Belly of the Beast by Warren Thomas (story books for 5 year olds txt) 📕

            Everyone ignored the Lelt. Jumping to their bunks, they quickly made them the best they could. Some of the men didn’t have a shaving kit, so had to forego that. Corporal Pendar didn’t care, telling them no one was expecting much from them on the first day. Tomorrow would be different though, since the army would issue them shaving kits.

            The huge Tyrian he’d met in the induction room was part of Corporal Disa’s squad. He had loud, outraged words with Corporal Pendar. Not so surprising, Corporal Pendar did not assault the towering Tyrian. The barbarian warrior would’ve ripped his head off and sang of the glory of his pending death as he fought the Kestsaxian soldiers that charged in afterwards.

            Though the corporal did not attack the angry Tyrian, giving his name as Everard Boarsbane, neither did he back down on the rule to shave off beards. Tyrians loved their beards, and considered them a sign of their manhood. He, of course, did not have a shaving kit, so was spared that ultimate shame one more day.

            “Take it up with your Corporal, Everard,” Pendar finally said, weary of the argument.

            “Don’t think I won’t.”

            Mops and buckets were provided by the corporal, and the recruits quickly mopped the floor and cleaned out the chamber pots. Tane thanked Kamain he managed to acquire a mop before the corporal pointed out those reeking chamber pots also had to be cleaned out every morning. Quinn and the Vikon female ended up the unlucky pair ordered to do it.

            Tane noticed the Vikon pair was the arguing husband and wife he had been behind outside the city gate. They were as sullen as the elf, and didn’t even appear to be speaking to each other. 

            The so-called “little run” Corporal Pendar told them about proved to be anything but that. It was a grueling trek through the twisting streets of the city, which never seemed to end in Tane’s mind. The recruits were hounded all the way by yelling corporals and sergeants, who questioned everything about them, from their parentage, to their worth as a human being, to their sexual orientation. Some of the things said shocked Tane to the core of his existence. In his village, men fought and died for less.

            The run finally came to an end back in front of the barracks. They weren’t allowed to rest, but kept at the position of “attention” while the company First Sergeant gave his orders for the day. Then he turned the company over to the individual Platoon Sergeants, who in turn ordered the Section Sergeants to take command of their troops.

            Sergeant Gareth immediately marched his section over to the crowded mess hall. The recruits were forced to stand in line while the officers, sergeants and regular army soldiers entered and ate first. Tane didn’t mind, for he was sick to his stomach after the run. The last thing he wanted or needed was greasy food stuffed down his throat. The mere thought nauseated him.

            Of all the recruits in his section, only the elf appeared unaffected by the run. The Swampman and Vikon couple looked as ill as Tane felt. The other members of 3rd Section didn’t look particularly sick, just exhausted.

            Eventually the line started moving steadily into the mess hall. By the time he reached the door, Tane’s stomach began to subside. He actually started to feel hungry by the time he reached the stack of hot, wet tin plates. As he looked at the stacks of fist-sized loafs of fresh bread, platters of fried potatoes and cooked ham piled high, and bowls of butter and jams, he remembered he hadn’t eaten since before being “inducted.”

            The last two men in their section had to go forward and relieve the men dishing out the food when the first man in their section reached the plates. When the first man from the next section reached the stacked plates, they would be relieved to return to their places in line and be fed. So it was Armin, the Vikon male, who sullenly scooped fried potatoes and bread on Tane’s plate.

            “You want pig meat?” the Swampman, Uko, asked. “It’s cooked to leather, you know.”

            “Just the way I like it,” Tane said, eagerly accepting the meat.

            “Bah. Outlanders have disgusting ways,” Uko said, face screwed up.

            That from a man who joyfully eats other people alive, Tane thought, but kept his thoughts private.

            To his surprise, Tane and the other recruits weren’t allowed to sit and eat at their leisure. In fact, they weren’t allowed to sit at all. Their corporals badgered them to eat faster and keep moving. The line wended its way along the wall and around to the back exit. Anything still on their plate at the door had to be dumped in a large barrel. They then had to stop and scrub their plates in scolding hot water before stacking them to dry.

            Sergeant Gareth waited for them out front when the corporals hounded them into formation. True to Corporal Pendar’s word, Corporal Disa proved herself to be a brutal taskmaster. She was a rail thin Amazon, with dirty blonde hair and the hardest eyes he’d ever seen on man or woman. There was nothing soft about her. Tane thanked every God he could think of for saving him from her squad.

            Sergeant Gareth marched them across the parade ground to supply. There, they were forced to strip down and hand over their clothes. The sergeant and corporals walked up and down the line, looking everyone over and making crude jokes. They were especially hard on the Vikon female, who proved poorly-endowed, by their vulgar reckoning, and liberally covered with freckles.

            Disinterested supply clerks issued them all blue trousers and the undyed tunics of recruits. Once everyone was clothed, they were marched to the next shed and issued heavy infantry boots and belts. They were warned to take