A Day Without Death

Carl walked out before the army of the Empire of the Holy Proclamation with his arms raised up to the heavens. He had a cone in one hand.

            “Are you there, God? It’s me, the only survivor of half a million of the empire’s finest.” He wore his brand-new green tabard over the standard armour of a Crann defender. “No? Then I’ll speak to your representatives.”

            Danielle stood by the boy’s side, looking at ten thousand shivering warriors in red. He wanted to talk the soldiers out of the battle before it started.

            “You know you’ll die, don’t you?” Carl’s blue eyes scanned the soldiers on the front line of the imperial army. “You’re cold. Tired. All you have against the mighty walls of Leonor and the deadly trees are some swords and shields. That’s all the mighty emperor Righteous Cane gave you.” He paused to let the men from his homeland process what he’d said.

            “Does your armour even cover your legs? My armour didn’t. The soldiers of Crann are head to toe in the best armour. You wear the cheapest rubbish the empire could kit you all out in. Your eyes are open. Your arms.” Carl paused again.

            “Did you volunteer for this? I didn’t. I was conscripted to fight. Except that’s not true is it. You’ll fight, but in the end you’ll die. Emperor Cane knows that. Ten thousand men could never take Leonor. He knows that but he sent you anyway. You’re disposable. I was disposable. Why?”

            The legate, commander of the imperial force, was resolute. His golden armour covered him head to toe, unlike the rest. Blue eyes blinked by the thousands as the heads in galea helmets looked at each other. Doubt was taking root.

            “You weren’t sent to defeat the army of Crann. You were sent to chip away at them. That’s it. You were sent to die so that the next army would have fewer Cranners to fight. Do you want to die?” Carl ignored the legate. “Your family, if you have any, get a single gold coin if you die. Is that all you’re worth?

            I don’t have any family. My mother was a woman from Eira Mynydd. My father was an officer who raped her for a shot at a blonde son. That’s me. Then my mother had a child with brown hair. Under the laws of our beloved emperor that was unacceptable. The baby was murdered. My mother was murdered. That is the empire you will die for.

            Unless.” He held up a hand to quiet the imperial commander, who had opened his mouth to dismiss Carl. “Unless you decided that you want to live. Unless you decided that arrogant men like the golden officer here aren’t worth your life. Queen Malin and her people don’t want to fight you if they don’t have to.”

            “Listen men-” the legate tried to yell to his army.

            “I’M NOT FINISHED.” Carl roared through the cone at the man who would send imperials to fight what was left of the people of Crann. “I have a deal for anyone smart enough to take it. Throw down your weapons and armour and you will be allowed to live here in Crann.”

            “LIAR.” The legate roared as if he had his own cone to shout through. “It’s a trick to kill us. We are not fools that would fall for such nonsense. You have been sent to trap gullible idiots.” Pink cheeks flapped as he yelled.

            Carl stepped closer. “What were you promised sir? What prize will you claim if you take Leonor? A title? Land? A fortune? The men who die for you get nothing. The men who are disfigured in battle get nothing. They would die for nothing. I offer them a chance to live.

            THINK ABOUT IT. FIGHT TODAY AND YOU MIGHT LIVE TO FIGHT TOMORROW. I DOUBT IT. SURRENDER AND YOU MIGHT JUST DIE OF OLD AGE.”

            “He’s lying. Enough of this. Attack!”

            The men behind him didn’t move.

            “It sounds like your soldiers want to hear more.” Carl smiled. “Nothing is simple about surrender. You’ll be traitors to the empire. You could never go home. Reality is that if you die here, you’d never go home anyway.

            Do you see the trees on the hill to the east? Those were imperial soldiers. Do you see the trees that surround the walls? Those were soldiers as well. If you die in battle against Crann, you’ll become a tree that defends it forever.

