This story is being rewritten! The new version, A Price in Memory, can be found here.

I highly suggest you read the new version as this one won't be completed. Also, there has been a lot of changes so you won't be able to continue with the other where this one left off.

Blood ran down the side of his face forcing one of his eyes closed as he heaved for breath. The adrenaline had long since fled his body, leaving behind only sore muscles forced passed exhaustion. Dragging a deep breath into his burning lungs the man slowly straightened back, pushing against the weight of the steel breastplate.

Raising his head, he looked up into the dark clouds covering the sky. Thunder roared in the distance as the first raindrop fell from the sky, striking the man’s cheek before mixing with the blood and rolling down his neck. More joined the first as the clouds finally broke under the weight and shed their tears for the scene below.

Closing his eyes for a moment the man focused on the cool water spattering against his overheated and bloody body. For a few blissful moments, the sound of the rainstorm drowned out the clamour around him, separating him from the rest of the world.

***

The boy ran downstairs at the sound of his mother calling him. Bursting into the kitchen he saw his father sitting at the head of the table with his brother at the side, wolfing down his breakfast. His mother turned towards him and smiled.

“You better hurry, or else your brother will eat it all,” she said.

“No fair!”

The boy complained dashing forward to claim his meal. His father eyed him with a raised eyebrow, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“All’s fair when it comes to food, boy,” he said, his arm stretching out, quick as a viper, to snatch the piece of bacon the boy had just placed on his plate from the stack in the middle of the table.

The boy looked at his father with an expression conveying a deep sense of betrayal while his mother covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

***

Pain shot through his arm as the wooden sword struck down onto his shoulder. A cry escaped his lips as the boy dropped his own practice sword and clutched his shoulder.

“Don’t drop your weapon boy. It's connected to your life. Lose it and you may very well lose the other,” his father said, looking down at him with a stern gaze. The morning sun glinted off his bare chest as he reached down and helped the boy back up.

“But it hurts like hell. I can’t help it.”

“Listen to me. Pain is a fleeting experience, you must learn to overcome it. If you fear pain you may end up doing or not doing things that you will regret for the rest of your life. And trust me, regret will stay with you and hurt a lot more than your shoulder does now. Understand?”

The boy nodded.

“Good, now pick up the sword and come at me again.”

***

The fire burned bright, casting a glow that lit up the surroundings. A teenaged boy sat next to the fire keeping an eye on the sizzling rabbit suspended over it. The fat burned away slowly dripping onto the flame and sending the smell through the air.

“How long ‘till we can eat,” his friend asked next to him.

“Soon, you don’t want to rush cooking rabbit.”

“Like you would know, it is the first time you’re doing it, isn’t it?”

He gave a smile that he hoped looked mysterious.

“Maybe I’ve done this hundreds of times.”

“Maybe you’re full of shit.”

***

He downed the last of the ale and slammed the tankard against the table. The tavern was packed. But that was to be expected as it was the only one in the town. He glanced at his empty tankard and wondered where the ale had disappeared to. Tilting it forward his eyes hunted for the hole that was sure to be found at the bottom.

He quickly abandoned the search in favour of getting a new tankard, one that was complete… and filled with ale of course. Standing up carefully on the unsteady ground he made his way over to his brother who seemed to be arguing with one of the other men.

Seeing the argument take a turn for the worst he dashed toward his brother and pushed him out of the way just in time to block the incoming fist with his face.

***

The starlight mixing with that of the fires burning in the pits spaced evenly through the open field. Loud music travelled through the air and people danced in the open field or sat around the fires and chatted while sharing drink.

The festival came each year after the harvest and brought along with happiness to the small town. Sitting next to one of the fires, the young man watched the people who dancing under the starlight. He paid particular attention to one of them. A young woman with long raven black hair that swirled around her as she moved, eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the others around her. There was a smile on her face, one that spoke of joy in such volumes that he couldn’t help but stare.

“Mesmerised brother?”

A voice came from next to him, snapping him back to his senses.

“Don’t be silly,” he replied looking at his brother. The man wore a knowing smile and nodded his head.

“Ah, young love.”

“You’re a year older than me!” He retorted causing his brother to burst out laughing.

“And much wiser for it!”

***

His face was expressionless but his eyes betrayed the pain in his chest as he stared at the coffin. His mother was kneeling in front of it crying, with his brother trying to comfort her. The disease struck as fast as it was deadly. Four people had passed away already and his father was the fifth.

He stood in front of the other town guards who came to mourn the loss of their captain, a man they had all respected. He stared at the coffin holding the corpse of the man that taught him so much. He might have been hard on him at times but it was never without reason, and always with his future in mind.

His sore throat constricted and a single tear rolled down his cheek as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Together with the other guards, he saluted the old man one last time.

