment of the other trainees.  When the classes were over, the Snow Lions returned to their tower to meet Leon, just as he had instructed.  Leon carefully looked around the tower to make sure none of them were followed, then led them all back to the camp, while laboriously carrying the unit’s dinner that had already been delivered.

This was generally how the next week progressed.  The Instructors and the third-tier mages would teach the trainees in the morning how to stop bleeding, apply healing spells, and otherwise treat their fellows who might get wounded while fulfilling their duties as a knight.  In the afternoon, everyone—save for Leon and about a dozen others who still wanted to attend their afternoon classes—would meditate or train in their sword techniques.

There was one event that broke the new routine, though: One afternoon, Leon noticed that some of the second-tier trainees had been followed by spies from other units as they assembled at the tower—the other units seemed like they were finally starting to get curious enough about the Snow Lions’ whereabouts to send some people to try and find out where they had hidden themselves.

In order to deal with this problem, he softly whispered to the group, “Head a few hundred feet into the forest.  Don’t head toward the camp, but make sure to move with purpose.  You’ll be followed, so make it look convincing that you’re actually going somewhere.  I’ll be right behind you…”  After he finished speaking, he calmly walked back into the tower, leaving the other Snow Lions a little confused and on edge due to the sudden predicament.

After waiting a few moments, the group of Snow Lions started walking off to the north-west of the tower.  They walked quickly, not bothering to keep an eye on their surroundings.  Instead, they started up a conversation about what they had done that afternoon, acting fairly well as if they were completely unaware of what was happening.

Leon allowed them to get a good head start, then quietly followed.  The Steel Century, Crimson Tigresses, and one more unit Leon had not yet come into contact with, the Silver Legionaries, had all sent a second-tier mage to follow the Snow Lions back to their camp.

Leon doubted that the other Snow Lions would’ve noticed these three spies if he hadn’t, given their seeming proficiency at hiding among the trees and underbrush of the forest.  However, Leon had spent almost his entire life hunting in a forest much denser and wilder than the one in the Knight Academy, so these three watchers from the other units stuck out to him like sore thumbs.

It took no more than three minutes for Leon to take care of the situation so silently that the other Snow Lions didn’t hear a thing.  He crept up behind the spies one-by-one while they were captivated with the other Snow Lions, and with a single slash of his training sword apiece, stunned them all into unconsciousness.

“We’re good!  Help me with them!” he shouted when the last spy had fallen, summoning his aimlessly walking unit mates.  They carefully carried the three second-tier nobles back to the tower.  The two noblemen from the Steel Century and Silver Legionaries were rather unceremoniously dropped at the door, while the lady from the Crimson Tigresses was carried inside and left on a chair in the entrance hall.

Leon and the group then grabbed the unit’s dinner and made their way back to the Snow Lions’ camp, with all of them alert for any more signs of uninvited guests.

Fortunately, Leon had taken care of the only spies, and the three units who sent them seemed to get the message and didn’t try again.  At least, they didn’t try again that week.

The week ended with a scenario the Instructors ran each squad of Snow Lions through, ten trainees at a time.  First, they were ‘sent on a patrol’ to the other end of the gorge, where they would find an ‘injured’ Snow Lion.  After notionally treating the nonexistent wounds, the squad would have to carry the injured trainee back to the camp while keeping an eye out for the Instructors and the third-tier mages, who may attack them if they think things aren’t going so well.

For the most part, the Snow Lions did fairly well running this First-Aid course, and afterward, they even had the pleasant surprise of having one of the more powerful first-tier trainees ascend to the second-tier.  But Leon knew full well that they still had a long way to go before they were ready to storm the Deathbringers’ tower and retrieve their banner.

---

Finally, the day came for the Knight Academy trainees to receive their armor.  The other units had to go to the training field for their armor, but the Snow Lions simply returned to their tower, where they found several dozen large boxes waiting for them.

If they hadn’t been accompanied by their Instructors, they would’ve swarmed the boxes in excitement, tearing them open in a manner more reminiscent of a riot than a cohesive unit receiving gear.

Instead, the Instructors had the Snow Lions organize themselves by tier and size, then had the third-tier mages pass out the armor. 

As this was only the Knight Academy and not a place that expected to see actual combat, the armor given out was defective—unfit for any real battle, essentially cobbled together from various bits of armor that had hadn’t come out of the forge intact.  As heavy as real armor and good enough protection from training weapons for the Academy’s purposes, but not nearly as expensive or as effective as properly made armor.

