The field before Nazada is a white sheet of ice at first glance, but as we rode silently toward Nazada, the ice beneath us began to take a reddish hue. Niahla’Sen dismounted, and used her arcane powers to melt away the top layers of the snow and ice to leave a surface as smooth as glass. Forever entombed deep down in ice below us was the body of a Red Exemplar, face down, and surrounded by reddened ice. Beside him was another Red Exemplar, and another, and another, the bodies twisted and contorted, showing the signs of the battle they never survived. Barely visible in the shadows of the silent grave was the clawed hand of one of the ice monsters. Niahla’Sen cleared more of the surface of the ice, bringing more of the scene to light. More Red Exemplars covered the ground, along with several horses; the ice monster no doubt killed them, and died moments later. The bodies of several other soldiers were above the Red Exemplars. One soldier looked as if he died trying to free his feet frozen into the ice. Even more ghastly, time did not blacken these buried dead.
Pelmarco pointed out one of the Red Exemplars. His armor was different from the others, more ornate and decorative, and a red banner with a crude emblem hung from his back. Pelmarco explained that the battle at Nazada resulted in something unprecedented and never equaled: the ranks of the Red Exemplars swelling from fifty to fifty thousand by the orders of the Lunari. The Red Exemplar’s left forearm was bare and visible, showing an obvious cut. Pelmarco said the Red Exemplars in that battle honored the deaths of their comrades even before they stepped on the battlefield by cutting their forearms. They would not survive, and the bodies of the fifty thousand Red Exemplars literally paved the path to Nazada for the rest of the army.
As we sat there on the freezing field silently considering the sacrifice of so many soldiers long ago, Pelmarco pulled out his dagger and bared his forearm. He added another cut among his scars remembering his fallen comrades, and let the blood drip down to freeze on the ice. It was his oath as a Red Exemplar to remember the sacrifices from this battle.