Akuchi and Aquillia stood before the seething Commander Oghenekaro, his foot tapping in rage.

“What am I to do with you two?” asked Oghenekaro. He turned back to them, eyes flashing with anger.

Akuchi opened his mouth to speak before Oghenekaro cut him off.

“I should punish you for abandoning your post during a siege,” Oghenekaro ranted, “but you did find a source of food. However, you then came back into the fort naked as the day you were born. Your punishment for leaving your post will not be as severe because you brought food back. The fact that you went into the Bloodwood Forest will garner you some respect and awe from the other troops.”

“Why is that?” asked Aquillia.

“We had sent patrols into the forest before, but none came back, so we stopped sending them. That was before my time as commander. I can’t execute you or send you away; morale is still very low. Follow me.”

Oghenekaro led them out to the main square and called the soldiers in the square to order.

“Akuchi because you abandoned your post and left the fort while we were under siege, I sentence you ten lashes. However, as you also showed that food can be retrieved from the Bloodwood to the south…”

Soldiers not on the wall gathered round.

“… I will reduce your punishment to that of ten beatings with a stave,” Oghenekaro finished.

A large man in leather armour appeared and handed Oghenekaro a wooden stave and then proceeded to tie Akuchi to the flag pole. Once the man had finished his job, Oghenekaro applied the stave to Akuchi’s bare back, striking with all his force.

As the stave struck, pain seared across Akuchi's back and he groaned. He kept count in his mind counting down from ten to one, each strike sent new pain shooting through his back.

Ten, pain, nine, pain … He lost count as the blows rained down on his back.

After he was finished, Akuchi was released, his back red and blistered.

Oghenekaro’s face lit up with an evil smile. “I want you to join the sortie to break the siege.”

Akuchi blanched.

“Last time we did that the sortie was destroyed, not to mention the fact that this group of trolls would be aware of our tactics since the raid this morning.”

“That is just the thing,” Oghenekaro stated. “They won’t expect another attack after nightfall, and their fear will work for us. One all-out assault with as many soldiers as we can spare, tonight just after dusk, should bring us the route we need.”

With that, Oghenekaro stormed out of the storeroom.

“Does he want to kill us all?” Taya said from behind the bench.

“How bad are our food stores?” Aquillia asked.

“Very bad,” replied Taya. “Without the cattle, we brought in this morning we barely had enough food to last the week. Our food boats have been very light of late.”

The door crashed open and in walked Mayu. Her eyes flashed at Akuchi and Aquillia, she strode in and turned to Taya.

“I need armour for these two,” Mayu demanded.

Taya righted herself. “What armour do you need?”

“I will need leather gauntlets and shoulder guards, if you have a simple leather breast strap,” Mayu began launching into a list. “For Aquillia, the same, and for Akuchi, studded leather armour, leather gauntlets, greaves, boots and a metal helm for each of us.”

“Come on through and we will get you all fitted,” Taya said opening the bench for the three of them to enter.

“Follow me.”

Aquillia and Akuchi glanced at each other then followed Taya and Mayu back through the storeroom. They walked through compact shelves stacked with various sized boxes and assorted objects. They went to a room behind a simple door, and they entered a room filled with wooden mannequins. On each mannequin was a set of armour, of various types. The closest had simple padded armour the next leather, the next studded leather, the next chain-mail, the next a combination of chain-mail and some plates, the last steel plate. Behind the mannequin were several steel trunks.

“Here you go,” Taya said, sitting down on the bench. “Pick what you need. When I asked what you wanted when you came, you said you wanted nothing. I am only letting you have this because of the full-frontal attack that Oghenekaro has ordered.”

“Thank you, Taya,” said Mayu. “Akuchi, try these on.” Mayu indicated to the mannequin that displayed the studded leather armour.

Akuchi pulled the armour from the mannequin. He winced as he pulled the armour over his still raw back. Mayu and Aquillia opened a box behind one of the mannequins and started donning leather armour.

