28 . 8 . 07
I forgot to warn you last chapter, but these next few chapters are all very dramatic. I did my utmost to make them NOT sound cheezy/awful/soap-operatic, but a warning before you plunge into the thick might be useful. Bring a snorkel!
By the by, a few characters from "A Soldier at His Own Expense" (hereafter called SHOE, because it's shorter) make an appearance in this chapter. Stay on the lookout!
"Ashleg froze, listening hard. There was silence, apart from the soft rustling of leaves overhead. But he had heard something out of the ordinary, he was absolutely sure of it.
He listened for a few minutes more, hearing nothing. Eventually he gave up and relaxed his alertness. A woodpigeon cooed somewhere off to the west.
And then the night exploded as dark shapes bounded into the clearing from the undergrowth, blades gleaming in the moonlight. Ashleg yelled in shock and started upwards, grabbing the first blade that came to paw – and fell back screaming as his damaged body refused to obey him. A cloaked figure stood over him, drawing back a club to knock him out.
Too late he realised: No woodpigeons at night –"
The Ashleg Chronicles -- Clouded Horizon
"Up an' at 'em boys, 'fore yer woken with a point at yer throats!" bellowed Captain Belladook, his booming voice penetrating through the barracks walls and piercing the men's consciousness.
Lee yelped and rolled out of bed, landing perfectly on his feet with unmistakable grace and looking around wildly. Jody opened one eye and chuckled. The officers took it in shifts to wake the men up, and each of them had a creative way of doing it.
The men had been woken by terrified screams, jubilant breakfast summons, orders to be on the line in a minute and a half, and the ever favorite under-attack calls which Lee could not get used to, even after three months of hearing them.
"To arms, Rijhad!"
Jody unfolded himself inelegantly from his severely crumpled position on the bed and slid easily off the top bunk.
"Up up up," he said rather cheerfully, poking Joseph on the shoulder.
The lad groaned, but sighed and resolutely rolled off the top bunk, crashing with a poof of dusty earth. Lee, who had since realized that they were not, indeed, under attack, was pulling on his uniform and laughing at the boy, voice muffled by the heavy brown fabric.
"I never will understand Joseph," he remarked, forcing his head through the correct hole and quickly locating the rest of the necessary elements. Pants, shoes, belt, the like.
"Best way to wake up," Joseph moaned, getting up and shoving the pile of blankets onto his bed. "Though I think I have a new bruise on my hip."
"A new bruise?" Jody asked, hurriedly stuffing himself into his own uniform. "Going into battle is not the best time to have a bruise."
Joseph gasped. "I totally forgot! By the hoof, it's battle day, boys!"
He whooped, then was knocked soundly on the head.
"Stop shouting and get dressed or there'll be no supper for you," another man warned. "If you even make it through the battle."
The entirety of the barracks was dressed, armed, and in a line in under four minutes. Joseph was ready in a record setting two. Hardtack and armor were distributed as they began their march to the battlefield fifteen miles away.
"Breakfast of champions, this," Jody remarked, gnawing experimentally on his petrified biscuit.
"What more could we ask for?" argued Joseph. "Drums for everyone!"
He began to bang steadily on his shield with the hardtack, accomplishing a formidable booming noise. Jody and Lee laughed, joining him with accompanying taps. Somewhere, a song started up.
"You nervous?" Jody asked Lee.
"Only a little," Lee admitted.
"Just fight your best and everything will be fine."
"Oh I plan to," Lee said vehemently. "Not that I have much to worry about, with you at my side. Most Philettins will run away at the sight of you!"
Jody laughed, then joined in with the upbeat song.
You take one step, I'll take two,
La dee da dee da do, doo da doo,
Hungry? Here's a rock to chew,
La dee da dee da do doo!
Right! Left! Hop to it laddies!
Front! Back! No mistakes!
Look! Sharp! Facing forward!
Ready ho and march away!
Hear the drums thump out our beat,
La dee da dee da do, doo da dee,
Boy, you look dead on your feet,
La dee da dee da do dee!
