Boro pulled his blade from the throat of the woman he had killed. Using her thick woolen cloak to wipe away the blood already beginning to freeze on the gleaming metal. He felt a burning sensation in the left side of his abdomen and saw a wide puncture mark in his steel armour.
Dammit all, another wound to tend to Boro thought angrily. He had no time to tend to it now though, as a battle was raging all around him. Boro quickly found his unit and used them to cover him while he hastily ripped off another chunk of his undershirt to staunch the bleeding. As soon as he had it secured to the wound he jumped back into the fighting.
All around him was chaos, men and woman meeting with swords, spears or maces, the sounds of metal ringing against metal, and the screams of fear and pain when cold steel parted hot flesh. His own wounds burned and throbbed terribly but over the sounds of agony, his own seemed to pale in comparison. The smell of blood, piss and shit was becoming overwhelming as the dead, both human and horse, let loose their bowels in their deaths. In the mayhem of battle Boro had lost track of Littume but he did not worry after Littume's well being anymore. He had proven himself to be an elite fighter among the soldiers and was capable of holding his own against even Boro now. For just the tiniest fraction of a second he reflected over the last five years.
Both Boro and Littume had improved their skills significantly, although neither had yet to be recognized as masters, both had reached what most would consider mastery. It felt like a lifetime ago that Boro and Littume had arrived at Kolomet, and even longer since Boro had begun his journey seeking the White Blade, Tutija. He recalled his graduation from the Academy, his and his farewell with Nila. He remembered the first lives he took, six bandits he slew in the forest. He recalled when Lord Jetir, now High Commander Jetir, had recruited him into a fledgling rebellion, and finally when the Lord of Kolomet revealed himself to be against King Galave. That last had taken Boro and Littume by surprise. Lord Amara admitted had spent years and the shadows working against the king. Quietly using his spy network to gather allies and swords. So when Boro and Littume had approached Amara he had the gatherings of a rebellion already. It was only a year after that, that they finally came from the shadows and declared war with King Galave. Since then there had been a huge revolt across Galaos, the ensuing civil war splitting the country in two.
During the following years Boro had been made a general and had reached the highest level of minor nobility. He sent word to his family, and instead of having them leave their homes in the outskirts of the country, choice that location, with his families barely acquired consent, turned the lands surrounding their farm into his new fiefdom. Boro had been offered the lands his father once ruled, a bountiful valley in the center of Galaos, but turned it down. He wanted to make a name, and home for himself, not ride the coattails of his father. Not to mention that the land was surrounded on all sides by King Galave and his allies, and to make them his home again he would have had to rid those lands of the surrounding enemies.
Boro's mind returned to the present and to the open battle he found himself in. He had been thrown off of Dingir sometime during the initial stage of the fight, but she knew to make her way safely back to their line of reserve forces. He called for a runner to bring her to him and to tell the cavalry hidden in the thick line of trees to the east to charge at the opposing armies exposed left flank.
Although their loses had been significant, the enemies had been even more so. Thousands of white and gold armored soldiers laid dead, or dying, on the rough frozen terrain. Boro had chosen this place specifically because the terrain. On the patch on land he currently stood on, somewhere close to the heart of the fighting, the ground was unforgiving to horse-borne soldiers. The rocky ground causing many horses to stumble, fall, or break legs. Meaning neither side would be capable of using their cavalry effectively to charge into the main frey. Being the side with less horses this suited Boro's army perfectly. He hid the bulk of his own calvary, about sixty men and women, in the trees just south of the battlefield. It was there that they waited for the signal to charge into the enemies exposed flank.
From the small hill he fought on, Boro could see the end of the opposing armies line of soldiers. Several hundred bowmen and the reserve forces of infantry stood there waiting for orders of their own to charge into the battle. Hopefully they would all be dead before that order was given. Even now Boro watched triumphantly as his hidden cavalry charged out from the trees and sped their way to the enemy. He saw the whole battle before him and felt victory was within arms reach. He saw a particularly stubborn group of soldiers on the enemies side still fighting for every scrap of ground just slightly ahead of him. In the midst of that group was a skilled fighter, their blade sweeping back and forth gracefully each time it came away bloody and each time another of his own soldiers dropped dead to the ground. Whoever this was, they were certainly skilled, probably the best warrior he had seen fight for King Galave so far. From the way they gracefully moved from form to form Boro thought they must be expertly trained. The thought of Blademaster on the field made Boro's body shiver with both fear and excitement.
He rallied his guard and told them to follow him closely, and that they were joining the fight once more. He moved quickly, hoping to reach the expert soldier at the same time his, still undiscovered cavalry, reached the enemies flank. They fought their way forward, Boro not even bothering to use his forms on these troops, just dealing death blow after death blow until he and his troops were just a few feet away from the blade master. At that time, the sounds of battle picked up again. The roaring sounds of battle cries refreshed as his cavalry was spotted and slammed into the enemies archers and reserve troops, sending them into disarray as they turned to meet their deaths.
The Blademaster, turned for just a second and shouted a command that Boro could not make out over the clangorous sounds of the battle. When they turned back ahead Boro was on them sword flashing. He used all his expertise to fight this person, Tiger in the grass, crouching low and sweeping his sword in a wide, horizontal arc at his opponent. Whoever it was behind that helmet met his form with one of their own, Bear hunts the Honey, a upward cut aimed at Boro's center of mass, to which he switched into Storm over the Sea, his sword not stopping or slowing down as he switched from a horizontal slash into a downward stab, aiming for one of the eye slits, where he saw a bright green pair of eyes. Boro's opponent gave he no ground however, they turned their head just a fraction so that instead of impaling them through the slit, his blade glaced off the side of their feathered helmet. They then used the momentum of their turn to smash the hilt of their sword into the side of Boro's own helm. The blow caused his skull to reverberate, setting his teeth to chatter and his ears to ring. Boro backed up just a step and pain lanced through him as the vibration of the blow went downward to his feet causing the several wounds he had sported to burst with a new bout of pain.
Quickly he clenched his teeth and steeled his pain, stepping forward just as his opponent did, and deflecting a blow that would probably have cleaved him in two. He followed the block up with Cat Walks the Wall, positioning his body sideways to minimize the amount of exposed area, and then taking several quick stabs at various parts of his opponents armour. On the fourth stab he hit just below the enemies helmet, hitting their gorget, slicing the strap holding their helmet and knocking the foes helmet clean off.
Boro quickly took advantage of his now toppled opponent and just as he was about to deal the killing blow he saw the pale skin and bright green eyes that looked up at him. She was older now, but Boro remembered her face like he remembered every inch of his blade, with perfect recollection. He thought he had loved her once, so how could he ever forget her face, older or not. The eyes that looked up into his own were the fear filled eyes of non other then Nila.