The Last Line
The shifting of bodies clad in armor fell silent as a single human walked up onto the wooden stage, behind him lay a great set of oaken doors, and a tremendous wall which stood so tall, one man could not see the top from its base. A great number of wooden thatched buildings lay around them, several doors hewn into the ice and snow of the great barrier itself. The man planted his sword into the wooden boards at his feet, the wood groaned under the weight of the large shimmering sword of white metal, yet it did not give way. The man himself was clad in armor of shimmering steel, dulled with time and use, many dents and scratches scarred its surface. A tattered wolf pelt lay about his shoulders and a long flowing cloak of black draped down from beneath it. He wore a beard well on his face, his hair was a roughly cut black flecked with grey, as was his beard. As he looked down at the small gathering of similarly clothed youngsters his eyes of piercing blue seemed to pierce their very souls.
''The Wardens have fallen, we are all that remains of the old guard.'' He paused heaving a great labored sigh before grunting with a few hacking coughs, probably due to all of the green leaf he chose to smoke regularly. Still a great silence resounded in the camp, as they hinged on his every word ''We will defend our homes, our lands. The dark one wishes to take all of that form us. It is likely we will never see the light of another day.'' A few nervous glances were swapped between the onlookers, but still not a word was uttered. ''We were not born to be hero's, but aye i doubt any can claim they were born to be great. We will do our duty, and if we fall, i doubt we will have our names remembered.''
''We are all men... fathers... brothers... this dark despoiler would kill our babes and rape our women. This we cannot allow by our oath, also because we are men.'' The crowd shuddered a little. ''Those of you that wish to go home, you may do so and feel no shame upon you. Doubt will get you killed faster'' The grizzled man spoke these last words calmly and gently, as a father would do to a son. ''Reinforcements will arrive in time... We must hold against the black host, Should you do that you may return home.'' The grizzled man rose his sword in the air, gleaming white as a single shaft of sunlight broke the clouds ''We fight For our people, for the world and we will know victory, or embrace death as an old friend'' The crowd broke into applause. But quickly fell silent as the gates behind the crowd opened the way to the keep. A group of soldiers in white armor walked through the gates, sporting strange black weapons in their hands. One at the head of the group stood at-ease before placing his strange gun-like black weapon upon his shoulder. ''Cody Pike here, Imperial 51st troops... What's left of them. Don't worry M'lord... Your not alone''
Home 
