Hans dragged the chalk across the yard while sixty volunteers held four nervous ranks behind him.
Loccy waited east of the formation with her mallet's padding bound tight, watching the recruits try to judge its reach. Hajin leaned on the armory rail while Hans walked every escape lane the ranks would soon surrender together in retreat.
'Sixty farmers, one beam and thirty seconds, so what could possibly go wrong?'
Hans climbed onto a supply crate and raised his counting rod above the waiting shields.
He jabbed the rod toward the worker up on the bell tower, "Three rapid bells mean contact, take your sectors first, and when I order the retreat, your thirty seconds begin!"
"Anyone still outside at zero stays outside, that timber closes whether you finished arguing with the ground or not!"
A recruit at the rear hefted his shield and squinted toward the escape lane.