Mayu and Aquillia wore leather gauntlets that went up their arms to their elbows. They strapped on a leather strap that covered their chest and fixed them in place. They then fitted shoulder guards that came out a few centimetres from their shoulders. Finally, Mayu and Aquillia pulled on leather pants and strapped their swords over the top of their armour.

For Akuchi, they insisted on the studded leather armour jacket. He was fitted in leather boots that came up to his knees, greaves that came down to his ankles, and gauntlets that came up to his elbows and met his studded leather jacket.

“Do I need shoulder guards?” Akuchi asked.

“No,” Mayu said. “Your type of fighting style needs you to reach up high and the shoulder guards will prevent that movement.”

Once they were all dressed, Taya handed them all simple metal helms, helping them to fix the leather strap under their chins.

With weapons attached, Mayu’s to her hip, Akuchi and Aquillia with theirs on their back, they proceeded back out of the room down the hallway and out the door.

They turned to the left and came to the mustering yard. The whole fort was assembled and dressed in their war gear. Men in leather armour standing with pikes formed the Commander's Guard. Soldiers dressed in full armour with an assortment of weapons from long claymores to short dirks made the heavy infantry division. A group of men and women wearing various armour—from heavy full plate to light leather armour—and carrying an assortment of weapons, including spears, whips and chains, formed the third and final division of the defence auxiliary.

Mayu kept walking, leading Akuchi and Aquillia past the guard and the heavy infantry and joined the auxiliary unit.

A short dwarf dressed in full plate with a great-axe strapped to his back walked up and lifted his helmet’s visor.

“Fine night for a battle,” Nurarfed greeted with a grin that split his whole face.

“Any day is a fine day for a battle,” Mayu replied.

“That it is,” Nurarfed agreed. “I was hoping to join the heavy Infantry but, that takes some time.”

“We could use your axe,” Aquillia said. “With us.”

Nurarfed nodded.

Commander Oghenekaro, standing at the front of the assembled forces, bellowed out for attention.

“These trolls have plagued us for long enough,” Oghenekaro bellowed. “Today we take the fight to them. We have waited here and trained for this day. We have nearly run out of food. Today some soldiers in our ranks liberated their food supply. They want it back. I say they shall not have it. We shall go out and crush them and take the rest of the food they have.”

A cheer went up from the assembled forces as the gates opened and the heavy infantry rushed out to meet the foe.

The trolls were caught off guard at seeing the gates open suddenly. After the infantry, the auxiliary charged after them. Akuchi ran at full speed; Aquillia, Mayu and Nurarfed followed right behind him. As he ran through the ranks of the heavy infantry, Akuchi drew his large falchion off his back and carried it in the air above him. Drawing near to the first troll, he brought it down and split the troll’s head in two. He lifted his falchion and brought it down on another blood-splattered troll.

Aquillia arrived beside him and, with a downward swing, cut through a troll next to Akuchi, slicing through the neck and coming out through the ribs. She then stepped forward and twirled, swinging her double-bladed sword across the chest of another troll.

Nurarfed stepped up to the other side of Akuchi and swung his great-axe around above his head and swiped through a troll in front of him. Then he stepped forward and cleaved through the mid-section of another troll. Innards and guts spewed forth onto the ground.

The three of them continued to step forward, cutting their way through the standing trolls. Mayu stood behind them as her shorter weapon was more suited to stabbing. She watched, waiting for an opening or a missed opponent to come up so she could fillet them in the side. The small group broke off from the heavy infantry group and cut their way through, stepping over the dead trolls as they pushed through the group.

The surprise of the first attack waned and the trolls recovered. They reformed and started to lash out.

Akuchi brought down his blade and was blocked by a purple-haired troll with a short sword. The clang of steel on steel alerted Akuchi to the change in the battle from surprised slaughter to a proper fight. He pulled his blade off the troll’s short sword and brought it close to his chest. He changed his footing into a more defensive stance.