But that didn’t stop the armor from looking authentic.  Every trainee in the unit was issued a red gambeson for padding, plus metal greaves and a leather bracer for their sword arm.  Finally, every trainee was given a skirt made of leather strips to protect their legs from where their greaves ended to the bottom of their torso armor, as well as a simple metal helmet to cover their head but left their faces bare.

However, the armor that covered their torsos differed considerably depending on the trainee’s power and effective rank, despite the rest of their gear being identical.  The first-tier trainees were only given a chainmail shirt that covered everything from their upper bodies to just below their hips, plus their arms down to their elbows.  The second-tier trainees were given armor made of tiny dark red metal scales, as well as a bright red sash around their waists.  The armor given to the third-tier trainees were a series of interlocking metal plates much larger than the scales given to the second-tier trainees which, if the armor hadn’t been defective, would’ve provided a much more robust defense.  They were also given black sashes to denote their rank.

This was the typical armor issued to members of the Royal Legion, to ensure that every soldier was both adequately protected—though they could wear custom armor if they could afford it—and could be identified by their rank.  Given what they were paid, most knights of the fourth-tier and up could absolutely afford better armor, though they were still required to wear either their sashes or some other highly identifiable marks so their subordinates wouldn’t have trouble distinguishing them from their enemies in the chaos of battle.

Despite normal armor being fairly effective, Leon found himself profoundly disappointed in what he was given.  As this armor was defective, it would be returned at the end of the training cycle and he would be issued new armor when his squireship began, but it still represented the quality of what he would gain.  And it made him seriously regret not buying armor when he had the chance.

He immediately made the decision to inquire about custom-made armor the next time he was in the city.  Given that this was the capital, with both the headquarters of the Royal Legions and a large noble district, there were quite a few armorers around, but when Leon thought of Elise, he smiled and made the only decision he could’ve: he’d go to Heaven’s Eye to get his needed armor commissioned.

It took about twenty minutes for all the trainees to get into their armor.  However, there were still several unopened boxes waiting for them.  They weren’t filled with food, as Leon had already led a team to fetch their breakfast earlier in the morning.

Castor nodded to several of the waiting second-tier trainees, who immediately opened the boxes.  Inside, they found several dozen short bows and hundreds of arrows.  Each arrowhead was blunted and had been made with the same white metal as their training weapons, so they knew exactly what they were for.

Both Leon and Castor wore wide smiles when they glanced inside those boxes.  They recognized the advantage that range would give them in battle.

“All we lack now are shields…” he muttered just loud enough for the Senior Instructor to hear.

“Those come later when we start running you lot through larger-scale training,” he responded.

Leon and a few second-tier trainees passed out the bows and arrows, and once they were finished, the Snow Lions took off back to their camp.

“First thing first!  Who here can shoot a bow?!” asked the Senior Instructor as soon as they returned.  Leon smiled and stepped forward, as did about two dozen other trainees, including Castor and ten second-tier trainees.  After the Senior Instructor passed them a bundle of training arrows and a bow each, there were still fifteen bows remaining.

“Pick fifteen more,” the Senior Instructor told Castor, “though it hardly matters who, you’ll eventually get enough bows for everyone.”

“Who wants to learn how to shoot?!” shouted Castor to the Snow Lions.

Charles, a second-tier noble named Hostilius, and five more trainees stepped forward.  Castor randomly grabbed six more trainees of the second-tier, and the Senior Instructor gave each of them one of the remaining bows and arrow bundles.

Leon, Castor, and the Senior Instructor took over teaching archery to those with bows, while the other two Instructors went with Alphonsus to run the rest of the Snow Lions through some sword drills.  The Instructors kept at it for about an hour and a half when they transitioned to teaching the trainees about the actual tactics and formations—most of which included archery—that they would be expected to be familiar with if they were assigned to infantry roles in the Legion.

This meant navigation in harsh environments, marching formations, and quickly establishing a defensive line in case of attack.

For the first three days, it was all archery lessons and tactical theory, but on Thursday, they put that theory into practice.

The exercise was simple: The Snow Lions would ‘patrol’ the gorge, walking from one end to the other, in squads of ten.  The Instructors would watch these patrols and offer critique.

Unfortunately for the trainees, a few of the groups were failed by the Instructors during these patrols, usually from being unable to maintain a good marching formation.

