Battlefield

'I'm ok.' I grunted to my companion as he crouched next to me on the battlefield.
The ragged wound in my shoulder gave proof of my lie, pulsing in time to my heart beat, staining the cloth I held there the deep red of oxygen rich blood.
'Just give me a moment.' I continued on. He nodded in agreement as tears trickled down his face past his nose and off his chin in drops which mirrored the crimson ones coming from my wounds.
'We had a good run didn't we?' I said, before gasping as a jolt of pain wracked my body. Concern flashed across my friends face.
'The best.' He answered in a choked voice.
'And we were so close too. Who could have expected them to ally with the Barbarians?'
'No one.'
'Not even me it seems. Well I can die claiming I have seen everything, Barbarians fighting alongside Scathiens eh.' My chuckle rapidly deteriorated into a coughing fit which threw splatters of blood onto my friend's bloody uniform. 'Sorry about that.' I apologized, 'though something tells me you won't need that for much longer.' He shook his head mutely as further tears dampened the ground. 'Come now don't cry.' I said in as comforting tone as I could muster, 'We gave it our best; we got all the way to this god forsaken field, eh?' Again he nodded in silence, 'And that's better than any other rebellion can claim.' This was more said to me than him but he nodded anyway. 'My only regret is that we didn't overthrow that son of a bitch.'
'My lord,'
'Don't call me; a broken, bleeding, soon-to-be-dead, tired, old man, your lord. It's demeaning of you.'
'My lord,' He continued on anyway, 'I must say that it has been an honor to fight alongside you.'
'Please,' desperation dripped from my words like the blood from my lips. 'The honor was mine. You have stood beside me, through thick and thin, pitched battles and ambushes. I must thank you my friend, my oldest dearest friend, for being there beside me whenever I have needed you.' I reached for his hand; he grasped mine in his own. I tuned my head to look at the sun setting over the battle field covered with the dead of both sides. Looking from the vantage point my friend had dragged my body to I could see the mountains to the far west. Nodding in the direction of the mountains I said 'Remember the village from whence we came?'
'I do my lord.' He answered and this time I didn't rebuke him.
'And remember how the sun would hit the tops of the mountains?'
'Yes my lord.'
'May haps it would have been for the best if we had stayed there eh.'
'No my lord.'
'No? Look at us, defeated with me dying and you soon to be alone in the world.'
'But if we had done nothing, if we had just gone on after what they had done to us. Well I don't think I could have lived with myself.'
'Ah yes, vengeance. It is said that if you go to seek vengeance then you must dig two graves,' I scanned the battle field,' Something tells me they may need a few more than that.' Again my laughter trailed off into bloody coughs but this time they went for much longer.
Once I finally stopped I looked into his I eyes and spoke,
'I have one thing to ask of you.'
'What is it lord?'
'I have been thinking of the future, of this barbarian alliance and of us the rebels.' I paused for a few ragged breaths, my loyal subject waited patiently for me to continue. 'If we attack now as I expect you will want to then you will be defeated. With their new barbarian allies the Scathiens are to strong and you are too few.'
'But my lord' He said with some confusion, 'It is your decision to make not mine.' I looked at him and simply said
'Not for much longer, you are my successor and will lead on once I am gone. All I am doing now is giving you advice while I still can' I saw his eyes begin to dampen and knew that he had been desperately clinging to the hope that I wouldn't die no matter what, a foolish sediment considering the evidence to the contrary pumping out of my body with each uneven heartbeat. 'Listen,' I continued on 'I need you to be strong, I need you to lead our force. Now here is what I have to say: the alliance with the barbarians will last as long as there is a common foe. No common foe means no alliance and with their proximity to each other the resulting fight with be costly on both sides. That is the time to strike. Until then you must lead, hid away in the forests of Alvon and don't let the rebellion disband. In time you will lead them to victory and can avenge me, until then you must wait. Do you understand?' He nodded dumbly, digesting the sudden wealth of information slowly. 'That's good' I murmured, suddenly exhausted from my outburst, the battle just fought, my time leading the rebellion and with life in general.
'Please don't go my lord.' He begged
'I am afraid I must,' I  sighed wearily 'Please ge the bastard for my.'
'I will my lord, I will'