[hider=A magical meeting]

[b]A magical meeting.[/b]
It was raining a bit in the slums of Nyhem, Balthar Uneiuss Imazz, Orvel Forrin and twentythree other mages were making their way through the wet streets now reeking of soil and filth.
Following them was a ox-drawn covered wagon.
Uneiuss who was leading the rag tag group of mages wondered if they had indeed gotten the correct  address as they looked into the slums, very few apart from themselves were out and their dark woolen cloaks were heavy and moist from the rain.

He once more wondered why he was leading the group, he knew at least two of the others were vastly superior destruction mages, and several more had served in militaries before. But the others were adamant that he should lead them. He himself felt like a silly buffoon faking his position when he lead them along the streets following the little brat he'd paid to show them the way.
He had demanded the exorbitant price of a silver coin, but Uneiuss didn't feel like bartering. If it was one thing this new job had promised was good pay and his family was also of some renown and wealth.

As they turned a corner they saw a newly built stone wall with a metal fence on top, the speartips looking menacing in the grey lighting and in their wet state.
There was two steel fist corpsmen guarding the fence gate, they looked relatably miserable in the rain and Uneiuss walked up to them in the most imposing way he could muster.
-"Is the the barracks of the Steel Fist?" He even straightened his posture, the response of the corpsman was completely dull and sort of unexpected.
-"Yup, you the new mage fellas?" Uneiuss had expected more spite or fear, perhaps they were trying to keep up appearances. He spoke again.
-"Yes, we've been assigned to show up here." Uneiuss felt he had put in a perfectly imposing answer. The corpsman nodded, sniveled and opened the gate for them.
-"Take the cart to the right, steelhead will meet you inside, the kids will show you where." After hearing the corpsmans answer he made a sharp nod and went inside, leaving the cart on the right which was soon taken inside a stables away from the rain by some corpsmen.

When the group entered the main building through the thick oaken door they were met with a rustic practical interior, thick boards covered the walls and upon closer inspection weren't even all of the same type of wood. Corpsmen were seen carrying things, moving or just sitting in different places of the large building.
As they saw a bunch of men roasting a small pig on a spit in the fireplace a young child boy came up to them.
He was wearing a dark blue tunic, with a piece of canvas sewn on to resemble a clenched fist. It was however obvious the child himself had done the sewing.
-"Ar' you da mages?" The child spoke a bit nervously to Uneiuss and Orvel who was leading their group.
-"Yes, we're here to receive our orders." Uneiuss answered with his best leader voice. The kid just made a sort of bow and told them to follow him gesturing with his hands.

As they made their way through the building Uneiuss whispered to Orvel.
-"So what do you think?"
-"Suitably rough and ugly, fits them well, much less piss, shit and barfstains than i expected." Orvel didn't bother with whispering which caught Uneiuss off guard and tried to hush him to no avail.
They reached a large double door and entered, finding themselves in the dining hall. A room repurposed from a ball room into a room with as many tables and seats that could comfortably fit, while it was more on the filled with furniture side, it wasn't cramped.
A few corpsmen were sitting in a corner and eating a meal while discussing cheese, they barely even took note of the battlemages as they entered.
The child bid them to sit and hang their cloaks by the door. Which they did and they were told steelhead would arrive soon.

They sat and waited a while and a corpsman came out from a side door wearing and apron carried out a large pot steaming with some sort of food, shortly after Claus Rotstein entered through the main doors.
-"Ah finally! The mages, i've been waiting for you. I got you some grub, do take some" Claus was gesturing to the food with a broad smile on his face, his audience however were not overly impressed and just sat in place.
-"Suit yourselves." Claus added with a shrug.