Needless to say, the Instructors were fairly harsh with their punishments.  The offending trainees couldn’t run the circuit around the tower anymore, so the Instructors had them do squats in full armor while carrying logs or small boulders.  Sometimes, if the Instructors felt like it, the trainees would be forced to run around a clearing that had begun forming around the mouth of the cave.

By the time the punishment was over, the trainees would invariably look half-dead.

Castor made great efforts to get the Snow Lions up to snuff, constantly reminding the second-tier trainees of their responsibilities and organizing additional training after the Instructors had left for the day.  Leon wasn’t so zealous, but he certainly helped wherever he could in his own subdued way.  This mainly manifested in training the first-tier trainees who weren’t running the patrol course in slightly more advanced sword styles and making sure those trainees who wanted to learn the bow were remaining diligent in their practice.

Alphonsus didn’t participate nearly as much as the other two third-tier trainees, but after the first couple of days where he mostly sulked around doing the bare minimum, he started getting used to their new living situation and participating.

---

At the same time as the Snow Lions were getting situated, the other nine units were doing largely the same drills, though with a significantly lower intensity.  In fact, by the end of the week that the trainees received their armor, the absence of the Snow Lions was no longer something that most of them thought about.  The only real reminder they had of it was the sight of the Snow Lion banner rolled up and rather unceremoniously attached to the Deathbringers’ banner upon the wooden platform during morning training.

But a few of the third-tier nobles did miss the Snow Lions.  It was only two of them that truly held strong feelings on the subject, though: Valeria and Alcander.  Their reasons were basically the same, Valeria missed having someone so close to her own skill level to spar against, while Alcander desperately wanted to duel Leon himself.  That Leon refused to skip his enchantment classes made it that much more difficult for the two of them to forget their desires, though Leon would always vanish after the first class of the afternoon which made challenging him somewhat difficult.

Since the Snow Lions were nowhere to be found and the Deathbringers seemed to be in no hurry to find them, the rest of the trainees had started to pay attention to a new source of drama.  Over the previous weekend, a trainee in the pointlessly and dramatically named Blood Eagles had started a fight with another trainee from the Black Vipers, Tiberias’ unit.  That fight had escalated into a brawl that dragged more than five other trainees from both units into the mix.

There wasn’t any official retaliation from either side since then, but the air between the two units was tense enough that their Instructors and the knights assisting them started putting them right next to each other during morning training to stoke the fires of their conflict.

And those fires grew fast.  There would’ve already been fighting had the knights not intervened by telling the units to save it for when training was over.

But since the third-tier nobles who led those units hadn’t escalated the conflict beyond some jokes and friendly teasing about paying a visit to the other’s tower, there hadn’t been much actual progress in the conflict—especially since Tiberias didn’t particularly care about seizing banners.

This certainly wasn’t nearly so dramatic and exciting as the Deathbringers attacking the Snow Lions on the streets of the capital or storming their tower, but it was more immediate, so it easily covered up for the missing Snow Lions.

But just because almost everyone else in the Academy had stopped paying attention to their conflict didn’t mean it was over and done with.  Castor, Leon, and Alphonsus met many times to talk about when they would take their revenge against the Deathbringers and steal back their banner.

Alphonsus, for as much as he was getting used to living out in a cave in the Academy’s mountains, wanted to retrieve their banner as soon as possible, then move back into their tower with their honor and dignity restored.  Leon and Castor, however, were of slightly different minds.  They could see how much improvement the other Snow Lions were making out in the gorge, away from other distractions, and they wanted that to continue.  Plus, the Deathbringers would be unable to retaliate against them if they didn’t know where the Snow Lions were, so returning to their tower wasn’t on their minds.

With both of the other third-tier mages advocating for more training and less immediate action, Alphonsus grew frustrated, but he could do nothing except grudgingly accept their decision.

---

The second week of Small Unit Tactics started off with a pleasant surprise.  When Leon’s group had gone to get Monday’s breakfast, they found a few extra boxes which contained enough bows and training arrows to equip the rest of the Snow Lions, greatly expanding their ranged potential beyond just those who had wanted to learn the bow the week before.

Leon passed out the new bows with a slight smile on his face as soon as his group returned to the gorge, not even waiting until after breakfast.  So, in addition to the day’s training of running squad exercises, Leon started organizing everyone to practice their archery skills.