***

Bending down over the bed he reached out and brushed the long black hair out of the women face. She gave a soft moan in her sleep before opening her eyes and looking up at him. She blinked a few times then smiled brightly at him.

“Good morning,” he said with a smile.

“Hm. Are you going off?”

“Yeah, my shift is starting soon. Got to show the new recruits how things are done,” he replied.

“Wasn’t long ago since you were one.”

“Time flies,” he said moving his hand over her swollen belly. He bent down and kissed his unborn child.

“I’ll be back before nightfall.”

“Stay safe,” she said.

“Always do.”

***

Sitting on a chair in front of the house, he gazed at his two-year-old daughter playing on the grass. The sunlight shone through the trees, glinting off of the black hair she inherited from her mother. A smile touched his face as he saw her eyes widen in wonder as she discovered a beetle and poked at it.

Footsteps sounded behind him with the creaking of floorboards as his wife stepped outside. She looked toward their daughter harassing the poor bug before shaking her head.

“You’re supposed to be teaching her numbers yet I find you two like this,” she said looking towards him.

“Let her enjoy herself, it’s too nice a day to spend it on things like that,” he replied.

She raised an eyebrow before turning to their daughter, only to see her running towards them laughing with her arms outstretched, clasping the beetle. She was shouting near incomprehensible words, eager to show off her new prize to her parents.

A chuckle escaped his wife as she saw the scene.

***

He stood on top of the platform looking out over the wooden walls of the town towards the wood. The night air was cool against his skin, a welcome change from the heat during the day. The raining season should start soon. Already farmers were beginning to plant their crops in preparation.

The town still had a surplus food after paying their dues to the kingdom the previous year, it should have been a peaceful time yet his face was more clouded than the overcast sky.

A young man stepped up next to him, one of the other guards that joined two years back. The man gave a slightly sloppy salute.

“Captain.”

He nodded towards the man, putting him at ease. The guard turned and gazed over the forest before speaking.

“Do you think those bastards up north will make it this far?” The guard asked in a worried tone.

He shook his head.

“They’ve never managed to break through the army at the border, I doubt this time will be any different.”

Even though he said so, he couldn't shake the uneasy feeling in his chest. He heard that the army they sent was much bigger than the previous times. It seemed they were really determined to take a piece of the Empire this time.

His words managed to ease some of the young guard’s fears though, as the man nodded before taking out a wineskin and passing it to him. He uncorked the skin and took a gulp, savouring the sweet taste as it rolled down his throat before passing it back to the man.

***

His wife hugged him in a tight embrace, her tears wet against the side of his neck.

“Don’t go,” she whispered.

He shook his head.

“I have to. The kingdom is even conscripting militia from the nearby towns and villages. Someone has to show those pitchfork-wielding farmers how to fight.” He said jokingly as he returned her embrace, holding her tight before breaking off, and gripping her by the shoulders to look into her eyes.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” he said with a smile on his face. She returned his look before nodding with determination.

He knelt down and embraced his four-year-old girl. Her tears streaked down her face. She didn’t completely understand what was happening but she knew he was leaving and didn’t want him to.

“Be good, and listen to your mother alright? I’ll be back before you know it.”

“mhm,” she mumbled, nodding.

He smiled and put his hand on her head before standing up and walking towards the door grabbing his short sword and shield on the way. He gathered his resolve and stepped and outside, walking down the road towards the temporary gathering outside the town walls.

He didn’t look back for fear that his resolve might crumble if he were to look at their faces again. The only reason he was doing this was for them.

***

The sound of a horn cut through the rain bringing the man back from his thoughts as all the sounds around him rushed into his ears. The screams of the wounded and shouts of soldiers echoing around the battlefield.

Slowly he opened his eyes looking up at the falling rain, it seemed as if time slowed down as he spotted the individual drops directly above him before they splashed against his face, washing off the blood from his body, both his and others’.

He lowered his head to look in front of him. The corpses of allies and enemies littered the field, the blood and rain draining into the ground turning it into mud that squelched beneath the boots of the soldiers and militia around him as they took up their positions.

Far to the front, the northerner army began their second charge forward. A wave of flesh and blood running towards them at full speed. The man looked around him, at the myriad of expressions of those around him, excitement, anticipation, anger and fear, so much fear. He was standing at the frontline this time, something to be expected as the previous frontline soldiers were all before him. Their broken corpses a constant reminder of his fate.

His mind was strangely quiet as he stared at the charging army. He slowly raised his short sword in a two-handed grip, his shield lost in the previous clash.

Just as the two forces were about to meet an image flashed through his mind. An image of his daughter playing in a field of grass, the sun glinting off of her black hair. With a smile on his face and a calm in his heart, he brought down his sword.

If his sacrifice could help secure her future, then it was one he would gladly give a thousand times over.