A little sum sum
0
Jericho Antares
FAKKU Writer
A passage I wrote last night at my friend's house after everyone went and passed out (got a bit of insomnia going)
Anyway...
“You’re insane.”
“We have to hold the Ilya Sornan side down so the town’s walls don’t get caught in a pincer from both here and the Tanseele side. I trust Rei and Zachary to hold the line there.”
“Doesn’t make it any less insane.”
“You need to trust me more, Kai.” Jericho said lightly, though he couldn’t bring himself to smile. Before their auxiliary force of militiamen the gold and black standard of the Ilya Sornan Expeditionary Detachment stood as a solid mass of trained, tenacious murderers. Jericho had more men led by Aurica, Elijah, and Tanis in the trees at their flanks, but it didn’t make up for the obvious difference in skill between the two forces. This battle rode on the hope that the few skilled officers he had on his side didn’t fall, because that is all it would take for his forces to get routed and eventually die inside of the town’s walls. “Is the phalanx ready at the front?”
“Front and both of our flanks.”
“Post the archers at the center. Expect a cavalry charge. Ready the signal for the men in the forest to advance when the Ilya Sornan’s main unit moves toward us, and not a moment earlier. We’ll have to be able to hold out. The flank is essential.” He said methodically while his eyes narrowed. He drew his Claymore from over his shoulder and breathed deeply, anticipating the charge. The sword’s weight hung limply at his side as he waited, until he instinctively lifted it into a middle guard, both hands on the hilt. His stomach froze at the same instant, as did the nervous shifting of all the men around him.
A horn’s report struck out across the field, and the ground at his feet began to shake slightly, the dirt dancing around his boots.
“Here they come! Right flank, hold!”
“Left flank hold!”
“Hold the center!”
The three men yelled simultaneously as they each spotted a cavalry group emerge from behind the main body of the Ilya Sornan group. His frozen stomach twisted itself into a knot and he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as he watched helplessly. For the first time in his life, he had to watch as others died. Died for him. Died for family. Died for nothing. He spat the filth the thought left in his mouth to the dirt and looked away just before the sickening crash of horse against shield heralded the start to chaos.
Only Aurica’s calm blue eyes were visible despite the grime she and her detachment had covered themselves in. She spun the double-head axe’s haft in her hand and calmly tilted her rounded buckler in the thin, lazy sunlight that surrounded her. Not two days ago, she would have never imagined herself doing this.
“I guess the radical change inside an implant isn’t restricted to its owner.” She mused silently, sure that no one around her could hear.
“There they go.” A man a few yards away whispered, indicating the rushing cavalrymen that dashed across the field toward Jericho and Evelyn, or †˜Kai’, as he knew her. She kept watching as the two forces met, and the situation quickly degraded into a bloody melee while the main Ilya Sornan force began steadily marching. Strangely, she felt nothing for the men that were dying all around her. After all, they were only data. Simple things she herself could create with just a few lines of code. The thought removed her, and she chewed her cheek softly as she calmly waited for the signal, which came quicker than she expected. Not fifteen minutes into the battle, she heard Jericho’s voice boom over the noise of the fray.
“Fire!” She saw him yell after pulling his Claymore out of the chest of a pikeman, whose weapon was in two pieces at his feet. The archers behind his position in the center phalanx quickly set the oil-soaked rags on their arrows aflame and uniformly raised their shortbows before releasing a volley toward the still-cohesive main line of the Ilya Sornans.
“Alright, let’s go.” She said, standing quietly and keeping low as she exited the forest with thirty-five men in tow. About a hundred yards away she saw Elijah doing the same, both of their units just behind the Ilya Sornan rear flank. Aurica carefully looked to her left, toward where the enemy force had come from, but saw no rear guard. The commander of this force was too confident. Then again, he could afford to be. She continued on silently until she got within twenty yards of the rearmost man, at which point she began sprinting and bellowing as loud as she could before burying the axe into his spine, splitting the mail hood on his shoulders. He grunted oddly and froze while around her, Elijah’s group combined with hers and continued cutting down the rear guard, managing to confuse their ranks. Not even trying to pull her axe out, she simply pulped the back of the man’s skull with the sharpened studs of her buckler, forcing his dead weight forward and freeing her axe. A splash of crimson landed on her face and made the dirt run, exposing her pale skin slightly, making her already eerie presence even more unnerving.
“The rear, sir! At our rear!” Men yelled frantically, one of them quickly stopped by a backhanded strike from Aurica as she passed by him, crushing his windpipe and throwing him to the ground, where he gasped for air before being trampled by those following in her wake.
Anyway...
“You’re insane.”