Seeing the man who was supposed to be the imperial advisor of war gave Uneiuss mixed feelings, mostly feelings of 'who is this dork' and 'how did this man end up on the imperial council' but some other feelings as well.
After studying his brethren he realized they were eyeing not only Claus but also him to do something, so he spoke up.
-"Perhaps later, what can we except to do within the imperial guard?" He was serious and made a striking pose where he adjusted his glasses to sit closer to his face. Claus just looked at him and responded with.
-"Bleh, don't call us the imperial guard in our house, call it the fist. As for what you will do is a heck of a lot of marching, drills and training. We work hard and play hard, off duty most things go, but on duty i expect the very best of everyone."
-"So you expect us to be simple soldiers?" Uneiuss counter was sharp as a stiletto.
Claus dropped his humour.
-"I expect you to be battlemages, skilled specialists with unique applications. If there's a field battle, which i have reasonable reason to believe we will be in soon, i expect you to protect the fist and fling some nasty stuff the way of the enemy. In peacetime i expect you to advise me on how a mage would make my work as chief of the imperial guard hard, so i'll ask you how you would assassinate the emperor or just about anyone in the castle.
I also expect you to help out with logistics, carry stuff, advise me and my officers.
I expect you to be the best you can be, just like i expect every single man and woman in the fist to be. And if you aren't the best you can be, i'll make you the best you can be or i'll kick you out."
Finishing his last sentence, Claus gestured towards the door behind him with his thumb.
There was a pause, people looked to Uneiuss who expected something different, Claus changed his posture and spoke in a calmer way.
-"But let's focus on more fun things, like your new stuff!" He snapped his fingers and the little boy from before dragged off a sheet of cloth from a pile of equipment.
Claus took one of the packs and put it on a table with a loud thud. It looked like a cuirass with a morion helmet on top with soft things stuffed inside.
-"This is a standard issue pack of gear within the Steel Fist, modified to suit your needs as best i understand it after serving with battlemages in the past." He loosened a strap and began to show the contents.
-"A cuirass, a helmet, goat skin gloves for extra dexterity, make sure to keep these in sight since these cost a fortune compared to the normal gloves in the fist, so some of the new guys might get jealous. Bag of stuff like a wool blanket, razor, soap, rags, bowl and some sturdy boots. Linen hoses and a gambeson in black. There's some other stuff as well. If the clothes don't fit seek out Katrina or any of her aides, she's the quartermaster in the fist and she'll sort you right out." As he described each item he messily tossed it on the table so those present could see.
Uneiuss was surprised. While nothing fancy, the items seemed to be of excellent quality, even the armour which was munitions plate looked nice and sturdy.
-"Grab a pack each, there should be enough. Kiddo will show you your new quarters. And for Timtos sake do grab a meal! Tomorrow we'll go to an old tower down south and do excercises and we've only been waiting for you, so eat up and don't worry, i'll start easy with ya. But don't tell the boys i said that." Claus gave a deep grinning smirk at thr end, as he was fully aware of at least four corpsmen who were in the room with them.
He stopped and went and got a large shield.
-"Also you will be carrying these." He slammed the pavise unto the table making it rattle below it. Upon the surface a variation of the iconography of the Steel Fist was prominently visible, a clenched white fist holding fire on the classic black background.
-"Bert came up with the design, honestly he should be a herald but that's none of my business. You will be painting these on your shields since the weather got crap and we haven't had time to do it. You'll also get some maces." By which he took a mace and held it upside down resting on the table.

The room was mostly silent, the mages were used to getting some things for protection. But not plate cuirasses with lamed tassets and pavises, that one was completely new to them.
Uneiuss saw the obvious catch and asked.
-"So we're expected to buy these expensive things just to have the 'privilege' of being in the Steel Fist?" He almost added 'disgusting' to the end but refrained because of his politeness.
-"What? Heck no, most guys can't afford these things. They are provided by the Steel Fist and returned at the end of service. But a few guys take the helmet with them or the mace as a memento." A slight hint of bemused annoyance at the final part, Claus surprised Uneiuss and his kin again.
-"I see... it seems i was mistaken." Uneiuss was just overwhelmed, he was expecting something completely different, especially after he heard of the second battle of Telmarion.
A battle which Claus apparently had been a general in, or so he had read, which reminded him of a question he wanted to ask his new employer.
Partly to get a grip on his character and partly to get his opinion on mages.
-"So i heard you were a general during the second battle of Telmarion. How do you feel the battlemages were utilized during that battle?" He eyed Claus closely.
-"Poorly. Yeah sure it was effctive but such a waste of specialists. I'd have just used stakes or a bunch of pikemen. But then again most troops are scaredy cats so they would probably just have run their lot..." Claus answer was again unexpected but a welcome one, he seemed to be lost in thought gently rubbing his chin before he realized he was in front of a crowd.
-"Ah, doesn't matter, i didn't choose that deployment and only got there in the end. Not like i could have done anything different about it." He shrugged and plopped down the mace and went with a bowl to the still steaming food.
-"Do grab some, it's catfish stew. Heard it tastes like meat." He grabbed a large portion and sat down in front of Uneiuss and tasted the stew.
He looked Uneiuss right in the eyes and spoke directly to him.
-"It doesn't really taste like meat, but close enough. Send your guys off for food so we can talk?" His serious tone was suggesting an order, Uneiuss got the hint and told his men to grab some of the food.
Only Orvel stayed with Uneiuss.
-"So, you are trying to spoil us? Is that what this is?" Uneiuss was apprehensive still and it was obvious that Orvel shared his sentiments.
-"If i am is it working? More seriously though i'm not really trying to spoil ya. Entire Fist is getting that stew today and you are getting similar stuff as all the others. Minus a main weapon since your main weapon is in here." Claus tapped his head with his index finger.
-"You're mr Forrin? If you are i'm happy to see ya, always wanted a healer mage for the fist but as a mercenary group i could basically forget that. Not i don't have to rely on my barber surgeons to save the wounded." Claus was munching on his stew while talking, but he sounded genuinely relieved.
-"I am mr Forrin. I'll try to patch up some of your men." He sounded terribly bitter, so much that Uneiuss almost corrected him.
Claus stopped munching as he looked Orvel straight in the eyes.
-"And none of 'that' attitude please. This is the Steel Fist, here we are all family and help each other like it. I know you are new and we've never had a mage detachment before, but please try to fit in." He wasn't angry but annoyed, he knew fully well of the hatred and mistrust towards mages.
-"I promise to give anyone who bothers you about being what you are a good slap if you do." Where Claus added a smirk and returned to munching his food.

