A Thorn In The Ice

Chapter 29: Blood On The Ice

Iolas left the room, and Simon finished up the easier parts of his dressing, such as putting on his gloves and adjusting his gauntlets.

The clash of metal against metal brought him over to the window, where he looked down upon meticulously assembled troops. There was Iolas, exiting the front of the castle and going to check his already saddled horse, which was tied and waiting for him beside Chester. The graceful white stallion a sharp contrast to the shorter, but in turn much stronger and sturdier brown donkey.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. Simon had only charged off for battle once before, and even that had only gone as far as to land him in an icy river.
He had never killed before, and the thought of it was not a comfortable one, and though wished more than anything to just crawl back into bed and escape this all like a bad dream, he trudged down the staircase, his heart as weighted as his armour.

Chester greeted him with a happy snort, before raising his front lip in that oh so typical donkey fashion.
Instinctively his eyes went to check his shoes, because for the first time in the decade since he had owned the animal, he had been shod by someone else.
The nails driven into his hooves were even, and not too shallow or too deep, satisfied, he gave the donkey a quick pat before climbing on.

As Simon led the animal to the ranks, Chester threw him back what he thought was a dirty look, undoubtedly the new, added weight of his armor.
He apologised to the donkey, promising him many carrots throughout this day. Iolas sighed as he trotted his horse in front of the troops. He worried for the safety of his animal, praying silently that he would not loose him to a stray arrow, or sword.
Simon had contemplated leaving Chester and taking another horse, but he knew that no other animal would look out for him the way his faithful brown donkey did.

Upon his own horse, Iolas approached the head of the combined troops. The blue and gold uniforms of his islander troops contrasting sharply against the orange and black of the fighters of Aelford.

Here was the part, he realized, where he had to muster up a speech in order to motivate the men into rushing towards almost certain death, and though he had long ago prepared for a day like this, now having come so close to death himself had changed him. “Fighters!” he shouted, the soldiers instantly falling silent and turning their attention Iolas’ way.
“Today, we will hide behind these walls no longer.” he began in a booming voice.
“Soildeirs of Aelford. Do not let the men and women captured and killed by these gruesome barbarians escape your mind for a moment today. Do not forget your families, forced to run from their homes in terror, for today we will exact justice upon these beasts of men, rescue the queen, and take back what is rightfully both hers and yours!”
The Aelford soldiers cheered.
"Fellow Islanders. I know this is not your fight. You were shipped here to help a king most of you have never met, punish a criminal prince you wish you'd never heard of. I know I am the shame of our homeland, and I have lost the right to order you to risk your lives for my sake. Instead I ask it of you for the sake of not only these people, whom I know many of you already have the bonds of brotherhood with, but for our own people; because if we do not stop them today, we can be certain whose door these barbarians will soon come knocking at!
Let us all put an end to these savages, let today be the last day anyone is raped, killed or enslaved!"
Relief filled him when supportive cheers rose from the silver and blue ranks of his warriors.
"I may not have been the best prince, but we all know that Adelaide is a good, honorable Queen, and she did all she could to protect her people, our people and even someone as undeserving as me, your criminal prince. I say we owe her nothing less than a heroic rescue. Who is with me!?"

With that, they embarked upon the perilous journey through the snow and towards the citadel, full of energy and gusto. The two countries’ emblems side by side in a powerful statement of unity.
Iolas felt the thrill of leading his people, and he finally understood everything his father and his siblings had been telling them since he was old enough to understand. Nothing quite compared to the feeling of knowing an army of men trusted you to lead them, and were willing to lay down their lives and face their gods of death.
It wasn’t a corrupt or misguided sense of power Iolas felt. On the contrary, it was a bond; he felt tied to these men in a new way.