"That’s not an answer. You promised me that I would be fighting against the evil forces. Where are they now? Millions of leagues away, that’s where.” Poltin took a swig from his drink and said, "Well at least you still have a head on your shoulders. I hear our men are getting slaughtered out there. We are winning though. It’s a really tough battle.”

I had to stop to think about that. I think the God of Hell himself must have heard me. The following morning we had the order for attack on the main front come through for the entire regiment. Xandile, Poltin and I were all to go down to the front line and break the enemy’s main attack, while there would be a smaller attack force moving around the back to assault them from the rear.

I was petrified. This was my first actual battle. I had my trusty sword as always in its scabbard. I could hear its scream for blood. It was, after all, a sword infused with the magic. Its voice was that of a woman, high and silvery, and was demanding for its thirst to be quenched. The sense almost came over came me. Xandile was standing to my left, Poltin my right. Xandile knew exactly what I was feeling.

"Be strong. It’s thirst will be quenched before the day is out. I must warn you of your enemy, do not let them touch you. Their very touch is fatal. You have heard of premature deaths, no? Those are caused by our enemy. They enter a house under the veil of darkness, and kill whoever they wish.” These words strengthened me beyond anything else could ever. Off on the horizon rose a tumultuous roar. Then the enemy were speeding towards us. They moved faster than humanly possible, but of course, they were not human. They were of the Ickarn. These were a race that were as old of as any of the other races, but they were not originally of this world. That is all that was known about them though. Their whole history is shrouded in mystery, all we do know is they arrived in some sort of ship. These have always been contained within the Teljenn continent. This has been forbidden land for all time. The beings do not appear human like. Their likeness is more of a wraith. They act more or less the same too. They don’t walk, they float. They move faster than a speeding arrow. They are lethal. A single touch can bring death if a suitable elixir is not administered. This is a very painful death that doesn’t occur for about 3 days. Until then the victim is in great pain. They continue to fight until their inner organs are vomited out.

The only problem in this is that the elixirs are made from the grail fruit from a secluded mountain range. These fruit only appear once every 2 years. These grow on the sides of the mountains and are extremely hard to obtain. The fruit then go through a very complex sequence to produce only a single drop of this vital potion. The other flaw in this is the fact that the mountain range lies on the border between Betreen and Teljenn. The enemy have since wrested control of the mountains, and the fruit is nearly impossible to obtain.

I drew Asenguard and swung it around my head. We charged into the fray. I leaped into the centre of the unruly regiment of Ickarn. I slashed left and right, making contact with every swing. An arm was dismembered that side, a deep wound on the other. The sky was being scorched with magical fire. Lightening crackled overhead and struck members of both armies. The people it hit were immediately incinerated. A truly gruesome way to die. I ducked as a flailing Ickar nearly made contact with my head. A swift upward slash soon stopped that fiends efforts to kill me. I allowed myself a slight smile as I stole a small look behind me and saw the devastation we had visited upon the enemy.

I was almost grinning until I saw Xandile on the floor. Luckily I was classed as skilled enough to carry an elixir. It didn’t even cross my mind to wonder where Xandile’s had gone. I made him drink it all down. As soon as the last drop passed his lips he leapt up and dismembered a Ickar that was about to take me down from behind. We passed looks of gratitude and went our separate ways to continue the fight. I dove again into the fight and plunged my sword in here, ducked there, then swung wildly. A bolt of lightening barely missed me. Even though it missed, I was knocked off my feet by the blast. I quickly gathered myself to my feet and sliced at an opening carelessly left by a rookie Ickar that obviously hadn’t been on this Earth for many summers. Again I saw Xandile fall, but I was unable to help as I had used my elixir. Poltin came running up and shoved his elixir into my chest.

"Quickly now, see you at the debriefing.” With that he left and plunged his sword deep into an Ickar. A whole crowd of wraiths was in my way, but I would be damned if they would stop me from aiding my friend. I ran my fingers over the jewels. It was only for good luck but instead a beam of ruby light sprang from a ruby I had brushed my fingers on. This sliced through the whole crowd in front of me. This continued to make it’s way around the field until all but a very few had fallen. It seemed nothing had happened to them. That was until the half of their body that had been above the beam had slowly slid from their torso. This happened like a chain reaction around the field. They all fell, lifeless, into the mud that had been churned up by the long arduous fighting.

I ran to Xandile and gave him the potion again, " You’re getting old Xandile. Can’t you handle yourself in a battle any more?” A brief grin lit his face up. Again he got up and ran off and swung his sword in a great arc which sliced through the remnants of the Ickar.

"Proved you wrong eh?” The enemy was killed off completely and the victory cheer boomed off the surrounding hills. The magical among the troops fired off fireworks from the tips of their fingers. How they managed to do so was beyond me as I was too exhausted to do anything further than to collapse onto the floor and heave a sigh of relief.

"Tired, young one?” Xandile was offering his hand to get me up. I smiled with true happiness. I took his hand and heaved myself to my feet.

"Where’s Poltin?”

"Ah, that would be a problem. You don’t know anyone with an elixir, do you?”

"Where is he? He saved your life, you know?” He happened to be in the medics tent. I ran in and grasped his hand.

"How long do you have? I’ll run across the country for you.”

"A whiles yet my friend. It was such a slight blow that I have a few days yet. The problem lies in the fact that there are no more elixirs left.”

"Isn’t there anything I can do?”

"You could…………. no that is much too much to ask.”

"Anything my friend, absolutely anything.”

"Well there are grail fruit planted at different times and there is almost certainly some grail fruit in full ripeness right now. It’s a very dangerous thing to do. The mountain is constantly patrolled by the Ickar and they will be in extremely difficult places.” I almost wept with rage at my friends total disregard for his life.

"Of course I would do that. You are a true friend and someone I would give my life for.” With that I left, reached where my belongings were held, packed then left. I took the swiftest horse I could find. It was a a fine boned stallion bred for war. I was weeping as I rode towards the close mountains. I could only hope I would get there in time.

Xandile watched me ride off into the distance. He had a small smile on his face. He was remembering a young man riding off across the mountains to save his father from the same death Poltin was facing. He was contemplating going after me, then thought better of it. This was my moment, he couldn’t shoulder in on it. He let his smile fade as he remembered how it had all ended. He didn’t want to linger on the subject and ducked back inside to tend to Poltin.

Poltin was feverish, his forehead glistened with sweat and his face was contorted with pain. Xandile picked up the cloth, which was soaking in the bowl of water next to the bed, and mopped his brow. He flung open all the windows and opened the door wide. He cast a quick spell for lessening pain and then allowed him to relax a little. Poltin rolled around a little and moaned softly. Xandile sighed and cast another spell, this time for sleep. Poltin laid back onto the stacked pillows and slept peacefully. Xandile then allowed himself a small time for sleep as he hadn’t got much lately, with all the battling and now having to look after Poltin. Neither of them were going to get any sleep for the next few days it seemed. It broke his heart to see another like this, but there was nothing he could do to help apart from make the pain a little more bearable.