Their more formal training, however, took priority.  The Snow Lions had practiced patrols enough that the Instructors saw fit to add in a few new elements to their training, those being a squad-on-squad battle.

Basically, one squad would post up on the other side of the gorge, while the other would launch an attack on them.  Given the more competitive nature of these training exercises, the three squads with the third-tier trainees in them could only face other squads with third-tier trainees.

What made Leon happy was the Instructors allowing the third-tier trainees to pick their own squads.  Leon filled out his squad with the expected three of Henry, Alain, and Charles, a pair of second-tier trainees named Hostilius and Obellius, and four more first-tier trainees—Theoderic, Matthew, Bohemond, and Martin.

On Monday morning, Leon’s squad was the first to undertake the training exercise as the patrolling squad, while Castor’s squad would defend a position.  After they were done, regardless of who won, Leon’s squad would take the defense while Alphonsus would attack.  Then Alphonsus would defend while Castor attacked.

And then the squads let by second-tier trainees would cycle through in a similar fashion.

“Everyone ready?” Leon asked, looking to the nine men at his right and left as they prepared to enter the forest in the gorge.  Once he got an acknowledgment from everyone, he said, “Then let’s go.”

The squad entered the forest in a loose wedge, with Leon leading the way in the center.  Hostilius and Obellius, were on both ends of the line, securing the flanks and making sure no one broke formation.

The squad moved with about five to six feet between each member, allowing them to both cover plenty of ground and to form a defensive line if they felt the need.

But there wasn’t a need; they came within sight of Castor and his squad after about ten uneventful minutes of trudging through the forest in the gorge.  Fortunately, Castor’s squad had moved out about twenty minutes beforehand and seemed to have gotten a bit lax and inattentive in that time.  Consequently, they didn’t see Leon’s squad approach, giving the attackers time to consider their options.

Leon silently halted his squad behind a line of shrubs big enough to shield them from view.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Leon whispered, “Obellius, Theoderic, and Henry, you three will be our archers.  You will make our first move by shooting as many of Castor’s guys as you can.  Try and target the second-tier mages if possible.  You can get set up over there.”  Leon indicated a small cluster of trees to the side of the shrubs which had a decent line of sight on their target clearing.

When the three Leon singled out nodded back to him, he continued.  “Hostilius, you’ll take Alain and Bohemond and fall back a few hundred feet, then swing left and hit them in the flank after the battle begins.  Try to stay hidden until things kick off, got it?”

“Got it,” Hostilius muttered.  He, Alain, and Bohemond silently ran back into the forest for a ways, then swung left relative to the clearing.  Soon, they disappeared from view.

Leon had specifically built his squad for a maneuver just like this.  Hostilius had proven himself quite competent in the last two weeks, so Leon put him in charge of the flanking action and gave him two of his strongest first-tier trainees.  Obellius, meanwhile, was one of the more proficient archers among the Snow Lions.  Leon figured he must have picked up his skills from his childhood in the swampy and densely forested Southern Territories, which had a rich hunting culture among its upper-class residents.  Just like Hostilius, Leon put Obellius in charge of two of his better archers.

“And that leaves you three,” Leon said to Charles, Matthew, and Martin.  “You’re with me.  We’ll form a slanted line and try to keep Castor’s guys in range of the archers and have their backs exposed to Hostilius.”

“We got this,” Charles said with a confident smile.

“Without a doubt,” added Matthew.

Martin simply nodded.

“Then let’s get to it,” said Leon, his face breaking out into a smile of his own.

The four quietly walked around the shrubs they’d been crouched behind and started moving toward Castor’s still-unaware squad.  They weren’t too far away, only two hundred feet at the most.  They were lax, but it was inevitable that they would see Leon’s oncoming squad; one of Castor’s squad members glanced into the trees, made eye contact with Leon, and began to shout.  In response, Leon made a quick hand gesture, signaling his archers to open up.

The armor the trainees were wearing did their jobs; the first three arrows didn’t do much damage and one even bounced right off one of the scale armor of one of Castor’s second-tier mages.

“Those arrows came from over there!” shouted the second-tier mage who had been struck in the chest.  It was easy for him to identify where the arrow had come from and made even more so as Leon and his three companions charged into the clearing.

