[ WP ] Write your most motivating battle speech

He was a tower, general Germanicus; a head and a half taller than the largest soldier in the legion. The ranks parted before him as he sliced through the sea of soldiers, peering into the eyes of his men as he passed. Their brows were wet with sweat and their eyes dripped terror. Fear walked among them in the ranks. 
 
 He crossed the vanguard and locked his gaze on to the enemy that stretched the horizon before him. He steered his destrier around, looked to his men, and paced along the length of the vanguard. 
 
 “ Look across. ” Germanicus shouted. “ What do you see? ” 
 
 “ I see two hundred thousand strong, sir. ” A soldier shouted from the ranks. “ We are only seventy thousand. All I see is death. ” Another one said. “ We will be slaughtered. ” A third cried from the vanguard. 
 
 “ Two hundred thousand… ” The general repeated, “ The sight of it pains me my brothers. The thought of it fills my heart with grief. ” The soldiers looked at him with furrowed brows. “ Perhaps you see two hundred thousand, yet I have but one question in response. ” He said dismounting. His scarlet cape flapped in the summer wind. 
 
 “ What is the worth of two hundred thousand pups in the sight of even one wolf? ” He said projecting his voice as far as his lungs could manage. “ Do you know what I see? I see two hundred thousand mourning mothers over the corpses of their sons. I see two hundred thousand wailing widows on their knees clutching the earth next to the blaze of funeral pyres. I hear their orphans running through their streets. I hear their echoes of the cries of their loved ones from every end of their towns and cities. ” The faces of his men brightened with new life as the stench of fear dissipated from their hearts. 
 
 “ I stand before you not just as a voice to command you, but as a brother to fight alongside with. I am a man no better than the one who protects you to your right. I am a man no greater than the one who guards you to your left. I have lived by the sword and I will die by it. ” He said, unsheathing his blade with his sword hand. He extended his shield hand towards his men and sliced the width of his palm. Germanicus clenched his bloody fist and trickled the scarlet droplets up and down the length of his blade. “ I swear it in my own blood. ” The soldiers stamped and shouted shaking the earth beneath their feet. The fierceness in their hearts kindled like a reignited ember. 
 
 The general unsheathed his sword and thrust it into the ground beneath him and removed his scabbard from his belt. “ I am but a man like you. I breathe like you. I eat and sleep and love like you. ” He held out his left and raised it above his head. Blood from his gash dripped down his wrist and trickled down his forearm. “ Most of all I bleed like you. ” He shouted. He clutched his scabbard, raised it above his head and slammed it down against his knee snapping it in two. “ My sword will not be sheathed tonight my brothers. It will bathe in the blood of my foes. Our feast awaits. ” 
 
 The men erupted in a deafening battlecry loud enough to pierce the heavens. They waved their shields and blades above their armored heads. The sunlight reflected off the steel forming a sea of glint and sparkles. They were ready. 

