Year 567 of the Harley Dynasty, 5th month, 16th day.
We were sitting there, taking the little pause the superiors had given us. Dereck was sculpting a piece of wood with a knife as often. It was the form of a child, a little girl. He was good at it, not what you expected from such a big woodcutter.
Anis was sitting with a straw in his mouth, playing with his knife as he spoke back to jean. Seriously, my eyes were always attracted by his knife dancing with his fingers.
Jean was talking with Anis, this guy could talk about anything. Even when we were marching he was still talking. But I let him do as he wanted, at least it occupied the spirit of everyone around.
Jimmy was looking at the sky with his clear and naive eyes. I always wondered what he saw with those, and sometimes when he described to me the sky, I thought the same thing. He shouldn't be here.
And I was with them, doing nothing but waiting, and enjoying the light wind on my face.
"Everyone, get up!" A yell from the lieutenant Barnes. "Time to take back the road."
Grunts could be heard from the soldiers around me as they stood up to put on their bags and weapons. I also stood up, my sword already on its scabbard and my second one on my back. I took this motherfucker commonly known as a bag and put it on my back.
The time to go had come.
"Okay, now listen to me, 5th Company! I don't want to hear a single noise inside this forest, do you all understand? If I hear someone, then the whole Company would be deprived of rum for a week."
Several soldiers with shining eyes full of bloodlust turned their faces to look straight at Jean as if they were hyenas watching their prey. Even the captain who had just talked peeked toward our direction.
*sigh*
"Jean."
"Yes corporal?"
"If I hear you only once, I'll make you train twice as hard as what you did a month ago."
"Yes corporal!" He shuddered at my words as he answered me. Even the other members of my team were now watching him with a look saying 'you move, you're dead'.
That was because if one of my team members trained, then they would all train together. Even me. And they knew that I hated to train. So training was synonymous with punishment in this team.
A month ago, since they fought against the guys of the 2nd Company, then of course I had made them 'train' a bit. They didn't seem to have liked it very much. Well, me neither actually.
"Okay, forward! And keep your eyes open!" Giving the last orders, Captain Howl mounted his horse, showing all of us, lowly soldiers, that he didn't have to walk.
Before us was standing a large forest with tall trees wearing thick green foliages. Only a path could be seen, snaking inside this area where the sun had a limited access.
We didn't have the choice but to march inside this forest, as it was so large that it would have taken us weaks to just get around. And such a long time lost inside the enemy's territory was definitely not a good idea.
So we march forward, like always with the 5th Company at the rear, following the rest of the regiment with the carriages transporting all kinds of consumables in the center. The distance between each company was enough to put another one.
My foot was barely stepping into the edges delimited by the trees that my vision decreased a lot. The dim light filtered by the treetops was scarcely lighting some patch of the road. At that moment, for a reason I couldn't explain, tension grew inside my body.
At each of my feet crashing on the ground, breaking a twig, bruising the leaves, I could feel it. My heart. The sound of my heart beating filled my ears. This strange forest, it was scaring the shit out of me.
I looked at my side to watch how my team was doing. But they were fine. Dereck was looking straight in front of him. Jean was obviously bored. Anis didn't have the slightest emotion on his face. And Jimmy, even him, had his normal smile on his face.
I asked myself if I was losing my mind or something. Maybe I ate expired food. Maybe my home missed me so much. Or maybe the fact that a battle could break out at any moment played with my nerves.
I didn't know. But each second, each breath, each step were only making my tension grow more and more.
The march would be a long one, and as five hundred footsteps echoed in the whole forest, I wondered why the hell did they ask us to not talk? A person walking alone in a forest was already quite noisy. So anyone could imagine that a five hundred men regiment marching all together inside a forest full of twigs, roots and leaves was far from being a muffled sound.
I thought about that while I was walking. After all, with such a long march, my feet bleeding inside my leather boots, my heart bumping like a drum in my chest, and my thousandth plan to desert the army, my mind wandered quite a bit here and there.
But suddenly, I heard rushed footsteps from my left, where only the forest spreaded toward the horizon. I squinted my eyes while looking in this direction. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. I couldn't see anything with all these trees hugging each other, but whatever it was, it was coming toward us.
Before long, I wasn't the only one to hear these noises and I could see some other soldiers turning their faces toward the luxuriant forest. But my heart skipped a beat when I saw that. Because they weren't only looking to the left.
The only noises I could hear now were the thundering crashes on the ground around us, alongside the beating of my heart, creating a swirl of panic inside my whole being. And then all stopped. All but the warcry.
"To kill!"
""To kill!"" An explosion of voices answered the call. The whole forest shook. And they appeared.
Soldiers with leather armor, blades on their hands, rushing toward us, only a few meters away.
Before I could even fully understand the situation, I yelled to the soldiers around me while drawing my sword.
"Attack incoming!" My loud voice spreaded in our ranks, as others answered and yelled back, snapping back all men to the reality of the situation.
The sharp noises of swords being unsheathed filled the area. Orders from the officers resonated from each Company. We were under attack, a pincer attack on the right and left, an ambush!
The enemies were so close I could see their faces. An expression of hatred. An expression of bloodlust. For me, all these soldiers had the same face, the same eyes, looking at me with disgust. In this short time, I suddenly remembered that, at the end, we were indeed the bad guys.
Then I hit with my sword. I slashed at my opponent, who parried the blow. I followed with a tempest of strikes, each and every one targeting at a vital point.
While I was fighting this guy, I could see by my side Dereck struck with his large ax at an enemy. The powerful blow sent him flying while the morale of our side was rising up. This guy truly was a one man army.
I concentrate back to my target, I dodge his slash with a step on the side, and taking advantage of the opening, I thrust my blade into his throat.
The tip of my blade entered easily. With only a little resistance, more than half of my sword passed through his throat. He stopped on his track, unable to move anymore.
His eyes widened from the shock and the pain, before the light inside began to grow dimmer. Red bubbles appeared on the corner of his mouth as he was choking on his own blood and my iron with an atrocious noise.
I removed my sharp weapon. Blood splashed on me. A disgusting smell arose from the sticky drops rolling down on my face. I resisted the urge to wipe it out as I looked at my first victim crumbled on the ground as an old rag. I shook my face to look at my surroundings.
It was only now that I could hear the terrible clamor of the fights, as I was too concentrated on me.
Dereck was doing good. Jean dodged a blade as Anis cut off the wrist of the attacker. Even Jimmy was fighting like a lion against his opponent.
It was our first fight. It was our first bloodbath. It was our first trial. And it was far from being the end.