Forged in Battle Read Online Free PDF Page B

Sigmund shouted and the blunderbuss
waved in his direction for a moment. “Farmer Spennsweich it is Captain Jorg of
the Helmstrumburg Halberdiers!”
    There was a curse from inside the farm and the blunderbuss
was withdrawn. Osric started laughing and all of a sudden the tension of the
day’s march disappeared and they all started laughing.
     
    After introductions, Gruff sent Dietrik out to show the
halberdiers where they could sleep for the night.
    The barn was split level, with crude wooden enclosures for
the livestock. On the top floor straw and sacks were piled up. The press of
animal bodies meant the air was warmer, but also was strongly scented with
manure, straw and tightly pressed livestock. Dietrik herded the five cows into
one of the enclosures and they jostled against each other, nervously attempting
to turn to watch the men come in. The halberdiers piled their packs against the
wall.
    The men climbed the ladder up to the second level and threw
armfuls of straw over the floor, then spread their cloaks over it to make crude
beds.
    Dietrik came back and Gruff told him to tap a firkin of ale
for the men to drink. Valina selected a pair of hams that were drying in the
upstairs room and Dietrik carried them out one at a time to the barn. The men
started to carve the meat up, chewing the salty meat slowly as the beer was left
to settle. Dietrik brought all of Farmer Spennsweich’s best pewter tankards
which were then filled and passed around.
     
    As the halberdiers relaxed and toasted the generosity of
their host, the cows slowly settled down and began to chew their cud.
    Outside, the moons cast enough light to illuminate the
farmstead. There was a vegetable patch behind the house. The barns were on the
other side of the yard. They created a “U” shaped compound that was typical of
the more isolated farmsteads, the three buildings creating a wall that made the
settlement far more defensible.
    Osric’s men were on sentry duty. Due to the danger of a
beastman attack the sentries were doubled.
    Elias, Schwartz and Kann stuck together as they patrolled
round the back. Baltzer and a pair of brothers, Friedrik and Frantz, stood at
the gateway, staring down the road that they had come on. The woods were silent,
but an occasional bat swooped down around their heads.
    Baltzer’s nerves were on edge. There was a loud rustle of
branches.
    “What was that?” he asked.
    The rustling continued. It sounded like something large,
crashing through the undergrowth. Baltzer’s fear was contagious. Soon all three
of them were standing alert, their halberd blades pointing into the darkness,
but the crashing stopped and a long silence followed.
    “Do you think it was anything?” Frantz asked.
    “Could have been a bird,” Friedrik suggested hopefully.
    Baltzer didn’t want to talk about it. His eyes were straining
to catch the slightest movement. Frantz yawned and then Friedrik yawned too.
    “Will you shut up!” Baltzer hissed.
    “Anything?” Kann asked when they had completed a circuit.
    “We heard something,” Friedrik said. “Seen anything?”
    The other men shook their heads. Baltzer stood a little way
off. This would be the best moment to attack, when the sentries were distracted—but however hard he stared at the moonlit tree-line, he could see nothing.
     
    When the soldiers had been fed and watered, Gruff locked and
bolted the doors and windows and made all the girls bring their mattresses into
the living room where he could watch them. Beatrine huffed as she helped the
twins lug the mattress the three of them shared from their bedroom. Gertrude was
too young to know what was happening. She held her sister’s hand.
    Valina looked at her father, embarrassed by him. “They’re not
criminals,” she said but Gruff didn’t pay any notice. He had no intention of
saving his daughters from beastmen, just to see them plundered by halberdiers.
     
    After they had drunk the beer was down to