Before The Slaughter

“We’re sitting ducks down here,” Sergeant-Major kept saying. A nervous man for a soldier, but I didn’t say so. Instead, I maintained the legendary silence which had served me well throughout my career.

I raised my telescope and saw the dust-plume of a single horseman.

Sergeant-Major saw it too, and without a glass. “That’ll be Lord Leighton’s galloper, I expect,” he said unnecessarily.

I leaned in the saddle and glanced back at the column behind us, the glitter of harness and the immense cloud of dust raised by so many hooves.

Sergeant-Major may be nervous, I thought, but he’s right.

Friday Fictioneers

9 thoughts on “Before The Slaughter

  1. Aptly named. It’s crazy how calm things are before everything goes to shit. Great story man. The tension was there and was great for carrying the story to… where we all know it goes. Keep it up man!

  2. It never seems to end well when an army is defending from the valley. You convey a mood of hopeless inevitability, even in the heart of a veteran who wants to believe in his commander.

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