The Herald of Fire

by InsertCleverNameHere

Chapter 9

War stared Pestilence down. Her sword, still slick with black blood, was gripped tight in her mouth. She didn’t dare look away, but she could feel the shade’s eyes on her like daggers. Pestilence had promised that it would only be the two of them, but War wondered if that would hold true should the battle go her way, consider the half a dozen shades around them. Pestilence already had her sword drawn. War hadn’t budged from her hunched down pose, ready for any move that Pestilence may make.
The silence between was palpable, neither of them daring to move. War stared, trying to make out what her next move might be, but her stance didn’t betray any particular strategy, and, as usual, her face didn’t betray a thing. Pestilence’s eyes remained as empty and lifeless as before. War couldn’t look into them for too long, but she was growing impatient.
“What are you waiting for, Pest?” War asked.
Pestilence took a step forward, and said, “By all means, begin whenever you are ready...”
She’s never been one to make the obvious mistakes... War thought to herself.
It was clear that Pestilence wasn’t going to make the first move. The question now was how War was to go about attacking her.
War began to slowly circle the pseudo-area that the shades had created, with Pestilence mirroring her movements.
The battlefield had had the smell of open wounds and sores, but now that she was up close, War was hit with Pestilence’s rotting smell. It’s not something she ever noticed when she ran with them before. Perhaps she’d grown used to the smell of death. But now, it hung over her like a dead rat. Not to mention Pestilence’s own pustulating sores.
Through gritted teeth, War asked, “Nice to see that you smell as flowery as ever, Pest. I was beginning to miss the smell of decay and festering wounds.”
Without breaking her stride, Pestilence said, “I thought we’d gotten past petty insults by now, War. Trying to delay the moment I cut you open?”
“I would ask the same if you didn’t look liable to fall apart already.”
War’s eyes had fallen on Pestilence’s bandages, which covered the worst of Pestilence’s sores and wounds. War then began to wonder if they hurt more.
“I can afford to trade quips with you all day, War, but can the rest of your comrades?”
She was right, War realized. The longer this took, the more ponies would die. But how to get to her was proving troublesome. Pestilence had War’s movements down to a tee. War needed something to break her concentration. Her eyes darted around, looking for anything that would throw her off. Spotting a small rock, just in front of her, she acted fast, looking for anything that’d give her the element of surprise.
Turning around, she kicked as hard as she could, sending the stone whizzing faster than any pegasi she’d ever seen. Not even waiting to see if her stone had hit it’s mark, War has off after Pestilence.
With a tilt of her head, Pestilence had narrowly avoided the projectile, and her sword swing was coming down to meet War’s.
CLANG!
The force from first contact rang throughout the battlefield, and the sheer force behind the clash rattled War’s skull. Doing her best to keep focused, War relentlessly followed it with strike after strike at Pestilence, some meant to take off a leg, some meant for her skull, some meant to slash down her spine. At every turn, Pestilence was there to meet each blow with as much ferocity, and herself even tried to slice open War’s neck only to meet War’s blade.
Pestilence was moving faster than anypony War had ever seen. Every time War tried to pierce through her defenses, she was deflected away to try to find some other opening, but that strategy was quickly becoming useless. She needed something new. War clashed her sword against Pestilence's sword, and locked into a power struggle. War then took her shot. Flinging her hoof up, the sharp edge of the armor on War's hoof sliced into Pestilence's face.
Forcing Pestilence to stumble backwards, War pressed on, not letting Pestilence even the chance to touch a hoof to her gash that streaked across her face.
Pestilence wasn’t that easily thrown off, though, and quickly turned around and kicked up the dust. The surprise caught War off guard enough that the dust got in her eyes and blinded her. She backed up, rubbing her eyes in desperation, and looking up through half-shut eyes just in time to see Pestilence careening towards her.
