Part 14 --King's Ferriston Attack--

*"Alright boys, we are now again in the process of training you all into men. We will do this two times a day for the next two years, and now, let's begin, First, discipline. Form a line everyone, and run across the whole field, do not break the line even the slightest, as you will be punished, and you would not like it. Run in the same speed as everybody, and now, begin!" The instructor told us.*

*We did exactly what he commanded us, and I thought that this was going to go really really horrible, but instead it went really well, we all maintained discipline and perfectly did the drill.*

*"Very well, now to the next drill, which is rigging. And before I tell you to go, listen, as it is very important. Listen to the words of Stephens Kaurtchner, my name. I am about to say the most unimportant thing ever. And that is that from now on, this is a new rule in the academies just announced, whoever is the best   at a drill will get a reward of a bit of money, the money can he used to by things at the academical general store like food, paper, quills, books, or even tools and many more things. And now, with nothing else to say, begin!" You know who said this said this.*

*Oh Mr Kaurtchner, how have you tortured us. The bullies would become a massive stain on all of the various academies in all of Valereena. Now we did the drill, still as hard as last drill, and eventually we succeeded. We repeated the task 11 more times and it was all done.*

*And now the first people to be rewarded in the entire academy of Ferriston was being decided, and it was given to the 16th Mast riggers. Scott Hemplewood, Relish Clemence, Lewis Pollock, Damien Chief and Fredrick Harwood. As announced by someone. Each of them were given a Shilling and 2 pence, now officially the richest people in all of Ferriston academy.*

*The next two drills, where the same as before, gunnery and musket reloading. The winner of the gunnery drill was Phillip Albatross and the winner of the musket reloading was, familiar name, Victor Whitlock. But now we where introduced to two different drills, Marksmanship and Swordsmanship. And they where, what they where. First, Marksmanship from a distance of 50 yards we where commanded to hit target dummies, and incase it misfires, now we where given a piece of cloth to clean the barrel after we misfire. I fired my first shot, I hit the dummy, then I fired my second lead ball, I again hit the dummy, we where now ordered to shoot from a distance of 75 yards. I fired the shot, and I couldn't tell if I hit or I missed. I then again, fired my gun, and this time I was pretty sure I missed. Now we where ordered to shoot from a 100 yards. I didn't knew I hit or I  missed again on my first shot. On the second shot however. I fired a bit too low and the shot hit the ground and it was not a problem to tell did I hit or did I miss. Now the drill was over, we formed rows and now the inspectors inspected our dummies to see how many shots each of us landed and where did they land, I was told that on the 50 yards range, I hit once, and on the 75 yard range, I landed both of my shots and one almost on the bullseye. And on the 100 yard range, I didn't hit anything, so 3/6 for me, that's good. Now the winner of this drill was Preston Walker who hit all of his shots. And I was lucky enough to see him, and found out that he was the bully with the knife. He now has a shilling over me and Victor, and if you are wondering, Victor was only given 7 pence and Preston was given a shilling and 9 pence. And now to the next and most exciting drill, swordsmanship. Mr Kaurtchner explained that swordsmanship would be free for all and whoever is the last one standing wins. And to be knocked out or knock out someone you must pop the bag of sand or soil you will be wearing and if all of the sand or soil drains out or if the bag falls out you are knocked out, and hitting someone on the face is illegal and you will be given eleven lashes for doing so. We where each given wooden cutlasses which where almost as heavy as the real one and where given helmets. And then it started, it was a massacre. It was total hell, everyone was fighting everyone no system, the crowd was so large I was worried about stampedes. I was attacked from every side until someone decided to stay and focus on me and fight. He went for a stab and I stepped back so that he couldn't hit me. Then he slashed from the right, I blocked it and immediately slashed from the left, at his sand bag, and made a hole in it, and some amounts of sand was leaking from the bag. he countered it with a thrust which hit my sand bag but wasn't powerful enough to tear my bag. I at the same time he hit my bag tore more of his weak, paper bag, and the sand was following in excessive amounts, and he was knocked out. And out of nowhere someone came running after me, and from another direction someone else came after me, I was being swarmed by two people and I crouched and ran my wood through someone's bag, and sand was leaking from his bag, into my eyes. I screamed, dropped my weapon and cleared my  eyes why they where fighting each other. In the process the other guy was also knocked out. When I stood up I faced another maniac. It was unexpected and I couldn't block it and thus a hole was torn in my bag, I covered it with my off hand and continued fighting. I went for an elegant downwards to upwards slash and cut the string that was holding the bag, and it fell, he was knocked out. I then saw in the far distance Henry getting attacked by three individuals. I ran towards him, still holding my leak. And attacked one of them. I was probably already leaking because when I attacked him, his bag totally drained and he was knocked out. Henry was leaking badly and was thrown to the ground and was attacked in every way, even by foot. It was almost attempted murder. I head butted one attacker and he responded with a thrust. I blocked it and then I slashed him and he blocked and the other guy went for my string from the back. I sensed that and I elbowed his face, then I was immediately attacked by the other guy, I blocked that too and then I stabbed, he blocked it and then from behind the other guy attacked me and I was being cornered by two people, who's faces I immediately recognised, thhey where one of the people that started the Mukbang, whom I call bullies. Preston was one of them. Them cornering me gave him time to get up and attack them. He cut of the other guy's string and knocked him out, but he kept fighting. And Henry did something to stop him, he flipped him upside down and said in an extremely strong Serpish accent. "If you ever cheat again I will kick you so hard you will land in the Beauval Isles." And he then proceeded to throw kick his head and throw him on Preston, the impact was so hard that Preston's bag started leaking. He happily gave me a bro-fist. He then said to me in his usual light Serpish accent sarcastically*