Right! Left! Hop to it laddies!
Front! Back! No mistakes!
Look! Sharp! Facing forward!
Ready ho and march away!
Won't stop till the break of day,
La dee da dee da do, doo da lay,
No matter if we've lost our way,
La dee da dee doo da lay!
Right! Left! Hop to it laddies!
Front! Back! No mistakes!
Look! Sharp! Facing forward!
Ready ho and march away!
To the battle field we go,
La dee da dee da do, doo da do
Up the broadswords, what a show,
La dee da dee da do do!
"Get down!" Lee yelled, grabbing Jody's uniform sleeve and attempting to drag him down.
Jody ducked just in time to miss an arrow that whistled through the air where his eye had been.
"Stay low, Jody!" Lee shouted desperately, then leapt forward to help a beleaguered ally fend off a sturdy Philettin.
After the soldier fell, the two men, united for but a moment, went in different directions. Lee ran to Jody's slightly hunched side, barely avoiding the flashing steel that nearly caught him in the forehead. Jody felled his man before Lee arrived but a squad of Philettins rushed them then, matching the pair swipe for swipe.
They struck and dodged, all the while throwing the occasional nervous glance over their shoulders to be sure they weren't being sneaked up upon. A Philettin stumbled and Lee ran him through without hesitation.
Four left. No one behind.
Lee was starting to flag – the heat of the battle had been raging for nearly a half hour now, and his stamina wasn't what it should be.
Two more Philettins fell, though Lee paid for it with a nasty gash on his hand and Jody was bleeding profusely from his calf. One more down.
Jody heard the arrow half an instant too late to shove Lee out of the way.
Whiz-thunk.
Lee jerked forward, eyes focused on the wood protruding from his chest. He dropped his sword and it clattered against his shield, raising a clang like a brass bell.
Jody blocked a quick attack and raised himself up to full height, eyes trained in the direction the arrow had come from. A man on horseback with his bow raised seemed to be the only archer in position to take the shot.
The blacksmith roared, taking the two remaining Philettins by surprise; he killed them both before they could draw another breath. He dropped to his knees as an arrow made another close call, swishing through the hair on the side of his head.
Lee had fallen onto his side and was staring blankly forward, a dribble of red leaking from the corner of his too-pale mouth and nose.
"Lee?" Jody said, grabbing his friend's arm with his left hand, sword arm still poised for attack. "Lee?"
No response. His heart thudded twice and he blinked, then let out a cry eerily akin to a wounded animal and jumped to his feet and charged toward the archer who had not moved from his safe position behind the footsoldiers.
Jody struck out with deadly accuracy at anything that came in front of him, leaping over bodies and fallen weapons until there was nothing between him and the rider. The man – a youth, Jody vaguely established – turned his head and saw Jody just before he slammed into the side of the horse, knocking it over with a combination of momentum and strength.
The boy screamed and landed hard on his back, disentangling his foot from the stirrup a second before the horse fell on it. He scrambled backward on his hands, not daring to turn his back. Jody raised his bloodied sword high and brought it smashing down on the bow that the archer had thrust in front of himself. The bow, cut cleanly in half and held together by only the string, went spinning away.
He saw an arrow fired by one of the lad's fellow archers and rolled before it caught his shoulder. The horse struggled to get up, and Jody leapt over it, swinging his sword down for the fatal blow. But the archer had grabbed a sword from someplace and attempted to block the mighty stroke.
Jody's weapon was deflected from his chest, burying into the youth's thigh instead. Jody wrenched it out and the archer screamed in both pain and fear. He knew he was staring Death square in the eye; his vivid green eyes were rimmed with terror. He even dropped his sword in shock, blocking his chest uselessly with his arms as his pants leg quickly turned a morbid scarlet.
Jody stayed the blade's ferocious downward swoop an inch from the boy's sweating neck. A boy. He wasn't even an adult yet, and had the distinct look of one overused and underfed. Perhaps he had family, like Lee.
