Anarchist Knight

Chapter 6-Rafe

"Hey, what’s the matter?" "Everything ok?"

Tobal heard someone come up behind him and start shaking him on the shoulder. He looked up and there was a smaller tow haired boy with a shock of yellow hair grinning impishly. His face full of mischief.

"What’s wrong?"

Tobal replied miserably waving his hand toward the hidden doorway behind the terminal.

"I lost all my things. It took my things, my medallion that my parents left me."

"Don’t worry about that", the boy said, "you’ll get your stuff back after you become a citizen."

"Become a citizen?", Tobal asked.

"Yeah, first you claim sanctuary, then after completing the training you are granted citizenship."

"You mean I can’t get into the city right away?", Tobal asked anxiously.

"The tow haired boy laughed, "Hey, that’s a good one! Didn’t your parents tell you anything?"

"My parents are dead."

"Oh", the smile vanished a minute from Rafe’s face, then returned. "There’s preliminary training you need before you become a citizen. Claiming sanctuary means you are applying for citizenship, first you have to prove yourself worthy by passing through the three degrees of training."

"What are they?", Tobal asked.

"The Apprentice degree is basic survival training", Rafe said, "You need to survive in the woods by yourself for one month."

"I can’t survive in the woods for a month!", Tobal exclaimed helplessly. "How do I learn? How do I live with no food or shelter? I’ll die!"

"That’s right", Rafe grinned. "That’s why I’m here. You need a teacher. The first part is your solo, but before you can solo you have to be trained. I’m here to train you. I will help you learn survival skills so you can solo. By the way, I’m Rafe", he said extending his hand in welcome. Tobal shook hands.

He pointed at the chevrons sewn on his jacket. "Each chevron stands for one person I’ve trained and has soloed. You are going to be my sixth and last. After you solo I go on to the Journeyman degree."

"Then I have to start training people?", Tobal muttered.

"That’s right. That is how you prove your mastery in living off the land. You need to to train others if you want to be a leader."

"That will take me forever!"

"No. It depends on how hard you work at it." Rafe said cheerfully. "Look at me, you are my sixth student. I’ve been doing this for only one year. But I work at it. There are people that have been out here for six years and they still haven’t trained six people." He winked at Tobal, "Did you notice I was in there sleeping?"

"Yes", Tobal said.

"Well, that’s because I’ve been waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?"

"Well, waiting for someone, not you exactly. I’ve been waiting for someone to show up. I’ve been sleeping on the hard beds and my own food is almost gone. I can’t eat that brown crap, it tastes really terrible." He grinned again, "Have you tried it yet?"

Tobal nodded and grinned back, "I couldn’t eat it either."

Rafe grinned, "That’s the idea." He chuckled, "The beds are not supposed to be comfortable. They discourage you from using them. They want you to get away from here, out into the woods and make your own shelter. Same with the food. They want you to find your own food. The food here will keep you alive, but it tastes terrible and so does the water. I can’t think of eating or drinking that stuff unless I am really desperate."

"What about her?" Tobal pointed at the other sleeping figure on the other cot.

"Oh, Angel, she’s a journeyman that got injured and is in here for medical treatment. She’s recovering till she can go back to her own camp. She was in the mountains and had an accident. The medics brought her back here to get her leg bones reset and to recover. She’ll be alright but she’s kind of grumpy this morning so just leave her alone OK?" Rafe warned him by putting his finger to his lips in a gesture to be silent. "We don’t want to wake her up."

As if on cue the hidden figure stirred and groaned under a pile of furs.

"Now", Rafe continued, "have you had a chance to look at your pack yet?"

"Not yet", Tobal muttered.

His things were lying on a cot near the hidden door where he had entered the dormitory. Rafe took his pack and spread all the items out on the cot for Tobal to examine. There were eleven pair of socks to go along with the hiking boots. There was a compass, two canteens, a large sheath knife, a belt, a fire starter, a plastic encased map, a first aid kit, a sewing kit, a toothbrush, comb and some pencils with writing paper.

Rafe pointed to the metallic silver bracelet that Tobal wore on his wrist. He said. "That is a med-alert bracelet. Wear it at all times. It is very important. The bracelets are used to monitor our health and physical location in case of emergency. People are getting injured all the time in these mountains and there needs to be some way of locating them."

Rafe handed him the sheath knife and belt and told him to put them on. It was a heavy duty combat knife and came with it’s own whet stone for sharpening. The whet stone was in a separate pocket on the sheath itself. The belt was wide and brown with a square heavy buckle.

"This will keep your robe shut", he chuckled. "It might get kind of drafty otherwise."

Tobal commented. "These look like good quality hiking boots."

Rafe snorted, "They will be totally worn out in two months. It’s rugged out there and hard on everything. I come back every month or two and get a new pair."

The robe Tobal was wearing reminded him of pictures he had seen of monks in old history books. It was scratchy and drafty. It seemed to be made of dark wool with a large hood. His belt held it tightly closed.

"Isn’t there any underwear?"

Rafe laughed, "You’ve got to make your own." His eyes were sparkling mischieviously. "Out here, you want it, you make it. See. I made mine."

Tobal looked at Rafe and eyed his clothing. Instead of a robe, he was wearing a tunic that had been altered and buttoned to form a rough shirt. He was wearing a pair of gray trousers that looked hand sewn out of the same gray material as the robe. While Tobal’s outfit resembled a monk, Rafe’s outfit made him look like someone from a Ren Fair.

"We’ve got other things for winter wear", Rafe said.

Then Rafe walked over to a sled lying in the corner of the room and pulled out a heavy fur robe and handed it to Tobal.

"You’re going to need this", he said, "and these fur boots too. I’ve also got a hat and some mittens for you and these snow shoes."

As he pulled out the items he helped Tobal put them on correctly. Then he put on his own furs and snow shoes.

"Wait", Rafe said, "Water is important, we’ve got to fill our canteens before we go. The first thing you need to do before going on a trip is make sure your canteens are filled."

They went to the water dispenser and filled all the canteens before heading outside. Outside the building Tobal tried walking in the snowshoes without falling on his face. After some practice he got better at it. Soon after that they left.