Part 2

The following morning, the horn blared throughout the camp. The soldiers were tired when they got up. The stars could still be seen clearly in the sky. But they soon realized that this kind of irregular wakeup call by the border could scarcely be good news.
They geared up in a hurry and gathered themselves in formation outside the camp within minutes.

The first rays of daylight reached over the horizon long before the sun peered out, rendering the sky a mix of gold and pink. And a deep blue on the opposite side of the firmament. It was so calm. So quiet.
Was there really trouble brewing?
The soldiers shuddered in the freezing cold that had settled during the night. The clopping from the cavalry pacing back and forth the lengths of the flanks broke the silence momentarily for the infantry they passed.

Commander Tarrok rode in on a black horse. He looked down at the front rank, and shot a smile at them.
“Brothers!” He shouted, loud enough for the ranks at the back to hear, “And sisters! Joy fills my heart! You all stand with me, even in the twilight of the day! No matter when, and no matter where, we the Knights of Meruvia shall heed the call of duty! Always!”
The Sergeant Brothers and Sergeant Sisters shared confused looks between one another, but tried keeping themselves focused on their commander.
“Looking at you like this, as a single group, a single sword… I cannot help but swell with pride! It is as if you are my children! What say you all about practicing drills? Now that you have assembled? I believe there could be no better time!”

There it clicked for them.
Tarrok obviously had a grudge against those shiny soldiers. He needed the company to show them up. Not like they could impress the constructs one way or the other. Still, it wasn’t as if any of the Brothers or Sisters were happy that the life to which they had committed could be so easily replaced by some nuts and bolts wound precisely the right way.
Not everyone was in on it with all their hearts though. While they all wished to show the Bronze Warriors up, a not insignificant portion wished for a morning to sleep in.
Of course, those Brothers and Sisters were ultimately encouraged by the promise of peer education from their fellow comrades.
And so the drills began in earnest.

Every Sergeant Brother and Sergeant Sister present had basic training in drills. They could stand at attention, and stand at ease. They could turn left and turn right. And they could march. That alone had earned them a considerable sense of discipline and unison, apart from being a safe and relatively fast way to transport a large number of troops and equipment. During the session, Tarrok tried out to see if the company could respond to command according to their rank and file, and insofar as they could be taught that.
As it turned out, it made a huge mess of the entire company.
But he soon discovered that the silent drill platoon was among them, and had rather advanced training in parading. Their leftenant evidently wished for them to one day march with the High Guard. And their dedication showed. They could spin their weapons in a flourish, nearly violently so. All in unison. Then they faced one another, spun their polearms laterally before trading their partisans with those of their partner’s, turned around, and started marching.
“Not bad.” Tarrok said with a wide grin, “Not bad at all.”

“Ohhh!” Buitleir arrived on scene next to Tarrok, clapping excitedly, “Are we doing exercises this morning? Splendid idea! How about I join you?”
Buitleir did not wait for his permission. He waved his hand, and once again the Bronze Warriors started moving. From frozen to racing speed, in the blink of an eye.
They started out marching forward, before they moving in a single file starting from the front rank in the leftmost corner, so that the formation reeled out in a sort of zig-zag pattern. They didn’t remain in a single line though. After exactly thirteen warriors had left the formation in one line, that line was left on its own. A new line then began to snake out in a different direction. By the time no Warrior remained in the formation, eight lines of Warriors slithered along the snowclad fields of the countryside.
They moved in patterns that were both convoluted yet predictable, always turning in 90 degree angles, a clear but elaborate harmony arising to anyone who looked upon it from above. Sometimes, one line moved into another. At that point, one of the lines left a space open for the other to pass through. The rest of the lines also slowed down in exactly the right pace to accommodate for that lag.
Eventually they joined together back in the formation, with the same zig-zag movement used to fill it up.
When they were done, the formation moved as one, back to the spot they started on. And then stopped.
Buitleir glowed at Tarrok with a smirk, “Very smooth, wouldn’t you say?”
Tarrok sighed, “...Sure. Not bad.”

