Charge at Grunnar's Hill

A motivational fantasy piece, I might end up writing a sequel to it.

Dew clung to the morning air

Infused with the scent of their cradled rot

Humming at my hip, a blade

Is sheathed, but it knows

The knot climbing my throat, I gaze below

At fifty thousand strong

Many in grotesque, cast-iron armor or

Merely bare

I glance back at Aodin - a stronger soul than I

He will die with honor

His fist clenches, archers knock their bows

Steady now

Steady now

Not ‘til the sun ascends from behind us

Over Grunnar’s Hill

Sweat builds, this chainmail extends my skin

Horses twitch and whinny, mine

More anxious than I

But I may only face my soldiers and tell them

I hope they said goodbye to their children

Drawing my sword skyward

Catching a glisten of sunlight

“Apollo gives us this day,

And when he sets, we will have long fallen,

But I would not sooner die

Fighting alongside any other men.

It is now that we bury the King’s message deep

Beneath their filthy skin!”

The hilt shivers, end thrust downhill

“Blacken the sky.”

Silence falls, they grumble at the hillfoot

Shatters, the spits of angry oaken clamour

Eclipsing the sun, I see it in their eyes - terrified

Trembling, their superior’s shrill demands

A smirk hooks my lip - there is no light

One by one, the rain descends from the heavens

And pushes some thousands back to Hell

“My brothers, the time is now…

We ride!”

Then came the hammerfalls, hooves beating

Trenchant, shouts crying “For Ruina!”

Bashing and clanging of steel

Charging the threshold of adrenaline

Sweeping the hillside, ten thousand hellions

Almost with grace, we shook the Earth 

Reviews

[Lone Wolf]

I loved the story elements in this one and the last lines, especially when you say that you shook the earth. Very well done, Adams, and keep it up! :)

~~The Shadow of the Moon