*"I can no longer fight as all my soil is leaked, you shall continue my legacy, take my weapon, have a complete off-hand".*

*"Gandalf, don't go away, No!" I replied sarcastically, and I strongly think that this may have became a drama now.*

*And then he, Henry, uttered his last words, "I would see you in the spirit realm, Ungh \*Dies\*"*

*I and he where about to burst into laughter until some maniac was about to knock me out. I got up, and started fighting him, He was on the offensive, I blocked and blocked and dodged. I then suddenly went for an unexpected thrust, and because he was most likely already leaking, his bag fell, and he was knocked out. Then I looked back at Henry, acting as if he where dead and that's when I got the laughter attack. After I caught my breath and stopped laughing, I focused on who was left, only three more people besides me. The three people where fighting amongst each other, I decided to wait and see who came Victorious. After some intense fighting, the last one alive except me came running towards me. I defended against his heavy thrust, and then countered it and tore his string, and he was knocked out. It was all over and I was victorious. I was awarded with four shillings and 10 pence, which is almost 5 shillings. I shared 2 of the shillings and 6 pence amongst Victor, Henry  and Esther, Henry got 2 extra pence for his "role" in the fight. Victor got 4 pence only to compensate for his 7 pence he won, totalling his amount to 1 shilling, the same as Esther. I kept the most, 2 shillings and 4 pence. We where now told to do all the drills again in repeat except swordsmanship for the next 2 hours.*

*It was now evening, we where all tired and hungry and we all headed to the cafeteria. I and Victor where literally starving, we didn't eat lunch and now we where desperate. I, Esther, Victor and Henry all sat on the same table. The dinner was cooking and we where chatting about things. We waited for 5 painful minutes until the food arrived. It was baked beans in a pot, on the plate there where 3 slices of orange and 2 slices of tomato. And yellow turnips, or Rutabaga, cooked in butter, seasoned with spices and black pepper, delicious. All what we deserved. We devoured our gifts and now we where told that we are free to do whatever we want.*

*"This place is huge, so many things to do here, what will we do first" Esther said.*

*"I've heard that there are gangs people have made up. They form gangs and launch attacks on other gangs. Some gangs bully others like Preston's and some gang fights the bullies. Should we form a gang because it is cool" Henry suggested.*

*"Of course, yes ofcours- ow! Why did you do tha- oh wait never mind" Esther got punched from the back by one of Preston's friends, he talking when he realised who was he talking to.*

*"So anyways, we all know what our gang is focused on it to be. Fighting gangs, especially Preston's" Victor said.*

*"By the way what should we name our gang?" I thought.*

*"King's Ferriston Attack" Henry suggested.*

*"The Chess opening?" Victor wondered.*

*"Yeah" Henry said.*

*"That's lame, The Iron Battalion is better" Victor argued.*

*"What about Blackburne-Shilling?" Esther suggested.*

*"Another Chess gambit or opening?" Victor asked.*

*"Then what?" Esther said.*

*"Oh come on!" Victor said in an annoyed manner.*

*"I'd say we make a vote and whoever's name get's the most votes wins" I suggest.*

*"That's a good idea" Henry said.*

*We all picked our names, I and Henry picked King's Ferriston Attack while Esther and Victor voted for their own names. And it isn't a surprise for you to know what we named our gang after, a silly Chess opening.*

*"Now one thing to do is done, we need to do something else as well" Esther said.*

*"Because we are newbies, let's ask the more experienced people in this academy to guide us" Victor suggested.*

*"Amazing idea, what are we waiting for now?" I said.*

*The King's Ferriston Attack now started taking their first steps. We picked up someone and asked them.*

*"Excuse me" I said.*

*"What?" He responded.*

*"We are really new in this academy and thus we need guidance of someone experienced, can you guide us?" I asked.*

*"Are you four a gang?" He asked.*

*"How did you guess?" Victor was shocked.*

*"Just guessing, are you bullies or the people that fight them?" He questioned.*

*"We formed this gang to bully the bullies" Henry answered.*

*"Can I join? my name's Relish Clemence" He requested.*

*"Of course, the gang's name is King's Ferriston Attack, but can you please guide us through this place" Esther said.*

