Free Recruited Mage by David Fredric Page B

reluctantly climbed out.
    We were told to stand on the edge of the bridge with only a tiny stone wall between us and a two-metre plunge into the river and we wilfully obeyed. We were told that some tasks would require us to along very thin walkways and as a test of that we were to stand on the stone wall. We nodded nervously and balanced ourselves precariously on the wall, knowing that to fall would mean an icy cold plunge in the deep river that none of us wanted. Donal was frowning deeply and so lost his balance and almost fell in. Commander Beasley stepped in front of us with a grin.
    “I guess none of you have really worked it out yet?” He said grinning even more. “None of you have washed in days.” I realised that the river was where we were going to wash and they were going to push us. Donal noticed this at the same time as me and we tried to get down from the wall but the men had already rushed forward and now gave each of us a shove. We lost balance and tipped backwards and fell from the edge. Donal gave a cry of fear and my stomach felt like it had dropped to my toes. We hit the water with a crack less than a second later and I felt myself turning in the freezing water around me. The air was forced from my lungs but I bobbed up again a second later gasping for air. It was so cold I started shivering and Goosebumps appeared on my arms. I paddled until I had got a few more breaths into my lungs before swimming for the bank after Donal, who had already got a head start on me. The uniforms were very heavy in the water and I could barely keep from sinking and pull myself on to the bank. I was shivering so hard and all my strength seemed to have left me. Despite the cold I felt fresh and clean, but I struggled to get to my feet so just sat panting and rubbing my numb fingers. The men had run down to the bank and were now laughing hysterically and patting each other on the back. I looked across at Donal who lay on his front shivering violently. He turned to look at the same time and I grinned stupidly at him but his face held an angry look of hatred.
    What? Oh yeah, I got him out the cart, ha! I reached down to the water, got a handful of water and before Donal knew what I was doing I splashed it in his face. He jumped up suddenly and flew at me. I rolled out of the way and scrambled to my feet myself before bringing my fists up ready for him. He was steaming with anger and rushed at me. I dodged to one side but too early and he just turned towards me a bit and came smashing into my side. I was pushed back over a small log and tripped over backwards with Donal falling on to me. We were on a small slope and I tried to roll down it but Donal wouldn’t let go and we both rolled down about half a meter before scrambling to our feet. Donal barrelled into me again sending us both further down the slope and into the river. The water had the same shock as the first time and we both were shivering again instantly. Once we had pulled ourselves out again we sat panting heavily from the effort. Donal slowly started laughing and it built up to uncontrollable laughter. I started laughing too but stood to get towels that the men had brought for us to dry ourselves.
    The towels were warm but we were still freezing cold and struggled to get our sopping uniforms off with our numb hands. The men however quickly had a fire burning which helped a lot. We were presented with a new set of uniforms each and gratefully put them on. The uniforms, despite being itchy were , to our expectations, warm and a relief from sitting around in the rough blankets. We decided to make camp for the night and we erected tents around the fire as a change to sleeping in the wagons. However before we could call it a day, we had a talk on our tunics and were sent to go and get them from our bags. Looking at them again I remembered the thin strips of metal sown into the leather. All we were told was that they are quite heavy and that they are designed to stop