Prologue
I stood in the middle of scared battlefield of last night staring up at the sky, I knew it was unlikely I would be able to find out what had happened from any of my men that had been at the battle other then what I had already been told, as most were dead or dying, and those that would survive would have trouble accepting the results which had so unexpectedly fallen upon them.
I had been back at the tents preparing strategies with my officers when the warning horns sounded followed quickly by the loud clashes of steel on steel. It had seemed that I wasn’t the only one that had ideas to march onto Maiodaens after it had just beaten back a siege from another of my king’s rivals. And so it we ended up setting camp on the other side of a ravine during the night, not even a kilometer from another army, which spotted us as we made our camps.
They prepared an attack for dawn, and when the sun had only just appeared over the ends of the plains, our west flank was attacked. I was brought out of my reflection of the starting of the battle when I saw one of the men on the field stir. He was not one of my own, so as I approached I slid my dagger from my belt.
Hearing my approach, the man started pleading for help, making it even more obvious it wasn’t one of my men, as my men wouldn’t lower themselves enough to plead or beg for help, even though it was frowned upon by their officers.
As I knelt down to the man, I turned him from his side to his back so I could see his face, and grimaced when I saw most of his body and face had been seared and he could not see. Holding my dagger ready I spoke to him calmly. “Are you injured in any other way then the burns?” I asked.
“N-n-no.” He replied, trying to take a hold of my arm but I batted away his hands.
“Did you see who attacked the two armies before you were burnt?”
“I… I only s-saw a banner.”
“Did you recognize it?” I asked grabbing him by his charred chest piece. When he didn’t answer I asked again and shook him, putting the dagger to his throat.
“Yes!” He cried out. “T-the flag of Maiodaens!”
“Thank you, you are no longer any use for me.” I poised the dagger above his throat again.
“Wait! The flag was different then normal! There was a fox on it!” He said hoping I would spare his life for the information. It didn’t.
“Sir?” One of my men questioned as I stood wiping the blood from the blade. “Did you find out anything?”
“I found out the rumors were false.” I replied looking around the battlefield. “Tell our remaining men to bury our dead, leave theirs for them, we are calling off the attack.”
“Maiodaens wasn’t attacked?” The man asked frowning.
“Oh no, it was attacked.” I replied with a sour expression. “Just I thought our biggest problem had died in that attack. Go do as I ordered.”
“Yes sir!” The man replied before moving off to the remains of the army.
“Im not stupid enough to go against a fox without a whole nation behind me.” I muttered to myself then laughed at the stupidity of the force that had tried to siege Maiodaens with the fox still alive.
As I walked back to my camp to prepare to leave, I thought back on the words of one of my own men that had survived. “It was as if the gods themselves had turned on us and dealt us a blow with their fires of death and the lifeless air they covered us in.”
“Only an idiot or someone as strong would try.” I muttered to myself looking up at the sky once more.
