Free The Exiles by Sven Grams Page A

education system was built on standard courses and exams mostly independent of timeframes, allowing for students to finish their schooling earlier or later, depending on abilities. For most lion students this meant graduation at about the same time as their wolf counterparts. However, about a third of the students would have a different schooling timeframe. Later graduating students receiving extra assistance to allow them to reach what the lion education board deemed an acceptable level for social entry, or citizenship, as the lions called it. While the ones that finished earlier were able to start careers or continue onto further studies.
    â€˜It seems you have been using your time well,’ Felx said with a smile. He placed Trex’s staff carefully on the large table, rolling it towards him.
    Trex caught hold of the weapon, checking the staff’s surface for damage. The pain in his head had now mostly subsided.
    â€˜Have you thought more about a military career?’ Felx asked casually.
    Trex looked up from his staff, wondering if he should continue to humour his guardian.
    Though all lion citizens were automatically reservists, you could only become an officer if you joined the military.
    â€˜I saw from the markings in the dirt that you must have put up quite a good fight,’ said Felx, leaning to one side. He turned to look out towards the northern mountains.
    â€˜It normally takes a lion four years of training before he can match a young female wolf after maturity.’
    â€˜I lost in the end though,’ said Trex solemnly.
    â€˜Due to a second fighter,’ offered Felx as conciliation.
    â€˜I was losing anyway,’ replied Trex honestly. He was quite happy to remain honest and open, anything else was normally too complicated for the youth’s personality.
    â€˜I’m probably lucky the second wolf knocked me out actually, I think she was about to tear me apart.’
    Trex expression flashed disappointment, not with the fight itself but with how he had reacted at its end. He knew that wolves could tangibly intimidate, but the fear he had suddenly felt at the fight’s end had totally destroyed his concentration. It was disappointing for his training to have failed so markedly the first time it was tested.
    Felx looked sternly at the quiet youth in front of him.
    â€˜I wouldn’t worry about it,’ said Captain Felx, somehow knowing exactly what Trex was thinking, ‘the first time I faced a wolf in combat, I almost ran away. If it wasn’t for my comrades I would have been quite sore, or even worse.’
    Trex looked up slowly with renewed interest. Captain Felx did not often talk about his military career.
    â€˜And don’t forget I was a lot older then you are now, and I was fighting a male,’ said Felx. He chuckled slightly, recalling his first real fight.
    â€˜You get used to it,’ he continued, ‘some things you don’t learn until just after you need them.’
    Trex smiled at that, the old military saying together with his guardian’s kind words being enough to bring him back from self-doubt.
    â€˜You do know it was Sara you were fighting?’ Felx stated out of the blue.
    Trex stopped turning his staff absent-mindedly in his hands. This was still something he was too confused about himself to want to discuss, but he realized that Captain Felx knew it in any case.
    â€˜I recognized her family’s markings, yes,’ Trex said carefully, referring to the family tattoo on her right upper arm.
    â€˜I haven’t seen her in years,’ he admitted.
    â€˜Well that was one heck of a reunion,’ said Felx. This attempt at light humour only received a wall of silence for its efforts.
    â€˜Fera was the one that knocked you out,’ Captain Felx added, getting back to the facts.
    â€˜Fera?!’ exclaimed Trex. Now that was unexpected, even if only because she appeared to be helping her sister for