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“Stab forward!” Shouted their Captain with a bellow of his voice.
Lucian did as he was asked and stabbed forward. Along with him nearly a hundred others stabbed alongside his attack with a force of men-at-arms. It was the sound of a thousand different stabbing motions being made at various points after the command was made.
There was little unity in the attack and neither was there a united strength. It was simply doing as was commanded to strike out against whatever might have been infront of you at that moment.
“Trade out!” Shouted the Captain with another bellow of his gullet.
Lucian went into his fellow mob of peasants from the front. The ones that were directly behind him taking his new position with their shields held high and farming instruments held up against their phantom foe. When Lucian made it to the back those at the front were given the command to strike forward with the same motions that he himself had been instructed to do.
After they completed their attack another group was traded out followed by another. Their rotations continuing so that Lucian was at the front for several times along with the others.
Looking at his fellow Peasants he could tell this was taking its toll upon them. Each of them, just like his village, had some form of mutation or clubfoot that hurting their efforts. Compared to Verac though they were not nearly as egregious or harmful. Such was expected, the Men-At-Arms he learned were selected almost solely upon their lack of lumps that placed them much closer to the human form.
Only he seemed to immune to whatever tire these men had. This was the third group of men that were gathered together by the Lord within the last three months. Every month another village or region would be called upon to bring forth their sons to the forefront of war. To be selected and given the privilage of being a Man-At-Arms when the time came. In return, they were each receive a half-copper piece which was a fortune.
They practiced for one week the formations and drills that their Captain wished to instill into them. Such drills would have thought to cover an entire year’s worth of service yet Lucian felt he could do far more than that.
Even the mounted Yeoman, the respected warriors who have the honor of riding steeds, did not practice for more than three weeks out of a year.