I should have been with them. Ishar thought as his eyes took in the headless body of King Gans and the kneeling mass of metal with a sword plunged into it that was Rehny, his eyes open and unblinking. They had asked him to delay in his approach, to give them enough time to test whether war could be avoided. And he'd accepted, believing it an ideal thought, something rational and not what usually dwelt within his mind. The Talisi King was dead and he wondered what that meant for Talisi.
Then he felt it.
It was a gentle touch of anguish that then solidified into a grip of despair, of hopelessness. It overwhelmed him. The Talisi's reaction to their King's death was one of great sadness and it demanded a reply from Ishar. A reply that could be answered by a gesture. Their reaction to Gans's death was dignified, their feelings were necessary as a side effect to loss and it thrust them into a fixed cage of sorrow. But what if I widen the cage to offer Madness space within it?
Sorrow was not enough.
Sorrow made one abeyant and the Talisi required something more to make them act.
Ishar let out a scream born of the part of him that was left behind after what was in it had been taken. The sound he made was a call to sorrow, a seduction that offered transformation. He offered the burden of grief a resolution in animosity, a ferocity against those who were the reason for said grief. In the act of vengeance there was pleasure and he promised release in its search. He felt the call leave him and blow upon dying embers until a flame coalesced. The seed of madness was planted and it flourished into a stalk of vengeance that yielded the fruit of bloodlust.
Ishar lowered his head to glare at the Binorian King, Vayin Vigon smiled. His eyes their usual grey hue. "I felt your God's call in that cry." Vayin Vigon said while taking a step towards Ishar, his hands behind his back. "Order always prevails, Kolotian scum, order always prevails. Your God's call is nonsensical. Who will hear him? He is forgotten, the Goddess rules the realm's heart. Those you call upon have forgotten you. They serve Meen-" Vayin turned just in time to catch a spear flung at his head. The spear's tip was inches away from his nose. The Talisi advanced, flinging javelins and aiming arrows.
Vayin Vigon whirled, a quick sprint and a leap had him on top of his Telinete Rhino. The beast bellowed and scratched at the ground with a forelimb, it's horns directed at the charging army. The Seventh Legion doubled their speed so as to gather around their King after seeing the Talisi's unexpected charge. It was a shocking occurrence in that the Talisi never charged. They always applied defensive strategies. Not anymore, it appeared.
Vayin raised his right hand and spread all his fingers, he pressed his index finger between his palm and thumb then proceeded to bend and straighten his elbow while pointing at the Talisi. A simple command that let Captains know to give him space. To crest only to prevent attacks from behind and not to lessen the pressure on him. The Captain of the seventh legion smiled, he had been appointed after Desan's death. A young soldier with a birth mark running down from beneath his dark silky hair to the top of his right eyebrow. A religious fanatic who worshipped Meena with the zeal of a thousand priests and who was also one of the most adept fighters in the Seventh Legion. It appeared his King was going to show the Talisi the hand of the Goddess and he would be right there next to him, set to witness it all.
Carrot rammed into a soldier with a black breastplate and a birthmark on the right side of his head. Ishar knew those whose breastplates were black commanded those whose breastplates were as red as the rest of their armor. It didn't take a genius to connect the dots seeing that the guy Carrot had killed was just standing there smiling while the rest of his men marched on. Ishar hoped though, that the facial birthmark wasn't also part of the leader's ensemble. It would be weird to go about picking people with facial birthmarks to be leaders.
Vayin Vigon turned around on his Telinete Rhino to observe Ishar and his beast tearing through the Seventh Binorian Legion, running through Legionnaires and building momentum with each gallop. Ishar turned back on Carrot and flashed Vayin a smile.
You thought I would come at you? I will not make you a martyr but an example. Ishar thought.
Carrot ran through armor, bones and flesh. The Seventh Legion improvised by dividing into clusters and plunging blades at the Telinete that run through them and switched direction with a grace that went against its height and bulk. It's hide that was carapace and impervious to tear made the Binorian attempts at doing so laughable. And Ishar laughed with his hands clinging to Carrot's carapace, his hair flowing in the wind, he watched as the beast trampled men and impaled them upon its carapace horn that was enough to tear through metal. Ishar raised a hand and felt the wind push through his gauntleted fingertips as Carrot rocked in its wake of death. He closed his eyes and reveled in the shouts and screams of the Binorians.
