The March To War

Morning came far too soon for Evran. He had barely slept, and the day ahead of him promised to be a long one for him. The sound of boots on mud and the clanking of moving armour, made Evran eventually rise groggily from his bedroll and saunter over towards his tent flap. It was still dark out, but he could see enough in that pre-dawn gloom; soldiers ran up and down, with packed rucksacks slung across their backs and weapons strapped to their sides. Some already wore armour beneath their cloaks as they prepared themselves for the march southwards.

A soldier came running up to Evran and saluted smartly. He recognised her as Jill.

"Good morning sir," she said breathlessly. She too wore armour, though her's was a mix of chainmail and leathers underneath her cloak. "I hope you are well rested?"

Evran nodded tiredly at Jill. "As much as I can expect after a day without sleep. And I find it strange that you keep calling me sir. You're way older than me you know."

"I'm only a couple years older than you, Sir. And besides, the least I can do is show you respect. You did save my life."

Evran moved a hand through his black hair. "Eh, whatever suits you then. So, what do you want?"

"Gilderick has ordered me to escort you to him. He has your armour and supplies ready for you. And we leave before first light, so you should hurry to him if you don't wish to be left behind sir."

"Alright, let me get dressed first."

Jill waited patiently outside whilst Evran quickly got changed into something more presentable. He later emerged wearing an old pair of trousers, along with a grey long-sleeved tunic that hung loosely off his shoulders. His sword belt held his weapon close by, though he didn't really need one since he could just summon and dismissive his sword. But he did like having it there anyway.

Jill led Evran to the south end where the rows of tents stopped and where heaps of soldiers were gathering around in a vast field. As Evran passed by them, he felt tension coming from them. Nervousness seemed to plague them all, and Evran couldn't blame them given the devastating loss they suffered a week ago. They looked haggard, beaten down, worn thin – almost as if they'd been dragged through the dirt until every last drop of strength had seeped away from them. And now they were heading back into another battle again. He wondered why they would still continue on this path when they clearly were tired from all this fighting. Was it some kind of stubborn pride? Or perhaps a desire for revenge? Or maybe it was something else entirely...

When they reached the very front, Gilderick stood there waiting with his hands in his pocket. Evran noticed that three wooden boxes lay at his feet. Gilderick's smile seemed to widen as Evran approached.

"Ahh, good you're here! I have everything ready for you!"

He reached down and lifted a completely black chest plate from the box, holding it up for Evran to inspect.

"Wait, is that made out of bratium?" Evran asked doubtfully.

"Yes, it is," Gilderick replied, sounding proud about such news himself. "It's aged bratium, took me a long time to procure these things. But they will serve you well today."

"But how did you even find the bratium? That stuff is supposed to be super rare." Evran said as his eyes were transfixed by the deep ebony of the metal.

"Well, I kind of stole these from someone who shouldn't have had them in the first place. Now come and put the armour on, I want to see if it fits you."

Evran nodded and went forward to take hold of the chest plate. Surprisingly, the weight of the armour wasn't heavy at all. In fact, it actually felt quite light. With ease he lifted the armour over his head and slid it down onto his torso.

"Hmm, it's a bit too big for you. But hopefully it will fit more once you also wear your under armour beneath it."

Evran nodded and pulled off the chest plate. Next, he slipped on a chainmail shirt and pants which he found in the box. He then donned on the bratium gear with some help from Jill. Lastly, he held out the helmet. Surprisingly, two holes already existed on the sides of the helm; perfect for Evran to slide his horns through. It fitted perfectly upon his head and the visor closed smoothly above his face.

Peering through the slits of the visor, he saw Gilderick smiling widely. "The armour does look good on you. Though you do kind of look terrifying right now."

"Good, the more intimidating I look the better."

From behind him a voice called out: "Wow, is that all bratium?"

Turning around, Evran saw Marie and Dyrk approach with stunned expressions. Both of them stared wide eyed at the suit of armour, with their mouths hung open.

"Is that real bratium?" Dyrk whispered. He sounded awestruck.

"It's impressive right?"

"Do you have more?" Marie added, looking hopeful.

"No, there isn't more." Gilderick said. "But I got you guys the next best thing!"

He motioned a hand to the other two boxes near him. They both contained standard steel plate armour.

Marie grimaced as she looked down at the plain steel plates. "This is way worse compared to bratium…"

She folded her arms across her chest and scowled. "I don't see why you had to give Evran the armour, we could have at least played a game to decide who gets it."

"Oh, are you jealous?" Evran teased as he lifted his visor.

"I gave him the armour because I think he deserves it. I'm not saying that you two don't deserve the armour either, but I just feel like letting Evran have it will at least let him know how much we appreciate how much he has done for us. Besides, this will also serve as a way to help the soldiers distinguish Evran from the other syrn when we reach Ista."

Dyrk shrugged. "Yeah, fair enough. It isn't really that big of a deal to me."

After a while longer, more soldiers began arriving until finally the entire regiment was assembled. Three thousand soldiers stood at the ready before them. All of them wearing armour underneath pristine black cloaks.

Silence hung heavily amongst them. Even though there were so many, not a soldier said a word. And Evran could see why. Their faces bore the looks of haggard and exhausted men, worn thin by the war. Evran wondered why Milfsilla would allow these people to continue on fighting. Clearly, they were far past their limit. And did she really expect them to march in that heavy armour? That was ridiculous to him. Yet somehow it didn't seem like any of them complained or voiced an opinion.

Like a tidal wave, the army suddenly dropped to their knees and bowed their heads low towards the ground. The sight of this sudden action momentarily stunned Evran. What was going on here? Why were they suddenly kneeling?

He looked to his side and saw Milfsilla approach with her generals following behind her. Her gaze fell upon the soldiers, as she observed them. Then her gaze fell upon Evran. For whatever reason, he had the sudden urge to kneel before her. As his body went to the ground, he heard his friends follow suit.

When Milfsilla came closer he dared not to look up at her. He didn't want to show disrespect to this woman. Instead, he kept his eyes fixed on the ground as he waited for what she might say.

"Gilderick, why do you still stand? You should be joining your knights on the ground."

Evran looked up to see Gilderick standing defiantly before her. His jaw was clenched tight, as he glared at Milfsilla. She frowned deeply and shook her head disapprovingly.

"You dare defy my command again?"

Gilderick's body began to visibly shake and tremble. With great effort he forced himself to remain upright.

Evran's face contorted into a snarl as he watched him disobey her. How dare he! The disrespect he was showing towards Milfsilla made him furious. He wanted nothing less than to knock Gilderick over the head and throw him to the ground.

Unfortunately, he didn't have to do that as Gilderick did finally drop to his knees.

Milfsilla narrowed her eyes at him and growled softly. "Why do you make things so difficult for yourself? I'll always beat you in an all-out clash."

The scowl on Evran's face grew deeper as he watched Gilderick bow his head lower. What a wimp! He should have just done that from the star-

A sharp pain erupted in his head, causing him to wince and clutch the side of his head. He gasped as his mind felt as if it was being squeezed in a vice. Everything became blurry and hazy. Only after a while did the pressure finally ease off and he could breathe easier once more. When his vision cleared, a lingering question remained within his thoughts; Why... why was he kneeling?

He looked around in a daze. Why was everyone else on their knees too?

"You...how?" Milfsilla asked as she stared at him in surprise. "How did you break free?"

As he looked into those pale blue eyes in confusion, he knew then that something was wrong. He only spoke a single sentence aloud: "What…what did you do to me?"