By now a few of the battlemages sat down and could listen in on their conversation, so Claus quickly emptied his bowl, literally pouring it into his mouth and putting down the bowl before speaking.
-"I'll leave you to it, tomorrow we march. I'm gonna try out my new potential with you. Be sure to rest well. I have things to plan now." After which he simply left leaving Uneiuss and Orvel with the others.
What would this bring them they wondered.
[/hider]


[hider=Next morning]

[b]Next morning.[/b]
The Steel Fist was up early, waking several citizens whom were used to waking others like bakers, grocers and fishermen.
With perfect footfalls and pristine formations they marched through the streets of Nyhem heading for the gates.
They needed to get up early since the Steel Fist was soon to depart to the north to Uzgob and needed to get this training in before so the battlemages could be properly integrated into the fighting structure of the Fist. Claus had in the past been in command over varying numbers of battlemages with some success, especially in the first battle of Telmarion where he used them to great effect. But now they were an integral part of the corp itself and he needed every ounce of potential he could squeeze from them.

Uneiuss was not in the slightest used to the heavy armour, the massive pavise or even the weight of a mace at his side. Luckily for him he was gonna opt for his privilege as company lieutenant to bear the arms they chose themselves. He had been trained in his family to wield a blade to a decent degree and he much prefered the balanced weight of a sword to the lug of steel the Steel Fist maces were. Sure the handle was hollow but they were all steel.
In truth he was suffering, but he did his best to keep up appearances. Most of the other battlemages were used to marching and keeping formations but even they were not used to the pavises that hung on their backs.
He wanted to think ill of the corpsmen in front and back of him, but in truth he was impressed with their drill, fitness and determination. With all the rumours about the Steel Fist, he was not seeing the rag tag mercenary group who slept drunk on the streets, this was a formidable fighting force.

They marched for an hour, stopping once for a break to drink water and rest.
But eventually they saw the ruined outline of the old watchtower. Looming over the treeline.
A two-score horncall from Claus stopped the entire force, the close to simultaneus stop footfall of the entire company was almost eerie to Uneiuss.
-"Break march!" Claus voice boomed to make his order even more clear, he followed up with.
-"Meeting in a single stretch, i'll be on the main wagon. Lieutenants in front."
The corpsmen immediately spread out and began to do a well drilled and trained stretching excercise, focusing on precise movements which Uneiuss realized was designed to take a certain amount of time to perform.
The battlemages had never even heard of this excersise and tried their best to follow along.

