Gnarl bowed before the queen as she gave her orders, which weren't compliant with his opinion on the matter completely, but he'd have to follow through with them regardless. Guinand seemed compelled to go and ignore the queens orders, opting to go invite these men himself rather than letting Gnarl do it. He'd let him bring the torn of the queen upon himself, and not interfere, but the queen wouldn't be happy about him ignoring her direct orders. He turned to Theodore as the three of them walked out of the chamber, leaving the queen to her own devices. [b]„Theodore, come with me. We have more important matters to attend to than stay around all day. Guess you're off the hook for guard duty.”[/b] he said as he walked past Theodore, down the circular stairs and into the throne hall. Servants were out and about cleaning the mess that the Iron Company had made the day before and at this moment the sounds of swords clattering could be heard from the courtyard as well. It'd sound like an actual fight if you disregarded the hung-over muttering of headaches and such. Gnarl would lead Theodore across the courtyard and towards the barracks, headed for his own bedroom which doubled as a small working room. He'd let Theodore in briefly as he'd need to collect some items -- papers, maps of the area and detailed orders. 

The time Gnarl took gave Theodore some time to look around the bedroom, which was stylized by greatswords hanging crossed above the large bed, and a deers' head mounted above the doorway. A small candle on the working table lit the room slightly, the light flickering as the flames danced their little dance. In the corner stood a weaponsrack, loaded with a variety of weapons. Besides that there was little of notice in the room. By now Gnarl would be done and grab Theodore by the shoulder as he moved out of the room again, out of the barracks and into the courtyard. Once they got there he'd release Theodore, his brutish ways showing through after all. Gnarl walked over to the center of the courtyard, expecting Theodore to follow him. From there he hailed a guardsman, who hurried over in his plate armor. It was top quality, Gnarl had to agree, but the way these men looked, walked, ran and fought.. it was laughable. He'd have to organise some sort of training sooner or later. [b]„Guardsman, go and ensure that the.. ladies of the beds are sent back to where ever they live. And tell a servant to ready a chamber with three beds, foodstuffs and wine. Queens orders, she told me to tell you directly. Remember your duty.”[/b] Well, that wasn't really true but Gnarl didn't feel like playing servant for the queen, and that wasn't why he was hired. The guardsman hurried off, or rather hobbled off, being untrained in plate armor and how to move in it. Gnarl just had to trust the job got done.

The papers he had brought along got rolled out and Gnarl inspected them closely, seemingly attempting to create a picture of what had been drawn and placing it into the real world. After about five minutes he'd look at Theodore, letting him have a look at the drawing. The drawing seemed to be of a bastion, though it was much too large to put in the courtyard. They'd have to build from the castle, connecting the new 'barracks' design that Gnarl held to the keep. This would be profitable for all those involved, even the queen, but Gnarl just had to convince her it was worth the money. The current barracks were simply a stables converted into a sleeping area for the men, and there was barely enough space. [b]„What do you think? We'll have seperated dormitories, because there's not enough space in general for individual rooms, and then a hallway leading to the throne hall of the queen.”[/b]

After he'd receive an opinion on the new addition that Gnarl had planned, Gnarl would slap Theodore on the back hard and grin at him. [b]„Perhaps the queen will be less stubborn and take my advice on this, atleast.”[/b] He'd push Theodore towards the training area and follow suit, calling over a group of five guards, and an Iron Company's soldier during the walk. [b]„Right, Yorwen, get in the training ring. You too, guardsman.”[/b] He'd say to one of the guardsman, holding a glaive. Yorwen, a big man who was fully suited up in plate armor and had a bascinet on, stepped into the ring self assured. The guardsman wasn't so self assured, but stepped in none the less. [b]„Yorwen, show them how to fight.”[/b] The guardman stood awkwardly, aiming his glaive at the man now that he knew he was gonna be fighting him. Yorwen simply lowered his sword forwards a bit and walked in a circle around the guardsman. Then, he stepped forward, as the guardsman stepped back in fear. He pushed his glaive forward and Yorwen used this moment to grab onto the glaive's wooden handle and pulled it out of his hands while stepping forwards and 'slitting his throat.' Ofcourse it was just a training, so he didn't actually draw blood. The sword slowly dragged over the mans neck before Yorwen gave the glaive back. You couldn't see, but inside his helmet he was grinning.

Now was Theodores' turn. Gnarl grabbed his shoulder and pushed him in before yelling at one of the guardsmen that he'd have to get into the ring as well. [b]„Theodore, perhaps you can illustrate without so much showing off. After that, teach these five men some tricks and battle formations for use in small groups. See me at the end of the day, and tell me how it went. Get them ready for the visit of these scouts that the king sent here.”[/b] Gnarl didn't even bother to see how Theodore would fare in the fight -- he was certain that he'd win given the relative stupidity of the castle guards around here. The guard however didn't waste any time and, not wanting to suffer the same fate as the other guardsman, rushed forwards pointing his glaive at Theodores side. Perhaps 'training the guardsmen' was a better punishment than 'guarding the queen.'

---

Wren, Rand, Sikarthis and Atl wasted no time, riding for the burning village. Joachim reared his horse towards the village, too, and followed suit, giving his horse a few taps with his boot to catch up to them. They were headed straight into the thick and by now the heavily armored knights that were raiding the village could be seen. They wore no emblems, as even their shields were painted simply green. These knights drove through the village, a rope in one hand dragging slaves along, sword in the other hand to slay any stragglers. Some infantry could be seen in rugged leather outfits, with some steel parts here and there. They were dragging the women out of the houses, in order to rape them then slit their throats, or suffer the worse fate of being taken as a slave -- to serve until death by providing 'services' to these men. 

However one of the knights noticed the riding band of mercenaries heading for the village and reared his horse, before alarming the rest of the knights and soldiers. All of them dropped what they were doing and turned to face the riders. The knights were the first to rush forward, passing the infantry and speeding towards the band of mercenaries. There were 7 of them, all heavily armored in full plate armor and elaborate helmets, some of them carrying swords and the others carrying maces. The infantry behind them started forming up rather quickly, and their force soon became known as it was clear that they had over 20 men. Joachim realized the mistake they had made by rushing to battle blindly, but it was too late to pull back. He yelled out to the others, screaming the battlecry of the Iron Company. [b]„Steel-born! Oaken-skin! Glory in life and sacrifice in death!”[/b]

The knigts closed in quickly, and Joachim met one of the riders with his lance. Using proper jousting form, Joachim pulled the lance from it's pouch and couched it on his elbow, raising his left arm with his shield as well to catch any blows that the knight may throw to counter the lance. The lance crashed into the knights shield, the sheer speed at which the two of them had ridden causing the shield to be pierced by the lance. The lance went through the shield and grazed the knights shoulder, scoring a lucky early hit. However the lance broke after that, the tip of the lance snapping of. Joachim dropped the wooden handle of the lance and pulled on his sword, knowing that the knight had survived. Fighting on horseback was something he was good at, but he wasn't sure about the others and likely the others would fare better on foot. He tugged on the reins of the horse, forcing the horse to stop and turn around to face the knight that was still riding away from Joachim. He pushed his boots into the horses flanks, preferring the fight with the knight on horseback rather than charging headfirst into a group of infantry on horseback.