The troll lunged forward with its sword and was blocked by Akuchi’s falchion. Akuchi then pushed forward with the blade and elbowed the troll in the face. The troll went down and Akuchi reversed the blade and plunged the falchion into the troll’s stomach, killing it.

Akuchi then stepped over the dying troll and brought his blade across in a sideways slash at the next troll. He saw Aquillia on his left, surrounded by trolls as she spun and slashed, pushing the trolls back at every turn and swipe. On his right, Nurarfed continued to swing his great axe above his head as trolls rushed to strike him down. Nurarfed slashed them and then split them with his great axe, sending them to their deaths and their afterlife.

The trolls couldn’t run as more trolls behind them continued to press them forward into the oncoming steel of the fort’s defenders.

Akuchi stepped forward and stabbed his falchion into the gut and cut up, his sword coming out of a green-furred troll’s head. An arrow whistled past his head behind him and he heard a gurgle as a troll fell to the blood-soaked ground behind him. He turned and saw a white-furred troll lying on the ground pumping fresh blood around an arrow that was embedded in its back between its shoulder blades. Akuchi turned and looked back up to the fort on the wall.

An archer saluted him, drew another arrow from his quiver and let loose another arrow from his longbow. A smile crossed his face.

I am one lucky guy. That archer must really like me. Thank the gods.

Akuchi turned back to the fight and swung, taking a squat, snarling troll in the face with his falchion. The troll fell to the ground spewing blood all over Akuchi. Akuchi, in disgust, stepped over the troll and brought down his falchion at another troll.

The yellow troll raised his sword at the last moment and blocked Akuchi’s attack.

Akuchi stepped forward and turned his back on the yellow troll and elbowed him in the stomach. The troll doubled over and dropped his sword as the wind rushed out of him. Akuchi then turned and cut off the troll’s head. Akuchi kicked the body of the troll aside and continued to step forward.

An arrow whistled out and embedded itself into the face of the next troll. The troll fell and Akuchi stepped aside.

“To me, to me!” bellowed Oghenekaro over the din of battle.

Akuchi turned to face the commander and saw that he was well ahead of his unit. Mayu was still behind him, her body and armour were covered in splattered troll blood; Aquillia and Nurarfed still flanked him.

“We should return to the commander,” instructed Mayu as she stabbed a troll in the gut with her kukri.

“Good idea,” Nurarfed and Aquillia echoed.

The four of them formed a small square and began to hack their way back to the front lines. Aquillia stepped out and spun, cutting down several trolls in front of her, creating a gap that the rest could step through. Nurarfed and Mayu stepped backwards following through the gap Aquillia had created. Trolls pressed into the space they had created.

Akuchi stepped alongside Aquillia, slicing through a heavyset troll with a pair of longswords, keeping the space between Aquillia, Nurarfed, and Mayu clear of any trolls.

After a few minutes of cutting through trolls, they broke through to the front lines.

“Good to have you back in the ranks,” greeted a soldier in heavy plate wielding a longsword and shield. He stepped aside and let the small party through.

Aquillia smiled and stepped past him into the ranks.

The soldiers pressed past them and they came upon Oghenekaro standing at the van of his elite personal guard unit as they followed the heavy infantry.

“As much as your efforts are laudable,” Oghenekaro greeted them, smiling as the unit of spearmen marched passed them, “I don’t want you guys to die. You have acquitted yourselves well.”

“Thank you for your considerate thoughts,” said Nurarfed.

“I don’t want anyone to die,” scolded Oghenekaro. “Your aggressive attack has put the trolls on the back foot; they shouldn’t pose too much trouble for us. Take a breather and re-join the auxiliary.”

“Thank you, sir,” Mayu said, sheathing her kukri.

Oghenekaro stepped away as the last of the personal guard marched past.

Akuchi looked at the group around him. “I am good to go back.”