Claus was sitting atop the largest wagon in his baggage train, the oxen were still in their spilts and now happily munching some grass when Claus began his meeting with his lieutenants who were simply lined up in front of him with the entire corps just standing there trying to listen in on the meeting.
Uneiuss and especially Orvel were more used to secluded command meetings in special tents where the troops were kept in the dark.
-"Alright people, we're here to train for the upcoming campaign in the north. Uzgob to be precise which is gonna suck. So you'll be fighting carrying double water rations. Then i want you to welcome our new battlemages!" Claus gestured to them and there were mixed reactions.
A few applauds, a holler, waved hands and a bunch of headnods.
-"I want them to be all our new best pals, since they will be keeping a lot of shit from hitting us. So again, make them feel welcome. But don't get too friendly, i do think most of them prefer women over your ugly faces." A few chuckles came, the sound of a woman spoke up.
-"What about me then?"
-"Oh do shut up Daisy!" Claus massive grin shaped his words, but the morale was high and a bunch of snorts and chuckles followed.
-"Right. Today we will have a mock battle, training gear is in the wagons as usual. If i catch anyone with a non training weapon i will have them whipped." Claus booming voice carrying well so a lot of those present could easily hear him.
-"Roogel will lead red side, Ashala........ Jorrel Harpe! You take blue side. I will be taking care of organizing the training itself." Claus for a moment forgot that she was dead, he however soon returned to his usual self.
-"You mages, you will form teams of five, since i heard you work well in groups. Take two teams for support on each side. Focus on defence. I'm thinking one group does only defence and one mixes in some offence. Oh and only non-lethal, i'm sure you can do stuff that gives the guys a good knockin' about." He gesticulated slapping himself while addressing Uneiuss.
-"If hit with a good hit, lay down in the safe way and wait until we're done. Katrina, show the mages the safe way and mr Forrin. You will be with Katrina until further notice."
-"Now go get your stuff!" Claus stood up and clapped hard twice and motioned for people to get going, not before long orderly lines of people getting several training weapons for their teams came up to the wagons and carried bundles of polearms and headbands in bright red or blue.
Roogel and Jorrel were choosing their lieutenants and Uneiuss went along and formed his detachment into two and went and got a bunch of headbands as well.

Within the hour the Steel Fist was deplyed in two forces of roughly a thousand men in each, with crossbow squads, scores of halberdiers and even mage support.
Uneiuss had been asked by Claus to try and guide the battlemage team of Roogel. He was unsure of this and seeing the opposing armies stood up like this opposed each other made him chilled to the core, he was just happy his first battle would be a mock one but still feared getting hit. True the weapons were only training weapons but the leather tips and pads were still perfectly good at giving a burst lip or an ugly bruise.

Orvel Forrin was getting increasingly bitter. Seeing the mock armies in front of him with the only direction to sit next to this little girl. Who apparently was the logistics officer of the entire company.
She was giddy with anticipation and soon all the battlemages realized.
The Steel Fist found the mock battles fun, some of them even had grins on their faces. It was apparent it was a sort of competition as well seeing how excited some were.

With a short sort of fanfare from his horn, Claus called the training to begin.
Immediately Roogel and Jorrel began to shout orders and manouvre their forces trying their best to defeat their opponent, the formations of perfect halberds moved towards each other, trying to shield their crossbowmen who soon set up small fortifications of pavises and began to loose leather tipped  bolts upon their foes. The battlemages soon got positions and set up their own pavises and just when they were done a hail of bolts came raining down upon both forces.

Magical shields, gusts of wind and the occasional magical force blast began to form in the air as the battle grew more intense. Many of the bolts simply being flung aside not even close to hitting their marks.
With a loud crash the opposing sides slammed into each other and shouts and the clatter of weapons drowned out a lot of the noise in the entire area.
Nearby farmers looked on in shock, some even began to run to the capitol mistaking the training for some sort of invasion.

During this Claus walked up to Forrin and with a broad smile asked him.
-"Impressive isn't it?"
-"Their drill is better than expected, i give them that." Orvel Forrins crossed arms and bitter retort was not exactly standing ovations, but he was honest. They stood for a short while before Orvel simply couldn't take it any longer and asked.
-"Why am i on the side? Am i not trusted to be in the battle? Or do you wish to insult me?" He faced Claus who looked surprised and answered.
-"No. I simply had an excersice in mind i was gonna throw at you to see how you handle it." Orvel raised and eyebrow and let Claus continue.
-"Imagine this. You just arrived on this site following you restocking your mage thingy supplies in Nyhem. I am nowhere to be found and you get to this baggage train with Katrina here and this field battle going on against the enemy. Let's say Roogels red bands are the enemy. What do you do?"
Orvel thought for a second, opened his mouth to answer him but realized by Claus posture and demeanour that this was a test for him. He turned to Katrina.
-"Quartermaster, i need the medical wagon, there are wounded that need attention!" Orvel was a quick thinker and just began to go with his well groomed instincts of setting up emergency aid stations and sent out two of his guys to immediately recover fallen soldiers while hastily setting up a triage station.

