The Dark Moon,  Dawn of Madness

“One last time as thy Self before Madness shall take me. One is the Other and the Other is none.

One last time as Lord before Madness will take me. This is merely one another Death and Birth.

One Last Time as Living before Madness takes me. All can once but after no more. One Time more before I leave.

When Madness rules, all are Servant.”  -- Ramblings of the New Lord.

“Hold!”

Over the sounds of blades clashing and men falling, I could hear my sergeant.

He has said it so many times that he continued even if our unit was mostly dead. All who did hear just went on with slowly stepping backwards through the mud, past our fallen friends, towards the black of night.

As I had my last two beside me, I looked into the eyes of those lost by Madness.

They don’t feel pain or love as I had seen them kill loved ones. They do die though, same as us.

“Yorn! How do you fare?”

“Same as when we started. Tired and cold!”

“HA and a liar as well” my good friend Vera added. “He had pissed his pants not one hour ago!”

Parrying another slash before bashing the enemy soldier with my shield, I  could take another breath before he would attack again.

“Yorn, I speak for all of us that I hope the women may forgive your act of manliness. Not to mention Solhok, god of war”

Taking a step back so the mad one’s blow would fall short, I stepped back in to hold his blade in place with my shield and then slicing at its eyes.

It remained silent but fell back in its blindness.

Making sure not to leave my comrades side, I went to it and cut his throat. Nearly stumbling as another one got to me, I immediately fell back in line.

Its spear seemed to nearly pierce my shield as I brought it up.

“Guys! Anyone see another shield?”

“Anyone see a corpse?” A man I briefly got to know a few days prior quipped.

“If you offer yourself, I’m game” I shot back.

“With all these mad ones nearby? Not bloody likely”

As the man in front of me once more tried to stab me with its spear, I got my shield higher before pushing the spear through it.

Letting go of the shield, the mad one before me did the same with his spear.

Coming at me with only his teeth and nails, I put him down with ease.

“I really need one now!”

“I have one with a shield here” I could hear a soldier in my unit say.

Before another one managed to engage me, I slipped behind the others and had a greenhorn fill in. She should be able to handle for as long as I would need to get a new shield.

Making way through the men, ducking a few weapons here and there, I made it to my ally.

Mad ones with a shield are a rarity since they don’t care much for their protection and a shield only hinders them. The ones that do have it though are a real pain though.

“Now!”

When she heard that she fell back and through the gap in the ranks came a man with a shield. Immediately charging through at him, I got him from behind.

As he tried to hit me, the woman came forth again and split open his head.

“Thanks”

“My pleasure. The name is Annessa”

“Sarmin. You new?”

“Two weeks ago yeah”

“Quite skilled for that short a time then. May your shield stay strong!”

“And  your sword strike blood!” she answered as she got back into the fray.

It took only ten minutes to get to her and the same to get back but my replacement had already fallen.

A few other conscripts were holding back the tide but as I came back, I saw one of them get his throat ripped out.

Jumping into the mass, I held them back as the other soldiers took a few more steps back for me.

“What happened?”

“The greenhorn’s sword came stuck in one of those things’ shoulders. It then came close and savaged her. Nothing we could do” Vera said next to me.

“What a waste. I still remember my first battle. No such things as mad ones or sorcerers then” commented Yorn.

“Attention!” a man next to him said.

Weirdly enough it coincided with an arrow striking the top of my shield. I had nearly brought it down too.

“That’s a close one Sar”

“Do what the old man says and pay attention to your own fights!” I told Yorn.

“Old he says!” The man from before said.

Then as I got ready for a approaching mad one, it suddenly stopped and horns could be heard in the distance.

“They are retreating!” I shouted

“That’s a new one. Wasn’t even like they were losing though” I could hear Vera mumble next to me.

“Stay on guard!” We could hear the sergeant yell from the back. That’s also when we felt the explosions.

“Sorcerers!” A man shouted in the distance.

“God damn magic!” I could hear Yorn say. Then it happened to us.

I was hurled into the air towards my right together with Vera who was closer to it than I. More than a dozen were thrown away, several dead and with many more wounded.

I tried to stand up but immediately fell down again.

”Agh! My side!”

“Sarmin! Where are you?” I could Yorn faintly yell in the background.

Next to my stomach was a whole chunk of flesh missing and I had burn wounds all over me.

It had been close but once more have I survived by the tip of my shield.

“Here!” I heard someone rushing over to me but I couldn’t concentrate over the thundering. The man from before helped me up while Yorn was carrying Vera.

“Its fine, I can stand” I said through clenched teeth. “We must hurry, I can hear cavalry coming. The battle is lost” The man said.

“The name is Sarmin”

“Passal, bloodless abyss company”

“Leave your sword behind, Sar. I have mine and Vera’s blade with me” Yorn told me as I looked around me for my blade while my new shield had already broken.

We got past near the camps when we heard the short screams over the chaos and explosions.

The enemy cavalry had arrived.

We saw men clad in rusted mail and a worn and torn tabards ride into any surviving groups of soldiers.

