The Return

Alright; Part One here of.. well, consider it a prequel, even though it's set in the middle. A preview, perhaps. About halfway through the War, maybe a bit more.

I think you'll be able to pick up the viewpoint as it goes. If you don't, well, I'll have re-write it anyway.

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"It was like a dream.

We were the new 7th Army. Recruits, most of us. Never fought a battle. We were still at the staging grounds on Sundown Plain.

I was playing poker with my squad on a crate in the parade ground when the entire place went dead. I looked up, expecting the rider with our orders to be riding in the gate, and there they were. I couldn't believe my eyes. None of us could. They'd been gone near five years then, and, well, some of us were starting to think they weren't gonna come back. We all shut up and watched them as they walked into the square.

They walked right past me, close enough to touch.. and then they stopped. Right there. And Valdemar turned, and he looked at my squadmate. Just looked! Raoul, one of the only veterans there, he just fell to his knees right there on the flagstones, he drew his sword and offered it, buffed hilt gleaming in the sun. How long he stayed like that, I still couldn;t tell you now. Hours, or seconds. Or both. Next thing I knew, I was on my knees beside him, and the air was filled with the sound of an entire army joining us there.

But then Valdemar smiled. Like the sun coming through the clouds. He put out his hand, and raised Raoul to his feet. Still smiling, he turned, spreading his arms to take us all in as he spoke.

"Soldiers!" he said. "The Flag needs you. As I speak, the Second is dying on a plain, worlds away." He paused, and even Their presence weren't enough to quelch the mutters. The Second was the Princes' Own, and the lynchpin of the eighth campaign. But what good were we, worlds away?

Valdemar dropped his hands, and the noise ceased.

"Trust me, soldiers. There is still time, but only if you move now. I expect this courtyard to be filled in battle-order.. yesterday." He glanced around the deathly still ground and scowled. "Now!"

We moved. I've never moved that fast in my life before or since. The fortress shook to the sound of booted feet, but they stood there still, an island of calm. As men started to spill back into the place and fall into parade order, Valdemar turned to his companion and smiled.

"Well?"

Felix flicked the sweat out of his eyes and favoured his friend with a scowl. "Well, yourself. Anchor me."

My company had the front, so we saw the next part best. And I'm all that's left to tell it, so you'll have to trust me.

Valdemar slid that golden-bronze sword of his from its scabbard, brought it down point-first to rest his hands casually on the crosshilt, and I'll swear the point was buried in the ground like it was butter. He glanced at us, noting the last dregs folding into the rear of the yard; I noticed later that they'd all come with us, every fortress man, down to the stablehands; he took it all in with hardly a flicker and turned his back, bracing his hands on that swordhilt. I hardly noticed, though, cos that was when Felix did the same, bracing himself like a man preparing to receive a charge.

And then he spread his hands, and a gale sprung up, blowing straight from behind the massed ranks. The Iron Flags stood out like boards. He raised his face to the sky and spoke a word. I'll never know what it was, and I sure don't want to. But it dropped from his lips like thunder. And with that word, a Gate opened before us. The width of the courtyard exactly, it was, and swirling all the colors of madness, as they do. We were too shocked to move, it felt like. This was.. new. Even for them.

But then Valdemar drew his sword from the ground, and as it flashed above his head, he turned to us once more. He spoke, like he was talking to each of us alone. I dunno how we heard him over that wind, but it was as clear as I am today.

"Through this gate, soldiers, is an army. They won't be expecting you. They think they've already won. Shall we show them what the Flag can do?"

The courtyard erupted in warcries. He just nodded. "Well then. Shall we?"

And that glorious sword flashed down towards the Gate.

And we charged."