Raising her sword, War and Pestilence clashed in a strike that rang into the heavens. Blinking out the last of the dust, War struggled with her enemy, both of them pushing forward, trying to knock the other off their balance. Their eyes were locked, giving War a good look at the wound she’d left on Pestilence’s face. The gash was crude, crossing from the corner of her chin, across her snout, and just missing her eye, much to War’s discontent. A gouged out eye would’ve given War the advantage she needed, that she knew. The wound itself seeped blood and yellow-green pus, giving Pestilence’s blood a slightly green color.
Trying to finish what she’d started, War tried swinging her hoof up to gouge out the eye, but Pestilence saw this coming, her hoof swiping War’s other hoof out from under her and sending her tumbling.
War instinctually tried rolling out from under such a vulnerable position, but not before Pestilence’s blade came down point first, leaving a quick and almost painless cut on War’s back as she rolled away.
Coming to her feet, War began to get her bearings. Pestilence slowly pulled her sword out of the ground, almost relishing the sound of metal against dirt.
It only took War a second to realize why Pestilence had stopped so suddenly.
War took a few steps back, but as soon as she did, she felt a faint throbbing in her head. Her hooves began to feel heavier.
The poison blade... she thought to herself, as her head grew murky.
“Feeling a little...dizzy?” Pestilence let the question simmer, delighting in it, and War was too preoccupied to think of a quip.
Luckily, the magic that gave War her power seemed to lessen the poison’s effects. War wasn’t on her knees as Shining Armor had been, but even so, any chance War had to win had been severely reduced.
War needed a new plan, that much she realized.
Now, she just needed to think of one, and her head wasn’t exactly in the ideal state to do any thinking.
It was then that Pestilence began slowly trotting towards her, ominously creeping up to finish off what she’d started.
As it seemed, time was something else War needed. Time to think. Time to think of a plan. Time to think of a plan to get her more time to...
CRASH!!!
The sudden burst took both mares by surprise, turning to where the shades stood at the fringes of their battle.
Or rather, where one formerly stood, now crushed under a boulder twice War’s height.
“Well...it would seem your...associates...have finally managed to acquire some kind of artillery,” Pestilence stated in her deadpan voice.
Right...allies...friends...I have those... War thought to herself.
War watched as Pestilence glanced at one shade, and then motioned off in the distance, presumably from the direction the boulder had come from. At this, the shade sped off to find its target, along with a few others.
That was a couple fewer shades War would have to deal with, but that still didn’t solve her problem. Luckily for her, the poison seemed to be fading, or she was getting used to it. She still wasn’t completely healed up, but she assumed that she would likely need medical attention for that.
At the moment, the only thing War could think to do was stall Pestilence. The artillery proved that the others were at least out there, and War needed support at the moment, that much she knew.
War stood, and found her footing. The poison seemed to be loosening its grasp on her head, something that Pestilence noticed.
"Now, that's interesting. It would seem that perhaps my cocktail isn't quite as effective against you as I'd hoped," she mused.
"It's going to take more than that to beat me, Pest," War retorted.
"No matter. All I need is to make a deeper cut, and you're mine."
"Easier said than done."
Pestilence wasted no more time with quips, and darted towards War. Meeting her halfway, War's sword flashed and struck Pestilence's blade, once again embroiled in their deadly dance. This time, however, War didn't dare try to attack, she only deflected Pestilence's advances. At every clash, War's head throbbed. The poison had given her control of her legs, but her head was still keeping her from being able to do little besides defend.
Their swords locked against each other, and War grunted as she pushed forward, trying to momentarily knock Pestilence off balance, but she wouldn't budge.
In desperation, War twisted the two swords to one side, and headbutted Pestilence right between the eyes. The maneuver managed to knock Pestilence off balance. It also managed to make the throbbing even worse.
Dumb idea, dumb idea, dumb idea, War thought to herself as she cradled her head. Luckily, the armor plate on War's head ensured that Pestilence was worse off than War was at the moment. At a glance, War saw that Pestilence was stumbling, her head clearly still spinning from the blow. Wasting no time, and doing her best to ignore the throbbing, War charged with her sword in mouth. Maybe if she could kill her now, she wouldn't have to wait for reinforcements.