            I was saved by this woman.” Carl put his free hand on Danielle’s shoulder. “She was whipped for saving my life. Danielle cared more about me than any imperial officer. I was sent here to die by an emperor none of us will ever meet. I was saved by a woman who had no reason to care if I lived or died.

            I want you all to live. This isn’t your war. This isn’t even a battle you can win. Your body will never go home if you choose to fight.”

            “Why should we trust you?” A voice from the front-line broke Carl’s latest pause for thought.

            Danielle took the cone from the boy beside her. “Because your other choice is death. Death in battle isn’t glorious. It’s bleeding out while your brothers step over your body to take a stab at the enemy.”

            “We have no choice,” yelled another soldier in red. “Betraying the emperor is death.”

            “Only if you go back. If you lay down your weapons and armour you are free to leave over the southern border to make a new life for yourselves in foreign lands.

            If you let us tattoo your hands with the Crann Oak, then you are free to make camp here outside the walls of the city in safety. Isn’t that better than death?”

Danielle’s brown eyes met Carl’s while they waited for a decision. If the red army decided to attack, the duo would be the first to die.

            Every helmet in the imperial army turned this way and that. Time slowed as everyone shivered. The legate argued passionately with his men, back turned to Leonor. A handful of others sided with him.

            Fists flew.

The legate was knocked on his back. Booted feet kicked him until he stopped moving. Other men joined him in the muddy snow.

            “Looks like they want to hear more.” Carl bit his lip.

            “Make it good.”

            “I’m always good.” He winked at her. “I take it you want to hear more?”

            “We do.” A centurion with grey stubble stepped forwards. “We can’t go back to the empire without destroying Leonor. We don’t have the numbers to take the city. Explain the other options for us.”

            Carl nodded. He smiled and coughed. “Thank you for listening.” He raised the cone to his lips and roared to ten thousand men. “As your wise centurion says, fighting is suicide, so is turning back. Your other options are to remove your imperial markings and scatter across the border into Sliabh and beyond. If you wear your arms across the border the army of Sliabh will think you declare war. It’s not certain death, but that’s a risk.

            “Or.” He paused yet again. “Surrender your weapons and armour to me. Allow me to tattoo you with the Crann Oak so that the people of Crann know you can never return to the empire. Make camp here and earn the trust of Queen Malin. In time you might find a new home, as I have.”

            “What would we eat? It’s winter.” The centurion’s scepticism cut through the boy’s speech.

            “You must have brought supplies to lay siege to Leonor?”

            “Not enough to last the winter.”

            “Yet more proof that you were never here to do anything but die, isn’t it? If you hunt in the woodland to the west, you will find animals to hunt. Avoid the woods to the east, they’ll eat you.”

            “What?” The centurion scoffed.

            “The trees that surround the walls of Leonor are cursed. They feed on human flesh. They came from the eastern forests. Each one around the wall and along the borders was an imperial soldier. Feel free to count them. They are only one of the reasons none of you would have survived.”

            “What’s to stop the Cranners from slaughtering us the moment we hand over our weapons?”

            “Nothing. Except they let me live among them. They gave me their uniform after I proved myself. I should have died.” Carl spread his arms.

            “What do we do with the legate and those who will not agree to the terms?”

            “Give them to us and they will rot in the dungeons beneath the castle. I already negotiated for their lives if enough of the army saw sense.”

            “Why?” The centurion’s tone was still harder than granite, colder than the winter’s day. He stepped towards the negotiators with his pink palms raised.

            “Because we don’t believe you deserve to die,” said Danielle. “We want to avoid bloodshed if possible.”

            “We?”

            “Carl and me. My name is Danielle Longbow.”

            “I am Centurion Otto Silvanus.”

            Danielle held out her arm. Otto hesitated but took her hand and shook it.

            “You have a strong grip,” he said.

            “So do you.” Calluses on their hands rubbed together. “Do you think you can convince your legions to lay down their weapons instead of their lives?”