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A man nearby to us got a lance pierced through his chest and then slumped down on the ground. The rider who did this let go of the lance and drew his sword before charging at us.

“Hurry up!” Passal shouted as he took out his great sword.

Yet before the rider reached the old man, its horse stumbled over a hidden corpse under the mud and fell.

Passal quickly sprinted over to the horse and ran its rider through. This however made him fall behind as we passed the forest line.

“Yorn, you can rest now. We made it” Yorn put Vera down next to a tree before going back.

“Yorn, what are you doing?”

“Passal hasn’t arrived yet”

“Shit”

I try to run back to the field of the battle but I collapse out of pain when I reach the forest line.

I managed to sit up so that I saw Yorn running towards Passal. He is in the field clutching his leg, hobbling towards us as his knee got hit by an arrow.

Yorn tried to reach him but a rider got to Passal first. Swooping down with his axe, he cut through Passal’s his shoulder but it got stuck.

Yorn stopped short as the rider got down from his horse.

“Yorn! Help me! Don’t le… Aaaaagh!” Passal cried as the rider removed his axe from the bone it was lodged in. Then he used it remove Passal’s head.

“No, you bastard!” Yorn yelled in rage.

“Yorn! We have to go! He is gone!”

“But that sanity forsaken mad one isn’t!”

“We can still leave. Don’t drag us down with you my friend” I stood up and got Yorn with me before the rider got back on his horse. That one just looked upon us the entire time.

Making our way through the foliage with the whole white moon as our guide, we returned to Vera who looked to be unconscious. After treating her  gash on her head and broken leg as best as we could, Yorn picked her up as I was in no state to do so.

We walked away from our fallen army towards the moon for what was probably hours.

We only stopped when my side hurt too much for me continue walking and breathing was also getting troublesome.

“Yorn, I think we have to rest here. I can’t go on for much longer and you must be getting tired carrying Vera for this long”

“We have to find shelter though. Fine, lets sleep here but come dawn we will have to go again. If anything is pursuing us, we most likely have a big enough lead. This forest is too thick for horses” with a ploff Yorn sat after he put Vera down.

She still hasn’t awoken but with that leg, it won’t change anything.

“Sar, I doubt we can keep a watch and you can forget a fire. Sleep well.”

“You too” I said before immediately fell asleep due to the exhaustion that was even greater than my pain.

Yorn woke me up just before dawn. He certainly looks better but my dreams prevented me to be the same.

They brought me back to before the New Lord came to be. How different my life was then.

My twenty-five year old self was a mere guardsman, unlikely to every see battle in a prosperous city deep within our kingdom far away from the front lines.

I had a wife and a son and daughter before they conscripted me into this all. Before Roth burned down.

“How does Vera look?” I asked Yorn as we got the few things we still had together.

“She seems paler to me. Most likely hungry too”

“How can she look hungry?”

“I have always said that I see myself in her didn’t I?” He answered.

“Smart ass”

“Certainly smarter than yours”

“Oh shut up”

Picking Vera up, Yorn and I set too walking once more. A few hours later we rested and ate whatever we could forage.

“You know, I think I’m going to stay in the first village we come across. I can already see me being a ferocious and heroic guardsman  and the New Lord be damned if he wants that village too” Yorn said between handfuls of berries.

“Good plan but you seem to be confusing a guardsman with a dog. Just guarding something is entirely different, not to mention your questionable manliness for the role. Trust me on both of these if you will” I grumbled while trying to start a fire.

Seeing that the wood was too wet I gave up.

“You could try to be a wife though. Handy for washing those pants of yours”

“As if you weren’t scared then”

“Friend, I have survived marriage and believe me when I say I got one of the betters ones. Nothing can make you piss your pants after that”

“Guess that means you must be full of shit then”

“Sigh, you’re such a smart ass”

“Ironic coming from you”

After that we finished up and went on since staying here would be pointless and potentially dangerous. It took us a few hours to stumble upon a cave.

It had become more hilly the further we continued on.

There were hill both to the south and north of where to battle was so this didn’t tell us anything but if we are going north towards the New Lord then we are in trouble.

No such evidence yet though.

“Look, a cave. Finally and it’s nearly dark too. The gods really are smiling down on us” Yorn said when he saw the cave.

He gently put Vera down in the back of the cave and laid his cloak over her. I myself sat down too.

I was very tired and didn’t feel quite well even if you left out my wounds.

Yorn however got up again and walked to the entrance of the medium sized cave.

“Sar, I am going to gather some firewood and if it suits me maybe try to make you a bow. Can’t have me running beasts through on my own and you may forget me hunting with my sword”

“More like running after them with a sword. Whatever, I don’t feel too well. I’m going to sleep” I mumbled while slowly nodding off.

“I will be back before night. I don’t think we will need a watcher now so feel free” Yorn said to deaf ears, as I was already asleep. Yorn smiled as he looked upon Sarmin.

“Have a good night my friend” he said and then went out of the cave under the white moon’s light.

If Sarmin had looked up, he would have been able to see a speck of black on it.

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This is a side book I am working on. I will try to write this one differently than my other one as to get my writing skill up to my wishes.