“Don’t just stand there!” shouted Castor, “Get into line and go attack them!”  Castor’s men had their own bows, but they were slung over their shoulders; it was clear to Leon that his fellow third-tier mage figured it would be better to get his people moving rather than stop and switch weapons.  The next three arrows from Leon’s squad showed him just how bad of an idea that was, stunning two first-tier trainees unconscious and leaving the second-tier Aemilius with a stunned left arm.  Fortunately for him, he was right-handed, but the arrows didn’t stop.  In addition, Leon and his three squadmates had only moved about forty to fifty feet in their direction then stood and waited.  It was clear Leon had no intention of giving Castor the straight fight the noble expected.

“You two!  Get out your bows and shoot at them!” Castor shouted at the two nearest first-tier trainees.  “Everyone else!  Get in line!”

The eight remaining men in his squad scrambled into motion, with six forming a battle line and advancing toward Leon.

Three more arrows hurtled out of the trees, stunning another of Castor’s first-tier trainees.

Castor scowled, then started charging at Leon.  It was a short enough distance that he didn’t need to wait for the rest of his squad, so he bolted directly at Leon.

“Hrrah!” he shouted as he stabbed forward at Leon with his arming sword.  Leon dodged it with ease, then countered with an upward slash.  His attack missed, and the two third-tier mages locked each other down with a series of lightning-fast attacks, feints, and counter-attacks.

The others in Castor’s squad caught up in only a few seconds, and to them, it looked like it would be an easy win.  After all, they only had to take out the three first-tier mages at Leon’s side, then eliminate his archers.  However, they were so taken with the enemy in front of them that they completely missed Hostilius, Alain, and Bohemond who seemed to appear from nowhere right behind them.

In fact, to Castor’s squad, the three of them had appeared so suddenly that two first-tier trainees were stunned by Alain and Bohemond before they could even react, while the second-tier mage that Hostilius targeted only stayed standing thanks to his armor absorbing Hostilius’ blow.

In that moment of panic that arose from being attacked from behind, Matthew, Martin, and Charles charged in and engaged the rest of Castor’s squadmates.  As they did so, the three archers behind them let loose another salvo, stunning the two archers Castor had left behind and hitting Aemilius in the thigh.  This additional paralyzed limb left the second-tier mage vulnerable enough that he was dispatched by Charles and Matthew in short order.

With the advantage in both numbers and position, the last two of Castor’s first-tier trainees fell after a brutally short skirmish and left Castor’s last second-tier mage effectively on his own.  But that wasn’t to say he was helpless; in fact, Hostilius seemed a little overwhelmed by the man, to the point that he could barely get a hit on him after the first surprise attack.

But, Hostilius wasn’t alone.  He was now backed up by five first-tier trainees, who managed to use the second-tier mage’s targeting of Hostilius to their advantage and struck him from all sides in the middle of one of his swings.

Despite his duel with Leon, Castor was able to see his squad fall.  He knew he had just lost and there wasn’t much he could do about it.  So, he dodged one more of Leon’s strikes by the skin of his teeth and started lowering his sword in surrender.

However, Leon wasn’t the type to stop and wait for his opponent in a fight, so all he saw was Castor lowering his guard.  Leon immediately lunged forward and stabbed the other young man in the chest with his training sword.  Castor’s armor did its job, though, and he remained on his feet with both eyes open.

“Relax, Leon, I’m beaten!” he shouted before Leon could attack again.  Fortunately, this got through to Leon who managed to stop himself despite being halfway through a follow-up strike.

With Castor’s surrender, Leon’s squad had won, not that there was any kind of prize other than bragging rights.  The trainees began picking up and carrying the unconscious Snow Lions back to the clearing, where the three instructors had appeared.  They had been watching both squads from a distance and had gotten a rough view of both sides’ strengths and weaknesses.

The Instructors began attending to the stunned trainees, whipping out spells that could wake them up.  Thanks to their armor, none of them had been hit in vital areas like the spine or the head, so they were easily revived.  While they woke themselves up, the Senior Instructor pulled Castor aside so they could have a chat about what he could improve for the next training exercise, such as being more attentive, organized, and to always have at least two or three archers at the ready.  He would have a similar talk with Leon when they were done, though there wouldn’t be as much criticism since Leon hadn’t taken a single casualty.

And so, the Snow Lions continued to train, to identify and fix their flaws, and enhance their strengths.  It wouldn’t be long before they felt they were ready to launch a retaliatory assault on the Deathbringers and retrieve their stolen banner.

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