After Katrina helped Orvel she returned to Claus who was just observing his mercenary force in its prime.
-"It's quite the sight isn't it?" Katrina asked with a broad smile on her face, Claus just nodded as she asked again.
-"Are you proud of em?"
-"Prouder than a momma seeing their firstborn walk. They are however lacking form and Terrance squad is not up to snuff." He was trying to hide his pride, but not very well.
Katrina gace Claus a long look and watched him study his companies every move in the excercise. This was his element, he thrived here.
They both studied the minor field battle in front of them. Eventually Harpe's division managed to send a task force to flank Roogels forces and got to the battlemages.

Uneiuss was shocked when he and his men were getting to feel drained that they were completely surrounded by corpsmen with blue bands, he felt the need to fend them off and was planning to until they simply demanded.
-"Surrender, or else we give you all a good clobbering!" It was told in a sort of cheerful glee and Uneiuss realised he had no interest getting clobbered by a fifty or so elite mercenaries so he and his men raised their arms.
Not soon after, having lost their magic support, Roogels division was driven back, a third of the remaining force was set to cover the retreat of the rest. This allowed roughly half of the remaining force to get away while the rest got defeated or captured.

Claus signalled training over after a while, trying to see how Orvel was doing and then began to clap loudly. The rolling applause spread and even hollers and cheers all around with people who seconds ago were fighting like crazy were now embrazing and high fiving each other.
The next hour was spent with Claus going over details he wanted to improve on, praise and comments before food was served.

In the middle of the meal, Claus stood upon a box and boomed out.
-"Alright, there is something i haven't done yet. I have a bunch of fighting to be done!" Many of the corpsmen cheered, while a bunch were just puzzled like Uneiuss and the rest of the battlemages but also the new guys hired in Telmarion.
-"For the new guys, that means i have a friendly duel with each and every one of ya! And i have never lost yet! So line up!" Claus explained and a bunch of people were readying to go.
Uneiuss however noticed the sour look on Forrins face and the apathic indifference of his kinsmen so he put down his bowl hard, stood up and marched off to Claus.

-"What about us?" He said with a stern voice, there was a silence as people listened with anticipation, most of all the battlemages who were assuming they would not be part of this.
-"About you? You wait in line like everybody else. I said EVERYONE, that includes you lot." Claus voice echoed over the entire area.
Uneiuss knew where this was going, so he put to word what all his men were thinking.
-"And i assume 'no magic' since real men don't fight with magic. Right?" He was crossing his arms and Claus got visibly annoyed.
-"Why should i pose such an ridiculous rule, you lot not being allowed to use their magic is like me not being allowed to use my arse, and while my farts are more deadly than any magic i'll refrain from using them since this is a friendly competition!" He lost his annoyance and ended with a smirk.
Uneiuss and the other battlemages were surprised about this, they were used to being set aside, to not be compared in bouts of physical fitness and combat prowess since they had magic but here comes this oaf and wants to do just that.
-"Very well, let's have at it then. Rules?" Uneiuss tried to play it cool and was doing a good job, but he had little actual clue of how these duels were done in the Fist.
-"Simple, first one on the ground and with too little GO left in them to stand up. No lethal attacks and all in good spirits." Claus was grabbing a padded mace, it was still a wooden slab with leather tacked unto it so it could still leave a good bruise.
Uneiuss was given a training sword and they stood up a handful of steps from each other, Uneiuss really trying his best to give his best fencers stance which Claus just leaned his head and scoffed at.
-"You been trained by a fancy teacher? What kinda stance is that!?" He followed up with a laugh and a smirk making his taunting obvious.
-"A stance taught to those of fine birth, unlike you mr Rotstein." Uneiuss retort was quick witted and he even surprised himself, he got a few hollers cheers and whistles with Claus laughing hard.
-"Haha! Are we fine folk now? Perhaps you forgot that i'm actually a lord now, so that's SIR Rotstein to you mister!..... HAVE AT THEE!" Claus gave Uneiuss little time to react and charged in with great speed, Uneiuss was caught off guard but still managed to parry Claus telegraphed attack.

