The sun hung high in a clear, cloudless sky, its golden rays casting sharp shadows across the southern camp. The usual hum of activity that often filled such encampments was conspicuously absent. Instead, a heavy, disciplined silence hung over the air as five hundred soldiers stood in formation, their rows precise and unyielding.
Each man stood at attention, armor gleaming under the relentless sunlight. Shields rested firmly in hand or strapped to their backs, while the points of weapons glinted under the sun. There were no idle conversations, no laughter from dice games, nor the clatter of mess kits. Even the horses tethered nearby seemed subdued.