            “Can you convince your people not to slaughter mine if we leave ourselves defenceless?” Silvanus’ grey blue eyes tore into Danielle’s, searching for deceit.

            “I can’t promise you that. I can promise I will try to stop them. If you want to be certain they won’t attack you then you should leave over the southern border.”

            “Where would we go?”

            “Wherever your feet took you.” Danielle shrugged. “I don’t have answers for that. We struggled to agree terms with Queen Malin before coming to you. Honestly, I just don’t want another massacre to haunt my dreams. I don’t know what you’ll do if you stay but it has to be better than death doesn’t it?”

            “Can I borrow your device?” Asked the centurion. Carl handed him the cone.

            Otto hung his head. He turned around. Ten thousand men waited for his decision. “Men of the empire. We were sent here to die. Fuck that.” Murmurs of agreement stopped him saying more. “It is up to all of you to decide whether you will gamble your life at the mercy of the people of Crann or across the border in Sliabh.

            If you choose to go south, leave your armour and your uniforms at the feet of Danielle Longbow. If you stay, leave your weapons with her.

            Decide.

            Those who are leaving stand to my left.” He held up his right arm, facing the men. “Those who stay, stand to my right.” He dropped his right arm and held up his left.

Talking amongst themselves for what felt like hours, the soldiers split themselves into two groups. More were leaving than staying. Danielle couldn’t blame them.

            Shields marked with the crest of the empire, red uniforms and galea helmets were piled on one side of Carl. Bows and arrows, swords and spears amassed on the other side.

            Danielle took the cone back from Otto. “Thank you for choosing peace. I wish those of you who are leaving good luck. Be careful as you cross the river, there are monsters in it. Stick to small groups as you cross the mountains.

            Those of you who are staying, I hope you have patience. Thank you. To get through this day without death is more than I had hoped for. If you make your camp you will see us take away these weapons and armour. After that, you will be left alone here, alive.”

            Seven thousand men, without their shields, helmets, or insignia, departed.

The sun set. Darkness fell upon the world. Men who had come to make war made camp. Danielle stayed with them. Carl had Crann guards take away the men who had resisted. Boys with wheelbarrows took away the stockpiles of weapons and armour.

            Doubt and fear were plain on every face around the many fires.

            “I hope we can trust you.” Otto ate bread dipped in snowmelt broth.

            “I hope my people won’t whip me again for saving imperial lives.” Danielle smiled.

            Muscular men, used to marching many miles a day wearing armour and carrying heavy packs, looked at her.

            “We battled on the walls of Leonor for hours until I didn’t know who I was stabbing anymore. People I knew were screaming, my enemies were screaming. I was covered in blood. I was tripping over people who were dying. I was standing on the dead.

            Songs tell us war is glorious. Fight well and be remembered.

            It’s bullshit.”

            Imperial’s eating their supper looked up from the meal.

            “There’s no glory. I didn’t hate the people I killed. They didn’t hate me. We were just killing each other because we were told to. Because we had no other choice. Our leaders have choices. My queen, your emperor.”

            “That’s true.” Otto nodded. “I’ve killed many people I didn’t hate.”

            “Do you have nightmares?” Danielle asked. “Do you see their faces when you close your eyes? Do you feel their blood on your face in the night? Do you hear them begging for mercy? Can you smell the stink of death?”

            Grim faces nodded.

            “We should go Dan,” Carl pulled at her sleeve.

            “You go back to the house. Tell Lupita and Fabian that we got through the day without any deaths.”

            “People will talk about you if you stay here.” Carl frowned.

            “They talk anyway. You’re the imperial who saved the queen. I’m the Cranner who betrayed her people for an imp. Go home. I want these men to know I trust them. If we can’t trust each other, this whole thing will go to shit.”

            “Be good to her boys, she saved your lives.” Carl pointed a finger at every man he could see by the firelight.

            “We know, Carl, we will.” Otto smiled.