"STOP HER, YOU FOOLS!"
Horsefeathers! War cursed herself for forgetting about the shades.
Turning just in time to see a shade leaping for her, War ducked, letting the shade fly over her and land next to her. War's sword then dug deep into the shade's neck, allowing her to deal with the others.
Five shades sped towards her, teeth bared in a silent snarl. War ran straight into the fray, and rammed into the first shade, driving her sword up through its neck. Swinging around, War slid the sword out of the shade's neck and spun to meet the next shade, and sliced clean through the shade's leg, sending him tumbling down. War finished him, driving the blade through the top of its head, when suddenly, a shade fell on top of her, teeth snapping. Another found its way over the body if its comrade, and its teeth tore into War's left leg just above her armor.
Screaming in pain, War pull all her power on her hind legs, hopping onto her front legs, and bucking hard. Her left leg screamed in protest, but the shade on her back had tumbled forward, landing on the shade that had her leg in its jaws and forcing it to let go.
Grabbing her sword, War hobbled away from the writhing lump of shades towards the boulder that had crashed onto the battlefield earlier and, with a great leap few could've made, scrambled on top of it. As she did, the last shade tried to dig it's teeth into War's hind leg, but instead received a good kick in the face, knocking it out cold.
From here, War could finally catch her breath and examine her wound. The bite was deep, but looked worse than it felt. That being said, it looked painful, and blood was oozing out much faster than War would have liked.
Looking down onto the battlefield, War saw the two shades who had fallen on one another on their feet and creeping towards the rock, with Pestilence just behind them.
In the distance, War hears another boulder crash into the ground.
Where is everypony? she wondered.
"Standing on your pedestal won't save you, War," Pestilence chimed.
Lacking any suitable retort, the gears in War's head grinded away, trying to think of something.
"You could just make it easy on yourself, you know. A slit of the throat, and I've finished with you."
The thing War needed to deal with was the shades. She couldn't risk dividing her attention between three opponents. Unfortunately, they seemed to be learning. None of them were trying to hop onto the rock like their recently incapacitated friend below.
It was becoming clear that War's strategy of stalling wasn't working out. If there was one thing in War's favor at the moment, it was that the throbbing seemed to have subsided. Perhaps now, trying to take out the shades and then dealing with Pestilence would be the best option.
If this was to work, however, War would have to be fast. Faster than she'd ever gone, or even considered. All the while, her eyes kept wandering to Pestilence's bandages. They were wrapped around various parts of Pestilence's body, each stained with dried blood and probably responsible for some of the smell.
Pestilence had had those bandages for as long as War had known her, but never before had she taken a good hard look at them. They were yellow with age, with specks of red blotched all over them. If there was one thing she'd learned in her time with the heralds, it was what an infected wound looked like, and the bandages betrayed the severity of the infection in Pestilence's wounds. Being Pestilence, she was no doubt immune to disease, but the other thing War knew about infections was that the wounds stung terribly.
Then, the gears in War's head began turning.
It was a stretch, but it was the one thing that War had to go by. Help would likely arrive too late to be of any use, so she had to take action now.
War braced herself, both physically and mentally, to jump into the fire.
Leaping off her rock, and making sure to land on her right hoof, War met Pestilence’s sword head on. Pestilence then attempted to strike to War’s temple. Instead of meeting her, however, War ducked, and, with all her might, took a swing at the bandages on Pestilence’s chest with her good hoof. Fortunately for War, Pestilence had over swung, and had left herself open, allowing War’s hoof to find its target. Upon impact, War was met with a scream of pain unlike anything she’d ever heard from Pestilence. Immediately, Pestilence stumbled, breathing heavily, and War noticed blood had begun seeping out from between the bandages.