*Relish now finally answered "Sure, so I would first tell you the things to do. You can fight other gangs, play board games or sports, set up pranks and traps for your enemies, or just hang around, I can give you a tour, come with me, here moving to the left side of the cafeteria will bring you to the indoor tennis courts, moving right enters the board games room. Now come with me to the gate and outside, as you can see, after training, those who still have energy play outside in the dark, do what I just said, play outside in the dark. Only lit by lanterns. They play cricket, football and basic games like catch or games they made up themselves, now let's go back to the cafeteria, this place is the best for hanging out, and off in the corner you see the new academical store, there is also one terrifying thing in this academy, some people have smuggled or bought or crafted literal weapons, one such example is Preston Walker, he has already an Ettienne pistol and a hunting knife. He probably never has killed anybody but he certainly has had injured many people, then there is Samuel Forrest, he has crafted a literal stone hatchet and sells handcrafted stone knifes, how does he do it? I don't know, maybe he finds some sharp stones, shapes them, and makes fibre strings to tie them to a piece of wood fallen on the ground, this business is very illegal and is done secretly. Most kids use these weapons to threaten others or for self defense-"*

*"Has anyone caught some kid with weapons, if so then what happened?" Esther interrupted and questioned.*

*"I was just about to talk about that, yes there have been cases of this. By far 8 people have been caught, they where punished by 35 lashes and where kicked, literally out of the academy" Relish answered. "Interesting" I said. "That's all you need to know, and that is almost all what I know" Relish told us.*

*"Lads what are we going to do next?" I asked.*

*"Play board games" Henry and Victor said at the same time. "So shall we" I continued. We then entered the board games room.*

*"Let's play chess, out of all board games" Relish said. "Of course, I used to take classes of this game, and play the hell out of it" I said. "Same" Relish said. We then tried to find an empty chessboard, and we did. We decided amongst each other who should play first. It was finalised between me and Relish. I played as white and he played as black. And we started.*

*I played E4, he played E5 and then I played F4. The King's gambit. He accepted the gambit and took my pawn. I then placed my knight to F3. He played G5, protecting his weak pawn. I then played Bishop C4 and then he attacked my Knight with pawn to G4. I decided to play a trap and ignored his threat and short castled. He did the obvious and took my knight at F3. I then captured the pawn with my queen and I was in a glorious position with a knight down. He then played Queen to F6, strengthening the weak F7 pawn. I then played E5, sacrificing my pawn. I then sacrificed my  third piece with Bishop capturing F7. He was forced to take with his King, thus, exposing his King. I then played D4, Sacrificing my fourth piece, he happily took it and then I played my dark square Bishop to E3. He then found the weak B2 pawn and took it, just like that. My rook was now in danger, now I had the chance to take his F4 pawn and check him, His best move was queen to F5. I then I quickly played my Queen to C4 check. He blocked it with his D-pawn, playing D5. I Then had the opportunity to take his Queen with his Rook, he was forced to take with the King, and thus, making it very exposed. And now it was a piece of cake. I made a series of constant forced checks which eventually lead to an easy mate. Everyone else was jaw dropped. But it was all thanks to years of training. It was simple, a simple gambit. He played exactly what I wanted and thus I won easily. The next game was between Henry and Victor. It was a long game, starting with Victor who played as white who started with the King's Fiancetto Opening and Henry starting with the Dutch defence. Whatever "Dutch" means. Who came up with that strange name. In short, it was a good game, and Henry won checkmating with only a Rook and a King. And then there was Esther, who didn't knew how to play chess. Instead he knows how to play Morris instead. So we pulled out the drawer and replaced the chessboard with a Morris board, took the checkers and prepared the game. No one except for Relish, Me and Esther knew how to play Morris, but I was different, I am trash at Morris. So I refused to play, and the game started between Esther and Relish. In short, Relish was the first one to form a mill and because he can just repeat he took all of Esther's pieces. 1-0 in the favour of Relish. The second game Relish again won, the third game Relish AGAIN won, but finally in the fourth game, Esther won, and in the Fifth game Esther again won. And now it was critical in the 6th game, if Esther wins it's a draw and the game will continue, if Relish wins he secures his Victory. The game was intense which each player carefully placing just one piece after every 3 minutes of deep thinking. And it was Esther who first made a mill but it was blocked by Relish who then made a mill by moving his pieces and won the game at the end. Now we where bored of this stuff and decided what to do next. After a bit of arguing I looked at the clock to see the time and it was different. It was a 24-hour clock. I once learned about this type of time measurement and now I was confused, it said 02300 which I used my brain carefully and calculated it to be 11:00 PM. And that is late for me, Henry and Victor, so we headed upstairs into our room and left Relish and Esther playing Morris. We went to our bunk beds and started snoring.*