"So, are you ready for your second drone?"

The scene was almost a reproduction of a similar scene a year before. The twins, Hellen and Mathis, were seated in front of Eric, who was seated in front of his tent, with their parents looking on. The only difference was the absence of Dietrich, who had to be in an officers meeting for an upcoming battle, and the two worker drones who were flanking the kids, looking around idly.

"Yes, mister Eric. Come on, we've been waiting forever."

The twins were also significantly less nervous, which was apparent from Hellen's demanding tone. Incidentally, they had been waiting for this moment for about the entire year, mainly so they could show others that they could indeed have control over multiple datch.

Unfortunately for them, the traditions demanded that budding broodmasters had to have at least one year of experience with a single drone before they could try to control a second one. On top of that, they had to do a test that proved to the world that they were indeed in full usable control. It involved making their drone complete a parkour while they themselves were blindfolded. Given that the twins had made it a competition to see who could do it the fastest (Mathis by about a second), no further obstructions had been placed in their way.

"Well, here you are."

Eric handed over two little pups who had a significantly lighter color than the ones he handed over the previous year. The twins immediately grabbed their respective one and held them in front of their face. Just like that, the two pups were bound.

"Yes! We've got two now!"

"Mama, papa, look! We've got two!"

"The start of a real brood."

"Well done!"

"Don't forget: make sure to make these workers as well."

""Yes, mister Eric.""

And with those words, the group dispersed.

Last year, the temptation had been there to pick a different form then worker, but Dietrich's authority had made resisting his order... uncomfortable. This year, the knowledge of how many extra chores they were about to receive made sure they would still choose for workers. Hell, just the chores they already had at the moment made them wish for an extra worker.

It was a good thing that they didn't need convincing. The company could really use some extra workers. A bit over half of the company, which had 93 members, had a warrior companion. Eight members were too young to have anything and another eleven were muts, which was painful. The average was only ten per hundred. On the other side, the company had only five broodmasters, including the twins, which was very painful because of those same odds of ten per hundred. On top of that, they didn't have a single broodlord, which, granted, should only be expected once for every hundred people.

Given their big tactical importance, all the broodmasters had a mostly warrior brood. Eric himself had only two of his eight drones as workers and one of his drones as a mother, Sarah had one worker and one mother for her five drones and Peter had all three of his drones as warriors. Counting everything up that made for... 62 warriors, 38 workers, and 2 mothers.

They definitely could use some extra workers.

Luckily, there was high hope for the twins. He had meant to count how long it took them to bind with their new drone, but they were honestly done before he had even started counting. It was kind of scary how easy they made it look. It should get harder the closer they were to their maximum, so that maximum would definitely not be three or five. Or even ten.

Better not say it to them, but they had both good chances of becoming broodlords.

Even if they both had only workers, it would be a very good addition to the company. The innate teamwork of a brood should make it possible to throw up a fortification in no time flat. Maybe even in the middle of a battle.

There were many possibilities, but all of them were still in the future.

Still, it was good to have something to look forward to.

---------------

They had been shoveling dirt all day. Well, at least their drones had. Their old ones at that, the new ones they had just been playing with. While they liked to complain about having to shovel dirt all day, it was a task that, as a broodmaster, they could honestly delegate to the back of their mind while they played with their new pups.

"Aww, they're so cute. I want to have one as well."

"Sorry Liz, you can't. You aren't a broodmaster after all."

It was a jab Hellen was still not tired of delivering.

"And papa told us that if there aren't too many casualties this battle, we'll get another one next month."

"Oww, I'm so jealous. Or, you know what: I'm not. I only need one, isn't that right, Emma?"

Liz hugged her companion who was seated next to her. In the past two years, they had become companions in more than one sense of the word, as she often found comfort in her when under an often unintended dual assault of the twins.

"Well, at least you don't have to be shoveling dirt literally all day," Mathis said.

"Wow, like you have it so hard. It's like you don't even notice that your drones are working their ass off over there."

A fact that made Eric jubilate inside when he noticed it.

Doing work with your companion feels about the same as doing the work yourself, while working with a drone feels more like supervising someone else. Therefore when Liz had done her - rather small - part, she was free to go. When Mathis and Hellen had done their part, which was quite a bit bigger, they didn't even notice because they were to busy playing with their new pups.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

So, no one told them to stop and people even brought them food so they didn't even have to stop. When the dirt wall around the camp was completed, the kids were told that if they wanted, they could shovel together a tower to use as an observation platform tomorrow. That sounded like a cool idea and they had been enjoying playing in the dirt piles, so that was what they were doing now.

"Of course we notice what they are doing," Hellen defended herself.

"But it's not like moving some dirt is hard," her brother added.

"Wow. 'It's not hard.' I'm the only one who has been shoveling anything at all."

The friends just looked at each other. It was true in a certain sense. Fortunately, Liz desired to switch the subject.

"Anyway, do you think there are going to be many casualties?"

"Papa said he doesn't think so," Hellen happily obliged. "It's because there are many mercenaries on both sides."

"And mercenaries don't want to fight to the death," Mathis added. "So the moment we start taking some datch casualties, we'll start retreating. Also, mercenaries don't like pursuing very much."

"So you are saying that you will get another pup next month?"

"If there are less then six death datch," Mathis said.

"I'm not sure if that is very likely. And Lil is getting tired. I think we should stop."

"Yeah. Min as well. Let's go. We can finish it tomorrow."