Aquillia, Nurarfed and Mayu all looked at each other. Mayu shrugged. Akuchi turned and began walking back to the front line. Reaching the front line, Aquillia stepped forward with a stabbing thrust, impaling a surprised troll. She twisted the blade and spun the blade first to the left. Then brought the back blade down into the troll’s face. Akuchi stepped past on Aquillia’s left and swung and decapitated another troll.

A troll pushed past his fellows and stood up straight, reaching a full head taller than the trolls around him. His fur was a bright yellow with blue stripes. In each hand, he held a claymore and wielded them effortlessly. The troll roared at Akuchi and Aquillia, and the surrounding trolls backed off, giving the three combatants space. Aquillia stepped forward with her double-bladed sword pointing at the troll. She stabbed the air, pausing his attack. The troll swung a claymore at her. Aquillia ducked and stepped forward under the claymore. The troll blocked her attack with a sweep of the other claymore, clashing against her blade. Akuchi stepped to the right and brought his falchion down on the now-exposed right arm, slicing through the troll’s forward before bouncing off the bone.

The troll roared and attacked Akuchi with a backhanded lunge with the same hand. Akuchi blocked the swing with his blade and then stepped out of range of the claymore before stepping next to Aquillia. Aquillia sidestepped away from Akuchi, twirled around to the side of the troll, and stabbed at it. The troll tried to bring its left-handed claymore to bear to block her short jabbing attacks but was unable to do so fast enough and Aquillia’s sword blade placed several cuts into the troll’s exposed flank.

Akuchi stepped forward and stabbed at the troll with his falchion. The troll moved its arm, but the severed tendon refused to cooperate with him. His hand was slick with blood and the claymore passed through his fingers. The claymore dropped and embedded into the ground. Akuchi’s attack skidded off the troll’s ribs and skewered its upper arm. He pulled it back and a huge slice of flesh was ripped from the troll’s arm. The troll roared in pain and collapsed to its knees, dropping its other claymore. Aquillia spun and swung her blade, severing the troll’s head, and spraying sticky blood all over Akuchi.

Breathing hard, they surveyed the battlefield. The trolls were being routed and the full might of the fort was grinding them into the ground. The heavy infantry was hunting through the troll’s tents dragging out and executing any remaining trolls.

The Commander's Guard was engaged in the camp with the remaining remnants of the troll’s forces. The trolls were surrounded and kept on running into the guards’ pikes and being impaled on them. The ground was soaked with troll blood and the stench of blood filled their noses.

“It seems we have won the day,” commented Aquillia, as she staked her sword into the ground and sat in the blood-soaked mud.

Akuchi sat next to her without a word, resting his falchion in the ground between them.

5th day of the 4th month 580th year of the 8th era

At noon soldiers began filling onto the training yard. They were dressed in fine clothing: polished armour, waxed leather, brushed jerkins and fine silk. They moved and formed neat lines, standing at ease.

Standing at the front of everyone, Oghenekaro stood in a polished breastplate and fine dark leather trousers. Akuchi stood in his new clothes. Mayu and Retha stood beside him in their transparent dresses. At the appointed hour a horn was sounded. Everyone snapped to attention and turned to face Oghenekaro. Beside him stood a man holding a large sword covered in a white cloth.

“Today, I gathered you together to pay tribute to a man for great valour,” Oghenekaro shouted, his voice echoing clearly to the back of the training yard.

The gathered soldiers remained quiet.

“All of you here today are worthy of great reward,” Oghenekaro continued. “All have made a great sacrifice to be here, giving up time with friends and family, to defend the civilised nations from the scourge that is the troll menace. Today we celebrate the valour of one man.”

At this the men began to murmur; Oghenekaro raised his hands for quiet.

“Several months ago, the trolls laid siege to us here at Fort Northern Wiles. I rode out with fifty men to see if we could break the siege, but sadly we failed. The man we celebrate today succeeded where fifty men couldn’t. He saved my life in the counterattack, he also broke the siege and saved two of my own personal guards and released a prisoner the trolls had taken over twenty years ago. Yesterday morning he participated in the raid that brought us the cattle from the trolls. Next, he went out to the Bloodwood Forest and found food. To cap it off, he was in the thick of the fighting last night that helped break the siege.”

