Readying for Battle - Part 3

There came murmurs of agreement from his men as he said so. The Blackthorn men stared at them in bemusement, wondering why on earth those soldiers would be puffing out their chests in pride. Yorick's men too, who had been forced to work amongst them, as part of the same army, wore very similar expressions.

Lasha looked up, as if reading something into Oliver's words that he hadn't intended to put there. She felt an outsider, when she saw all the others giving the veteran men the same look. She thought she had understood them, but there were times, like this, when it seemed as if there was a different sort of tongue that Oliver spoke that only they understood.

It was the same tongue that he spoke to the villagers with, and at times, Nila. It was the same tongue that had made the sparks of jealousy flutter in her heart for the briefest of moments, before she hurried to quash it.

"Heave!" Oliver said.