Early the next morning, the entire Forward Base came alive. Crowds thronged the camp gate.
Soldiers were driving the Barbarian herders and laborers out of the camp.
From a distance, they looked like a dark swarm of ants pouring out of a nest.
Dressed in rags and carrying crude weapons—mostly wooden clubs—they passed through the gate and gathered on the broad stretch of open ground outside the camp.
By the time they had all passed through, their footsteps had left depressions in the newly leveled, rammed-earth ground at the gate. The Barbarian Cavalry following them had to guide their horses carefully around the ruts to avoid a fall.
Bone Baldy moved back and forth through the crowd with his troops, dividing the herders into groups.
It took considerable effort to sort the Barbarian herders and laborers into groups of ten thousand. Discipline was out of the question. They could never form battle ranks; they could only huddle together in great masses.
The thirty thousand cavalry originally assigned to guard the Forward Camp were Great Chief Heshima's own troops. They would not take part in this battle.
Heshima had, however, instructed them to intervene if Bone Baldy lost control of the battle.
If Bone Baldy was defeated, they were to receive his forces and prevent the troops in the castle from inflicting further casualties.
For now, the three divisions of ten thousand had yet to assemble. Some Barbarian warriors stood at the edge of the camp, watching the scene beyond the wooden palisade at their leisure.
Perhaps because they saw no need to fight themselves, they treated the herders' and laborers' coming struggle as entertainment.
The warriors laughed and occasionally whistled. When Bone Baldy heard the whistles rising behind him, he noticed unrest spreading among the herders and laborers.
Annoyed, he