"Phillip de Shoemaker had seen his regimental commander raise that same spear on many occasions over the past few weeks. Time and time again he and the other footsoldiers had charged across a field, towards the enemy battle line. Every time the Sirrai general and its minions had been waiting for them. Every time it had beaten them off. Every time there were fewer and fewer survivors. The only thing that changed was which field drank their blood. But today felt different, for it was the first time they faced their enemy outside of the confines of those accursed mountains. There would be no more ambushes, no more rockslides, no more snow, no more mud, no more raging torrents of water appearing from nowhere, trying to slow them in their advance, trying to kill them where they slept. And then there was the presence of the knights. They had not taken part in any charge since the advance gaurd had been wiped out on that first field in the mountains. In fact, they had rarely been seen on the battlefields at all... until today. Perhaps today was also the day the generals had grown tired of grinding their footsoldiers into that unbroken line that was once again waiting for them at the other side of the field. Perhaps today was the day the generals had some new plan for how to destroy the enemy reargaurd which would lead to a rapid victory and an end to the war. Perhaps today was the day the generals were going to spring a trap with a second army approaching from the north; a trap that would see this war end on an open field rather than becoming bogged down around the city of Northsea, a city that was rumoured to be surrounded by a wall 100 feet high and getting higher by the day. Perhaps today the charge, this time accompanied by the knights, would work. It was a charge they had practised on many occasions. It was simple in design - the footsoldiers would lead the race across the field, then the knights would burst through the infantry so that they could crash into the enemy lines at full force. The footsoldiers would then arrive at the enemy line just as the momentum in the knights' charge was finally spent. Ideally they would simply have to mop up a broken, demoralised, and disorganized enemy line. Not so ideally, they would arrive just in time to save the knights from being surrounded and cut down by the not so broken enemy footsoldiers. Looking across the field, he could once again see the Sirrai general. In the late afternoon sunlight, it almost looked like it was surrounded by a blood red haze. The enemy line seemed to get thicker and more tightly packed about it the closer they got. Now he could see some of the bodies lying on the ground from the previous charge. Perhaps today really wasn't going to be any different... By the gods, let the knights break them this time..." Another image in this current series detailing one small part of the Nightwars as seen from yet another point of view. For any that are interested, the story objective in the last 5 images was to present an event (or passage of closely related events in this case) but as viewed from different perspectives or points of view. Anyways, I think its time to leave the soldiers and head elsewhere in the realm and its history for a while. Thanks for viewing and for any thoughts, ideas, or comments you may leave.