A Song of Remembrance (part 2 of 3)
Somehow, the first side made it to the next dawn. They had fallen back
to regroup, and the opposing side did the same. The day of fighting
had worn on them and they all needed rest. They had both taken shelter
on the edges of the tree lines, most of the clearing only a bloody
field of massacred corpses.
But the next day was worse.
It seemed the darkness of night not only fortified and strengthened
the enemy forces, but multiplied them as well. With the bovine
creature at the forefront, the dark, wispy beasts were driving forward
at an exceptional pace.
Bodies littered the ground around them, and the third eye of the
bovine creature would send arrows burning toward the enemy. The arrows
didn’t come from the eye, but the humans. Yet when his gaze fell on
them, they would light on fire and pierce their mark, even if
originally veering of course. And the mark would wail. They would
screech in pain and collapse, clutching their chest as if venom was
coursing through their veins.
The first soldiers were falling back, taking shelter as much as they
could in between the branches of the trees. It wasn’t going to do them
much good on this day, this day the enemy force was relentless. It
hadn’t even reached midday and there was no indication the enemy would
yield any ground. They would be able to claim victory before
nightfall.
I hopped from branch to branch, staying on the sidelines to avoid
whizzing arrows as I observed in amazement.
“General! General” one of the soldiers yelled in the midst of battle.
The desperation in his cries caught my attention. He was a short,
brown-haired man, clutching a wounded arm.
Sword in action, the general didn’t look the soldier’s way, but seemed
to have noticed the desperation, just as I had.
“What do we do?!” the young man hollered. “There seems to be no end to
their fury! Their numbers are fewer, but they drive us back like
madness is holding their front line!”
The General’s sword slashed through the torso of one enemy, then he
turned to look at the soldier screaming out to him. The General’s
green eyes were calculating and he took one step backward.
Overwhelming emotion filled his face as he lifted his sword to the
sky.
The soldier who had been calling was found by an arrow that hit its
mark. A blazing arrow that caused him to screech in pain as he
crumpled to the ground, gasping for air, now clutching his chest.
The General’s gaze was focused upward now, though, and with a voice
overflowing with passion, he called to the sky, “Lord! Lord, my God!
Save us! Save your people!” Then he fell to his knees, landing heavily
as he bent his head downward. He still clutched the bloodstained sword
in one hand, a rounded shield in the other as sobs wracked his body.
The commander of the army looked so forlorn I wanted to fly to him and
peck at his hair, offer some comfort to this hopeless human. But what
good could I, a mere, small fowl do? How would I ever dodge the
incoming arrows headed straight for the man?
I heard them before I saw them.
The sounds of singing, of playing, of divine melodies drifting across
the field. A being stepped forward, decked in white, in robes as
bright as the pure, untouched snow.
~ G. G. Marshall
Keep Reading!
Part 1: A Song of Remembrance (1)
Part 3 (Avail 4/18/24): A Song of Remembrance (3)
Want to know more about the creature that inspired this story? Balor Profile