2I did not turn from where I stood gazing out upon the parapet, as the last rays of the sunset spread out across the walls. The fading light cast shades of red and orange upon the wall, bathing the white stone in various fiery hues.
"Captain? The outer gate has fallen."
Now I spun around to face the young guardsman. I waited for the panic to rise within me, for the knot of fear to twist my insides. The few words he had just spoken heralded the doom of all I held dear. And yet- nothing. All that came was an odd sense of detached calm. But then, the time for all that was long past. I had known what his message was before it fell from his lips. "So the end comes at last," I said softly, half to myself. Then I drew myself up and said aloud, "Gather what is left of the guard. We shall make a last stand worthy of song."
"My Lord, if I may be frank, to what end?"
I cast my steady gaze upon my companion. "Would it suit you rather to turn tail and run like a craven cur?"
"No! I only mean to say that to throw lives away needlessly would be folly."
"Aye. But, even were we to slip away, they would find us and slay us, ere long. They have the city surrounded, or did you not know?" I said, with undue harshness. "I do not question your valor; I know you wish only to spare as many as can be," I added in a gentler tone. "But the time for that is now past. Better now to fall with sword drawn and fighting than for a shaft to find its way into your back as you run. Now, go! Every moment you stand here is a moment lost!"
My words swayed him, and he took off down the steps. I lingered, drawing out that single second, and savoring what I knew to be my last sight of my beautiful city- the stone streets, tall walls. I tore myself away suddenly, to go sprinting down the stairs.
The sounds of battle reached my ears as I came to the square. What remained of my company was mustered there. The sun's fading light glinted off of silver mail, metal helms, and the steel of swords and spears. Grim, determined faces turned towards me.
I marveled privately at their loyalty. These men would follow me into certain death without question. A feeling of pride surged through me for these soldiers, and then an overwhelming sadness, as the realization that they would not live to see the next sunrise pierced me as surely as any arrow. But now was no time for faltering.
I drew my blade, the silver painted crimson by the rays of the sunset. A battle cry rose from the throats of the guard, and we charged out to meet our enemy. When the bards sing of war, it is a glorious thing of legend. Ah, how wrong they are. The battle is only a struggle for survival, where you kill another so that you may live another moment. A struggle to ignore the fallen comrade beside you, the screams of the wounded and the dying, the look of utterly human terror in the wide eyes of foe as he realizes death is upon him. Glorious? Hardly. Still, this was my lot, and a moment's hesitation would have cost me my life or my men's.
I could not afford to see my enemies as men, much like myself, with lives and families. If I did, the haunting images of those I'd slain in war would have torn my sanity to pieces long before now.
No time for thought like that, especially now. My blade thrust and parried. Crimson stained my tunic, and I no longer could tell the blood of my foes from my own, so freely did it flow upon the field.
We fought with the ferocity of a wolf, though over us all hung the knowledge that we would not come out of this alive; the numbers that assaulted us were too great. Still, there was that indomitable part of our spirit that would not allow us to surrender tamely. And so we fought on, without hope.
One by one, they fell, those faithful men of my company, cut down by insurmountable odds and cruel swords. And even as their eyes dimmed, cold fire ripped through me. Gasping, I instinctively clapped my free hand to my side. Warm wetness met my fingers, and I knew that it was blood- my blood.
I collapsed, and my foe turned, knowing I was spent. The single moment seemed to stretch into an eternity, and the sounds of battle appeared to fade into silence. Upon the ground lay the still bodies of my comrades, sightless eyes staring into the sky. Through my swiftly fading vision, I glimpsed the armies of our enemies swarming about the city, their banners held high. And then, just before the everlasting darkness claimed me, I watched as they trampled our standard into the dust and set their flag to fly over the city.