Joel Shepherd - Sasha

"This day shall mark the passing of many great warriors!" Jaegar announced, in the slow, lilting chant of ceremonial Lenay. He stared about at the crowd, blades extended, muscles and tattoos rippling. He looked like a god. Sasha found herself staring, spellbound. "One shall be appointed to lead them to the next world! Who here shall bear witness?"

"Umchyl! Umchyl! Umchyl!"

"This, our brother, was named Tyrun! He was born to the town of Banyth, in the province of Tyree! His was a wife, and his were three children! He did serve his family with honour, and his was the honour brought to his town, and his people! He was brought before his spirits by his father, and his spirits were the gods of Verenthane! To those spirits did he present his soul, and they did find him worthy!"

"Wor-thy! Wor-thy! Wor-thy!" Sasha found herself joining in. This, she had heard before.

"We are gathered today upon the ground of a great victory! The great peoples of Lenayin have joined together and brought honour in their unity! The great gods of Verenthane are strong! The great spirits of the Goeren-yai are strong! But together are they strongest, and most honourable! We are gathered today before the loyal men of Verenthane…" and here Jaegar's sword pointed to Jaryd, "and before the brave men of the Goeren-yai…!" and his blade swept across the vast crowd behind, "and before the wise ones of Saalshen…" as the blade pointed to Sasha's left, where the four serrin stood entranced upon the edge of the dark stone, "and before the dark power of the ancient Synnich!"

The blade pointed at Sasha. A hiss escaped the lips of the Goeren-yai, and the rustling murmur of many spirit signs being made. Sasha stared back at Jaegar. She didn't quite believe he'd done that to her in front of all these people. Surely Jaegar had never thought of her in that way. Had he?

"Let them be joined in the sky as they are on the earth! Tyrun of Banyth shall lead and the fallen of Ymoth shall follow, Goeren-yai and Verenthane together, as brothers! Who shall bear witness to this journey?"

A wordless cheer followed, full of passion, fists thrust in the air. Repeated, twice, and then the crowd began to disperse. Horses were being watered in large groups down by the river, surviving barns and warehouses were being searched for any remaining feed, and as the afternoon darkened toward evening, there were many things yet to do. But they walked now with a greater purpose in their step than they had approached this gathering, having learned of Tyrun's death.

Jaegar was putting his undershirt back on, his mailshirt spread at his feet. Sasha walked up to him. "I wish you hadn't done that," she murmured. The bit about the Synnich, she meant.

"Would you deny it?" Jaegar replied, eyebrows raised. Sasha looked at her feet, unable to answer that. Daring not to, lest men who put their faith in her overhear and lose hope. And… and… for some other reason, too, that she could not truly define. "Besides," Jaegar continued, bending to gather his mail, "they needed to hear it. Now more than ever." He held the shirt up, effortlessly despite its considerable weight, and slid it on.

Sasha turned then to look for Jaryd, and found him standing by Tyrun's body. She walked over and put a hand on his arm. "Come," she said softly. "You are Commander of the Falcon Guard now, for true and proper. It will not do for your men to see you grieving."

"Yet I grieve all the same," said Jaryd. His voice was tight as he gazed down at Tyrun's impassive, silent face. "I am not half the commander he was. I was guarding the princess. I did not lead in this battle. I did not lead in any battle."

"You are wounded," Sasha replied, trying to be reasonable. "You cannot be expected to…"

"Nothing can be expected of me," Jaryd said bitterly. "I am nothing. I was angry at my family's so-called friends for stripping me of everything that I had. Now, I wonder if I ever truly was anything. Perhaps father knew best when he called me worthless. Perhaps Family Nyvar could never truly have amounted to anything with me at its head. The only thing I was ever good at was riding and fighting, and now when the last people left in the world whom I love require my assistance, I can't even do that."

"Captain Tyrun is dead, and you take the opportunity to feel sorry for yourself," Sasha said angrily. She felt for Jaryd's suffering, but she simply didn't have time for this now. "You look around you, Jaryd. You look hard. Many families have ended here, and more tragedies unfolded than I care to count. These men fight for something bigger than themselves or their families. If you can't feel that, if you can't understand what it was that Tyrun died for, then maybe you'd be better elsewhere."

Jaryd stared at her, his jaw tight, his stare as hard as stone. "If my services are not required," he said coldly, "then I shall leave."

"Your services?" Sasha replied, incredulously. "What do you believe in, Jaryd? Why be here, if not for a cause?"

"I believe in nothing. My family is no more, and my brother is dead. All the ideals of Verenthane brotherhood and Lenay honour I had been taught to believe are lies."

"Then why are you still here? Why come this far at all?"

Jaryd looked down at Tyrun. The lateness of the day cast all colour, all life, all joy to shadow. The light, falling mist gathered at the tips of his lank hair as it fell about his face. "The Falcon Guard are all I have left," Jaryd said quietly. "Yet with this arm, I cannot serve them."

"Then just be here to pick up their wounded when they fall!" Sasha retorted. "Jaryd, you're… you're such an arrogant, pigheaded… man!" It was, for the moment, the worst insult she could think of. "You're so accustomed to the glory, and the place in the lead, that you can't see the honour in following. Just be there! That's what old Cranyk in Baerlyn told me, he said it was the greatest lesson he had to teach about life. Just turn up!"

Her vanguard were waiting for her, and her officers were moving further downhill into the town. From somewhere in the town, a cry went up. "Usyn's coming! Usyn's coming!" And not before time, either. Sasha placed a final, gentle hand on Jaryd's arm and departed after them in haste. Master Jaryd, of the family once known as Nyvar, stood over the body of his captain in the misting rain. He stood with his weight on one leg, a dark sentinel amidst the sudden confusion of shouts, yells and hasty preparations. If he noticed, or feared, he gave no sign.

Sasha, Captain Akryd and other officers, either from the line companies or appointed from amongst village chiefs, gathered on the field beyond the main gate of Ymoth's wall. Men were leading horses back from the river in great groups as others ran to retrieve them. The air was filled with yells of instruction and question, galloping hooves and the urgent whinnying of horses who knew that something more was afoot. The fields nearby remained littered with dead, mostly Banneryd, as men continued even now to reclaim the bodies of comrades, and check to see if any still lived. Already the grey sky had grown dim with the approach of evening, and Sasha thanked the spirits that it was late summer still and the days remained long.

"The road comes like thus," Jurellyn was saying, drawing a line with his sword on a patch of bare turf amidst the grass, "upon the other side of the river. It's not far, as you can see. He'll be here by nightfall. My best guess is that he has six thousand in the valley-half cavalry, half infantry. This column seems also half-and-half, cavalry to the front and rear, infantry in the middle. But being stretched so long upon the road, we could not see the column's end, so we have no means of guessing their number."

"Well," said Captain Akryd, with a thoughtful glance across the Ymoth wall and the fields about, "these defences will serve us better than they did the Banneryd. Usyn won't have dussieh riding with him, he'll be unable to exploit the gaps in the line. We've received another several hundred men riding over the Shudyn Divide just since the attack commenced. Usyn won't attack at night and we can still sneak riders from the Shudyn through the back woods and into the town. Half the Goeren-yai with horses across central Lenayin are coming to our aid. Most upon the Shudyn will ride through the night, knowing the battle has commenced ahead. By dawn, we could number nearly five thousand, despite our losses. Defender's advantage shall be with us. Usyn may have six thousand, and cavalry of a greater quality, but ours are entirely cavalry, and we have the defence. He shall not overrun us."