Leir moved around an incoming pike as nimbly as he could with a numb leg. But instead of seeing it reset for another thrust, he heard the gut wrenching sound of flesh yielding to steel. His head swam as it turned. As if time was gripped in a stranglehold everything slowed down. He saw the pike go out through the boy's back.
The flag snapped in the air. The feathers of an arrow brushed slowly by Leir's cheek, almost caressing his skin. He couldn't reach to grab it. The head thumped through the boy's chest. In disbelief the Champion's eyes were transfixed by the sight. It should have been easy to believe. Hundreds had died already, their bodies trod underneath the feet of friend and foe alike.
The ground was awash in blood. Leir's pike slipped from his grasp. The clatter was lost amongst the cheers which burst from the troops of Ramga's aggression. With the noise motion and time were released. Everything came back into focus with a peal much like that of a bell.
Leir caught the boy before he hit the ground. Blood spilled from between blued lips, teeth biting down in a defiant snarl. His hands were scrambling over Leir's, trying to find the shaft of the banner he had carried through hell. From the bubbles of blood frothing down the sweat dripped cheeks the boy tried to speak.
"Kill...Kill them all."
Tears burst from the Champion's eyes. The line was closing around him as he stood with the limp body in his arms. The rank behind took him, steadying the riddled corpse on their shoulders as he was passed back, away, ever back to the rear guard.
Leir crouched and seized something in his clawshield. A fennemor still untouched by blood. No one had gotten close enough to the standard bearer for it to be of use. He was speaking before he knew what words were taking shape on his lips. He grabbed the man in front of him, names bursting from his mouth in a whisper.
He was reciting the names of his lineage, from a time before Eibhear, before his grandfather, all the martyrs which had carved the name of his house and pride into the land with their boots and their blades and blood.
A pike came in for his throat. He ducked his head, snarling out another name, and broke the shaft with a mighty blow of his forearm.
"Eibhear!" he cried. The voice crashed from his mouth, deep and booming like waves on a cliff. "I am Flaithriaoh! I am son of Eibhear!"
He shoved elves out of his way. The sylvans on either side were bowled over as Leir took another step forward. Pikes bristled. The Champion shook with a palpable rage and with his eyes closed the final words burst from his bloodied mouth, sundering the air in a roar that rattled helmets.
"I am Leironuoth!"
His banner shot back into the air and with an explosion from the claw shield the fennemor left his grasp. A stunned pikeman, terror stricken, took the tomahawk directly in his forehead. The sylvans around the Champion exploded with a warcry and surged foreward.