I swept my sword in a diagonal strike, cleaving the earthen soldier in two. There are still three more I can remember.
Two behind me. I spin around, sword extended to meet them. Both fall from the one strike, blood pouring from the identical gashes across their chests.
They slump on the ground, all signs of life gone.
The last, an avian soldier, is standing in awe of my prowess. I cut him down as if he were a stalk of hay. He doesn't even raise his spear to block me. He didn't have time. Not that it would have mattered. I have a schedule to keep. I have instructions to take no prisoners.
He falls among his comrades. Wings still folded behind his back, he shows no signs of having resisted. It pains me to kill these people, especially the avian, my kindred. Maybe that is why I killed him last.
I take time to scrape seven notches on the inside of my armguard. Two for the mages. They were incapacitated before they realised I was upon them. Four for the strong earthen soldiers, who fought bravely despite knowing they stood no chance. And the last for my brother in flight, the avian. He looked young. Inexperienced. I doubt he had ever seen combat. Never killed another. Still pure of soul.
Seven more dead bodies to add to the mountain graveyard. Thousands have been killed in the war so far. Thousands more will follow. There is nothing to be done, but try and finish the fight as soon as possible.
With our Queen Celestia as victor.
This unit was not the first to fall to my sword today, and I doubt it will be the last. I would prefer that they didn’t have to die, but they chose their side. And in choosing the wrong side, they chose their death.
I do not have time to bury them with the respect they deserve, but someone else will find them. The sand here wouldn’t offer a respectable grave anyway, but it would be better than nothing. Maybe when this war is over I will be able to bury our dead. Maybe when we take this valley and bury them ourselves. I may dig their graves with my own shovel come rest time.
I look up at the thin strip of sky that can be seen from inside this rocky crevice. It appears to be twilight. The sun is half below the horizon behind me and the moon is slightly higher in the sky ahead. It looks like a normal day at sunset.
But the sky has been like that for weeks. Slightly shifting back and forwards between night and day as both armies fight for their Goddess.
The sky is darker than it was a few hours ago. The New Lunar Republic has gained ground.
I sadly smile as I begin running through the canyon. We shall see how the skies shift after I am through with my mission.
I slow down to a walk, another unit is up ahead around the corner. There is a big enough clearing to set up camp just ahead. My hand reaches for the bastard sword on my back. I ruffle my feathers as my hand brushes against my wings. My wingblades are still firmly attached. I can strike at a moment’s notice.
But first, I listen to their voices. There should be more than ten judging by the two sentries I took out a hundred metres back. I would be confident in taking out anything up to twenty soldiers by myself in open ground. But in a narrow gorge like this, three metres is not a lot of manoeuvring room. It could be wider around the camp, but flying will still be impractical. The blades lining the top of my wings are my greatest weapon, sharp and lightning quick, they can cut past a sword with ease. However, with my wingspan being over four metres, in here I have to rely mostly on my swords.
The group is being fairly loud. It sounds like they are resting for now. I could surprise them and take out several before any grabbed their weapons. I would have to target any mages first. It takes a few seconds to access a spell. A while longer if they have none stored in crystals. But when they hit, magic is the most dangerous thing in battle.
While I am unmatched in hand to hand combat, that barely matters to a mage. I have wards against most of the common binding spells, but they aren't difficult to get around if you are an experienced wizard and have a non-magical target. And being an avian, I have very few ways of countering those spells.
I close my eyes and let out a slow breath. I draw the sword from my back as quietly as I can. Place my left hand on the sabre at my waist. This will have to be quick.
I spring from behind the wall. Faster than anyone in the camp, I’m five steps in before anyone turns to look at me. Their eyes widen as they see my yellow armour and they reach for whatever weapon they have on them. But I have more important things to worry about than the earthen soldiers’ weapons.
As I step into the camp, I estimate around 30 people by its size and the tents. That by itself wouldn't be a problem. What I see as a problem is the soldiers’ attire. Instead of infantry armour, three out of every four people is wearing some form of a cloak. Most of them covered in runes. Instead of swords and spears they hold wands and staves.
