195 Courage Under Fire (2/2)

They would need some encouragement, I realized and so I assumed it was time for another speech.

I slammed the butt of my falchion onto the electrum plate on my chest to get everyone's attention. A little noise was fine now as the time for stealth was over.

”We're taking down Amon, the Shield of Rah…” I sent a sweeping gaze across the many faces looking back at me. ”I ask you, do you have the courage? What do your hearts tell you? What can your eyes see?”

I slammed the butt of my falchion onto my chest plate a second time for effect.

”Anxiety? Fear? Death?” I stood up from my crouching position. ”All I see is an enemy we must defeat as well as the path for our victory. For now, it is the time for action!”

I sent my killing intent into my falchion and released the shadowblade hidden within it.

”My sword will carve open a path forward, and in the name of Auranos, our great Patriarch, I promise you victory like always!” I pointed the tip of my sword at the men who watched me with bated breath. ”Follow me… or are you guys saying you're inferior to Luca's troops and can't do what they're doing now?”

That got a rise out of them. One by one they stood, their nervousness shaking off from them as they rose.

”As if we'd let Qwipps Daggerby outdo any of us,” someone answered.

This was met with a few laughs and ayes.

”Bring it on,” Leeroy, Azuma's second-in-command, called. ”We're the elite of the Foolhardies.”

”Right on,” Thor added.

”Onward then… to victory and to a red dawn!” I called.

Wordlessly, the soldiers nodded and raised their weapons high.

I faced forward once more, and without turning back, I said, ”Follow my lead!”

With zero hesitation remaining inside me, I dashed forward, turned the corner, and then sprinted across the open space toward the enemy soldiers whose attentions had been stolen away by my brother's attack.

Behind me, the thunderous march of hundreds of feet followed, and with them came the murderous intent of four-hundred Foolhardies who were hungry for another taste of glory.

”Ya~~ah!” I yelled as I ran at full speed. My sword raised high.

A resounding roar exploded behind me as my Foolhardies began to let loose their own war cries across the stretch of desert between us and our prey.

The enemy in the western line of the square formation was too late to notice us, too late to react, and by the time they sounded their alarms, my shadowblade was a mere ten yards from drawing first blood.

”Foolhardies!” I yelled.

Behind me, I heard the chant roared back at me, ”Foolhardies! Foolhardies!”

Seconds later, our bodies collided with the enemy's western line, our shadowblades singing as we swung them over the soldiers' heads.

A shield rose to block my attack, but it might as well have been made of paper for my falchion wouldn't be denied its first kill. I slashed downward and cut the kobold in front of me.

As the kobold fell in an almost slow-motion-like manner, I pushed past him and stabbed my falchion into the gut of the soldier behind him. Then I quickly pulled out my sword — the enemy's flesh giving way to my shadowblade's power — and pivoted to the right to avoid a spear tip aimed at my head.

I reversed the grip of my falchion, stepped past his spear's tip, and then cut the belly of the kobold that had attacked me.

A quick twist of my wrist returned my falchion to its upright position, and without stopping my momentum, I slashed sideward at the next soldier to come within range.

I hopped to the left to avoid the slash of an enemy's blade and then hopped back to the right to counter with a slash of my own.

Blood spurted out of the kobold whose arm I'd just severed, spraying my face with the sticky red stuff.

I barely managed to wipe it out of my eyes before I was attacked again from the front, and after rushing forward to smack this enemy's brow with the butt of my sword, I roared, for the fervor of battle was on me now.

In the back of my head, I thought, Yes, the fire rises!