Three Months Later
Inferno stood with her shoulders touching the ponies on either side of her, and peered through the slit in her shield. The spear strapped to her side reached past the pony in front of her to help form the second rank of spear points protecting the formation from the enemy. Behind her was one more row. They were not using their shields yet, but they were ready to step up if the ponies ahead of them fell. To either side of the formation was a rabble of slaves. They did not have metal armor like Inferno and her peers, but they were also more mobile. Inferno’s family was not wealthy enough to have any slaves, but they weren’t poor enough to be slaves, so she didn’t often concern herself about them.
In the field in front of them was another phalanx, very much like theirs. Nopony had told Inferno what this fight was about, she just knew that the fighting ponies in her village had been called up to defend the larger city of Sorraia from the army of Corsica. As far as she could tell, it was Fresians on both sides, but now that they were here, the choices were win or die.
Inferno raised her shield to block a shower of stones from the enemy skirmishers. The pony in front of her stumbled back half a step as a stone hit his helmet, but he quickly resumed his position. The enemy spear points were only a dozen feet away now, and the front ranks were picking their targets on the other side. Inferno repositioned her shield so the slit gave her a good view of the spears. There was not much she could do until the pony in front of her fell, but she needed to be ready. Her years of training were about to be tested, and it was only her confidence in her fellows that allowed her to keep her fear in check.
Somewhere down the line there was a clunk as a spear point hit a shield, then a few more. Soon, the whole line was engaged, blocking the enemy’s spears and thrusting with their own. Inferno blocked out the battle, focusing on her first rank. He and his opponent were the only ponies that she needed to concern herself about. She was dimly aware of the pony on her left stepping forward to fill the place of a casualty, but she kept watching her first rank.
Suddenly, a spear went past his shield to stab him in the throat and he went down. Years of training moved Inferno forward to stand over his body before she even realized what was happening, and the battle took on a whole new appearance. Facing her was the whole enemy army, safe behind their shields and ready to kill her with their spears. Two spears jabbed at her even as she stepped up, but she caught one on her shield and sidestepped the other. She blocked or avoided several more thrusts before she had the time to try a thrust of her own, but it was easily blocked. It seemed only a matter of time before she was struck down, but she told herself that she was protecting her village, and all the foals there. A spear grazed her side, and she grimaced at the pain, but didn’t dare take her attention off of the enemy to look.
Block, duck, thrust.
In her peripheral vision, Inferno saw an increased amount of movement to her left. She didn’t look, but she turned an ear towards the disturbance. To her horror, she heard cries of “Run!” and “Retreat!” If the phalanx broke, they would lose their defensive teamwork, and the front rank would be slaughtered. She would be slaughtered. Inferno desperately fought to keep down her own panic. Running meant death. Win or die, there was no third option.
The phalanx broke. Ponies all around Inferno started to drop their shields and run, many getting their long spears tangled together when they tried to turn. Inferno found herself with spear points all around starting to focus on her as the only obstacle remaining. She couldn’t hold them back, but she knew she would never survive if she ran, so she started to slowly back up. As she moved back, she turned to keep herself facing the enemy. The ponies near her that were still holding started doing the same. As more of their allies fled or were killed, the core of the phalanx got smaller and more bent until they were arranged in the shape of a horseshoe, and finally a full circle. Inferno fought furiously to keep the enemies in front of her at bay. She was tiring, but they could not quite get around her shield.
There was a shout from the enemy commander and the spears pulled back. Inferno and her small band of allies backed toward each other, tightening their formation until their shields were touching. A significant portion of the enemy phalanx dropped their spears and drew short swords to chase the fleeing soldiers from Sorraia. The rest moved to surround Inferno and her friends.
O’s voice spoke quietly from behind Inferno. “What do we do, Steph? There’s nopony left to lead us.”
Inferno’s heart warmed a little to hear his voice. “Just stay ready and watch your front. I have an idea.”
The others murmured among themselves, but the general consensus was that they would let Inferno try her plan.
The enemy moved into a position just out of spear reach and stopped. A voice called out, “Fresians of Sorraia, throw down your weapons and surrender!”
Inferno kept her eyes on the ponies ahead of her but called back, “We are nothing to you! Go on your way!”
After a moment, the ranks in front of Inferno parted to allow a pony to pass through. His fancy clothing seemed to mark him as their commander, but for some reason he wore no armor. “Surely you don’t believe you have a hope of defeating us now?”
“Of course not,” Inferno replied carefully, “but you have nothing to gain by fighting us. If you go on your way, we can do nothing more to oppose you. If you fight us, we will fight back, and you will lose soldiers needlessly.”
“Young mare, are you giving me permission to invade your territory?”
“There is nothing we can do to stop you. I can only protect these ponies, and I will do that to my dying breath.”
For an interminable moment, Inferno and the enemy commander stared each other down. Then he looked away. “Very well, I give you your ponies. Well fought, filly. What is your name?”
“I am Inferno.”
“I am Theristis the Mage.” He pulled a flower out of the air and tossed it to her. “If we meet again, may it be on more pleasant business.”
The army pulled back from the little company and moved on down the road to Sorraia.
Inferno let out a huge breath and sat down to steady her trembling knees.
“That was amazing, Steph. I thought we were done for. How did you think of that?” O sat next to Inferno and patted her back.
“Remember the fox? Not all battles can be won, but the secret is to always pick battles you can win. He didn’t need to kill us, so I just had to persuade him we were more trouble than we were worth.” She stood up again and turned to face the others. “Thank you all for holding fast. If any of you had faltered, we would all be dead right now. It was an honor to fight beside you.”
“You’re bleeding, Steph.”
“I know. That’s actually what reminded me of that lesson.”
One of the other stallions came over to them. “You said your name was Inferno, right?”
“That’s me.”
“I’m Liquor, from Sorraia, and I want to join your army.”
Inferno stared at him in confusion. “My army? I’m just a soldier like you.”
“On the contrary,” spoke up a massive stallion from the other side of her, “you are not like any of us. When our commander fled like a coward, you came up with a plan that saved all of us.”
“Exactly,” Liquor pointed at the giant. “A leader should protect his ponies. Deilos didn’t do that, but you did. From now on, I follow Inferno!”
“Inferno!” shouted the giant, and soon the others began to join in too, chanting her name like a great hero.
Inferno turned to O for help, only to see that he was chanting with the others. “Stop! What are you doing? I can’t lead you! I have nowhere to lead you to. What would I do with an army?”
“We can protect Sorraia ourselves, or maybe even get Sorraia and Corsica to form an alliance,” O suggested. “Whatever it is, we already have the ponies we need to do great things.”
“Well, I…” Inferno looked around at the soldiers’ faces. Faces that were all looking to her to lead them. “I can try, I guess.”