He turned to the rest of the Brothers and Sisters, now despondent, “Very good, everyone. Let’s enjoy breakfast now.”
Breakfast happened in a somber mood for the Meruvean Knights on that morning. As did mass after breakfast. And anything else on that day.
A group of four Sergeant Brothers, two Sergeant Sisters and one Knight Sister had been tasked with guarding a checkpoint by a crossroad. The trees across the rustic fields had become barren for winter, yet fine snow had managed to stick to the moisture of the trees all the way to the finest twigs on the branches. It looked magical, as if the trees had bloomed with white crystals. But the Brothers and Sisters found no joy there.
"Is there anthing they can't do?" One Sergeant Brother sat slumped on a fallen log. He reached his partisan up to thwack the branches of a tree, making the powdery snow float down.
"I know. I had property and a title before I joined the Meruvean Order. I had a legacy, for crying out loud!" The Knight Sister groaned, "But I gave it all away, for what? To become part of a greater fight! But... What's the point of all that if you can just make a knight to do that for you?"
"Yeah... " Another Sergeant Brother sighed, leaning against a fence, "It's like my faith in the Chief God no longer drives me to serve her righteous purpose."
"Don't tell me you no longer believe?"
"Of course I do. And I believe she's good. But it's like, she's looking down at us. Far far beyond, from the recluse of the Heavens. Where what we do don't even touch her."
"I hear that. " One Sergeant Sister fed a small dried up pear to a nearby horse, "Meanwhile here in the material world, these Bronze Warriors could do anything we could, only a hundred times better."

The late afternoon came pass, and the clouds gathered to veil the sky. Curiously, the cover had assumed a distinctly purplish hue. In all likelihood, because they swept from the South-West. From beyond the border to Volodymyri.
“Tarrok…” Marie called out.
The commander hurried to the Prior’s side and knelt.
“Assemble the Brothers and Sisters of your company in formation. At once.” She dictated in a calm yet firm voice.
Once the Prior turned away, Tarrok rose to his feet. He mounted his horse to ride to the barracks in full gallop.

He found them lounging around the campsite, each of them as if deflated. He kicked off their motivation, and soon the Brothers and Sisters had left the camp and assembled in formation. The Sergeant Brothers and Sisters with sword, spear and shield, and the Knight Brothers and Sisters with lance and shield on horseback.
They waited just like they had before. And just like before, nothing moved beyond the border. Was this another prank that Tarrok played on them? To have an excuse to whip them all into shape?
No sooner had the first Sergeant Sister thought that, when it happened.
It started raining.

Not just any rain. Red rain. As if it was pouring blood.
“That’s demonic energy!” One of the Knight Sisters yelled, and she kept yelling while riding around the infantry, “Everyone cover up!”
The Meruvean company raised their shields over their heads. It soon started to pour. They heard the loud patter on their shields, the red fluid washing over the edge to the ground.
The rain ended as quickly as it had begun. Not so much as a drop had spilled on any of the Brothers or Sisters.

The rain had created some slush, and pooled water by the roads that glowed an eerie red.
They lowered their shields only when they saw the clouds fleeing.
They murmured between one another:
“That was… Anticlimatic.”
“Hmmm, did they need to bring us out here to fight the weather?”
“I know right? We could’ve just stayed in the tents, and we wouldn’t have risked our humanity.”

That’s when the Prior rode in, leering down at the company.
“Silence!” She barked, “This is no time for complacency! The real battle is about to begin!”
They looked over the border, but still, not a single soul could be seen.
“Lady Ramos…” Buitleir said as he approached, “I know not what danger you expect, but allow me to send the Bronze Warriors out for reconnaissance.”
He waved his hand once again towards the statuesque soldiers in the corner. But nothing happened.
“...Ohh, how embarrassing. This did not show up on the test. Looks like they’re a bit slow on the uptake at the moment” He grinned embarrassed, waving again.
Nothing.
“What the…?”

No matter how much Buitleir waved his hand, they did not so much as budge. Until a few seconds later when they started marching. Towards him.
Towards the heart of Nilea.

Buitleir backed away, his frantic waving growing slower as it dawned on him that he had lost control.
“Do you not see it, magnate?” Marie stated, looking down at the stumbling magnate with pity, “Your constructs lack free will. They do not choose between good and evil. They only obey orders. It takes a strong, resolute mind to resist temptation and corruption. To adhere to the narrow path they have chosen for themselves. What you have crafted is not a knight…”
She drew her blade, facing her Brothers and Sisters, readily awaiting combat, “It is a sword.”

She rode back and forth between the front lines, her sword raised in a glorious pose, “Let’s show Mr Buitleir what knights are made of!”
The Meruvean Knights roared. They stomped forward, charging ahead to face the invulnerable Bronze Warriors in combat. Those that earlier had intimidated them when they were on their side.

But now, their faith had been rekindled in their hearts.