Rallying Call

Baaaaaaaaaaaahm! Baaaaaaaaaaaahm! I sound my great horn with all my might. To your stations, to battle, o valiant guard! Be proud, though your hands be war-weary and scarred! All around us, the resistance takes flight. To your stations, to battle, o valiant guard! And brace both your bodies and hearts for the fight. All around us, the resistance takes flight. Fight for each furlong, and fight for each yard! And brace both your bodies and hearts for the fight. Raise to the sky shining spear and bright sword! Fight for each furlong, and fight for each yard! Though the battle rages on through the dark of the night. Raise to the sky shining spear and bright sword! And call from your soul all the strength of the light. Though the battle rages on through the dark of the night. Fight on, 'til dawn breaks over glorious reward. Baaaaaaaaaaaahm! Baaaaaaaaaaaahm! Nothing like a few verses to get warmed up and lift your spirits a bit, especially considering what we can see coming towards us in the mist up ahead.

Gulrang stands beside me, wrapped up in a fur-trimmed coat, her long dreads blowing in the wind. She raps my chest with her gloved hand, as though to bring me back to the present, but the sound of metal on stone is barely audible through the blizzard. I'm here, Gul, I say simply. I place my horn back in my marble compartment, looped around my shoulder, and look at the defenses. The earthen fort that we grew out of the ground using Alteration gives us a certain advantage, but it won't hold up indefinitely against the Belisenki assault. The ramparts of the fortified town are covered with troopers, and the officers are starting to issue their orders. The fortress contains about 50 soldiers, who are running to respond to the alarm I've just sounded. I suppose it's no longer time for poetry… but for the song of ringing steel.

TOCSIN

393 AC