The Foolhardies 196 Swift Sword

My shadowblade came down on the back of the elf who'd just run away from me.

"Fool, you never show your back to your enemy!" I yelled as I cut him down.

In hindsight, I would have preferred it if they'd all just drop their weapons, turn their back on us, and run away. But, sadly, that wasn't going to happen and this coward I just felled was as rare as the rising of a blue moon in the Fayne.  

Two more enemy soldiers arrived to block my path, and I had to parry the sword strike of one with my falchion while simultaneously gutting the other with my dagger.

Yeah, I'd gone dual-weapon fighting in this battle just because there were so many bodies around me, and a double slash seemed more expedient than a single one.

"Edo!" I yelled. "Clear us some room to breathe!"

Edo came charging forward, barrelling past me with a shoulder rush that smashed into a number of enemy defenders ahead of us. Then, continuing with his destructive momentum, the half-ogre slammed the b.u.t.t of his glaive down on the sand, and the force it generated exploded outward in a circle around him.

I watched from behind him as enemy soldiers were thrown back by his a.s.sault, and asked, "What do you call that?"

"Earthshattering blow," Edo answered while his back was to me.

"Man, Azuma's starting to influence you," I said. "Since when did you name your moves?"

Edo laughed, which, in the middle of a battlefield would either make him sound crazy or insensitive. My guess was both.

"Watch this, Dean," he called. "This next move, I call Cyclone."

"Alright, let me see it," I encouraged.

Edo raised his glaive to the side, and, as I expected — because who wouldn't if you name your move the cyclone — he began to turn in a three-hundred-sixty degree arc while swinging his glaive forward.

The fierceness of his swing was so great that I could feel the very air around me get pulled into his attack.

"Sweet," I said.

Like a top, Edo rotated a total of three times, and each rotation brought with it blood and death for all who were unlucky enough to be within his range. And when he'd finally stopped, the s.p.a.ce I'd asked for was now available.

"You know, I think Cyclone doesn't do that move justice at all… Death Cyclone sounds better," I suggested.

Edo slammed the b.u.t.t of his glaive down on the ground once more, but softer this time, with zero of his aura accompanying it. "I'll take that under advis.e.m.e.nt."

I looked over my shoulder to the men who'd watched the same show I did.

"What are you all waiting for?" I pointed my falchion past Edo. "Charge into that s.p.a.ce already!"

Thor led the charge forward with his twin scimitars slicing and dicing the enemy kobolds who'd challenged him. One, two, three, four — he brought them down in succession while his fellow kobolds in the unit joined him like the wolf pack they were.

Looking at them now, I was glad they'd decided to join us. They'd grown much since that time we stole Hoodwink Tower from their band of merry thieves.

"Azuma!" I called.

Azuma was at my side in an instant with his spear in hand.  

"You called, Dean?" he asked.

"I need you to cover me for a few minutes. Gotta see what's going on out there," I said.

"Is this really the appropriate time?" he asked.

"We've been at this for more than fifteen minutes and we're still swamped by enemies…" I said. "There's has to be a reason for it. Give me five minutes."

"You've got three," he said, and then with a wave of his hand, he called some of his Immortals over. "Get to it, Commander."

Immortals encircled me on all sides, and satisfied that I wasn't about to get stabbed in the back, I knelt on the sand and closed my eyes.

"Oh, great fool, let me see the unseen that I might know the unknowable," I called.

When I opened my eyes again, my sight was above the battlefield, and what I saw from there gave me a headache.

The enemy's square formation was mostly intact except that the enemy's second line of reserves had marched in to reinforce the south and west lines that Luca and I had attacked. That meant way more soldiers than we could handle in the short time we needed to break through to the open s.p.a.ce on the other side.

If that wasn't troubling enough, it seemed April's and Aura's forces in the east were slowly giving ground to the enemy they faced off with. It wouldn't be long before all ten thousand of them would be in dire straits as their backs were up against the enemy vanguard, who thankfully, was still engaged with Redbull's forces.

As for Redbull's army in the east, it looked like they'd been hit by another blast from the magnifier weapons and was in danger of losing way more men than any other units in this southern battlefield.

I blinked out of Fool's Insight and told Azuma what I saw.

He took my insight, and after a short back and forth of ideas, recommended, "You should take as many men as you can and charge past this western line. The rest will stay here and keep the enemy company."

"No," I said with a shake of my head. "That would leave whoever was left behind in even worse condition…"

"We don't have much of a choice, Dean," he insisted. "Quickness is the essence of war, remember?"

I couldn't think of an argument to him quoting Sun Tzu to me. It was sound logic. But we never left people behind, and leaving starting now in the midst of all this chaos meant I was essentially leaving people to die.

"What's that quote you always say about our men to me?" he reminded me.

"Confront them with annihilation, and they will survive… plunge them into a deadly situation, and they will then live… When people fall into danger, they are then able to strive for victory," I whispered one of my favorite Sun Tzu quotes.

"Go, I'll lead the men… I'll keep them alive," Azuma promised.

If it was anyone else, I would have scoffed at them, but Azuma was a man of his word, and he was the best warrior in the unit.

"Alright," Once we're out on the other side you lead the men out of here and escape…" I told him.

There was a crinkle in his eye when he smiled, and it was the first time I ever thought Azuma was old. The dude was in his thirties, sure, but his cancer was eating away at him regardless.

We shook hands. Then I turned my back on him and yelled for Edo, Thom and, Thor to gather their best fighters, the ones who still had it in them to fight because we were breaking through the enemy's lines.

They managed to pick out a hundred and fifty guys who weren't injured and still had the fire of battle in their eyes. It was a good enough number for a speed run. The rest of the unit would remain here, waiting for their chance to escape.

"Alright you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, in the name of our Patriarch, I promised you victory… don't make a liar of me now!" I raised my falchion toward the front. "Follow me! We're hunting down a general!"

There was a collective roar around me that told me everyone was sufficiently ready to get this done.

"Let's go!" I yelled.

Then I raced forward, past the soldiers who were holding the enemy back for us, and barreled into the enemy lines with only murder in my mind. I shut off the conscience that often held my strength back for swiftness was the key to keeping Azuma and the troops alive.

Beside me, Edo and Thom seemed sufficiently motivated to raise h.e.l.l. Together, we cut, hacked, and slashed our way through the enemy lines while the others followed behind us.

I saw enemies fall, heard my soldiers cry out in pain, and smelled the blood that stuck to my armor. This was war and it was messy and cruel and desperate. It was all the things the old war movies couldn't possibly portray.

Eventually, after much blood had been spilled, we'd pushed past the enemy and into empty s.p.a.ce that seemed surreal after what we'd just gone through.

"How many… did we… lose?" I asked in a ragged breath.

"A few… but we've got more than a hundred ready and able," Edo answered from my side.

"One last stretch of sand then, Commander?" Thom asked.

"Yeah," I answered. "Let's do this!"

I ran, and the followed after me. It was a straight line to Amon and his five hundred, and as the distance shortened between us, I reminded everyone, "Steel yourselves… it's going to be another tiring one!"

"We're used to it," Edo roared.

"Foolhardies!" Thor howled.

"Foolhardies!" we all answered.