Fade to Black

[DoS Archive]

From: novashayde@aol.com (NovaShayde)
Date: 01 Jun 1998 14:23:41 EDT

The carnage of the sixth day was horrifying. The day began with two thousand but, as night fell, only fifteen hundred remained. Considering the mass of bodies just below the wall, the number of defenders dead was made diminutive by the dead of the enemy. The remaining defenders were the best of the best. Their will to survive was the strongest, yet they knew they were to die sooner or later. For most of them, they would rather
draw as many breaths as they could before the final stab or slice brought Death upon them.
In war, countless acts of heroism go unnoticed. Men and women fight not only for their own lives here in these last hours, but for the lives of their comrades as well. Nagron Fire Arrow, a man who was recruited to the SuhnSong defense unit not for his sword, but for his archery ability, died near the end of the sixth day. He was by no means a good swordsman, but he managed to hold his own for a good hour after his bow was shattered by an
errant swing of a comrade's axe. With a short spear jutting from his side and a dagger rammed to the hilt into his chest, he rushed forward as the line of defense upon the wall once again bent inward and the enemy gained yet another foothold on the wall. Nova Grey Shadow and Hardrian War Sabre, along with a handful of other defenders, were surrounded as the enemy leapt forward to allow others to rise to the wall. Both Hadrian and Nova fought with
two blades, their swords singing and weaving through the late afternoon air, cleaving whatever enemy flesh managed to get in their way. The weight of the enemy pressed on them, there was no way out... until Nagron Fire Arrow, blood filling his lungs, his life slipping away, threw himself at the left side of the enemy fighting wedge, carrying seven enemy soldiers and an enemy ladder bearing five more men crashing to the cobblestone streets before the
wall. The wedge broken, Grey Shadow, War Sabre, and the remaining defenders formed a fighting horn, swinging out to close the line of defense. The wall would remain safe for another day. And a single man's death, that may well have saved countless lives that day, went unnoticed.
During the late hours of the sixth night, a man whose skin was black as pitch came towards Nova. His eyes, Nova quickly noticed, were as black as the skin, with only an occasional burst of color... starlight... as red as blood... coalescing in the hollows of the eyes. This man's armor was dented from head to toe, the face guard of his helm long since knocked away by an enemy blade or axe, the cloak in tatters and spotted with blood... yet
there didn't appear to be a scratch on this man. Nova stood from his resting place as the man approached. Hadrian remained seated and silent.
"Nova Grey Shadow," the black man said, "I heard you were back."
"You have me at a disadvantage..." Nova began. The man offered his hand in greeting. Nova shook it, wrist to wrist, in a warrior's grip.
"Nova Red Arrow."
Hadrian looked up then, a slow smile creeping across his face. The lines of despair melting away for a brief moment as he rose.
"I'm surprised you survived this long, kid," Hadrian said.
"I'm not as inexperienced as you look out there, old man," Red Arrow said with a grin, the ebon lips parting to reveal ivory teeth. The humor not lost on the men reclining and resting around them, a short laugh permeating the tension of the laugh.
As the laughter subsided, Red Arrow's face took on a more somber look at he cast his gaze to the enemy camped beyond the wall.
"Do you think they'll attack again tonight?" he said quietly, almost as if they could hear him and his words may give them an idea.
"No, they took some losses today. They're more than likely waiting to regain their strength," Hadrian said, turning his far too tired eyes back to Red Arrow, "How's your line holding up?"
"Two hundred gone today. Yours?"
"Close to three hundred."
"Really?" Red Arrow asks with a look of slight shock to his face, "I'd expected your line to take heavier losses. Being closer to the middle and all."
"We're too far into the city for them to use ballistae. All they can do is climb ladders. The archers kept them back long enough for us to light the fire pits and push a few ladders over."
"I heard we're considering giving up this wall and retreating to the last?" Red Arrow says. More for a confirmation of rumor than anything else.
"If we do, we'll do it tonight."
"Why would we give up this wall? We have a better chance to hold here another day," this from Grey Shadow.
"Perhaps, Nova. But we almost lost the line today. We'd all be dead right now if we didn't manage to swing the men around and block off the foothold. I still think it's a miracle from the Gods that we managed to pull that off."
"The last wall isn't as wide, the enemy won't be able to gain much of a foothold. As least not as much as they did this afternoon," Red Arrow broke in.
Hadrian looked back over to the last wall, two torches waving on the tower of the Keep signaling the retreat.
"All right, men! Pack it up, we're going back to the last wall!" Hadrian calls to the men reclining around the threesome, surprisingly, no groans of contestment answer, all the men are far too weary. As Hadrian walks away, Red Arrow looks back to Grey Shadow.
"It's an honor to fight alongside you, Captain. I just wish it were under better circumstances," stated Red Arrow.
"I feel the same way," Grey Shadow said with a tired smile.
Silence entered the conversation then. It seemed that all eyes had turned out to the enemy campfires before the wall. All eyes except for Nova Grey Shadow's, he was looking back to the last wall. The Wall of Peace. Where defenders come to terms with their impending deaths and fight without fear of the Great Beyond. The retreat began and dawn approached slowly... allowing the defenders one more night of rest.