This camp is composed of almost all magicians. There is no way I can target them all so quickly.
This was a bad plan.
But I can still make the most of my surprise advantage.
I strike at people on both sides simultaneously. The sword on my right flashes across two heads in one sweep. My sabre opens the stomach of a mage on my right. The three haven’t even realised they are dead yet as I thrust at another in front of me, pivoting to decapitate the next with my sabre.
Three soldiers rush me, quick to draw their swords. I jump towards them and fall into a crouch to avoid their strikes. Still close to the ground, I pirouette, cutting five of their combined six legs. Two are cut clean through as the soldiers fall to the ground.
I push through the one falling in front of me to get at a mage beginning to cast a spell. I jump and cut upwards from my crouch, slicing across his torso. I continue sailing over the magician’s head and stab at another two on my way down.
As I land I have to roll to avoid bursts of fire bolts from both sides. This will be as tough as I imagined.
I spring after the one who shot the bolt from my left, standing by the rock wall. He will need a second to let off another spell. I swing around him as more magical projectiles home in after me. I use his body to block a lightning spell by a more experienced wizard. I would have expected the veterans to use a charm to incapacitate rather than straight up fry me.
Pushing the fried body down below me, I spring to the other side of the camp to confront the wizard. As I am halfway across the clearing, a large fireball strikes the side of my armour. It knocks me off course and I roll across the ground.
A sleep charm strikes me while I am down. I hear one of the warding crystals in my armour shatter as it absorbs the spell. Luckily I have a few more.
I jump to the side as the wizard lets off another lightning bolt. It explodes the rocks where it contacts the wall. He’s fast. Letting off two strong spells so quickly is no mean feat.
I spin and take out another two mages before they can strike. More people are emerging from the tents. Soldiers and mages both.
Ducking behind two newly arrived avians, I dodge a third blot from the strong wizard. I cut my bodyguards down before they realise I’m an intruder.
One clean strike on the wizard will be enough. He has a lightly padded cloak that won’t even slow my swords down. I rush at him faster than even he could let off another bolt. I jump and spin, effortlessly avoiding the fire bolts as they glide past me. I swing my bastard sword at the wizard.
Half a metre from his body, the sword glances off an invisible barrier as if it just hit a stone wall.
Damn. Of course he has a repelling barrier. The wizard smiles at my predicament and raises the head of his staff for yet another spell.
I dodge to the left just in time. The near miss makes my feathers prickle with static electricity.
As soon as my feet hit the ground, I take off again. Or at least I try to. I am stuck to the rock.
Stuck to the ground that is glowing with an ominous purple light.
Well, oops.
The nuisance wizard slowly approaches me, his smile wider than before. He mutters an incantation and holds his hand out palm first.
Every remaining gemstone in my clothing shatters with the sound of breaking glass. Their remnants fall into the glowing purple sand around me. No more enchantments or wards to protect me.
I swing my sword at the mage in front of me, hoping to continue the fight, but it is of no use. Thin strings of purple light fly up from the glowing ring and wrap themselves around my limbs. My hand halts along with the sword. My wings strain against the binds, but they’re trapped too. They have me fully restrained.
I glance around me. More lights spring up and push my head to face forward. But I saw them. There are four mages, all fairly experienced, reciting the spell to keep me bound. Two on the left and two on the right. There may be more behind me. I can hear others still emerging from the tents.
The wizard in front of me still looks absolutely giddy with happiness. Well I suppose I would be too if I captured the enemy’s top avian fighter.
Not that they will have me long. I thought I would be able to get further into the enemy’s territory before I was captured. If only there wasn't a mage camp this close to the edge.
The wizard raises his staff above his pointed hat and sends a flurry of yellow sparks into the air. They sail up and out of the canyon. He looks so proud of himself. Like a little boy who had just managed his first spell.
“Well, it looks like we have caught a rather big fish wouldn't you say?” he asks me.
