"It's a great wonder, Pierce," Scythia said. "The man lets me speak."
Axebourne dropped his jaw slightly, then clamped it shut again.
"They must have known they'd been found out," Scythia said. "Or perhaps they had finally acquired their full number. On Half-Year's Eve, in the dead of night, they marched.
"Our defensive wall was little more than a scrappy redoubt made of whatever the locals had lying around. They'd never much needed protection, trusting to the narrow mountain passes to keep them safe. But they also hadn't known about the old temple and convergence buried in a sealed-off network of caves. None of us did, until after the battle.
"The gen marched on us with flaming brands held aloft, bold against our meager defenses. Archers fired upon them, but their hard skin and tight chain mail conspired to keep them safe. They set the wall ablaze. It ignited like the tinder that it was, and people went to work trying to smother sections that were aflame. The rest of us prepared to fend off the inevitable breach.
"Ijin's mountain people are hardy and stout, but they don't take direction well, even from each other. This made them the worst possible fighting force to be in charge of. Unfortunately, we didn't know that before going in, or I would have told Axie not to take the job."
Axebourne shrugged and twisted up his lips.
"There were five hundred defenders, and no sooner had the redoubt caught fire than the lot of them surged out onto the battlefield. Ijin was hemmed in by stone on three sides, and the forest had been cleared on the fourth, to deprive the enemy of easy cover. The mountain folk filled that space with their bodies, getting mixed up with the gen in the worst display of tactics I've ever seen. I still don't know what they were thinking."
Axebourne looked like he had a comment for that, but his wife just smirked at him preemptively and he stayed quiet.
"Hot blood, I suppose," Scythia said. Axebourne nodded. "And no training. Bad combination. But Axie had a brilliant plan."
The big man grinned proudly. Scythia imitated his deep voice.
"'Listen,' he said, tightening the straps of his armor. 'We could just jump in there and start slashing, but those mountain folk are getting slaughtered - I'm afraid we'd be overwhelmed. If the others were here... But they're not. I need one of your shield gems.'
"I gave it to him, and he slapped it on his chest. 'I'm gonna activate the shield, and you're gonna punch me.'
"'What?' I asked. 'Punch me,' he said, 'as hard as you can. If I Reverse Force at the right moment, the shield will throw me back instead of you, and send me flying. I can land in the middle of the gen.'
"'But you said you didn't want to be surrounded,' I said.
"'I don't want both of us to be surrounded,' he said. 'Besides, I need your strength for this idiotic plan, so I can attack from the center instead of the sides.' His plan began to take shape in my mind, for I knew almost all of his tricks, and I realized he was right."
Axebourne beamed.
"It was idiotic."
He frowned and finally almost spoke, but just barely held himself.
"But it would work. We activated the shield and its gem began to deplete, forming a hard mass of air in front of his chest. I counted down from three, and gave him all the force of every punch he ever deserved."
Axebourne allowed himself a laugh.
"His timing with Reverse Force was perfect. I watched him grin as he hurtled away from me and drew his halberd," Scythia said. She looked at her husband. "It's okay, you can say it."
"I'd always wanted to fly," Axebourne said.
"He landed right in the midst of the gen and mountain folk and sent all the force of his impact out under the feet of the latter. I'll never know how he did it that precisely."
Axebourne grinned.
"All the mountain fighters went flying up in the air, and the gen fell to their knees as if pulled down by the earth itself. Axebourne went to work, laying about with the huge head of his halberd. Gen heads flew, at least a dozen slain before the mountain folk hit the ground. I had come down from the burning ramparts to help clear a path for retreat, and the mountain fighters reluctantly began to withdraw.
"The gen soldiers looked like they were glued to the earth - no matter how much they struggled, they couldn't get free. I don't think either of us was sure how long the force enchantment would last, but Axebourne seemed to be giving it no thought. He was merely a reaper, cutting down gen in a dance of death. Some of them gained their feet and attacked, but they could not overcome Axebourne's rampage. Others tried to flee. Axebourne stomped and stuck them to the ground again. All were slain.
"By the time I'd gathered up all the defenders and gotten them into something resembling a formation, Axebourne had finished the job. Not one gen was left standing. We saw him striding back across the battlefield toward the city, smoke from the redoubt wafting out down the gentle slope. His face was grim, and every inch of him dripped with gen blood.
"He stopped before us and let his eyes pass across the faces of Ijin's fighters. He didn't even have to say a word. One by one, they began to look down in shame, knowing that though the battle had been won, they themselves had failed. When all of their eyes had been hooded, Axebourne turned and walked to the stump of a large tree. He dropped his halberd down beside him and took a seat. I dismissed the Ijinites, and went to kneel at Axebourne's side.
"We didn't speak. Even now, every battle is hard. Taking life is hard. Neither of us had ever killed so much all at once, and I could only imagine how he