"Call to her, Carrot, you have her attention now." Ishar said amidst the screams. "Let her know you're worthy of the chase." Carrot bellowed.
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Edda charged past Rehny, her blade raised and a scream emanating from her mouth. The Seventh
Legions had clustered before Vayin Vigon and his Telinete, the King watching on as Ishar tore through his
Legion effortlessly. The Seventh Legion were caught between the beast and the Talisi, an advantage Edda was grateful to Ishar for. She brought down her blade hard on a Legionnaire whose weak stance made him stand out, his form was sloppy as his attention got tagged by the Telinete's bellow. Her short blade broke at the strength of her swing, something that surprised her. A shard pierced the helm and hair and skin stuck to the end of the broken blade she held.
Edda picked up the dead Legionnaire's double edged sword and discarded her blade. She smiled at the Rhino fashioned to the sword's hilt as Vayin's Rhino answered Carrot's call and charged after it.
An unexpected lunge by a Legionnaire as she stood distracted was interrupted when a Talisi soldier barreled into the attacker, raising him off the ground and slamming him down with a force that Edda felt beneath her feet. She watched as the Talisi soldier tore off the Legionnaire's helm and ripped off his nose with his teeth. Edda grunted and whirled on a Legionnaire who had his back to her, with a twisted smile she pounced.
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They've gone mad. Mairek thought.
The Lieutenant whose job was to govern and lead the Sergeants in the control of their Regiments broke free of the Talisi Army's narrow bulk. The man whom Mairek knew little about ran headfirst at the approaching cavalry, behind him were three Regiments and half of the White Beard Regiment, among them being Pep, following stride for stride with their spears bobbing. The Binorians' horses faltered in their charge as the riders wondered at what the Talisi were doing. They regained themselves after a moment and their onward push continued towards the Army's flanks even as the Talisi raced to meet them.
Memo brushed past Mairek where he stood observing the spectacle to the right. He drew Mairek's attention to the left where a similar scenario was in play, the knobby fingered Talisi man let out a howl resembling that of a Yendw wolf and ran towards the approaching eastern cavalry, merging with several soldiers who were all attuned to the same mad song. The Talisi branched out of the army's bulk, transforming it from looking like the body of a snake to that of an elongated creature with multiple limbs growing out of it. The Binorian cavalry on each side approached in a symmetry that spoke of practice, with the lead charge in a black breastplate ahead with his sword held forward and an even number of riders flanking him two paces behind, their whole charge a testament of faith in their leaders' judgment, something that fed on their King's guidance.
Nohj laughed from beside Mairek, his shield lowered with its bottom resting on his calves. The archers had played their hand to their satisfaction and another hail of arrows was unlikely. Binoria's trust was in their cavalry to finish the job.
"Memo howled!" Nohj said between laughs. Other soldiers still maintaining the spine of the army let out chuckles of their own. "The bastard dreamt early this night, you see, he saw himself as a wolf and he awoke wishing he were one." The tall man leaned into Mairek's side, his long shaggy hair brushing Mairek's brow. "We are whatever we want to be, Mairek, tonight we shall show valiance, tonight we will be in Tabrimas with our King!"
Mairek wondered whether the soldier could see what he saw. See the reason why he stood still with his mouth a thin line incapable of manifesting any hint of humor for on both sides he witnessed madness. He saw nothing funny about it.
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A rider on a horse forged of muscle and thick bone flew off his horse as an insane Talisi soldier threw himself at the steed's legs, clutching at them and getting trampled as the beast's own interrupted momentum brought it down. The horses behind rammed into the sprawled bodies and several riders found themselves on the ground where Talisi soldiers drove spears into them before they rose. The Talisi wordlessly sacrificed themselves, hundreds died under the hooves of the horses in an attempt to slow the charge down.
Pep ran with his spear raised and clutched awkwardly with his right hand posed too close to the head. The young man struck the spear's end into the ground and angled his spear down at the incoming horse's chest. His gamble paid off and the creature impaled itself but not before slamming into him. Mairek heard the audible crunch as the horse's weight centered on its front limb crushed through Pep's chest before tumbling down and flinging its rider off it. Another horse coming in behind stepped onto Pep's face, breaking his skull before tripping on the felled horse and colliding with another rider at its flank.
