As they began passing through the field of waving grain on the opposite
side of the pond, she cowered instinctively and ducked down low behind
a clump of bushes to watch anxiously as they came into view, marching
briskly two-by-two, every one of them in perfect lock-step, moving
silently as one with only the distant sound of their tromping sandals
to mark their passage.
They carried swords or spears in their right hands, and on their left
arms they had great heavy shields, and helmets on their heads. So many
fierce-looking beards. She could tell that they were not soldiers of
the Emperor of this land, or they would have had standard bearers, and
other elaborate devices, including uniform hammer-beaten metal shields,
all alike with the Emperor's great seal of the sun god embossed thereon.
Nevertheless, it was a formidable force, at least a hundred and fifty
men-at-arms.
She remained in hiding, peering narrowly through the grass at the side
of a gray boulder. The rock of the boulder was actually minutely white
and black flecked with her eyes so close to it. Totally obscured from
view, she watched them march past her position, as silent as the wind,
and breathed a pent-up sigh of relief as their steadily marching ranks
slowly disappeared from view across the far field, moving in an
upstream direction.
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