He was still screaming, the unearthly sound tearing Jody's soul to shreds.
But he killed Lee.
He pressed the sword to the archer's throat.
"Never again will you tear apart a family," Jody shouted over his screams.
Before he could slit the boy's throat, he felt an excruciating pain in his leg and collapsed, rolling away from the lad as horse's hooves smashed down where he had almost fallen.
"He's bleeding a lot, Lieutenant, we need to get him out of here!"
He reached down and ripped two arrows out, standing quickly to defend himself against a footsoldier. A flash of flaming red hair almost distracted him, was that a child on the battlefield? He snapped back into the battle when his opponent's sword sliced through his shirt and bit into his stomach. After a struggle, he managed to kill the man by brute force, but he could no longer stand on his leg.
"Joseph!" he called, spying the boy nearby.
He came running.
"Help me out of here, I can't stand," he said.
Joseph, pale-faced, obeyed, staggering under the weight of the wounded man.
"You see Lee?" he asked shakily, leading Jody as quickly as possible back through their own ranks. "I didn't know until I tripped over him and landed in – " he convulsed a little, "landed in a puddle of hi – his blood. I opened my eyes and saw those – those – by the hoof, I shan't even call them eyes. They were so empty of sight and life."
"I saw him," Jody replied, sitting heavily with the other injured soldiers along the back lines.
Joseph nodded curtly, then ran back into the fray.
His leg was on fire in three different places, and he was fairly sure that he tore some muscle when he pulled the arrows out, but he could care less. He didn't even try to flag down the medic, thinking dully that bleeding to death was better than dealing with this horror. Jody could not believe that Lee was dead, but he did believe it, and he hated himself for it.
He grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled, adding new, sharp pain to his already tortured body and soul.
Lee's dead.
He choked on a cry of despair, tears burning through his eyes and leaving fiery trails down his cheeks.
Not. Lee.
Jody put his face in his hands and curled up. This was too much. He let loose another murderous sob and tears streamed through his hands. He was supposed to protect Lee. Lee had a family. Jody did not.
Celeste.
He had to tell Celeste why Lee was dead and he lived.
Jody couldn't hold the grief at bay any longer. It overtook him with paralyzing sobs and wails, and he could not strain past the horrendous, suffocating misery that engulfed him.
He was alive.
Final word count: 1837
There we have it. Was that overdone? Scale it back? Not enough? Let me know!
And thank you, you few who ventured theories. Another SoBe for you!
Emma A. Piper: Thanks for reviewing! I hope you keep reading...
Celestial Starlight: Don't be confused, there's nothing special about the threatening-wife-stuff, other than the raid which you already know about. At least, not that I've formulated yet. Hm.
FaylinnNorse: Yes, it's four months earlier than chapter one. Well, this chapter is about 3 months or so later. If that makes any sense. Basically, this chapter is about a month before chapter one. Yes, Celeste and Jody got married. Make sense?
Daring2dream: YES! I cheered when I read your review. Someone got it. Sheesh. I didn't think it was that hidden. But anyway, yes, thank you for noticing. --hands you a fresh juicy fuji apple-- Well, Celeste didn't actually sleep through a burning house, she slept while the fire got closer to the house. Thanks for leaving a nice long review. --extra SoBe for you--
Clar the Pirate: That is careful enough, I should think. ;) Wonderful idea, but I cannot abide unhappy endings. Have a case of SoBes for your trouble, though. --hands the case-- Oh good, I'm glad my parentheses fit well. I'm not overfond of them for that reason, actually. --wipes brow--
Midnight Duchess: Too formal? --chews on lip-- I changed a word or two, so it might be a touch better. I don't know. Hum.
Lobuck: I'm glad you laughed! That is one of the best things I could hope to hear –smile-- Thanks!
Cimh: I'm going, I'm going! ;)
Eeko: Thank you for joining onto this story! I hope you stick around!
If you review, I'll hand out slices of chocolate mousse pie!