Is As Strong As The Will Of The Owner
"April 9th, 12th Year of the Single Sovereignty: One Month into the Equestrian/Griffonstone War.
"My dearest High Note, this will be most likely my final letter. Myself and the men have been sent to capture and fortify The Mountain of Sol, the birthplace of our beloved Princess. The Griffons' barbarism has tainted the land with their filth, and we intend of taking back our land, purifying it underneath our display of power. I will keep my letter short, for the time to march is approaching, but know that I will love you with all my heart, even if it ceases to be.
With love,
~Brazened Shield
"Destroy them all! Leave none left standing!" The Griffon commander shouted, invigorating the troops and trampling upon the bodies of dead Equestrian soldiers. The intelligence was false, the scout had said only a small garrison of about 30 solders were stationed. The scout had also said there was a back entrance, one where they wouldn't be seen or heard. It was a trap from the beginning. They crossed the threshold of the 'secret entrance' and as soon as the last man had entered, the arrows flew down. The phalanx was working until the scout had stabbed the commanding officer causing him to fall and be skewered. Soon, the phalanx fell apart, with no one to cover the hole, the rest of the army fell with him. Some survived, but even in their weakened state, they could barely hold onto their swords and shields. The Griffons showed no mercy. Only one soldier had made it through the whole ordeal unscathed, and that was a legate by the name of Brazened Shield. He hid behind a temple wall while the phalanx failed, and managed to stay unseen the whole time. His breathing was hard, but tried to remain calm.
"The scout reported 250 soldiers, I count 249, including the scout. One is still alive, sir!" a Griffon said. The Griffon commander laughed. It was a laugh that was both annoying, but to strong to question.
"A coward hides somewhere! He must be hiding somewhere with in the temple! First to find him and bring him to me will receive a high commendation from myself and eventually the king! ...And will also be give their weight worth in gold plus some..." He said with a grin, making the soldiers cheer and start their demented hide and seek game. Brazened Shield knew he had to move, but had nowhere to go. The wall to his right had no door or window, and the left was open field. In front of him was more open field and not enough cover. He was dead, but he was going to die, he would die in the only way he knew how. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of his sword and as he pulled out the blade, the sword itself sung a song. A song known only by those who had nothing left lose, but had someone to go back to. A song that invigorated the soul, and strengthened the mind. A song, that for the briefest moments, made him feel like smiling.
High Note read the note with heavy heart, but with no tears, as even though it said it would be the last one he would send for some time, he did not say he was to die. Of course, this did little to soothe her heart, and soon she laid on her bed alone, waiting for her husband to return. She recounted the days the note was written, counting 10. The days grew larger as she counted, each morning she prayed to whatever gods were still watching to give her husband safe passage to the mountain and for him to return to her. She prayed this every night and day, hoping that some cosmic force would come down and give her her wish, but each day this was meant with silence.
"O, Gods of old and new, of Creation and Life, and of the Sun and Moon, please give my husband the strength to come back home. The thought of him being hurt, or dying, makes me sick to my stomach, it makes feel uneasy and unsure. A week and half has passed, yet no word from the Mount Sol has came. I pray to you now, please. Give your favors to my husband in his time of need!"
Nothing answered her prayers. Yet, fortune had a way of showing its affection.
His sword sung, and his shield glowed with the sunlight, he devised a plan. Taking his shield he used the sunlight to blind an archer walking along the far walls. The archer screamed in surprise and rubbed his eyes and doing so, made the rest of the army look towards him. Using the distraction, Brazened ran towards the nearest Griffon soldier and slit his throat without mercy. "GRIFFONS!" He shouted, putting all attention on him. "I AM NO COWARD. FOR I AM MORE COURAGEOUS THAN ANY OF YOU HERE!" He said, and to prove his point he set down his shield and raised only his sword. "I will fight all of you, and kill your commander! Without touching him once!" He proclaimed, making the commander laugh in amusement.
"Hahaha! Fine, then you shall fight 350 of the finest warriors that the Griffonstone has to offer and in doing so, you plan on killing me? WHILE STANDING THERE?! HAHAHAHA! This is good comedy, were you perchance a court fool back in the day?" The Griffon commander taunted. All the while, his men began to form up, and get into a formation. Spears and lances poking out in front. He stood their waiting for the right time, and he flashed his sword out in front of him using the sunlight he began to blind the frontlinemen and they began tumbling over themselves in an effort to see again, and in the mess, some had even managed to pierce their own. Using this time he spared a glance upwards and saw the shields work coming to fruition. A large chandelier hanging right over the commander head was having the rope slowly being burned away. He looked back at the army come back to its feet and the began to slowly encircle the lone solider. Spears and swords flashed all the while, and the shield remained undisturbed. Blocking a deflecting swords and dodging spear thrusts, he managed to fell quite a few opponents.