I say nothing. I only nod and try not to smile.
“Okay, a big budgie. Celestia’s personal champion if I'm not mistaking? Sun Stroke, yes?”
Again, I say nothing. I just stare into his eyes. I'm already starting to hate him.
“Well there’s no use hiding it. Anyone could recognise you. And with that bright golden armour, well that’s not something I would have chosen for a stealth mission.” He begins walking in a circle around me. “You would be quite the ideal subject for interrogations. You would have talked to the generals. Been let in on all of the Empire’s meetings. The battle plans…”
He has a good point, I would be ideal for interrogating. I bite my lip trying not to smile now. I am terrible at poker.
It’s not missed by the wizard. When he speaks again he sounds cautious. Even unsure of himself. “Why would you let yourself be captured?”
Well, the game’s up. But he realised too late.
Four bolts of lightning, similar to his own, descend from the sky. They strike the mages holding my enchantment, which instantly breaks apart without their maintenance. I waste no time leaping towards the strong magician. He’s in the middle of raising his staff for a spell when a swing my swords at him.
And they bounce off again. Definitely not ideal.
While I regain my footing from the recoil, I have no way to dodge his lightning strike at point blank range.
The blast throws me backwards and I hit a wall. The electric current burns through my body. The metal armour protects my vital organs, directing the current around them, but my face and arms feel as if they’re on fire. I have no wards to protect me from the strike anymore, but being an avian does come with a little resistance to lightning. Regardless, the high level spell still leaves me gasping on the ground.
Luckily I’m not alone now. Flames fill the camp, and they aren't from the enemy soldiers. My backup has arrived.
One at a time, everyone is engulfed in the inferno. Flames seek them out as they run for their lives. Each individual is caught and charred black in a matter of seconds. Some have wards that let them survive for a moment longer. But the flames stick to them, growing hotter, working at the barrier until their magic fails and they turn to ash. The whole camp is nearly destroyed in a few seconds.
A snake of flame reaches for the wizard.
It collides with the invisible wall around him with an enormous flare. His wards hold up longer than the others. I can see his lips moving non-stop as he frantically employs counter spell after counter spell to keep his barriers intact.
The inferno focuses on him, as no one else is left alive to target. It steadily glows hotter. I see the tongues of flame flash blue as the fire grows to greater intensity around him.
The heat is mostly localised around the high class mage, but it’s starting to make me sweat. I scramble away to a safer distance as the magician struggles to combat the raging flames.
His mouth has yet to stop desperately reciting spells. The hat on his head has gone limp from sweat. The robes are steaming from the heat that makes it through the barrier. He’s holding up remarkably well. But he won’t last much longer.
Suddenly the fire vanishes, surprising both him and me. The entire camp is charred to a crisp. There is no smoke as everything is completely burnt through. The wizard is panting heavily, steam still rising off him.
One lone mage stands in the middle of the campground. Her waist length, orange hair sits calmly. Not a strand out of place. Clad in white robes with golden edges and matching hat, the petite woman almost radiates an ethereal light. Maybe she actually is glowing. With how many enchantments she keeps around herself, it’s not much of a stretch to think it would make her shine a little. She isn’t even breathing heavily.
The Queen’s right hand mage: Ember.
The troublesome wizard gasps at the sight of her.
It doesn’t surprise me that he recognises her too. His cocky grin is completely forgotten. Only shocked fear adorns his drenched face now.
He falls to his knees.
“I apologise, my brother.” The female mage runs a thumb from her forehead down her nose. I recognise it as a sign of deep respect among mages. “You fought well.”
The wizard eventually nods and looks to the ground, accepting his fate.
A thin magical lance shoots through his forehead. He dies instantly. The body falls to the ground with an undramatic thud. I watch his crumpled body for a while. Destroying magical talent is a waste. One of the many things that are wasted in war.
Turning back to my left gauntlet, I begin notching my armour again. One for each soul taken.
