Chapter 134: The Night Settlement
With their appetites satisfied and their strength renewed, the fifty recruits formed up once more before Kellar. To one side of the field, several carts brought by the craftsmen held thick canvases of tanned hide, polished wooden stakes, and sturdy vegetable fiber ropes.
"Physical training and weapon handling are only half of what makes a soldier," said Kellar, pointing to the carts loaded with supplies. "An army that does not know how to pitch camp in the snow freezes to death before ever seeing the enemy."
Kellar walked along the ranks and began dividing the youths with his hand.
"You will organize into groups of six," said Kellar, looking the recruits in the eye. "Each squad must pitch three tents, build a functional campfire, and set up guard rotations. Tomorrow, everything must be packed, folded, and stored away before the first ray of dawn."
The boys nodded with discipline as they began grouping into their respective squads of six, mixing those born in the tribe with the former captives.
"Pay attention to the rules of the night," said Kellar, raising his voice to explain the tactical logic. "Night watches will always be carried out in pairs. Do you know why? Because having a partner makes it much harder to fall asleep from the cold and exhaustion. Furthermore, in the middle of darkness, someone must always be watching the other’s back."
Brak stepped up beside the shaman to oversee the squads taking their materials.
"The campfire is not just for cooking," said Kellar, gesturing to the pile of dry firewood next to each station. "It is your vital heat source and the perimeter’s basic illumination. Watch shifts will last exactly three hours per pair. With this rotation, each of you can endure being awake without losing agility and manage to sleep at least six hours split into intervals throughout the night."
"The goal is for you to be ready to mobilize at any moment!" said Brak, walking among the groups as they hammered the first stakes into the frozen snow. "If the horn sounds at midnight, you must be on your feet with your weapons in hand in under a minute!"
"Understood, Commander!" said the entire formation as they worked to erect the hide structures.
Kellar watched with satisfaction as the youths learned to tighten the ropes, light the fires, and coordinate in the stillness of the afternoon, turning fifty individual wills into a highly efficient military camp.
Kellar turned to the commander and gave him a brief pat on the shoulder.
"You know what to do," said Kellar, looking at Brak with an unspoken understanding.
Brak nodded in silence and walked off with a firm stride to set up the night patrols.
"Alright, it is time to sleep," said Kellar, turning back to the fifty recruits who were finishing up the last knots on the hide structures. "Set up your watches. Since you are not yet accustomed to tracking time, an instructor will blow the horn every three hours to signal the shift change. But remember this: out in the wild there will be no one to help you, so your own bodies must get used to waking up on time and notifying the next shift."
The youths obeyed immediately, settling inside the tents with the exception of each squad’s first pair, who remained by the campfire.
After a few hours, the low sound of the horn cut through the silence of the freezing night. The first rotation woke the next. The physical exhaustion of the long day was more than evident on the boys’ faces; the cold bit to the bone, and the sheer boredom of watching the empty horizon in the dark pressed hard against them. Yet, not a single recruit dropped his wooden replica or lowered his guard, maintaining the tactical simulation exactly as commanded.
The horn sounded once more in the dead of the night, and the final shift got to their feet, rubbing their eyes to fight off the heavy sleep.
By the time the first rays of the morning sun broke over the horizon, Kellar was already standing at the center of the field with Brak at his side. At the sound of the fourth and final horn blast, the boys reacted with surprising agility: they dismantled the tents, folded the hides, packed the ropes, and left the ground clear before forming up in front of the shaman, still yawning but ready for the next order.
Kellar walked before the orderly formation of the fifty recruits, pacing his calm gaze over the tired yet upright faces of the young men.
"Did you enjoy your first day of training?" said Kellar, with a broad smile that seemed full of pride.
"Yes, Great Shaman!" said the troop in unison, puffing out their chests with satisfaction after completing the entire daily regimen.
"I am glad... truly glad," said Kellar, making a brief pause as his smile vanished, replaced by an expression as cold as ice. "Because I must tell you that all of you failed miserably."
"What?" said a recruit in an involuntary whisper.
A wave of utter bewilderment swept through the ranks in an instant. The boys looked at one another confused. How was it possible that they had failed? They had completed the physical reps, the drill routine, pitched the camp, and maintained the three-hour shifts without falling asleep. Was there anything about a simple watch duty that could go wrong?
Kellar took three steps forward and locked his eyes onto the first shift guards.
"It seems my orders yesterday were merely decorative to your ears," said Kellar, raising his voice until it boomed across the field. "While you were ’watching,’ Brak and the senior hunters crept right into your positions, entered your tents, and stole belongings from your very bags. And up until this moment, not a single one of you noticed what each of you is missing."
Upon hearing his words, panic broke out in the formation. The youths opened their packs and checked their belts in a hurry. Several were missing their sand-filled horns for training, others had their tanned hide blankets taken, and some were even missing their short wooden rods.