---------------

For children, a battle is something exciting. Something special. Maybe even something to look forward to.

For adults, a battle is also something exciting, but a different kind of exciting. When a soldier enters a battlefield, it is with the knowledge that he might die. It is that kind of exciting.

Of course, it is somewhat different if you go in with proper armor and with an understanding that you and the enemy don't actually want to kill each other. It is also somewhat different if you have a literal meatshield walking with you.

It was therefore with a rather relaxed atmosphere that Amelia donned her husband his armor, while the children handed them the pieces. Heavy mail with steel plates at vital points. As was tradition, the woman dressed her man, while her companion dressed his companion. At least that was the tradition in those families where the husband went fighting while the woman did not. While the twins were loudly arguing over what the correct order was to give the different pieces, Amelia and Carl softly exchanged some words of affection and encouragement.

After Carl was fully armored, he turned around, took another mail shirt and slipped it over his wife's head, followed by another two mail shirts for Hellen and Mathis. It was a policy of the company that during a battle, every member, even the non-combatants, had to be at least wearing a mail shirt and a steel hat. It would prevent any stray projectiles from causing much damage and dissuade would-be attackers from trying to quickly overrun the camp while the main fighters were away.

And then, after some final 'if I don't come back' words, he took his spear and his shield and left. Still, the mood stayed rather relaxed. It wasn't the first time it happened and had already become somewhat of a ritual at this point.

Sometimes, battles come at you out of the dark and take you by surprise. More often, they are planned: pitched battles. Such was the kind that was about to be fought. It was the result of a territorial dispute between two dukes. Something about grazing grounds or something trite like that.

The ebbenwood company - which his the name of Dietrich's company - had been trading some cloth and grain in the capital of one of the duchies, when they heard about the conflict. Trading is actually what the company does most of the time. Some simple negotiations later, a contract was obtained and they set out for the battlefield. They had only arrived two days ago, but the two armies were already in a stand of for about five days. Yesterday, negotiations had finally broken down, presumably because the ebbenwood company had thrown some weight in the scales, and so, today, there would be a battle.

---------------

The moment their father left their tent, Mathis and Hellen ran towards their lookout post. Their mother first had to go to a meeting to organize the defenses. From their perch, which was the dirt pile they dug and on top of a hill, they could clearly see all the units move over the field.

Each army was fielding about a thousand men, mostly spearmen and an equivalent amount of datch. On the 'good' side there was one broodlord who was fielding about twenty-five warriors and on the 'bad' side two broodlords who were fielding about ten to fifteen warriors each, so that count was about even. They were facing each other on what was the right flank for the good side.

The flag of the ebbenwood company was a black tree on a green field and had taken position in about the center-left. They had formed up in two lines, which actually functioned more like four lines, as the soldiers' companions formed an extra line in front of them. The general tactic in datch warfare was to have the datch attack while the person behind them defended her. If the datch got killed, wounded or tired, a pair from the second line would come in to replace them. If the second line ran out, the entire unit would start to retreat. This was done because datch were easily replaced, while the people were precious.

It took in far excess of an hour before both armies were correctly maneuvered and even then, it took another half hour of just staring at each other and lots of shouting before anything happened. Eventually, a signal was given and the two lines started closing. Some missiles were exchanged, which was largely ineffective. The ebbenwood company especially had enough armor to deflect any arrows coming their way.

Once the two lines were in the final few meters, the entire advance slowed to a crawl. The spearmen stayed just outside each others range, while their companions started some probing attacks. The ebbenwood company had been pitted against militia, so they weren't very concerned about fighting against them. However, they didn't yet want to commit fully, because they didn't want to fight against the reserves, which were the household troops of the enemy duke.

From their purch, Hellen and Mathis, who were in the meantime joined by their mother with a crossbow, were holding their breath during the long minutes where not much was happening, even though the armies were technically engaged. After about a minute and a half, the first real action started happening in the center-right.

Two militias had been engaged with each other, but the good side decided they had enough and started routing. This propted the reserves under leadership of the good duke to charge the pursuing bad militia, which caused them to promptly rout. This, in turn, caused the bad duke to jump in, and the two dukes started duking it out.

This had been the cue that Dietrich had been waiting for. The moment the enemy reserves were occupied, he gave the signal. His soldiers abandoned their defensive probing strikes and surged forward. During the probing minutes, the company had already noticed that the militia they were fighting was lacking both gear and experience. Their datch especially were particularly badly equipped, poorly armored and completely unarmed. Warrior forms did have their natural claws and tusks, but the short swords that the company was using had a significant range advantage.

Therefore, in about two seconds time, roughly a third of the enemy datch line at their position had been killed. This was then followed by several confusing moments of 'you aren't running fast enough but we don't want to kill you people' before the enemy at their position gave up and routed. Eric, Sarah, Peter, and their broods, who had been on their left, immediately started running behind enemy lines, clipping them in the back and scaring them into making mistakes. Most of the rest of the company turned right to start enveloping the center.

From that moment, the crowd on top of the dirt pile started going wild with shouts like: "Come on!", "You can do it!" and "Finish them!" After that, it took but a minute for the entire left flank to collapse and only a minute more for the rest of the enemy to start routing as well. The moment the ducal banner started moving away, broke out in cheers. And the twins? They cheered double as hard: they hadn't seen a single ebbenwood datch go down.

In the end, there were four casualties, but that was not enough to quell their joy.