It was a test, I was sure of it, trying to scare us in order to sort out those of weaker minds. Not me.
“Stop playing around,” the woman sighed next to him, her dark bob hair framing her sharp face.
His eyes lingered, refusing to break away, but his hand lowered, slowly, deliberately.
In the blink of an eye, he pulled out a knife and sent it flying right at me. No hesitation, no room for questions. My body jolted, by pure instinct I ducked, avoiding the danger.
A sudden thud sounded behind me, followed by a low groan.
Wide-eyed, I glanced behind me, only to see the knife stuck into a passing soldier’s chest. His hands dropped the small wooden box he had been carrying, reaching for the knife’s handle, looking down at me before he fell backwards, slamming against the ground. A few coughs sounded from him, as blood trailed down his mouth, down his cheek and onto the ground.
Slowly, I rose, not able to pull my eyes off of him, terror spreading inside of me.
He killed someone. No, he was aiming to kill me, but… had he known someone was walking behind me at that exact moment?
“Sir!” the woman hissed angrily behind us. As if her voice snapped me out of the enthrallment, I turned, painfully slow and met with the burning red eyes again. He had a wide grin on his face now, sending chills along my spine. What the hell was wrong with him? Rather, wrong withthem? No one stopped him, no one punished him…
The man she had called out to shrugged. “Accidents happen when you don’t stay alert. She lives because she sacrificed someone else. That’s what it means to have survival instincts.”
The air felt colder around us, the rest of my group had stiffened in place, exactly like me. This was the grand welcome we got for finally making it into this place to become mage-killers… or as they liked to be called, the Ashen Corps.
The white haired man grabbed a jacket off a chair and pulled it over his shoulders as he began to stalk closer, until he was towering right in front of me.
He was huge. My eyes caught the silver bar on the sleeve; First Lieutenant.
Shit.
“Mages don’t hesitate, you either kill them or get killed. It’sthatsimple.”
I said nothing, barely breathed as I stared straight forward, right into his chest, avoiding eye contact. But my mind eloped, knowing what was lying on the ground behind me, well aware that the man standing in front of me did it and that he was capable of sending me on my way along with the corpse if I didn’t fall in line.
It wasn’t my fault.
His death wasnotmy fault.
Yet, I felt how my skin heated, my hand itching for a weapon, as if prepared to fight my way out if needed.
The man clicked his tongue annoyed. Had he hoped to get a reaction from me? He pushed my shoulder aside, as he walked past me, before the others in the tent followed suit.
“At ease,” the woman said as she passed, finally allowing our guide to stop saluting. His arm was shaking as he slowly lowered it, trying to maintain his image. I waited a brief moment, before turning my head around. I saw how others had already gathered and started to remove the body.
Apparently, the prize to keep on living was to live in hell.
CHAPTER
5
The sun was setting as we arrived at the tents. They were small and stacking three people into one felt crowded, but it was the reality of a new recruit.
The silence had remained within the group, all of us processing what had happened.
“Are you… okay?” Mey was the first to break the silence, aiming her question at me.
“Yes,” I said plainly. It wasn’t a lie; seeing corpses and death close-up was nothing new. “People die.”
“I know but…” Mey struggled to find the right words, shifting her weight awkwardly.
“That was not normal,” Carolyn cut in, her voice shaking. “He murdered him, took his life as if it meant nothing. Why? They should care for everyone joining to protect our lands!”
