Enemy

"I don't like this."

Aurreiku had been peering across the dark expanse which unfolded before their fosse. He dropped back down and looked to his friend, disconcerted.

"Relax, Aurry. Nothing new. They come, we beat them back, wait a couple of weeks and beat them back again. For years!"

"No. No...No," Aurry shook the dismissiveness off. "This is different, Poz. It's been too long."

Pozik stopped oiling his bow, taking his friend in.

"Nothing. No drums. No fires. No noise at all, Poz. For weeks! We have to get out of here."

"You need to pull yourself together, friend." Poz pulled his partner closer, whispering sternly in his ear. "You're going to get us both flogged!"

Aurry's wide eyes had been searching for some understanding in his cohort's counsel. They now sank with the realization that there'd be none.

Pozik loosened his grip, sighing. "Listen. Aurry. We ship out in six weeks and we won't need to come back for a long time. It'll be somebody else's turn to sit in the filth and the mud and the cold waiting for those assholes to rush these trenches again..."

"Etsai!" Somebody called in the distance.

Enemy

The cut sprang to life, soldiers to and fore grabbing sword and bow, clamoring amongst themselves, pressing against the earthworks making ready to meet the foe in the darkness.

The brush cracked across the void in the forest some 400 meters hence.

Silence.

And then great bursts of light. Deafening sound. Missiles shrieked through the air, pulverizing swaths of earth, sending it skyward with men and remnants of men. It was a different enemy now....and they would not be beaten back.