Injured but not ready to Give Up

He sat up moments later, at least to him it seemed like moments. He was no longer on the ground, he was no longer in his full uniform. It was no longer dawn, it must've been midday, "Lay back down, son," A familiar voice made him turn and see brother Yonathan standing near him, "You took quite the punch, your right eye has a nasty bruise around it," Reynold wasn't the only man recovering.

"Yeah," He touched his face, "I can feel that."

"You are out of order for the next few nights."

"What do you mean? I have a duty to do," The young man went to stand up before the cleric shook his head, "What do you mean?"

"You are injured, there is no point risking your death when you could do much better in a few nights," The young man looked ahead blankly, "A good legionnaire knows when to let themselves have a moment of rest, go back to sleep if you need it."

"What if they need me?"

"If they are to die?"

"Yes."

"Then you are to die too if inaction is your choice."

"Where are my weapons?"

"By your bedside, son," Reynold located his weapons and nodded before lying down once more, "Besides, what is the worst that could happen?"

"They are competent, I am just a rookie."

"That is correct, but you are still a brilliant military mind."

"Thank you, brother Yonathan."

"Praise is given when praise is deserved," The night would go smoothly, regardless of his presence, he had only been there for two nights and it isn't like in the past his absence condemned them to death. Reynold closed his eyes as his body begged for more sleep and it soon got what it wished for.

The next days and nights went smoothly as Reynold began to open his eyes and his body took advantage of the long rest to sleep and he volunteered to run equipment when brother Yonathan or the other infirmary cleric would allow him to. He was still useful, trying to be at least, in his injured state. He was getting used to the front and being part of the war against darkness was something Reynold had dreamed of ever since the Dawn Legion rode into his town and saved him.

The horns woke him from his sleep as the three commanders of the front shouted orders. Reynold put his uniform on correctly and grabbed his weapons. Something didn't feel right, something was happening, "Fall back!" The order sent a chill down his spine, the darkness was pushing them back and that could only mean that those men were getting killed, "Brace!" The tactic was one he had studied when he was a child taking his father's books, feigning retreat before bracing and pushing back to try and turn the tides. It was a last resort, was the front really going for a last resort? He ran out of the tent and saw something horrible. There were too many eyes, too many mouths, too many bodies, but this time two of them were marching towards them. Two flesh behemoths marched with the dead dropping from their backs and getting up before entering a frenzy to charge the lines. The left behemoth was ablaze but the ballistas still needed to hit the second one. Grabbing a bag of sunlight powder from the store that the runners moved up and down from the clerics to it, he covered a bolt with it as the bright light made it hard to look at. He took aim, struck it, breathed, and fired.

A bright, white bolt flew through the sky and struck the unignited beast as fire began to spread to the decaying bodies' hairs before an oil shot was fired at it. He reloaded and drew his blade only to witness another horrible event. The wave of dead threw themselves at the lines as the behemoths lost form and all of the bodies that made them up broke into a frenzied charge at once. The line held for moments before the first breach happened. Reserves moved to seal the first, but the second demanded attention as the beasts, both on fire and not, charged into the walls. A third breach made the men have to divert more force as the horde kept coming, more and more bodies to have to be cut down and put out of unlife. Reynold didn't know what to do, but something was calling him to the sunlight powder as he dropped his crossbow and drew his sword.