Following up on his advantage, Claus swung from left to right back to left making his foe jump back and parry awkwardly. Uneiuss was not in the mindset yet and was frantically trying to not get hit.
But after Claus last strike where he stopped to give him a grinning smirk Uneiuss reached out his hand and began to channel magic.
Dots, orbs and miniature stars of light emerging like a constellation in front of him, radiating a bright yellow almost white light towards Claus shining weakly upon himself.
The blinding light caught him off guard, but Claus response was to shield his eyes and laugh.
-"NOW we're talking! OOF" His happy exclamation cut short with a solid strike on his helmet jarring him. Uneiuss halted his attack thinking he had struck too hard.
Claus retorted with a manical laugh and gave him a hard kick over the chest which sent him flying.
Had he not been a master Alteration mage, he would probably have hit the ground hard, but Uneiuss was a master Alteration mage and knew all sorts of implementations that others never thought about.
Like telekenesis of an object, like himself.
True it didn't mean he could fly, but he could catch himself, right himself like a rake that someone stepped on and launch a two-handed strike while doing so.
-"NICE TRICK!" Claus boomed while ducking, grabbing hold of Uneiuss belt and the neck of his cuirass and using the momentum to heave him over himself.
Uneius twirled himself in the air, landed softly on his feet and swept Claus feet from under him throwing him to the ground with a yank.

The crowd around them was positively booming with cheers and hollers, some even betting on the fighters to see who would win.
Claus raised his legs and shifted them forward to launch himself with speed to quickly rise up with little issue, he wiped his mouth which was wrought with spittle and he was panting heavily.
Uneiuss matched Claus smirk and took the fencers guard again, which made Claus refreshed with a new laughter. He'd never fought a proper battlemage up close, and this guy was using magic he'd never even seen before. In truth Claus had seldom had this much fun in a fight before and the crowd was going wild over it as well.
With a twitch Claus charged in, tossed his mace towards Uneiuss face which he blocked with ease and little effort. What he didn't block was Claus drop kicking him in the chest and sending him flying backwards a good metre or so landing hard.
He spent a few seconds breathing on the ground, he had fought in Claus mock battle the whole day and had rested only a while before this while Claus was all fresh from overseeing the whole ordeal.
Realizing Claus might think he has given up he held up his sword, pointed his palm at it surrounding it in magical essence showing as a vague glitter and used telekinesis on it to raise it upward, while also holding it effectively giving himself a hand to get up.
Meanwhile Claus was cracking his neck and demanded a training two-hander, which he got in short order while several corpsmen were hollering and ooing.
-"I seldom need one of these, but with you i'm making an exception. You have magic after all." He panted heavily and finished off with a wuick smirk and a flourish.
Once more taking his guard pose Uneiuss was ready to keep going.

With a quick downward thrust Claus closed in, Uneiuss pushed it aside with a motion of his hand and forcing it aside. Claus followed up with an upwards strike which got him good in the side and sent the mage stumbling back a few steps.
With another downwards strike Claus forced his foe on the retreat, Uneiuss had to step back once, twice, a hit left him kneeling and with a level swing from his right Claus swung his sword right at Uneiuss breast.
Kneeling Uneiuss held out both his hands, the moment the sword slammed into his hands it looked like it was covered in see-through stone made of glass, the secong later it crumbled and fell into nothing but the blow bounced like it had just hit a stone wall.
A bit jarred Claus followed up with a step in and pommeled Uneiuss in the head.
With a slight wobble to his movements, Uneiuss took a firm hold of Claus cuirass at the bottom with one hand and with a burst of magic he gave himself the strength of five men and tossed Claus a good man and a half height up into the air.
As Claus was falling down Uneiuss stood up, focused a destruction spell and slammed down with a force blast which hit Claus like a downward wind forcing him unto the ground.
The fall and that blast left Claus wheezing for air, but Uneiuss was now completely spent as well and keeled over and both fighters were left gasping for air on the ground.
The crowd was chanting 'Steelhead, steelhead steelhead!' and 'Magic, magic, magic!' with vigor.

It took several moments before Claus managed to stand up and walk over to Uneiuss, whom just looked up at him and panted heavily, raised a hand and created a small dancing ball of light which erratically danced towards Claus whom easily leaned out of its path.
-"I.... i like your style mage... call it a draw?" He held out his hand for Uneiuss who took it and Claus helped him up.
-"A draw... that... sounds fine...." His answer was strained and with little breath, but both of them had a smile on their faces.
-"Welcome to the Steel Fist mr Imass. You will make a damn fine addition!" With that Claus dragged him close and embraced him and gave a good slam on the back which left Uneiuss gasping for air. A roar of laughter followed from the corpsmen around them.
-"I will take a slight break before my next battle, not that i need it." Claus lied and got a few 'yeah sure' as a response.

