Hooves thundered, and the earth shook. The Bohemian Light Cavalry's second charge was already closing in, iron-shod hooves trampling fallen warhorses and players' corpses, splashing mud mixed with blood.
Aku stood on a raised platform of wagon wreckage and piled horse carcasses in the center of the square, his hoarse voice cutting through the gunsmoke.
"Front rank, crouch down! Brace your bayonets against the ground! Rear ranks, reload! Move!"
The two hundred-odd players gathered there quickly adjusted their formation. Those in the front rank dropped to one knee and planted the butts of their flintlocks in the mud, their bayonets angled forward. Cold steel points glittered in the sunlight, forming a deadly wall of thorns.
The second rank crouched halfway down, their muzzles extending over the shoulders of the front rank, fingers on their triggers. The bayonet men in the third rank gritted their teeth, their blades crisscrossed, ready to fill any gaps. Meanwhile, the reserves in the fourth rank kept their eyes fixed on both flanks to guard against cavalry circling around.
"Hold steady... hold steady!"
"No need to screech at us! We're not going anywhere!"
"Exactly. Stop yelling. You're annoying... we know what to do."
Even as the shadow of the cavalry charge fell over them, and the leading Bohemian riders drew close enough to make out their faces, the players still had the leisure to joke around.
They were players, after all. After enduring the first cavalry charge, what little nervousness they had felt was gone. They had even grown calm and composed. Being hit by cavalry hurt like hell, and the impact was tremendous, but that was all there was to it.
Just before the Bohemian Cavalry crashed into the forest of bayonets, someone in the front rank shouted.
"Fire!"
Bang, bang, bang...
The second rank's