“We have to hold the Ilya Sornan side down so the town’s walls don’t get caught in a pincer from both here and the Tanseele side. I trust Rei and Zachary to hold the line there.”
“Doesn’t make it any less insane.”
“You need to trust me more, Kai.” Jericho said lightly, though he couldn’t bring himself to smile. Before their auxiliary force of militiamen the gold and black standard of the Ilya Sornan Expeditionary Detachment stood as a solid mass of trained, tenacious murderers. Jericho had more men led by Aurica, Elijah, and Tanis in the trees at their flanks, but it didn’t make up for the obvious difference in skill between the two forces. This battle rode on the hope that the few skilled officers he had on his side didn’t fall, because that is all it would take for his forces to get routed and eventually die inside of the town’s walls. “Is the phalanx ready at the front?”
“Front and both of our flanks.”
“Post the archers at the center. Expect a cavalry charge. Ready the signal for the men in the forest to advance when the Ilya Sornan’s main unit moves toward us, and not a moment earlier. We’ll have to be able to hold out. The flank is essential.” He said methodically while his eyes narrowed. He drew his Claymore from over his shoulder and breathed deeply, anticipating the charge. The sword’s weight hung limply at his side as he waited, until he instinctively lifted it into a middle guard, both hands on the hilt. His stomach froze at the same instant, as did the nervous shifting of all the men around him.
A horn’s report struck out across the field, and the ground at his feet began to shake slightly, the dirt dancing around his boots.
“Here they come! Right flank, hold!”
“Left flank hold!”
“Hold the center!”
The three men yelled simultaneously as they each spotted a cavalry group emerge from behind the main body of the Ilya Sornan group. His frozen stomach twisted itself into a knot and he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as he watched helplessly. For the first time in his life, he had to watch as others died. Died for him. Died for family. Died for nothing. He spat the filth the thought left in his mouth to the dirt and looked away just before the sickening crash of horse against shield heralded the start to chaos.
Aurica Nashira
Rahksweln Forest
Implant Layer One
Rahksweln Forest
Implant Layer One
Only Aurica’s calm blue eyes were visible despite the grime she and her detachment had covered themselves in. She spun the double-head axe’s haft in her hand and calmly tilted her rounded buckler in the thin, lazy sunlight that surrounded her. Not two days ago, she would have never imagined herself doing this.
“I guess the radical change inside an implant isn’t restricted to its owner.” She mused silently, sure that no one around her could hear.
“There they go.” A man a few yards away whispered, indicating the rushing cavalrymen that dashed across the field toward Jericho and Evelyn, or †˜Kai’, as he knew her. She kept watching as the two forces met, and the situation quickly degraded into a bloody melee while the main Ilya Sornan force began steadily marching. Strangely, she felt nothing for the men that were dying all around her. After all, they were only data. Simple things she herself could create with just a few lines of code. The thought removed her, and she chewed her cheek softly as she calmly waited for the signal, which came quicker than she expected. Not fifteen minutes into the battle, she heard Jericho’s voice boom over the noise of the fray.
“Fire!” She saw him yell after pulling his Claymore out of the chest of a pikeman, whose weapon was in two pieces at his feet. The archers behind his position in the center phalanx quickly set the oil-soaked rags on their arrows aflame and uniformly raised their shortbows before releasing a volley toward the still-cohesive main line of the Ilya Sornans.
“Alright, let’s go.” She said, standing quietly and keeping low as she exited the forest with thirty-five men in tow. About a hundred yards away she saw Elijah doing the same, both of their units just behind the Ilya Sornan rear flank. Aurica carefully looked to her left, toward where the enemy force had come from, but saw no rear guard. The commander of this force was too confident. Then again, he could afford to be. She continued on silently until she got within twenty yards of the rearmost man, at which point she began sprinting and bellowing as loud as she could before burying the axe into his spine, splitting the mail hood on his shoulders. He grunted oddly and froze while around her, Elijah’s group combined with hers and continued cutting down the rear guard, managing to confuse their ranks. Not even trying to pull her axe out, she simply pulped the back of the man’s skull with the sharpened studs of her buckler, forcing his dead weight forward and freeing her axe. A splash of crimson landed on her face and made the dirt run, exposing her pale skin slightly, making her already eerie presence even more unnerving.
“The rear, sir! At our rear!” Men yelled frantically, one of them quickly stopped by a backhanded strike from Aurica as she passed by him, crushing his windpipe and throwing him to the ground, where he gasped for air before being trampled by those following in her wake.
0
Jericho Antares
FAKKU Writer
Thanks, it's a rare foray into swordplay for me, but I think that the time I spent researching weaponry paid off, and apparently you agree.
Again, thanks.
Again, thanks.