In Fear We Stand

         I will return. For three days those words had still rung in the air, the last words he had said to her as he departed. They were a promise, a promise Seccair held onto even as he and his men drew ever nearer to the coming battle. He heard the words whispered in every sound; they were in the thud of his horse’s hooves, in the clatter of his plated armour, in the murmurs of the wind.
         I will return.
         Even if he had to crawl back from the edge of hell itself he would see her again. Even if all his strength was spent, even if every drop of blood he could give had been lost, he would drag himself home.
         I will not give up the thought of seeing home again, of seeing her again, not even if every demon and sorcerer in all the worlds beyond this stand in my way.
         And if I should fall…
         Seccair shook his head. I will not. I cannot. I will return to her.
         His eyes swept across the tops of the vast hills around him. The long grass wavered in the quiet wind like a sea as the army threaded its way amongst the hills. Seccair was alert, watching for any sign of danger on the hilltops, but it looked for all the world like it really was as safe as the tranquility of the countryside made it seem.
         It always did.
         There was no peace here anymore. Any illusions of it had been slowly ripped apart over months of blood and destruction. No one knew where the monsters had come from, what world beyond this they had lurked in before beginning their slaughter, but it hardly mattered anymore, not now that half the world lay dead and burning. Answers were a luxury no one could afford.
         A man rode up alongside him, clad in heavy steel plates that clanked with his horse’s movement. “No sign of them yet, my lord.”
         Seccair nodded. “They’re out there.”
         The other knight gave a bitter laugh. “Oh, I know that for certain.” He hefted his shield in anticipation. The shield bore the same emblem as Seccair’s, that of Castle Blackriver, and identified him as Sir Harric. Harric’s hand slid down to rest on his sword. “They always are.” He frowned as he glanced towards the hilltops around them. “I just wonder where. I can’t help but worry that with so many of our men here, other places are in danger.”
         “The king gave his orders.”
         “The king?” said Sir Harric. “I’m sure he did. Does it matter? These men aren’t fighting for him. They’re fighting for their homes, their families. They’re fighting for you because that’s what you fight for, while the king is sitting and feasting in his castle far away.”
         Seccair gave a slight nod. “I wouldn’t have agreed to it unless I thought it was a good plan. The bulk of the demon horde is somewhere near here.” And only three days from home. From her. “We will find it and destroy it.”
         Harric smiled and chuckled. “I’m glad to see you’re optimistic.” He kicked his horse towards the hill beside them. “I’m going to have another look around.”
         Seccair raised a hand suddenly. “Wait. Do you hear that?”
         Sir Harric turned in his saddle, glancing around as he listened. “Nothing.”
         Seccair shook his head. “Listen.”
         Over the noise of the marching army came the sound of a distant roar. Harric froze, then he nodded slowly. Seccair kicked his horse forwards and bade Harric follow him up the side of the largest hill. As they breasted the top the entire landscape opened up before them.
         The grass in the distance had been blackened by fire, miles of it burned to ash like so much of the rest of the world. I should be shocked by this. But I’m not. I’ve seen it too many times before.
         He frowned. The charred grass seemed to be spreading. Or…no, it wasn’t spreading, it was moving.
         And then he nearly fell from his saddle in shock. It wasn’t miles of burned grass. It was miles of figures.
         Demons.
         The horde itself.
         Seccair felt the blood in his veins run cold as something else dawned on him. The sound he’d heard, the roars…
         They had come from behind them.
         He turned slowly, and could only stare.
         “I thought we were only looking for one horde,” said Sir Harric. “I think we’ve just found two.”
         Seccair still didn’t move. The demons ahead were moving faster now. Seccair didn’t doubt they’d scented them. And behind, the second horde, almost as large, was advancing too. Seccair’s army had maybe twenty minutes.
         And there was nowhere to run.
         He snapped out of it in an instant. He whipped his horse around and charged back down the hill. Sir Harric galloped away to obey orders that Seccair hardly noticed he’d given. His words came automatically to him as he shouted commands at his other captains and the army began to break from its marching formation to form battle lines. Seccair could only pray the men would be in position in time. Hundreds of archers clustered on the hilltops, bows waiting, and thousands of men-at-arms covered the slopes around them and filled the valleys. Seccair wished he had more space to lay the lines but the hills were too erratic to maintain any sort of order, and even still they were outnumbered. Two to one, maybe even three, and on this terrain those sorts of numbers could mean everything. Seccair knew his only advantage lay in his archers, precious few though there were, because whether the demons didn’t understand how to use bows or simply chose not to, they had none.
         But all he could do now was watch. He’d given his orders; the men moved to their positions as quickly as they were able in the confined space, and the demons advanced. Minutes slipped away. Seccair could see the demons as more than just a blur now, a mass of mottled black and red flesh, glittering eyes and slavering fangs, and still his army wasn’t in position. He drew his sword in frustration and clenched it tightly. Around him, he could see the fear in his soldiers’ eyes. They knew as well as he did the odds were against them.
         Without a second thought he rode up to the front lines of his men. They might not all be able to hear him, but enough of them could see him and those that couldn’t would have to look to his other commanders instead. As the men rushed into position, Seccair opened his mouth and shouted, “Men!” He raised his sword and let the blade catch the sunlight. “Soldiers of Blackriver, of Harthen, of Stormspire, of every village and every castle from across the land, listen to me!” In the back of his mind he could hear the yowls and roars of the demons growing louder but he forced himself to continue. “I know you’re frightened, but I also know that you are men of strength! Men of courage! We can hold firm here because numbers cannot hope to match our determination, our conviction. We will hold firm here!”
         He kicked his horse into motion and began to ride along the front lines. “Some have said that this war for survival has broken our spirits, that nothing good will remain much longer. They say it is easier to surrender to the inevitable. But I do not hold to that! There are good things left in this world, and there will be many more to come, not because of any natural way but because it is we who will make it so!”
         Seccair paused his ride. “All of you are fighting for something, for home, for your families, for the people you love. A wife, a child, a lover, a friend, they are the reason you’re here, not the king, not me. If they are at home, fight with everything you are to keep that home safe! If they are standing beside you now, fight with everything you can to protect them! And if they are dead, fight with all your strength to avenge them!” And I shall do the same, for all the lives this war has claimed, but most of all to keep her safe.
         “You are all here for someone. And I know that you feel that being afraid makes you weak or that it means you have already failed them, but that is not so! If you do not believe me when I say that you are men of courage, then hear me now: true courage is not fearlessness! It is the willingness to stand firm in the face of that fear! It is the decision that even in your fear there are those for which you will face anything!” He started to ride again. “So stand firm in your fear! We will fight today because when we triumph here we shall finally see those we love safe! That is courage! That is who you are!”
         Seccair dug his heels into his horse and the beast reared, beating the air with its hooves and screaming an animal war cry. Seccair roared, “VICTORY!” and his sword flashed again in the sun. The soldiers all across the hills echoed his shout with a noise like thunder and Seccair spun his horse to face the oncoming demons.
         His eyes narrowed as he stared at the charging horde. Your slaughter is over. Your butchery of my country ends here, today. And I will kill as many of you as I must to see that happen.
         The first flight of arrows whipped into the sky. Seccair pointed his sword at the mass of demons. Come and face us.





Word count: 1634