After a while Claus began to fight people one by one as he was used to doing. Countering a blow with a fluid motion felling his opponent to the ground and pinning him in place.
The battles against the battlemages were often longer, but several of them were spent after the day and Claus could defeat them with much less effort than it took to take down Uneiuss.
Orvel Forrin gave a good show but in the end Claus managed to shift him to the ground and sit on his back until Forrin gave up.

After the long break, the corps set up another field battle training, with new matchups and mage support. Claus was experimenting with orders and tactics for the battlemages and how to utilize them while his lieutenants were getting used to the circumstances.
The march home was filled with bragging, compliments and friendly insults about the days achievements. To say it was marching was also a bit generous but Claus knew there was no need to ruin the good mood.
People were still talking of things from the day as Claus walked into his office, sat down and took a deep breath.
His men needed this day, to bond and to get crucial field battle skills for the future, a future that would very likely mean the Steel Fist going to Uzgob and fight the enemies of the new-formed imperium of Formaroth.
[/hider]


[hider=Letters]

[b]Letters.[/b]
He had sat down and written for an hour or so, the darkness had set in and the loud chattering outside had died down to a few barely audible words going past the door now and again.
He had sent out one of the kids with a message to the keep that everything was fine, it was only them training and not a hostile force which the farmers had thought.
Right now however he was in the middle of describing the latest imperial advisors meeting, he wrote in detail about his exchange with Isabel De'Reimer when he put down his pen and rubbed his eyes deeply.
He had been getting better sleep lately, but better was still not good. The nightmares occasionally came back and he at times were afraid to sleep.
And he thought of the ethics of things, how to run his company, how to make sure his men got out of the massive cat litter box of Uzgob and how to do his duties to the emperor to his fullest.
Well, good enough at least.
He took a gulp of water and dreamed of a good mug of Orog wine, or perhaps a strong grog. He wrote about Lanayas outrage and how he beat the crap out of Vivian Blackwell and of her fate.
With that he finished the letter with no name and the text 'as usual, burn this letter after copying it.'
He sealed it with wax with no stamp and wrote the recipient.
House Blackwell, ser Eli.
After which he sent for Roogel who arrived shortly.
-"This goes to the backyard place, you know the guy." Claus order was acknowledged by a simple nod from Roogel who left the room with the letter and no words.
At times he wondered if this was ethical, how it would affect the future of the realm, if this was worth getting a silly sword over.
He decided there is a price to a sword, that price was now paid.
Roughly five letters had Claus sent to the Blackwells since the old man had met him. Now six letters, letters filled with state secrets and crucial information written as well as Claus could understand it, which in truth wasn't always that well but smart people could probably puzzle together his incoherent scribbles and he knew that Eli probably devoured the information like a ravenous hound.
But now it was time for it to end. After all now he would soon be in all out war with the man and Claus didn't want to make it any more dangerous for himself than he already had.
Who knew, perhaps he had already given Eli too much. Perhaps it was nothing.
Perhaps he was just contemplating this to avoid going to sleep. It was seriously late and Claus just realized he was ready to drop.

Eli would have to find a way to cope with the loss of his letters. Claus cared little for it as he simply walked to his room and his bed.
As he opened his door he was met with a pair of gazing deep red eyes, they stared into his soul and they burned hotter than any fire.
As soon as it appeared it was gone. Claus heart was now beating harder than the drummer on a warship, he was even hallucinating, or so he hoped. The panic he felt was residing and he wasn't even sure anymore if he had even seen anything at all.
He wasn't even sure about his own hallucinations... he desperately needed sleep now.
With a heavy thud he sat down on his bed, reached behind his bedtable and produced a bottle of hard liqcor. The bassy plop of the cork leaving the bottle as he forced it out was distinct, but he didn't care, he cheered his inner deamons and downed half the bottle.
He put the cork back and let the booze set in, before he literally fell asleep from exhaustion.

It wasn't always like this. But some nights were harder than others.
Sometimes they still haunted his mind, the hollow ghosts and memories of the battle of hymns.

[hider=Thanks]
Thanks to [@TheDuncanMorgan] for giving me pointers and input on the use of magic.
[/hider]

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