The next evening I sent scouts ahead to scout out the land, to make sure it was clear of enemies before our army made moves of any kind. When they returned, one said a large army of guards were approaching from the south, led by a large man in a red cape. I was angered. They hadn't sent their main army after me, but probably a smaller one led by an insignificant captain. I told Inekwar to tell the troops to prepare for battle. He gathered several soldiers to himself and ran about the tented field, telling the troops to prepare. When he had completed his task, he reprted to me that all the troops were ready. As we marshalled the army on a large plain, we only had to wait about fourty five minutes before our opposing army showed up. I looked them over as they marched, and saw that their army was almost a thousand men smaller than mine was, but when they gathered on the field they spread out so their army looked larger. "Do we have archers?" I asked behind me, and one of the troops there nodded. "We do indeed sir." He said. I nodded. "Have all of them brought to the front rank, and do it quickly." I said. The soldier ran quickly a few ranks back in the army, and a few minutes later returned with two hundred archers behind him. They lined up in a thick line in front of the army, and set arrows upon their bows. Their leader rode forward to the center of the field, so I ordered the archers to stand down for a minute or two. I rode out to meet their commander, with Inekwar trailing closely behind me. As we met their commander in the middle of the field, he took off his dark helmet and looked me over. "Vampire." He spat. I glared at him. His eyes narrowed. "I'll see you on the field." I said before I turned and rode back to my army, which was patiently waiting behind us. When we arrived there, I hopped off of my horse and stood with the front rank. A few of the troops looked at me in confusion. "What're you doing?" they asked. "Getting ready to fight." I replied. They almost smiled. Having someone who was undead and could fight and kill an entire army themselves on the front lines gave us an unfair advantage over our foe. My archers set arrows upon their bows, and aimed at targets along the front rank of their army, or deep within. "Loose!" I shouted, and their arrows flew. In the dark, the enemy didn't see our massive arrow volley until it rained down on them. Many of the guards fell dead with arrows in their head, chest, or gut. Several more volleys were launched, and through the darkness I could see almost a hundred dead men lying on the field. Several more volleys increases that number to well above two hundred, so their enemy commander orders them to charge towards us. "Ready men?" I shout, pulling my ebony sword from its sheath and holding it up into the air. They shouted back at me, and I started running across the field to attack our enemy. My men followed me, eager to meet the guards in battle. As we came into fighting range, I stabbed out with my blade, easily piercing the armour a guard wore. He dropped backwards, but was replaced by another. He swung his sword at me high, which I blocked. Faster than he'd ever seen, I grabbed his sword's blade with my hand, thrown it downwards and stabbed him through the chest with my blade. I beheaded the next guard that ran at me, and all of their guards avoided me. I continued cutting down guards around me, but they all cowered in fear, except for their captain, who charged at me angrily. He swung at my chest, and I sidestepped his attack. I swung around behind him and smashed the hilt of my sword off of the back of his head. He trumbled forward and landed hard in the dirt. I turned around quickly, bringing my blade with me, and slashed through the armour of a guard. Blood arced through the air as the guard staggered backwards, and eventually fell. I turned around, and the captain was pulling himself back up. He swung his sword at my neck, and I brought up my blade to parry off his attack. Our blades clashed together, and using the one arm I held the blade with I shoved him backwards, and he fell onto his backside. He quickly jumped to his feet, and I attacked him first. I faked high and swung low, slitting the side of his leg armour open. Blood bubbled over the slash, and he limped afterwards. "I'll kill you!" He shouted. I grinned. "I'm already dead." I said, before stabbing out at the faceplate of his helmet. He jumped backwards and swung his sword outwards at me, almost cutting across my chest. I walked towards him and prepared to swing, and he stabbed outwards, almost hitting my shoulder. I swung high, and he just managed to bring up his blade in time to parry my attack. Using my strength, I held his blade in place as I reached out towards his face. I ripped off his helmet and slugged him across the face. Blood streamed down from his nose, and trickled down from the corner of his mouth. I bared my fangs and sank them deep into his neck. He struggled and writhed around, but eventually stopped. When I pulled back, he sagged to the ground, dead. I wiped the blood from my face, and turned to the guards around me. I slashed another one down, and the battle slowly died down, and the remainder of the guards, about fifty or so, fled from the field. My troops gathered around me, holding blood covered swords and looking tired. "Take the dead, burn them, and rest! There is only one more battle to fight!" I said. The men cheered, wiped their blades clean and went about doing what I had ordered them to. Our first victory as an army was complete. I had only to take our surviving troops and challenge the leader of the guards to win our fellow vampire's freedom.