“So boys, this is where we end it!” Braydon shouted to his men. They were lined up for battle, though this time it was more than just a few hundred of them. Braydon could see similar scenes playing out in both directions. Lords or their knights trying to inspire their men into action. Whilst Duke Ryder’s men may have been exhausted, they were more professional than most of the men that the King’s allies could bring to bear. And nobody wanted unforeseen accidents.

“Now this is a battle we have in the bag and I want to keep it that way. So if I see or hear of one of you stepping out of formation before the enemy breaks ranks the whole lot of you will be on the receiving end of Rhydian’s tender loving care for a week! No breaks.” He knew that he could hardly come up with inspiring words to face an exhausted enemy so he didn’t even try. Instead of the carrot, Braydon opted for the stick. As much as his men respected Rhydian, there was a reason for that respect. The man was a brutal taskmaster when he wanted to be.

“Good.” Braydon could see that his message had been conveyed. Every one of the men that he could see had stiffened at the mention of being left under Rhydian’s care for so long. And he presumed that the rest of them had a similar reaction. Now that he had lit a fire under them, he turned to Gerald who was smiling at their misery.

“What are you smiling about? That goes for you too.” The change on Gerald’s face was instantaneous. One second he was gloating at the misery of Braydon’s men, the next he was commiserating with them.

*BUUUU*

“Look at the time. Archers to the front!” Braydon shouted the moment that the horn blare died. Rhydian had made sure that everyone that was commanding their men knew what the horn signals meant. For Braydon it was not so much of a hassle, he had been on his father’s battlefield before and Rhydian used the same signals. For everyone else, they had made sure that they learnt it by heart.

*BUUBUU*

“March!” The same scene played out across their side of the field. The whole army moved roughly as one. Rhydian had attempted to drill the army as often as he could whilst they were on the move. At the very least they could pull off basic tactics but it was by no means up to the standard he would have liked.

“Seems like they have started moving.” Duke Tetland commented. Since his army was under his command, and better trained, he had been asked to do a slightly different task than the King’s army. Whilst the Fiverians would be fighting each other head on, it was his job to go around Ryder’s men and attack from the flank.

“We should get going too.” As soon as he said that, his knight held up his horn and blew.

*DUUUDUUU*

“I want our cavalry to charge first, then immediately pull back. No need to waste good horses. Only then are the peasants to engage.” Unlike the Fiverians, more than just his personal guard were mounted. And he was going to take advantage of that. This was not his battle, so he was not going to waste his men when he did not have to. Especially since he would be cleaning up when he went home.

“Understood, Sire.” He held off on carrying out his liege’s orders just yet, so that they could get into position. If the cavalry charged in too early, it would just tell Duke Ryder to prepare for more attacks from the flank.

“Hmmm, I wonder if he remembered to check if I was joining Aled or not.” Duke Tetland wondered out loud. If it was under normal circumstances he would not even question it but men became inattentive when they were put under pressure. If Ryder had truly not realised this, then the battle might end even quicker than they had anticipated.

*DUDUDU*

“Ready!” It had not taken long for them to get in range of Duke Ryder’s army and both sides immediately had their archers fire on one another.

“Aim!” Braydon was not used to commanding archers but it was not the hardest thing that he had done. At the very least Rhydian had taught him how to do it before, it was just that he had not had the chance to put it into practice.

“Loose!” One thing became immediately obvious. Duke Ryder had more archers than they did. It was not surprising considering how wealthy he was and how most of the King’s allies were low ranking lords. But that was not the first thing on Braydon’s mind right then.

“Shields!” He shouted as loud as he could. The last thing that Braydon wanted was for his men to be wiped before he even saw the enemy. Raising his own above his head, he counted to five before he started hearing the thuds as the arrows struck shields across the field.

*DUDU* *DUUUUU*

“Archers, hold position and prepare to shoot at will!” Braydon was already shouting the first command before the horn blared once again. He took the chance to look around and felt pained seeing how much damage his archers had taken. Whilst they did have shields, they were smaller and affixed to their arms for ease of use. But that came at the cost of coverage, and it showed.

“Infantry advance!” Braydon could not rest for long since the horn had blared twice. And he was going to be moving with the infantry rather than stay back with the archers. He looked over to the archer’s captain and nodded. There was little more for Braydon to say since all they had to do was fire until the battle was over if things went to plan. Not to mention the captain was more experienced when it came to directing archers. Braydon had been commanding them for practise.

“Let’s see who gets more kills.” Braydon looked over to Gerald who was at the other end of his troops. He had not heard his comments but that was not needed. Gerald was also looking over at him, and they could both tell what the other was thinking.