It’s never easy to kill your own kind. Especially those who have earned your respect.
The red haired mage suddenly appears by my side. I don’t look up from my work. I am by far used to archmages and their unnecessary teleporting.
“Why didn’t you remove his enchantments before you freed me?”
“I wanted to fight him.” She replies plainly.
“He was dangerous. I almost got fried from that lightning spell of his. I thought you would have made him vulnerable for me.”
“Because I wanted to fight him,” she repeats. Her voice lightens, “You were nowhere near getting hurt. I've hit you with bolts twice as strong as that!”
“And I always thank you for it.” Ember can be rather dangerous while she’s playing. But she knows people’s limits. She never kills someone she doesn’t mean to. Something had passed between the two before she killed him. “You knew him didn't you?”
Her voice takes on a plain tone again as she answers, “Yes, he worked with my father. Not particularly gifted, but he was a hard worker. And experienced.” She sighed, “He always got excited over the new discoveries in the ministry.”
I finish the twelfth notch. Every soul remembered.
I look over at the girl. Maybe Ember keeps track too. She wouldn't need to mark it down though. I'm sure she has a hard time forgetting what she eats for breakfast each day, let alone how many lives she has ended.
“The carriage he called will be here in a while. Provided that those sparks were the signal we were looking for.” I look up at Ember, “Are you going to put an illusion over this camp so we can take them by surprise?”
She grins, “No need, you’re fast enough.”
Taking the carriage was easy. The prison models are small, but their strong iron casing is heavy enough to require two flying horses. It had landed on the top of the cliff next to the camp about an hour after our fight ended. Two avian guards served as escorts. I took both of them out quickly. Before they realised I wasn’t the wizard who sent up the signal.
The driver was a different matter. He was an earthen warrior. Ember cast a mild sleep spell over him and we incarcerated him in the carriage’s hold. The shackles looked rather uncomfortable. Even I wouldn’t be able to break out of them with those complex-looking, reinforcing runes.
With our obligatory prisoner taken care of, Ember took up the reins. She sat still for a few seconds, staring at the horses.
“Umm, now what?” She asks, as if unsure. Why is she choosing now to be difficult?
“You know how to control horses, Ember.” I say as blandly as possible, trying not to make my annoyance too obvious, “Just do as you always do.”
“But I've never directed pegasai before! They have wings! I don’t know how to make them fly up or down.” She jabs a finger towards the wings on their backs.
“You should have brought that up earlier!” I try to calm myself, she can be irresponsible at the worst times, “pretend they are normal hoses. They fly after they build up enough speed.”
Winged horses are smarter than most animals. Probably most humans too. They know when to lift off the ground, especially with all of these crevices in the rock. They can direct themselves fine. Ember shouldn't have any trouble controlling them.
“So… I just tell them to go forward and they will fly?” She studies the beasts and gives the reigns an experimental flick. The horses begin trotting over the rocky ground.
I follow along beside them at a brisk jog as I unfurl my wings. “Yeah, just let them take care of the flying part.” I give one flap to take my weight off the ground, sand scattering everywhere with the downwards wind. A second takes me into the air, hovering level with Ember’s seat on the carriage.
“Sunny, they aren't flying. Why aren't they flying?” Her face shows that she is blaming me more than worried.
“Give them time,” she should know that they need to build up more speed since they are heavier with the carriage. I wouldn't bother saying that to the girl though; she would scoff at my menial explanation. She can be a pain to work with. According to her, she knows everything there is to know about magical creatures and phenomenon.
Usually I would take such a claim with a grain of salt, but Queen Celestia has vouched for her, and I trust Our Ruler’s judgement. After all, this whole war hinges on Our Queen’s judgement being right.
Ember’s worries are soon relieved as the horses spread their wings and jump from the ground, pulling the carriage into the air with them. Just as I had said, they started climbing higher without direction from the inexperienced driver, gaining altitude as we leave the mage camp behind.
