AWOOOOOOOOOO!
Beyond the bridge, they heard a warhorn, as the Syndran soldiers formed up. The lot of them were gathered now. That was surely a thousand men. They'd been forming up their ranks before, but they could do no better than ten squares of a hundred, lining the length of the cliff. They couldn't spread out horizontally, not with all the buildings of the town in their way.
With the sound of the horn, there soon followed the marching of feet. A thousand men, all marching at once, that was a sound that carried, that was a sound that could be felt, as the earth trembled.
It would be reasonable to say that the villagers trembled too, if they were not doing so already. Their restless struggle as the soldiers sought to contain them was stupefied, as they felt the weight of the enemy that was coming their way. Even if they could not see the enemy, they could feel them, and that was enough.