War would’ve taken her shot then and there, but she remained focused on her plan. Instead, she turned to face the two shades who’d already closed the gap between them. War wasted no time, leaping onto the top of one shade’s back and used it as a springboard launching herself towards the other shade. Bringing her sword down with the force of gravity as her guide, War’s sword found its way to the shade’s neck, and sliced through it like it was butter, the head hitting the dirt with a dull thud.
Looking behind her, the other shade had gathered its bearings and was coming after her. Just when it got within reach, War ended it by bucking backwards against the shade with all her might, snapping its neck.
War looked at Pestilence. She was regained her footing, but she was visibly shaken. Clearly, she’d been taken by surprise. War wasn’t surprised. No pony had ever tried that before, but then again, few ever got the chance to try. Most had been too busy begging for mercy.
“You’re not looking too good there, Pest. Caught something?” War chided.
Pestilence remained silent, putting on the most disdainful face her empty eyes would allow her.
After a moment, she uttered, “You will pay dearly for that...”
War steeled herself for the fight to come.
“Bring it on,” she challenged.
War had her targets now. Pestilence had various bandages all over her body. All War needed to do was find them and exploit Pestilence’s one weakness.
War ran straight for Pestilence, and Pestilence braced herself to meet her opponent, her hooves digging into the earth.
Just before reaching Pestilence, however, War turned, and began circling Pestilence counterclockwise. Pestilence tried turning to face her, but War was becoming too fast for her to keep turning.
War was scanning for more bandaged wounds, and had already found several.
"Enough of this!" Pestilence tried to strike at War as she swung by. Fury seemed to be making her sloppier, as War easily ran under it, turned sharply, and struck one of Pestilence's wounds on her ribs with her good hoof.
The strike took Pestilence by surprise, but she didn't take as much of a tumble as before, instead swinging at War. The pain seemed to have made her forget what side of the sword was facing where, however, as Pestilence ended up swinging the end of the handle at War instead of the blade. War pivoted the the side and struck the wound on Pestilence's hind leg, bringing another cry out of Pestilence.
Pestilence swung around with the correct side of her sword, but instead of War deflecting, War ducked and struck Pestilence's chest again with yet another cry.
"ENOUGH!"
Pestilence whirled at top speed and clashed with War's sword, nearly knocking War off her hooves. War stood her ground, pushing Pestilence back.
As Pestilence was pushed back, the wet bandages on her chest began to slide off. Pestilence raised a hoof to shift them back, which War took advantage of immediately, sweeping Pestilence's remaining hoof out from under her, sending her tumbling.
War then brought her blade down as Pestilence tried rolling away, just as War had done at the start of their fight.
War turned out to be the faster herald, however. She didn't feel the blade cut.through flesh, but Pestilence's scream, and the blood that spurted out told her that she'd hit her mark.
War looked at the wound she'd left Pestilence with. As Pestilence tried to stand, War saw what she had done when she looked at Pestilence's left hoof.
Or at least, where it used to be.
Instead, Pestilence held her leg up to examine the stump that War had left her with. Pestilence' s hoof lay in the dirt in front of the two of them.
Pestilence simply stared at her stump, her breathing uneasy.
It was then that War realized the opening.
At that moment, War lunged forward, swept Pestilence's remaining hoof, sending the crippled herald tumbling, and without a word, drove her sword into Pestilence's head.
The blade pierced Pestilence's head right between the eyes, forcing War to lock her eyes with Pestilence's. For a moment, she seemed to struggle forcing War to keep steady, and to keep staring into those blank, empty, and reflecting eyes. She looked into those eyes, and they looked into her. War could see herself reflected in them. She saw her sins in the emptiness.
It took War a moment to realize that Pestilence had stopped moving. Letting herself relax, she let go of the sword, and took a few steps back.
The sword jutted out of the head of War's former comrade, red and green pooling around what remained.
Had it not been for the sword and the growing pool of blood, War wouldn't have been able to tell that Pestilence was dead. Her body was the same half-rotten mass as it had always been. Her eyes were as empty as they had always been. The sword made all the difference.
War's thoughts were interrupted by the cheering.