A gentle murmur rippled through the assembled soldiers. Akuchi could hear them from where he stood in the crowd.

“Who could do such a thing? Let alone singlehandedly?”

Oghenekaro waited for the murmuring to stop before continuing.

“Come forward, Akuchi Rosethorn, hero of Fort Northern Wiles.”

The soldiers started looking amongst themselves. All the soldiers' eyes focused on him as Akuchi moved to the front of the training yard. Then they started a slow clap, which built-in volume as he approached Oghenekaro. Oghenekaro raised his hands for silence and waited.

“I am deeply indebted to you, Akuchi, in gratitude for your great acts of valour. Despite your impertinence, you have striven to improve our lot here. For your efforts, I present to you this sword, captured from the trolls many years ago.”

The soldier lifted a white sheet from the sword, a falchion. It was polished to a high sheen so that Akuchi could see a clear reflection in it. The hilt had a fine golden inlay woven into an ivory handle. The blade was curved and double-sided. Akuchi received the sword and looked at it. In the blade of the sword, words were etched on both sides.

On one side the words read,

A man’s heart is fickle,

true must a man’s heart be

to wield the spirit.

On the other side, the words read,

Honour and glory,

reveal the soul

remain true to your word

and see glory.

“The blade is called ‘Corvictus’, it means conviction or spirit,” Oghenekaro explained, “Centuries ago, swords could feel your spirit and would reflect your spirit, light or white for a good soul, and dark and black for a bad soul.”

“It’s a beautiful sword,” responded Akuchi. He then lifted the blade high in the air and the whole fort cheered.

“Three cheers for Akuchi!” bellowed a woman’s voice from the crowd, “Hip hip…”

“Hooray!” echoed the assembled soldiers.

“Hip hip…”

“Hooray!”

“Hip Hip…”

“Hooray!”

Akuchi lowered the sword and thanked Oghenekaro before returning to his place. Several soldiers gave him slaps on the back as he reached his position between Retha and Mayu. Akuchi showed them the blade. They both admired it.

“You are dismissed,” bellowed Oghenekaro. The soldiers started to disperse, returning to their duties.

Mayu hefted the blade. “It is so light.”

Retha took the blade. “It’s perfectly balanced,” she agreed, “for a falchion.”

“What do you mean?” Akuchi asked, taking and sheathing the blade on his back.

“Curved blades can’t achieve the balance that a straight sword can,” Retha explained.

Arriving in the barracks, Akuchi found Retha and Mayu folding Mayu’s dresses back into her trunk.

“I’m starving!” said Akuchi, “can we get something to eat?” Akuchi pulled off his sword and scabbard and tenderly laid it on the bed. He then peeled off his jacket and shirt. Mayu and Retha sat on the bed and watched him.

“Sure,” agreed Mayu. “I think the commissary should have some lunch available.”

Mayu strapped on her sword belt while Retha fastened on her cloak.

“I need to speak to the commander,” Retha said. “Thank you for your kindness, Mayu and Akuchi.”

Retha bowed and then strode out of the barracks. Mayu and Akuchi looked at each other, both puzzled. They went out of the barracks and turned to the right. Following the path, they passed the training yards and stepped into the command building through the commissary doors. The room was full of people eating lunch. A gentle, animated noise floated to their ears. The smell of sweating bodies and cooking soup wafted into their noses as they waited in line. Arriving at the counter they received a wooden bowl and spoon, which was then filled with a steaming soup. The soup was mixed with meat chunks but still thin. Akuchi looked down at the soup, surprised. His stomach grumbled, and he knew that he wouldn’t be satisfied with this weak soup. They sat at a bench long table and consumed their soup in silence listening to the hubbub that filled the commissary. They completed their soup and returned the bowls and spoons. Akuchi walked out with Mayu, hunger still gnawed at his stomach.