𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐒 {spirit animals}

17. Battlefield of Legends

Ylva Hunter stared at the Amayan girl as she climbed down from her mare, "Talona, think this through on a logical level, will you?"

"I already have," She drew the crossbow that was slung across her shoulder, "We have two options right now. Walk in there and do what we've trained for weeks to do, or leave and let them destroy Erdas without even putting up a fight. I've made my choice, and I think everyone here has made the same one."

"That's not what I meant," Ylva said in warning, "These are the Darkcloaks. It's not the militia, or even the conquerors. Every one of them is here to fight, and every one of them is fighting for the kill. They have an army."

Ylva had fought and killed before, but never on a battlefield with this many enemies. An assassination with one target where you always have the upper hand is one thing. Charging into a prepared troop of Darkcloaks was another.

It was Kolin who spoke up, "And as Talona said, we have six Legendary Beasts. Honestly, this entire battle is probably in our favor right now."

He said it so casually, Ylva turned to him to shoot him an incredulous look, "That's good enough for you? A probably is good enough for you to be confident? That's not enough for us to win this, especially when you've clearly never been in any death-warranting fights before!"

"What, like you have?" Kolin scoffed, "The Greencloaks brought us to Greenhaven to train for this because none of us have seen this before. We survived that attack on Greenhaven without even being prepared, what's the difference now?"

If only you knew, Ylva rolled her eyes. No one seemed to really pick up the one, giant invisible problem staring them in the eye. Pegasus, on the other hand, seemingly did, snorting slightly as the winged stallion tossed his head.

"Alright, I'm going to spell it out to all you idiots," Ylva sighed in exasperation, "Super fun survey time; The Attack on Greenhaven Edition, question 1. Who here actually killed any of the Darkcloaks during that fight?"

"I did—"

"Other than you, Rae. You're fine, and therefore now irrelevant in the conversation," Ylva waved her arm dismissively and watched the others expectantly, "Well?"

An uncomfortable silence washed through the group.

"Super fun survey, Attack on Greenhaven Edition, question 2," Ylva crossed her arms, "Suppose I stabbed a Darkcloak in the chest and he's now bleeding out. Say I dragged him over here and offered a prize of twenty gold coins to whoever finished him off. Any takers?"

"I mean, I could use the money—"

"No one cares Rae! You're still irrelevant to the conversation!" Ylva snapped, "Anyone else?"

Another long, uncomfortable silence.

"Point proven," Ylva raised an eyebrow, "We survived the fight at Greenhaven because they retreated, not because of ourselves. Any Darkcloaks that died were courtesy of our animals, and not to sound arrogant, but also myself. I hate repeating things, but the Darkcloaks are fighting to kill. A vast majority of us are not. If we pick a fight now, we're setting ourselves up to lose."

Ylva remembered her first assassination. It was a ridiculously easy job, looking back now, but she had nearly died because she hesitated at the kill. Killing wasn't what old stories of honorable warriors told; it was heartbreaking and took a part away from you. Took a part away from the eleven-year-old girl who first took a man's life.

"I have no complaint about flying into battle," Ylva continued, eyes narrowing, "But we need to remember we're heading into a bloodbath. Detach any shred of human emotion you possess for the duration of this fight. There are no true heroes on the battlefield, so don't expect to be one. You're either a killer or the killed, the winner or the dead. Hesitation will be your worst enemy."