And Beam began. He started lightly at first, not daring to ask too much of his leg, before speeding up some more, running back and forth along the track, turning around at each end before he disappeared from Dominus' view.
As he had thought it would, the sprinting inflicted more pain on him than the stone lifting had, and his martial training had. As he ran, the unbalance of his legs was painfully obvious and he could feel that he was far slower than he normally might be. A frustrating realization, for sure.
"That'll do," Dominus said, and Beam returned to the camp breathlessly, having worked up a sweat.
"It seems there's more danger to be had in your lack of speed now," Dominus said as Beam sat down. "That was your weapon against the Hobgoblin in your past encounter. The only attribute that you really surpassed it in, and now it's been taken from you. That's troublesome indeed."
"I'll have to think of a different approach," Beam said.
"Then you had better think quickly, boy, there isn't long at all," Dominus said with a sigh, finding it hard to believe in Beam's impossible optimism. "Mm. While we eat, I suppose we might as well give Battle a go, to see where you're at in that."
Beam nodded halfheartedly, not entirely enthusiastic about improving it, now that his master had told him it was unlikely to help him in the battle with the Hobgoblin. But he set the pieces up regardless, settling on his army of 12 spearmen and 4 cavalry units – he'd forsaken archers entirely as of late, finding it easier to secure the advantage without them.
Dominus, on the other hand, had 6 archers in his frontline, 4 cavalry units behind them and then 6 spear units beside both of those – his usual balanced combination.
Dominus sent all four of his cavalry pieces forward, running them alongside the massive charging army, looking for flanks, any spots that they might charge into.
They crept close, just about to make contact in a single turn, but that was when Beam pulled a single spear unit out of the charge, immediately annihilating the closest cavalry piece, only for it to get crushed itself as the other three surrounded it.
But now Beam's three cavalry pieces made it to Dominus' cavalry. Three cavalry units against three cavalry units, all while Beam's army rushed through, destroying Dominus' left flank piece by piece.
On the right, Dominus' 6 bow units turned to point their weapons towards the approaching attackers, ready to unleash a vicious volley. But Beam's own cavalry unit was still there, making things awkward.
Using its superior mobility, it drew the two defending spear units in, before dashing around them, towards the exposed backs of the archers. It managed to dive in, hit the archers in the back, killing two of them, before it ran out of moves.
And then a volley was unleashed, crashing mercilessly down onto Beam's attackers, ridding him of three spear units. The next turn, Beam's isolated cavalry unit was surrounded and crushed by the defending spearmen, but it had served its purpose.
The three cavalry units on either side faced off against each other. Dice were rolled. All three of Dominus' pieces were killed, whilst a single unit of Beam's survived. Beam sent it to join the attack.
Now that Beam had destroyed Dominus' left flank, he shifted his army, attempting to cover his own flanks as it turned. But his inexperience was revealed, and one of Dominus' spear units managed to sneak in unmolested, killing two units before it too was ultimately snuffed out.