A. Royden D'souza

         The seventh division on the other hand was the most haphazard collection of people, put together and trained in haste. That was the only reason she had been able to sneak in unnoticed when they had enlisted farmers, traders, and even homeless wanderers—anyone they could get their hands on.
         Her gaze went toward the bay, where the Erzan battle drums began pounding. Even as she watched, the monstrous ships from Abaddon rammed into the shore, spilling swarms of demons onto Erzan land.
         A wave of silence washed over the allied forces.
         The skies rumbled above, veiled by bruised and sparking clouds. Lisa’s fingers tightened on the reins. The charged atmosphere almost gave her second thoughts about enlisting in the army.
         When signing up, the recruiting captain had given her a sideways glance as she had pressed her thumb on the bond parchment. She had glimpsed pity in his eyes. Maybe he had foreseen the fear that gripped her chest.
         “Prepare yourselves!” the General yelled above them. His voice injected a semblance of courage into the shaken troops. “The time has come to prove your mettle, brave soldiers of Vicenza!”
         Lisa’s hand drifted to the shoddy sword at her waist.
         Even if they had turned her down, she would have found a way into the battlefield. She wouldn’t have been able to stay back when her father was here, trying to keep away Acyrion’s demons from their home.
         The General jabbed his lance into the air. “Charge!”
         Ranks upon ranks of the Vicenzan cavalry poured down the slopes, harsh battle cries issuing from the lowered helms. The thundering hooves shook the ground and raised clouds of dust into the air.
         “Hyah!”
         Stella reared and broke into a gallop, rumbling down the slopes of Raven’s Reach. The sea breeze—tainted by the stench of blood and iron—whipped her face. The roaring blood in her ears dampened the battle cries around her.
         The elite divisions headed straight to the bulging mass of the enemy forces while the sixth and the seventh divisions veered off to flank the demons. The two armies met with a sound like that of rolling thunder. Pikes broke against iron-wrought hide and swords clanged against steel-infused bone. The sound of battle aroused harsh, excited croaks from the gore crows and vultures circling above.
         Lisa conjured up a image of the demon swarming her countryside home, using it to bolster her resolve. She unsheathed her sword and let out a cry, “For Vicenza!”
         One of the demons leaped onto all fours and bounded toward her, baring its black fangs. She pulled on Stella’s reins and straightened her knees. As she drew abreast the creature, Lisa swung and sheared off its outstretched claws and pinned its heart with a backhand strike.
         GRRROWL!
         Lisa ducked, throwing up her armor bound arms.
         The blade-like claws tore through the steel like butter and dug into her arm. She pressed her legs into the mare’s side, and the animal reared, pushing its iron-shod hooves into the demon.
         “Aaagh!” The claws gouged through her arm, ripping flesh as the demon was thrown back into a waiting pike of an ally. Her sword dropped from her fingers as the arm dropped limply to her side.
         “Are you alright?!”
         Before she could answer the soldier, a massive shadow passed across the battlefield, drawing their gazes into the sky.
         Thud.
         The air vibrated, as if echoing some godly drum in the heavens.
         Thud.
         The sound jarred her eardrums and rattled her jaws.
         Thud.
         It was sound of wings; something massive and powerful.
         “Dragon!” Lisa yelled, dread clutching her heart.
         The General’s griphon let out a bloodcurdling screech of challenge, twisting toward the gigantic beast that dived out of the shifting clouds.
         The dragon was blacker than pitch, with scales that glimmered like shards of obsidian. Its translucent wings filtered the sun’s light, casting the battlefield into twilight. She glimpsed a crimson-clad figure on its back, a dark cape billowing from the shoulders. It had to be one of Acyrion’s demon commanders.
         The dragon reared its head like a serpent and bared its fangs at the griphon. It’s maw glowed as the flames leapt up its gullet and sprayed onto the general’s mount. The griphon tried to veer off to safety, but the seething torrent caught the tip of its wings. Its screech of agony traveled across the battlefield, drowning the clash of steel and iron.
         The dark beast glided beneath the distracted griphon, redirecting its jet across the Erzan vanguard and washing them aflame. The soldiers scattered and fled, but to a burning end. The sight and sound was enough to shake Vicenza’s offensive backing, with third of the new recruits deserting the battlefield in haste.
         “Stand and fight!” the General yelled, directing his mount toward the dragon.
         The griphon’s beak clamped the fire-spitter’s neck and cut off the stream of flames. The two ancient beings collided, clawing and grappling with their sword-like claws and talons as they raced through the veils of smoke. Their snarling and screeching engulfed the skies as they battered each other with terrible blows.
         Lisa urged her mare away from the collision course as the beasts tumbled toward the battlefield. Holding taut to Stella’s saddle, she mowed through the distracted enemy, riding toward the first division.
         The griphon screamed above, drawing her gaze.
         The demon commander stood on the dragon’s head with a lance of black lightning crackling in his hand. Even as she watched, the weapon sprang forth and struck the Vicenzan General in the chest.
         “No!” Lisa cried out. The world seemed to slow down as her eyes followed his limp form to the ground.
         The griphon spiraled down behind him.
         A collective gasp came from the Vicenzans as they beheld the fall of their revered general. The momentary shock was enough for the demons to get the edge they needed to advance further into the Erzan defensive.
         As she galloped southward, the trumpets of retreat sounded from the hills, where awaited Erza’s second line of defense. The allies turned back to the enemy, racing toward the safe haven beyond the second line.
         Instead of following them, Lisa urged her mare toward the spot where the general had fallen. The two armies had left hordes of mangled bodies in their wake, some half-alive and others on the brink of death. The mare nimbly and cleverly skirted the enemy lines, huffing irritably at the stench.
         The dragon let out a terrible roar of victory and flew north, toward Erza’s second line.
         She could not worry about that now. What could she do against the demon commander anyway? She had to find the General. He had to have survived. Without him, there was little hope for the Vicenza’s soldiers.
         Lisa dismounted near the edge of the plateau. He had fallen somewhere here. Her fingers around Stella’s reins, she picked her way between the corpses; slain Erzans and Vicenzans lying among the demons. The survivors staggered around her. The brave limped after the demon line. The others walked away, their glazed eyes reflecting the setting sun on the southern horizon.
         She found the General on a fallen demon, its horn hooked through his shoulder. However, that wasn’t the wound that made her blood turn cold. A large smoldering hole gaped in the center of his chest, its edges merged with the molten steel of his armor. It was a wound beyond healing.
         She removed her helm and fell to her knees.
         Ragged breaths left the General’s lips as he tried to lift a shaking hand.
         Lisa brushed her eyes and kept the tears from spilling. A tide of rage and anguish consumed her, more than any she had experienced before. The demon commander had felled their greatest hope.
         “The ships…” She leaned closer to hear his dying words. “Take the stragglers… and sink the ships.”
         The ships! If they took the ships, they would be able to gain a upper hand on the demons. Even if they turned back to stop them, the second line would be able to easily pick them off on their retreat. If she was fortunate, she would be able to draw the demon commander away from her father’s retreating division.
         She nodded. “I will do it.”
         “A glorious death…” A content smile tugged his lips as he went still.
         Lisa closed the General’s eyes.
         The brief training sessions had barely prepared her for battle, but she had to steel her nerves for the sake of her home. A peculiar calm came upon her, sharpening her mind and body. It was like a fever in her veins that erased all doubt and fatigue.
         She clambered up the General’s griphon and yelled at the nearest heralder, “Rally the survivors behind me! To the shores!”