Henriad (History Plays, Book 5)

6: all that I can do is nothing worth

Kate

We change and suit up in mostly silence. The others were cocky but Coach Fletcher and I well subdued their eagerness. I insist that we cannot take the Bards lightly. Nor shall we expect an easy victor.
"Their starting line," Coach says, handing me a piece of paper.
"What?" I look up.
"Two team members are injured," he says, shrugging, "The show must go on apparently."
"Six men? They're going to stay on the ice the entire time. That's insane," I say, as Alice snatches the paper from me.
"They'll be dead by the end of the first period," Montjoy, my fellow center, scoffs.
"How can they think they're going to win this?" I ask, looking in the direction of the other locker room. "What must he be saying to them?"

Harry

"The fewer men, the greater share of honor. And if it is a sin to covet honor, then I am the most offending soul alive. I do not wish, one more man here with us today. If any of you have not the stomach to fight, depart now. I'll buy your ticket home," I stand in the center of our small circle, slowly I remove my glasses, folding them, and looking my men in the eye.
"We would not like to lose in your company, if you fear defeat with us. Someday, when we are all home, we shall bare our sleeves, and show the wounds we got when fought upon this day, those of us that live to see old age, we shall show our scars, sand say 'These wounds I had, old men forget, yet all shall be forgotten one day. But not these wounds, these feats he did this day.
"Our names, familiar in the other's mouths as household words, Harry, Jon, Warwick, Rey, Fluellen, Thomas, our names shall be freshly remembered. Our story shall be taught by good men to their sons, and a year shall not go by that we shall be remember. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, for he today that sheds his blood by me shall be my brother, this day shall those who were not hear oft think themselves accursed they were not hear, holding their manhoods cheap while any speaks, that fought with us upon this day!"

Kate

"They're screaming," Isabel says.
"It sounds like a war cry," Orleans, our defenseman, says, frowning a little.
"I did say they were crazy," I say.

Harry

"Ready?" Coach asks, leaning back in the door of the locker room.
"All things are ready if our minds are so," I say, a smile now on my face.
"We could fight this night alone I wouldn't mind it," Thomas says, just to me, a smile on his face. I squeezing him around the shoulders.
"You scared them with your fucking war cry," Coach Bill says, but the old man is grinning at us.
"It wasn't planned," I say, letting the others walk out first.
"That speech wasn't planned?" Rey asks.
"No, come on," I say, patting the back of his helmet.
Together, we walk out the tunnel. The stadium is packed, a decent amount of Bard's fans, as well as an ungodly amount of Tempest's supporters. The others have a few relatives who came. I'm the one who told Joan and the little ones not to come. It's going to get rough; they don't need to see that. I tug on my helmet, well aware of the flashes of cameras on my ruined face.

Kate

We skate out onto the ice to the resounding applause. We all warm up first while the crowd finishes filling in. We keep to our halves of the court. I spy Harry easily. He's the tallest of his team, and easily six and a half feet tall in skates. He tips his head my way but I don't know if he picks me out or not among my full team. We twenty dwarf their six ridiculously.

Harry

The coaches meet at center ice and shake hands, then wait to observe the coin flip.
My team goes back to the box and I meet Kate in the center. She's tall, especially in skates, and I wasn't prepared for her bright green eyes past the mask. They meet mine readily, of course she looks. I never have the glasses off. I pray my blind eye looks natural and resist the urge to blink.
"You're short a few men," she says, a smile tipping her wide mouth.
"I have the men I need," I say, smiling though I don't wish to.