Men charging horses on foot is absurd if not stupid. Were the Talisi normal men anymore? Mairek pondered as he saw the Green Army slow the cavalry by using their bodies to block the tide. The cavalry should have easily cut through the Army yet they found their efforts blunted by the relentless zeal with which the Talisi threw away their lives in an individual effort to do the most harm they could master. It was as if every soldier had made a vow to drag a Binorian Legionnaire down into death's hold with them.
A soldier ahead of Memo got run down ten paces ahead, something that did little to deter the White Beard Regiment's soldier in the man's wake. Memo pulled back his spear, and flung it at the rider before throwing himself to the side where he rolled as a horse jumped over him, its hooves missing him by a hair's breadth. Mairek heard Memo's laugh as he got up and grabbed at the leg of another passing horse that took him with it, dragging him as he howled and twisted in the effort of halting the steed.
"They've gone mad." Mairek said as the Talisi Green Army started to push forward. Ahead, the front Regiments had engaged the Binorians and the bloodlust drove the Army forward, eager to get quenched and play a role in the fashioning of carnage. Nobody issued commands. Everybody acted of their own accord, a barbarism that sharply contrasted the Legions' discipline that was soon guaranteed to win the night. Unless Ishar prevails against Vayin Vigon.
"They've gone mad" Mairek repeated.
"Mad? This is glory Mairek!" Dhiliaf said from ahead.
"Yes! Tell him Dhiliaf." Nohj said as the army's pace quickened the further the front segment sunk into the central Legions of Binoria. It was the first time Talisi had ever launched an attack and it was a surprise that they would do so under such overwhelming circumstances.
No, not a surprise but a side effect of embracing irregularity. They act as their leader on the battlefield is acting. They emulate his most profound trait. How many have died just to slow down the cavalry? Twice as much as those two thousand or so horsemen no doubt. Yet the loss is nothing to them, a stepping stone on the path of glory and valiance.
He heard four sharp horn blasts as the cavalry's failure in reaching the Green Army's heart became apparent. The Legions' light infantry followed in the cavalry's wake, breaking free of the western and eastern wings of the Legions and running forward in a disrupted line to the halted cavalry's aid on either side of the Talisi Army. There was a diminishing in the bearing of the light infantry legions as they ran with their unsheathed blades and shields, there was an obvious strain to their charge that might even be branded as reluctance born of fear. The fear of death to be specific. Mairek understood them, they had order to their thoughts and order allowed for recognition. The Talisi on the other hand didn't recognize what death stood for, they met it with smiles and laughs that made their foe aware of the difference between their two Kingdoms.
The Talisi army's last stand was poetic in its defiance in the face of overwhelming odds. Even as the Binorian Legions converged around them, numbering ten times that of the Talisi Army, the soldiers fought on with eyes tinged amber. It was futile, Mairek knew, in the end the barbarism shown by the Talisi will fail as Binoria's superior numbers prevailed. The truth of the matter was not something he shared with his fellow soldiers, as long as Ishar breathed the only thing that mattered to the Talisi was the spilling of Binorian blood, a mob psychology that fed on itself and grew in its intensity beneath the full moon.
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The blood did things to Carrot, it awoke something in the beast that Ishar very much agreed with at the moment. The Telinete's momentum neither faltered nor slowed. Carrot's mass and speed could not be halted by any number of bodies before it. Ishar plunged into the Legions neighboring the Seventh Legion on top of Carrot's back. He laughed and reached over the side of Carrot's bulk, swinging his axe and cleaving the heads of any unfortunate Binorian too pressed by his fellow Legionnaires to allow him space to escape Carrot's range.
The Binorian Legions were obviously shaken by something. Their ultra nationalism that had been protected by their supposed invincibility was crumbling and Ishar could feel it. Behind him he heard the shouts of the Talisi, ravenous in their rage that craved vengeance and he immediately knew the reason behind Binoria's crumbling confidence.
Binoria's collective faith glued them together, to act in unison in the accomplishment of a shared goal put in place by their King. Such has been the charge behind each of their steps for battle after battle and it indeed warded off death for them and had them as its dealer. But the Talisi were tearing said faith apart, making it evident that another faith existed, one that offered ignorance and indifference in the face of death. The rival faith tipped the balance and the group mindset was shattered as individualism came into play under death's highlight. The Binorians were raked by confusion and fear, none even dared attempt to grab at him as Carrot charged through them, flinging them into the air, climbing over them and crushing them under its weight.
Behind him, Vayin's Telinete let out a bellow. Ishar turned to regard the Binorian King following in Carrot's wake. Ishar smiled and leaned forward to rub at Carrot's neck.
