“Do not trust the questionable, and do not question the trusted, that’s how I do it.” - Arafinas the Great, Emperor of Clangeddin during the later part of its golden age of expansion.

To say that Alvaro was nervous was an understatement.

It was only the previous afternoon that the Captain himself called for him and told him to pick fifty of his best, to represent the company in a duel today. While none of the warforged were strangers to battlefields, this would be their first actual foray under the flag of the Free Lances. Their first chance to show their worth to the company that had accepted them under their wing.

Probably didn’t help that Reinhardt had specifically told Alvaro to win the fight in a way that left no room for doubt either.

Alvaro had picked the best fifty from the seventy-three former warforged that joined the company. They were arrayed in four lines of twelve each at the moment, a dozen shieldbearers at the front, while the remaining thirty-four spearmen were arranged behind them, the final two lines being thirteen men wide. He himself, Njeri, and the other two blademasters were interspersed between them.

All of them had new armor and equipment courtesy of the company, with the shieldbearers and spearmen having been given a change of gear to better suit the new tactics they learned. Instead of a massive shield that needed two hands to wield properly, the shieldbearers now carried a still large tower shield that could be wielded two-handed, but also usable with just one arm supporting it.

At the back of the large shield were holders for two short javelins on one side, and a short spear – a meter long, with nearly half of it being a broad spearhead that could both pierce and cut effectively – on the other, for the shieldbearers to use in combat. They were also armored far better than before, though that likely applied to every one of them these days.

The spearmen had traded their massive six meter pikes for long spears that still measure twice as long as a man was tall. Their shields were smaller, and could either be strapped to their arm in a way that allowed them to use it while leaving their hands free to wield the spear with both hands, or with a grip held in their hand for better control in close combat.

Similarly, the small hatchets they used to wield had been replaced by forward-curved blades that had a similar feel and balance to what they were used to, but were longer and deadlier, with greater flexibility as well. They too carried two short javelins hidden behind their shield, kept in place by holders on the backside of the shield.

All the warforged rank and file had been trained in the use of those short javelins, and even the blademasters each carried a quiver of three javelins behind their backs.

Their opponents brought ten archers amongst their fifty, which naturally outranged what the warforged had with them. The moment the duel started, those archers loosed arrows as they could towards the warforged formation, but all the former slave soldiers did was to calmly raise their shields and march forward. Their shields were sturdy wood with a thin sheet of metal affixed to it, covered in leather, and the arrows failed to pierce through those shields.

Meanwhile, the warforged marched unhindered with steady steps, even as the arrows from the other side fell on their shields like raindrops.

They quickly covered covered half the distance between the two groups in the time it took for the enemy archers to empty half their quivers, and alarmed, the enemy shifted their formation, the archers moving to the sides where they attempted to land some hits while the rest of the infantry formation moved forward, forming a four-line formation each ten men wide. The four commanders on the other side – one for the archers, two for the infantry, and one overall commander – were all at the rearmost line.

In contrast, the four blademasters amongst the warforged were right at the second line, stationed right behind their shieldbearers, where they could react to the situation fastest.

As they reached a distance of twenty-five meters away from their foes, the whole warforged formation grabbed one of their short javelins. They then hurled the javelins at their foes while only opening small gaps in the protective coverage of their shields, the fifty javelins flying through the air in an arc to fall on their opponents like a swarm of angry hornets.

Even though their opponents also carried shields and raised them, javelins carried a lot more force behind them compared to arrows, and they pierced through those shields, with unlucky soldiers finding the sharp ends entering their bodies.

The former warforged rushed forward and covered ten meters closer before their enemy managed to calm their soldiers after the javelin volley, only to repeat the maneuver, this time from closer, with many of the javelins thrown directly ahead instead of in an arc. The order that was just reestablished amongst the enemy troops immediately fell into chaos once more as another swarm of javelins struck home.

Then the former slave soldiers charged with weapons in hand, their trained legs covering the remaining fifteen meters of distance in seconds.

First it was the shieldbearers that clashed shield to shield against the enemy soldiers. With the momentum of their run behind them, the former slave soldiers pushed their opponents until they lost their balance and had to be supported by the one behind them, which briefly kept those soldiers occupied with their allies. It was an opening that did not go to waste, as a moment later dozens of sharp points stabbed out from behind the shields.

The shieldbearers in front stabbed out with their short spears, while the spearmen from the two rows behind them stabbed from above the coverage of the tower shields using their long spears, abusing the reach advantage of their weapons and the distracted state of their enemies to harry them fiercely. Already several soldiers on the opposing side fell as the spearheads found home in their flesh.

While the archers on the enemy side dropped their bows and drew their swords at that point, their attempt to help was rapidly rendered futile, as the two veteran blademasters from the warforged side took seven men each and slaughtered them before they could do anything, before they pivoted and harried the enemy’s flanks in a coordinated maneuver.

Right as they did so, Alvaro and Njeri slipped out from behind the massive shields that kept them out of sight and started to go wild as they charged into the enemy formation.