War turned to see a group of soldiers not too far away cheering and stomping their hooves.
Uneasy, War called out, "How long have you been here?"
One of them, a unicorn stallion, stepped forward and saluted her.
"We just arrived in time to see you end her, ma'am," he responded.
War didn't know what to say.
"A pegasus scout saw you and the herald fighting, so we came to give you backup, but it seems like you handled it on your own."
War looked at the soldier's allies, a couple dozen ponies made up if unicorns and earth ponies. They stood talking amongst themselves, as if it was their first moment of respite they'd ever experienced. They looked beaten, many were missing chunks of armor, and all of them had a variety of cuts and gashes on their whatever patches of body lacked armor. War then looked at her former companion.
“Yeah. Looks like I did...” War uttered.
“We were also told to escort you back to the castle,” the soldier responded.
War nodded, and pulled her sword out of Pestilence’s skull. The sound of the sword grinding against the bone seemed to echo across the wastes.
“Lead the way.” War said.

---

The group ran through the desolated wastes. How long they ran, War couldn’t say. Since they'd left Pestilence's body, her mind had been wandering. Her legs moved as if on autopilot, while her mind lingered on Pestilence. Her mind always seemed to return to those eyes, much to her dismay. Since she'd known Pestilence, those eyes had never left her. Even in death, they seemed to haunt her. As they ran on, they sighted a dead body every now and then, mainly either the black shades, or the hunks of steel that held dead earth ponies or the occasional leather-bound unicorn or pegasus. The bodies then became more and more frequent, until they had to slow down or risk tripping over the sea of the dead.
“Something isn’t right here...” the soldier said.
That was when they heard the call in the distance.
Looking up, War saw a speck in the sky. The speck grew larger, until it became clear that it was an incoming pegasus. As it grew closer, however, it became clear that this pegasus was different, wearing less armor.
“Hey, you down there! What are you still doing here?” he yelled down.
The soldier leading War’s escort yelled, “We’re escorting War back to the castle! Where’s the fighting?”
“Didn’t you get the memo? The battle’s over! The shades retreated!”
Retreated? War thought.
“How’s that? Retreated? Why would they do that?” the soldier asked, echoing War’s thoughts.
“We don’t know. They just all suddenly stopped fighting, and hightailed it out of here! We chased them out far over the hills, until we were told to go back and defend the castle in case it was a distraction, but so far, we haven't seen hide nor hair of those things!” the pegasus responded.
War didn’t know what to make of this news. For them to stop fighting all of a sudden, this wasn’t a coincidence. This was an order, but with Pestilence dead, and with no other herald on the field to War’s knowledge, who could’ve given the order?
“Head back to the castle! Thank Celestia that the battle seems to be over!” the pegasus called out as he turned to fly away.
But for how long? War couldn't help but wonder.
The Heralds never struck her as the type to give up so easily. Especially Death.
The rest of the trip was a blur to War. With her mind lost in thoughts of the herald's plans, War could only recall bits and pieces. She vaguely remembered arriving to a camp that had been set up outside the castle, but no one seemed to be saying much to her that she'd bothered to remember. She could remember her leg being patched up and nurses fussing over her to see if the poison had left any lasting effects.
At one point, she asked a nurse, "How is Shining Armor?"
The nurse, who was tending to another patient, dismissed it with a curt, "He's being treated in the castle."
He was safe, then. Good. Made for less blood on her hooves.
At some point, they released her with orders to return to the castle as soon as she could. War didn't need to stick around anyways.
But then a thought hit her. Turning to the nurse again, War asked, "Was there a patient here named Fleeting Breeze?"
Without looking up from her patient, the nurse said, "Any wounded soldiers have been transferred or are being transferred to the infirmary in the castle's barracks. I'd check there."
War simply nodded, and left the tent with a short "Thank you". If the nurse heard her, she didn't show it.
With that, War headed back to the castle. She'd had enough of battle for one day. The eerie silence of a dead battlefield hung around her, and it was only getting louder by the second.