//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Greet Death When He Comes // Story: The Red Knight // by PhantomBulwark //------------------------------// Sunset could see the glint of hundreds of arrowheads in the rising sun. “Shields!” “Shields!” “Shields!” “Shields!” The order reverberated. At once, a barrier was raised between the falling arrows and her soldiers. Each fighter with a broad, round shield raised it in defense. The interlocking pattern must have looked like a massive pile of blackened coins, stacked one over another but it did the job. The arrows bounced off or buried themselves into metal, but not a single one met flesh. As their enemy grew closer, the sound of booted feet began to ring in Sunset’s ears. As despair threatened to wrap around her throat a familiar hand clamped down on her shoulder. “Steady now,” said Applejack, her green eyes gleaming beneath their makeshift ceiling. “Steady.” Another volley of arrows overtook them and the air again filled with the thunk, thunk, thunk, of arrowheads being driven into bronze. Her courage re-engaged Sunset raised her voice, “Hold!” Another volley followed. And then another. With her own shield guarding her front, Sunset could barely see through a tiny gap. Their enemy was fast approaching. No more arrows would come. The Changelings had stowed their bows and drawn sword. “Shields down, Spears out!” The first two lines of her men raised spears to chest height and the gleaming tips poked through the gaps in their shield line. A roaring battle cry from the enemy washed over them. And then it began. The first wave crashed upon them and the line was forced backward by the weight of hundreds of bodies. For every changeling that fell from their spears, another met their shields with all their strength. She could feel her feet digging into the sandy ground as a particularly massive changeling lieutenant attempted to bludgeon her. She ducked the first blow and bellowed, “push!” As one, they began to shove back. With a great heave, they sent the attackers stumbling. With the pressure relieved, she used the extra room to run her assailant through with her spear. His dark leather armor and blue green cloak was no match for her lovingly sharpened weapon. The line closed again as another wave came down. It seemed that for every changeling they brought down three more would appear. To her right, AJ had lost her spear and had switched to her sword. At her back, Spitefire was snarling profanities and cutting down anything she could reach. Sunset lost count of how many she had sent to Tartarus. Changeling swordsmen with wickedly curved swords and leather armor and what must be spearmen with strange weapons. Their spears were unlike any she’d ever seen at tournaments. They were bladed on one side and blunt on the other, and at least a foot longer than their own. When she thought her arms might fall off and her spear had gone dull from use, she gave a new order. “Archers, ignite!” From far above Dash and Pinkie’s men began lighting large pits. Even from a hundred yards below them, Sunset could feel the heat of the fires. The Changelings kept coming and she had to wait for an opening. For another hour they battled, her spear eventually snapped and she was forced to draw sword and slash at incoming enemies from over her shield. Finally, their enemy let up and Sunset could set her next plan in motion. She breathed deep to be heard over the din of the clashing armies, “Shields!!!” Again their shields were raised above them, and then, “Fire!” Arrows rained from the ridges on either side, falling upon their enemy and lighting everything ablaze. The panic set in immediately and the Changeling forces were badly staggered. They were so used to ambushing others, none of the Changeling seemed to know how to handle the tables being turned. “Advance!” Sunset ordered, she broke the line and darted out to meet her foe. She dispatched three changelings who had not fallen to their arrows swiftly in the panic. To her left AJ and Spitfire were back to back, batting away swipes from more of those strange spearmen. Half of her men were engaged with the remaining enemy and the rest were putting those who were wounded out of their misery. A changeling with a broken spear in one hand and a dagger in the other appeared in front of her. He danced just outside her reach and they circled one another. He lunged and rolled under her swing, popping up behind her. What he could not have counted on was Sunset being just as fast as him. She spun on her heel and he just escaped losing his head. As he darted right and left, lashing out where he could, she observed him. He seemed to follow a pattern. Right, left, left again, two steps right, left, pause, attack. She bided her time, and when the current pattern started to end, she darted in on the pause. With one smooth motion, she slipped inside his hasty block and drove her sword upward. The blade slid in, right below his armpit and through his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. She could see more combatants approaching from the east, line after line of changeling fighters and steeled herself. As the last of the current unit of invaders was slain, she ordered her own forces back to the gorge. The spearmen at the front were rotated out and she took the opportunity to rest, leaving Shining to combat the next attack. (Spitfire had to be ordered to stand down twice before she would rest.) The battle was nowhere near over but they had faced their first real battle as the Dark Regiment and lived, that at least, was something. As Sunset rested in the sparse shade of a pine sapling, studying the blade of the Changeling’s broken spear, Rainbow Dash climbed down from the ridge to sit with her. The archer slumped down next to her, “Good to see you’ve still got all your limbs, kid.” Sunset smiled a little, “and I’m pleased to see you haven’t set yourself on fire.” “It looked pretty brutal out there from the cliff side. Still happy with your choice?” Sunset’s face darkened, “I worry for the men and women who’ve volunteered to fight under my command. I chose to die out here with dignity instead of on a hangman’s noose; they could have earned freedom in prison.” “How many of them do you think would’ve died in those cells? They aren’t children Sunset, they make their own choices. Do you resent us for coming with you? AJ, Pinkie, Me, Flash? Shining Armor?” “Yes and no. None of you are children… not even Flash… but I’m responsible for every life on this field now. And that weighs on my mind. I don’t want to lose anyone, least of all one of my friends. But I also know it’s inevitable.” “Death is inevitable for everyone Sunny. All we can do is greet him when he comes for us.”