He felt a jab in his shoulder and stuck back at the offending Griffon. All the while the he was cutting down enemy soldiers with ferocity. 350 turned, into 200 and 200 became 50 soldiers. Hundreds of soldiers lie dead around him, all the while he was sparing glances up at the rope and cursed his luck. The rope, while burned, was no where close enough to fall. The remaining 50 soldiers huddled around the commander, in both an effort to protect and seek protection from him. The commander snorted in annoyance and strode forward towards Brazened. "The Sun has gone down, boy. You must be getting tired." He said standing in front of him. Brazened's eye grew heavy, but he resisted. His body ached of cuts and stabs, yet it was also telling it go. He spared one last look at the chandelier, before he made his decision. He ran.
Ran past the commander, past the 50 soldiers and in his luck picked up a fallen bow and a quiver of roughly 15 arrows. He aimed and let loose arrow after arrow each hitting a soldier, but he stopped at one. Picking his sword back up he cut through a soldiers gullet, and another's throat. 33 to go. Three charged with spears and began picking up speed, looking around he saw a saving grace. Flash bombs, fallen out of a satchel, rushing away and gaining a large enough distance before he stuck them onto the ground, the spearmen became blinded and stumbled around and Brazened took them out with deadly efficiency. 30 more....
High note watched as the sun set behind the clouds, all the while tears now began to freely fall. A new note rested by her side, with a sum of gold. "We regret to inform you that word has been lost on the platoon sent to Mount Sol. Until a team comes back, we assume all have perished. To compensate, we have given your husbands war salary to help pay for--" She had stopped reading there, she was too heart broken to go on. Soon as she began to get ready for bed, another knock came to the door.
"Impressive! If you were only a Griffon I would've made you into a fine general!" The Commander said as the last soldier fell to Brazened's blade. Only the commander stood, and Brazened knew if he could kill him, the fight would be won, and his cowardice would be forgiven. Only now he felt weak, and he was struggling to stay upright, eventually falling to his knees. Too much blood has been lost, and his vision grew blurry. He still had the bow slung over his shoulder and in a last ditch effort, a plan came to his head. The commander however, laughed loudly. "You kneel to me? In hopes I may recruit you no doubt? Well..." He said as he unsheathed a large curved sword, far larger than something a normal human would carry. "I'm afraid I'm not taking recruits or prisoners right now..." He said with sneer and slammed his sword down. Brazened had almost no time to react and dodged out of the way with large gash in calf. He screamed in pain, and made the rest of the way their crawling. He felt himself being flipped on his back, and moved his head to dodge the blade stabbing in the ground. He looked past the commander above him and smiled. While the sun may not see his accomplishment, the moon mostly likely will. The sun had just began to dip under the horizon, and the shine of the moon illuminated the field.
The commander was confused. "Why are you smiling?" Brazened said nothing, but his smile died, and was replaced with a sneer as he plunged his sword into the commanders foot, pinning him to the ground. "AHH! DAMN YOU!" He roared, stabbing his blade into Brazeneds shoulder. The Equestrian let out a short howl of pain as the commander desperately tried to pry his foot from the ground. He began to crawl away on one knee and soon reach a safe place. He pulled the last arrow out and took the bow from his shoulder. With some difficulty, he lined up the shot. It was one shot, one that had count. He drew the bow back and with a steady mind, let loose the arrow. Just as the commander freed his foot from the ground he heard the bow let loose and he braced himself... only for the arrow to never hit. He looked around and assumed he missed.
"HA!"
He didn't.
"Hello? Who's there?" High Note asked meekly opening the door. It was another soldier, she sighed expecting more bad news. "Now what? Are you going to tell me how my husband died?" She said getting ready to shut the door.
"Actually," the soldier said, causing her to stop. "I've been sent by a scouting team that came back from Mount Sol... Miss High Note, your husband is alive. In fact... he wishes to see you." He said. High Note looked behind him to see her husband, looking worse for wear. Blood caked his skin, cuts adorned his face and body. Yet he smiled. With some help of the scouting party, he hobbled his way to her. He pulled out his now broken blade and handed it to her.
"Gotta go to the doctors to get patched up. I want you to hold onto that, kay?" He said, with a big smile. Without another word, he hobbled to the medic inside of the castle. High Note for the most part just slumped in the doorway, not believing what she just saw, but looking in her hands, the broken blade was real. She could feel it, and it felt warm. She smiled and chuckled to herself while getting back up and heading towards the bed. She set down the broken blade, which had hit the metal on the lamp. The flames jumped slightly, and sword sung loudly, loud enough for her and all the other homes to hear. She looked down at the broken blade and smiled warmly.
"Thank you," she said to no one in particular. The as she fell asleep in her bed, a figure appeared from the blades steel. She was tall, had a large rimmed hat with a veil. The hat itself wan in the shape of the sun, with the underside being the moon. He darkened skin shone in the moonlight and hand rested upon High Note and she softly whispered into her ear with a smile as wide as Brazened's.
"You're welcome..."
