Prairie Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

military, I suspected it could be drastically uncomfortable.
    Our train was one of the first to arrive, straight from CFB Downsview in Toronto, but the westerners had all arrived before us, their trains taking days longer than ours had. Flying was reserved for people more important than we were, and trains were cheaper and safer, in any case. Still, after twenty-four hours, I was ready to be on solid ground again.
    The arrival area was disturbingly well-organized, considering how many people were there. We found our luggage and were marshalled into lines for our lodging assignments. The Oil Watch had a marginally higher ratio of females to males than the regular forces did, but there were still few enough of us that while the male dragon slayers were billeted separately from the support crews, the female ones were all put together.
    You could spot the dragon slayers easily enough. Most of them were tall and broad across the shoulders. And they often sported burn scars. My hands were clenched around the handles of my bag, and I was wearing long sleeves, which hid the burns on my arms. Soon that wouldn’t be an option. It was summer, and the training uniform required a T-shirt. I wasn’t worried about it, though. The T-shirt would be the least of my worries, compared with the buttons on the dress uniform.
    We were sorted and shown to the barracks, where we left our things and were then hustled off to the mess hall. I followed Sadie through the line, and we took our trays to the appointed table. I couldn’t see Owen, who usually stood out in a crowd due to his height, so I turned my attention to my food instead. Lottie had warned us that meals were short, and to eat as quickly as we could. I struggled with speed, but at least I could cut my own food now, not that this stuff really required it. The boy across the table from us made a face when he saw my hands, and soon after that the whispering started. I kept my eyes on my plate, but I could feel Sadie bristling beside me. Before anyone said something that might have caused trouble, though, there was the sound of a microphone coming on, and our attention was called to the front of the room.
    â€œWelcome to CFB Gagetown,” said a man I might have described as tall, had I not known Aodhan Thorskard. He was every inch cornet: compact but lacking the hard edge of a trumpet. “This is your last day of relative freedom. Finish your breakfasts and return to your barracks for tours and kit assignments. You will meet your instructors and get a taste of what the next fourteen weeks will be like. Dragon slayers, if you require an additional weapons locker, inform your sergeant.”
    We all stared at him, reasonably sure of what we were supposed to do next, but no one seemed to be willing to be first to do it.
    â€œMove!” he bellowed, and move we did.

    By the end of the first week, my hands ached almost constantly, except during my time in the pool. By the end of the second, I’d torn the skin between my thumb and index finger on both hands and had to forgo swimming entirely in favour of a trip to the infirmary.
    â€œI’d say take it easy, but we both know that’s not an option,” said the medic as he finished winding gauze around my hands, thin, so I could still move them as well as possible. “But no swimming.”
    â€œI passed that test, sir,” I said. Actually, it had been the easiest one. We’d practiced in Lake Huron starting in April, diving off the end of the pier in Saltrock while there was still ice on the beaches.
    â€œI’m glad to hear it,” he said. “I’m one of the few who had you lasting the first week.”
    I wasn’t surprised to hear there was a betting pool on whether or not I’d make it. I didn’t want to know the odds, or who had taken which dates, but I couldn’t avoid the way everyone watched me. I scored very low on things like our practical weapons proficiencies.