As the winds gets stronger, Ember tries to hold her pointed hat on her head with one hand, but soon gives up. Placing it instead on her seat, she sits on its rim where it will be safe from the rushing winds.
I couldn’t help but smile at the wizard’s tactic. She probably had more than enough ability to levitate the whole vehicle, along with herself, for the entire trip. One with such raw magical potential was using her backside to keep a hat from flying away. On one occasion I had been privy to her throwing around an entire marble statue while looking for a shoe someone had hidden from her. She was no doubt the most skilled mage in all of Equestria, sans the Goddesses of course.
That is undoubtedly why our Queen chose her for this mission. Once we were inside the enemy’s main stronghold, she could cause the most havoc while our forces moved in. We shouldn’t have too much trouble as long as Nightmare Moon stays away.
I settle myself on the roof of the carriage. No point in wearing myself out before a big fight. And it is a long flight back to the enemy camp, I should get some rest.
After getting comfortable on the hard roof, I start thinking about this terrible war. How many had died in this drawn out battle? Was I a murderer? How many had lost their life to my swords? That last one was more easily answered. Four hundred marks on my right gauntlet, two hundred and twenty on my left. Over half were from this war. Killing my brothers and cousins. And it didn’t look like I would be slowing down any time soon. The Empire needs me.
Celestia needs me.
Did that make me a murderer? Probably. But it was under the command of the Goddess, and she has forgiven me.
“Ember?”
“Hmm? What is it?” she turns half around to look at me.
“How many people have you killed in this war?”
She turns back and doesn’t respond for a few seconds. I begin to think she doesn't want to answer at all. But then I hear one word through the wind. A simple, terrifying word.
“Thousands.”
I give a sharp intake of breath. There is no verse with which I would be able to console her. And there is no way I would know how anyway. I don’t pretend to know her well, we've only been on a few assignments together. She doesn't seem to be in a talking mood after the question, so I let the conversation die.
The fact is that she has killed many more than me. And she is still a child. She has turned seventeen since this war started, and to have slaughtered more than a seasoned warrior such as myself? She likely had more blood on her hands than anyone else alive. And she is only a teenager!
It is unfortunate. That’s where talent gets you. I have been torn between thinking my fighting ability is a blessing or a curse. On one hand it is the skill that has kept me alive in this war and allowed me to faithfully serve our Queen. Or it could be a burden, destining me to take the lives of so many others.
If my strength and speed is indeed a curse, then her gift in the arcane cannot be anything short of torture. But as painful it is to our own souls, and as terrible it is to those who we have killed, it is our duty. To the crown and to our people.
It is a sacrifice we must make in the name of our ruler.
Should we be fighting at all? Of course we should. It is the Queen’s decision to make. And if the Queen decrees that we are to fight, then we shall fight. We will never question her rule, her supremacy. If we did, we would be as bad as those heathens who followed Princess Luna! Luna is the one who deviated and endorsed the Nightmare. She is not in the right in any way. Some sympathised with her. Some preferred her over our very Queen. And those enemies of the Empire are the ones to blame for the whole war. If they had stayed true to Celestia, no one would have had to die in this terrible uprising.
They betrayed their Queen. The sun Goddess is our rightful ruler, she was prepared to let her sister walk away and leave the Queen on her own, with no family for support. That would have been a difficult thing to do for even the strongest of us to do. And Celestia, she is the strongest. She is kind. She is a mother to us all.
And it pains her that so many of her children have had to die. I have seen her tears. I have heard her break down in her chambers after sentencing traitors to death. Crying for hours until she emerges again for the next war meeting. Her head held high, her gait strong, you would never guess that she had been bawling like a child moments before.
She feels the pain of every one of her children. But she wants what is best for us. And that is the country’s betterment. That is eliminating plague. That is feeding all during famine. What she wants is progress.
I try to think back to how this war started. It all stemmed from a disagreement between the sisters. A disagreement that they could not resolve. And then people took sides. Everyone chose a side, and tried to beat the other into submission.
And that’s where we are to this day.