The moon traced its way over the sky and the dawn made its way to greet them with its grim destiny. It came with a crimson sky that looked as if it was portending the upcoming battlefield, soaked with the blood of countless men. Idelle knew that it was supposed to mean good luck, but she couldn't help but shudder at the ruby clouds that lurked above her.

She didn't have much time to think about the upcoming fight as the commanders appeared a moment later and ordered the troops out of the trenches. While the commanders rode fine horses and wore sparkling armor, their men swayed on their feet, covered in frozen mud and mismatched with leather and dented steel, looking more like a collection of children playing dress up than soldiers.

Heart in her throat, Idelle pulled herself up and out of the trenches and onto the spongy grass. She had been fighting for a year now, yet she still felt that burn of fear through her veins at the start of every battle. She was no one special. She had no skills that were above what anyone else had. She could very well die in the first few seconds. But she also knew that she had survived this long. And she didn't have any plans to stop now.

In front of them, they surveyed the battlefield. The sun rose to one side, revealing in the dim dawn light the fire mages standing in large clusters like gargoyles on a cathedral. Their black cloaks flapped in the breeze and the hood covered any feature that might have been visible. They were caped menaces, like dark ghosts. To contribute to the hellish scene, each cluster of mages stood around a massive bonfire. The orange flames soared into the sky, devouring the trees that the mages had ripped from the earth to serve their purpose. The smoke drifted with the breeze, crossing over the still puddles on the pastureland and blowing into the trenches. It stung the eyes of the Wynherst soldiers, putting tears there that might well stay for days to come.

The Wynherst commanders rode out in front of the lines on their horses. Each section had their own commander, and Idelle's section had a bear of a man with a voice loud enough to reach heaven and back.

"We're going to give them hell and show them that magic isn't the true power in this world! We have strength and might, and we'll use it to destroy them! Show those Glastonbex rats what a Wynherst man can do!"

With that, he swung his arm over his head, signalling the attack. As one, the soldiers shouted their fiercest cry, their throats burning as they ran after their commander's horse and toward the fire mages waiting for them amongst the smoke.

The clash was horrible when the two armies met. The mages let loose fireballs that roasted those in the front lines, but the Wynherst archers fell mages from a distance. The chaos was enough to allow Wynherst soldiers close enough to engage in battle, but without the tactic of dousing the bonfires, they wouldn't last for very long against the Glastonbex magic.

Those who knew about the mage's limitations immediately targeted the bonfires. Idelle was among these men. She ducked as a fireball flew at her head, and twisted away from another blast of fire that came after her as she dodged. She slithered in the mud, getting herself as wet as possible to reduce the risk of being burnt if she was hit.

With a round of fire heating her skin as it got close, Idelle slammed into a nearby fire mage with her shoulder. She hit him right in the sternum, knocking him backward. This gave her an opening to reach the fire, which she took advantage of as her comrades fought off the other fire mages. In the few seconds that she had, Idelle stabbed her sword into the fire, and used the leverage to spill some of the logs out into the mud. The bigger tree trunks were almost impossible to move, which meant that Idelle and a few others had to sling mud onto them until the fire was doused. It cost the Wynherst army a handful of men, but once the fire was low enough that the mages began having difficulty with their magic, they were able to make up the losses as the battle turned toward hand-to-hand combat.

Not that the mages were easy to defeat without their magic.

Idelle grappled with one as soon as the fire was out. The mage grabbed her around the neck, forcing her backward and immobilizing her sword. She was forced to trip him with a step behind his leg, but they both fell to the ground. They struggled in the mud, each gaining the upper hand for only a few seconds at a time. The mage managed to straddle Idelle, raising a twisted dagger out of his robes and driving it down toward Idelle's chest. She snatched his arm and they began a struggle to see who was stronger. The mage had the advantage, and for a second Idelle thought this might be the end of her. The knife slowly descended until it pressed against her skin, breaking through and bringing sharp pain with it.

But then a sword slid through the mage's neck, almost hitting Idelle. His blood sprayed across her face and she had to turn away as his body slumped against hers. She managed to look back just in time to see a Wynherst soldier hurrying off to fight another mage.

Pushing against her own mage, she managed to scramble back to her feet and wipe her arm across her face. The blood smeared, but she could finally see again. She spit out what had gotten into her mouth and located her sword before launching back into the battle.

It was a long and hard day, and the hours they fought slugged by. The sun was high in the sky and Idelle's arms burned from battle. Just holding her sword was exhausting, and everyone was slowing down as the battle took its toll. Even with magic as their main weapon, it still exhausted the mages to use that power endlessly.

The bonfires were harder to put out than Idelle was used to. Perhaps using the knowledge from previous battles, the mages had learned that bigger logs and tree trunks prevented the Wynherst army from destroying the fire so easily. It took a lot of time and manpower to put them out, and usually cost them many lives. Even hours later, they had only put out a handful. It didn't look good, and the commanders had already ordered a few of the battalions to hide behind cover while resting up.

Idelle hid behind a low stone wall that had once divided a farmer's land from his neighbor's. Next to her was a line of men that had been in the trenches with her earlier. They all were soaked in blood, sweat, and mud. They shivered despite the heat that was built up in the battle, and they stared at nothing as they tried to get their bodies to rest as fast as they could before they had to run back into the fight.

A commander, hidden behind a nearby shack, shouted at his men. "You've got ten more minutes," he said. "Then we're going back!"

The soldiers sighed, and some even attempted a quick nap, huddled against the stone. Idelle decided to watch the battle, wanting to know the positions of everyone when they had to join back in. She wasn't going to let her guard down, even for only a few seconds. It could mean the difference between life or death.