"You're a good boy, plenty of cabbages for you if I don't die." Ishar said.
Carrot bellowed.
"Oh! You're ignoring me? One female appears and I'm already forgotten." Ishar ducked as a Legionnaire whose midriff had a gaping hole flew past him. "I will leave you to your sweetheart but first take me out of the mass of red, closer to the black skins and white hair then slow down and let her catch up with you. I want to handle the man on her back, then she'll be yours."
Carrot grunted and slowly changed course without lessening it's speed, arcing through the Legions, making a wide circle that went back in the direction of Talisi's army. An army that Ishar now saw was getting surrounded by red armored soldiers.
"If you can actually woo her, that is. Girls don't just give in, you have to put in some effor-" Ishar started but got interrupted as Carrot abruptly tilted itself to one side as its limbs crumpled Binorian armor beneath it, flinging Ishar off its back but the Kolotian threw out a hand and held on to a protruding carapace on Carrot's back. Ishar laughed while dangling off Carrot's side. "Fine! You do as you wish when it comes to her. Gods! It's like I no longer know you." He effortlessly raised himself onto the beast's back.
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Edda found herself pushed back by the pressing Legionnaires. She had a cut that had parted one eyebrow, narrowly missing her eye. Blood dripped down the cut to sting her eye. Her left hand was numb from where she'd punched in a helm. She paid no heed to her pain as she parried a strike from an obviously experienced user of the Form of Rage. The man's stance was perfect, one might even call it beautiful. He danced on flat feet with his sword clutched in both arms, attacking with downward swings that made Edda wish she'd carried a shield and lucky she'd switched swords.
Edda pirouetted, the attacker's blade missing where she'd stood a moment ago. The attacker switched to a thrust a second too late as Edda lunged in a Form of Pride. That was the problem with Forms of Rage, always offensive and never defensive. The man should have parried Edda's lunge but instead he sought a thrust. Her sword sunk into the gap of his helm, a lucky strike that had the man dropping dead. She withdrew her bloodied sword from the dead Legionnaire as another Binorian approached.
Her back had been pushed to the solid ring of fighting Talisi soldiers who'd gathered around their King's body and Rehny's corpse. She could make out the two fallen men if she squinted through the Talisi bodies around them, a number that grew as it became evident that the Talisi wanted to fight and die around their King. Edda wiped at the blood stinging her eye with the sleeve of her leather jacket.
"Come on." She waved her sword at the Binorian in front of her who was hesitating for some reason. The fighting all around was frenzied and hectic, dying men squealed and groaned. The stench of excrement and spilled guts poked at her nose. There was nothing dignified about a battlefield death, she understood that now. The Binorians usually fought as a whole, working in tandem and switching between defense and offense. As she turned her eyes around she found that the Legions had abandoned their systemic approach to combat, choosing individual battles without the aid of the whole. She wondered at the extent of Vayin's control of his army and Ishar's extent in his disruption of their order.
The Legionnaire made a step forward, sword held before him in a Form Edda wasn't quite familiar with. Suddenly the Legionnaire turned to his left and Edda followed his gaze to where Carrot had emerged from Binoria's ranks. Ishar stood on the beast's back, arms spread out to his sides as he crouched for balance. He faced behind him where another Telinete followed and was quickly gaining on Carrot.
Ishar seemed to wait for the chasing Telinete to get closer, the two beasts rammed into any bodies upon their paths and their chase carried them ever closer to where Edda was. The Legionnaire she'd been facing sprinted away from her at the sight of the oncoming danger. She fixed her eyes on the rider of the larger Telinete Rhino and strengthened the hold on her blade. She was uncertain on what to do to get said blade into the gold plated rider but that didn't stop her desire to plunge it into Vayin Vigon.
Carrot seemed to slow and the larger beast finally caught up, suddenly Ishar gave a short sprint before leaping off of Carrot's back, arcing over the following Telinete's head and colliding with Vayin Vigon in a deafening clash that sent both of them falling off their beasts. Carrot changed course, aiming for the mass of Binorians and away from the Talisi circling their King and the other Telinete followed, both beast's bellowed as one chased the other but none paid any attention to them. All who were close by focused on the two figures who exchanged blows that rang out through the Ganidan Plain with their eyes glowing amber and red. Edda's grip on her sword loosened as she and those around her, Talisi and Binorian alike, watched what it looked like when the chosen of the Gods met in combat.