The Last One

thirteen

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In the morning, we gathered and all marched further east. Towards the camp and towards the next battle. We topped a hill and saw men waiting for us at the top of the next one. We would meet swords in the valley between. The shield was heavy in my hand, and the sword felt foreign now in my hand. An axe was pretty useless for fighting in a shield wall, and so it only made sense to use something slimmer and easier to maneuver. Even still, it felt disrespectful to the axe.

We marched forward in a line, shields raised. Our enemy marched forward to meet us.

"Shield Wall!"

We rose our shields and interlocked them over each other, then took each step in unison as one, keeping one straight line or shields.

Step. I took a deep breath. Step. My muscles tensed. Step. I could hear foot falls approaching. Step. Breathe. Stop. Brace for impact.

The surge of bodies shoved against the shield wall. To my left, Finan slid his sword through an opening in the wall and brought it back bloody. My heart beat whooshed in my ears, and it was almost all I could hear as my body slowly came to the moment.

I raised my sword and did the same. I slid it through a gap I could find, and I felt the heft of it finding flesh. I pulled it back. Then I did it again. The sounds of battle roared around me now. I couldn't heat my heartbeat anymore. I slid the sword back through the gap, and something hit against it, a shield. It pinned the blade between my shield and theirs. I pulled for it, but I couldn't get it back.

To my right, Sihtric pushed his sword through and caught my offender. The pressure on my sword was released, and I pulled it back.

This shield wall functioned the same as the last time we had done it. Pile up the bodies, step over the dead and wounded, then repeat.

It sounded easy enough, but it was far from easy. The weight of men that pressed back against the shield would be enough to buckle your knees if survival didn't depend on that not happening. We fought and fought and fought, and people around us fell, and people before us fell. My body ached, and every muscle stung with tension.

Forward.

The wall around me began to disintegrate. People splintered off because there weren't enough people to hold the wall together. I tossed the shield aside and pulled my axe free. I raised it in time to catch the swing of a man twice my size. He swung again, and I caught his swing with both sword and axe. There was blood swiped across his forehead, not from battle, but evidently from a sacrifice before the battle. He screamed at me, inches from my face as he leaned into it. His eyes were manic, desperate, and angry.

The sword bit into the armor at my shoulder. No. No, not again.. I shoved back at him, but he was solid. I slid the sword slightly up, and it only gave him the upper hand. He pushed harder, and I felt the pressure of the sword against my shoulder. I grunted in response and slid the sword back down. My arms began to tremble.

Suddenly, an unseen force pulled at him from behind and yanked him backward. A sword stuck through his chest, and he fell. On the other side, Sihtric. He nodded at me and then turned his back to face a new foe. I did the same.

We went on this way, back to back, for some time. My arms were numb from the impact of swinging into man after man, and my chest burned with every inhale. Eventually, we were separated again in the heat of battle. I didn't see anyone I knew near me then. I swung my axe and stabbed with my sword,

I pushed forward. Exhaustion was beginning to set in. I tripped into Finan, and he shoved me back onto my feet. "Keep going," he said. I nodded. Keep going.