Act Twenty-Seven: The Great War Begins II

The gently undulating hills were like a wrinkled carpet, still bearing the last traces of summer's color after the start of autumn. The grass and trees were a deep green. Drizzle fell, and the slightly chilly air seemed to cloak the entire battlefield in a thin mist. On the hills beside the river valley, figures gradually appeared along the edge of the linden forest. They were soldiers clad in heavy armor and pointed helmets, each with the head of a White Lion on his right shoulder. The lion lowered its eyelids as if deep in thought at all times, outlining the steady bearing of this army. Most of the noncommissioned officers who emerged first from the forest had a raised ornament of a demon's long, flame-wreathed horns on their shoulder armor. This marked them as veterans who had fought in the Ambersell War and survived the bloody battle against the demons. The young man at the very front had a resolute gaze beneath the rim of his steel helmet. His name was Mars. He had not only participated in the Battle of Ambersell, but had also endured the Wolf Calamity of the Ring of Trade Winds. Of the sixty young men from all over Tonigell who had set out with him, half had died on the Ambersell battlefield. Yet he had survived, personally receiving from the lord a helmet with a white mane, and becoming a squadron knight-captain of the White Lion Guard.

He turned his head and looked at another noncommissioned officer behind him. The other man likewise wore a helmet with a metal face mask, revealing only a pair of light-brown eyes gleaming with intelligence. He knew the man's name was Yuriol. Although he had not participated in the Battle of Ambersell, he was one of the old