Beam grabbed them and slung them over his shoulder, before jogging back to the front line, and throwing them towards the fire.
The men were already moving the other kills that he had made, with cheerful expressions, and sounds of jubilation.
"If I'd had to do another battle with a Gorebeast, I would have killed myself long before it got to me, I tell ya," one of them said. "Too tired for this kind of work. But shifting bodies? I'm all in."
Another one pointed out the presence of Judas. "Look at him. He's easily shifting three bodies by himself. The Captain might seem cold at times, but he cares for us, he does. He's lessened the burden on our shoulders in one fell swoop."
As Tolsey listened, he couldn't help but nod in agreement, though it was a hesitant nod, filled with uneasiness, as he struggled to process just what he'd seen. With a wave of his hand, Lombard called Beam over. He'd wiped that shallow smile from his lips and replaced it with his usual commanding expression.
Though, even though his face seemed indifferent, his words were not. "Good work, boy," he said. Rare words of praise from the Captain that merely expected things to be done, and only acknowledged their competition. He rarely complimented work, for his workers rarely exceeded his expectations.
Tolsey couldn't help but feel a little jealous at that, even being a thirty-year-old man as he was. It made him feel silly to think about it. But he'd joined the Captain's squadron for a reason. He admired the man. Even amongst all the troops that fought upon the Eastern front, his name was still spoken loudly and often.
"Was that it, then?" Beam asked. "Good enough for demonstrating my worth?"
"That seems fine to me," Beam said. "How long are you wanting me to defend for?"
"If you could cover it from dawn until dusk, that would be significant," Lombard said lightly, as though it was a simple request. Even though the days were shorter now, and dawn until dusk was only a period of eight or nine hours at most, Tolsey couldn't support putting that entire shift on the shoulders of just a single boy – even the soldiers themselves switched every few hours.
"Captain – I have to object. Leaving such an important duty to an outsider is too much. Besides, he might be strong, but that's such an impossible workload. Surely we're only inviting disaster by doing that?" Tolsey said, looking towards Beam for support, as though he supposed the peasant might agree with him.
But the boy merely shrugged. "I do not mind doing it. It will be good training, after all. If I can have your help in dealing with these shadows, and ridding the forest of monsters for good, that would make my time well spent."
"And you will have it," Lombard said. "We find our common cause there. Though I am hesitant to spend so much manpower dealing with another threat besides the Yarmdon, we are being forced to, regardless of whether we want to or not. We've taken significant casualties, Tolsey. If the Yarmdon were to attack now, I am not confident we would last."
"But surely... Surely with you and I?" Tolsey murmured.
"Just because I am of the Third and you of the Second? The Yarmdon have their own paths to strength, their own Gods that they pray to. They are no weaker than ours. In fact, the average Yarmdon man might be stronger," Lombard said gravely. "You have only been on the front lines for a little over a year, and even then, we have not seen significant combat together.
I'd ask that you trust more in my judgement."