John Carr - Siege of Tarr-Hostigos

Captain-General Pylonnos smiled, as if he wished he were at the head of his charging Lifeguard, running down the routing Harphaxi horse. "I will try and regroup them. Then, by Galzar, we'll hit the Styphoni curs on the flank!"

"Not unless you catch those fatherless sons of a Beshtan harlot! I fear the Styphon's Own Lot of them will be in Sask before nightfall." This was exactly the kind of disaster that Kalvan was always warning about. Now it had happened to him, and despite the destruction of the Styphoni left wing, he knew he'd hear about it for years to come. The only good news was almost all the cavalry of the Styphoni left wing were either dead or in an uncontrolled rout.

At least Hestophes still had one Royal regiment, the First Royal Carabineers, and three thousand Nostori and Saski cavalry in reserve; more than enough cavalry to hold off the Styphoni reserve and to keep the remaining Harphaxi horse from out-flanking his infantry.

The Ulthori skirmishers were already busy cutting the throats of fallen Styphoni and stripping the bodies for loot. The foot of the Holy Squares were milling in confusion as their petty-captains tried to reform ranks, which had been disordered by the flood, wounded horses or panic-stricken troopers who had preferred riding down their own men to facing the Hostigi devils.

One Ktemnoi band, flying red and black colors, reformed and fired a half-hearted salvo at the Hostigi looters. Hestophes gave the trumpeter the signal to recall the skirmishers to their ranks. After an eighth of a candle, the call for General Advance was given.

Most of the arquebusiers had returned to their ranks, but some were too blood-crazed or greedy and were churned into the ground by thousands of their own charging pikemen.

It was a tactic Hestophes wouldn't have even considered with Kalvan's Royal Musketeers, with their puny bayonets. The push of pike was a tried and true tactic Hestophes knew and trusted. Let the others try their luck with dagger-pointed muskets. It wasn't for him and he was glad that Great King Kalvan had put the Royal regiments of foot at the center and left wing.

If Hestophes had been the Styphoni commander, now would have been the time to commit his reserve; instead, the Ktemnoi commander turned with his bodyguard, joining the retreating cavalry and jamming his own lines! Hestophes punched the air with his fist. The Ktemnoi Captain-General either distrusted his own reserve, or was reacting in blind, cowardly panic. The Ktemnoi, before Kalvan's arrival, were considered the best soldiers-man for man-in the Five Kingdoms; it appeared their commanders were only good when winning. Losing was a new lesson they were learning under the tutelage of the Hostigi hammer.

The Ktemnoi Holy Squares, unaware that behind them their own commander was fleeing from the battle, fired a few very ragged salvos at the charging Hostigi and then attempted an undisciplined countercharge with their own bills. The two lines met with a shock of impact that jarred the very ground. But, when push came to shove, pikes had the advantage over bills. If the two lines came to a halt, the billmen had the advantage since they could run down the files and attack the front lines of pikemen with their billhooks. Here at Ardros Field the disordered Ktemnoi were unable to halt the Hostigi pikes and were ground into hamburger by a forest of unstoppable pike heads.

As the center of the charging Hostigi pikemen began to push into the Ktemnoi center, General Hestophes ordered his remaining cavalry to swing around the Styphoni left wing, to encircle the center and force the enemy right to flee. With Hestophes and his bodyguard at the fore, the Hostigi horse thundered down the hill running down fleeing enemy foot soldiers, suddenly catching up with the retreating Hos-Ktemnoi commander as he tried to escape. Hestophes and his bodyguard were the first to reach the enemy commander; they pulled out their horsepistols and sabers and charged into the retreating enemy leader's party. He had the joy of shooting the Ktemnoi popinjay in the back of his silvered and brocaded armor, knocking him off his mount. If Kalvan can hold the center, Hestophes thought, this battle is as good as won!

Phidestros watched with shock as the hillside exploded and a huge brown wave of mud and death washed over his left wing. Entire regiments disappeared beneath the boiling wave never to appear again. Some survivors clung to trees or tried to bull their way out of the mud. Three or four thousand men, and twice that of horses, dead-in the blink of an eye! The entire battle could be lost if the Hostigi could fully exploit the collapse of the left wing's forward elements.

With mounting frustration he watched as the Hostigi heavy horse followed the mudslide with a charge into the chaotic melee, destroying the surviving regiments in detail as they tried to flee from the field of battle. Kalvan's flood had broken their morale and it would take a miracle to save the left wing from a complete rout.

His first thought was to commit his own cavalry reserve. Then his better judgment prevailed. The most his reserve would accomplish would be to pad the butcher's bill.

The Royal Lancers demonstrated no judgment at all when they saw their fellows being ridden down by the Hostigi cavalry. Only Phidestros' threat to have Mythross' Temple Guardsmen shoot them out of their saddles had kept them from rushing pell-mell down the hillside to a vainglorious death. Being shot by mere infantry qualified neither as glorious nor a grand gesture. So the Lancers had stayed put under loud and strenuous objection. After the twentieth complaint by some minor Harphaxi noble, Phidestros almost wished they had forced his hand.

While the Great Host's left battle was in serious trouble, the same could not be said about the center or right wing. At the center the Sacred Squares of Hos-Ktemnos held Kalvan's musketeers at bay despite grievous wounds made by continuing Hostigi artillery fire. Phidestros' own two batteries were still returning fire at twice the rate of the Hostigi, but they were outnumbered by the Hostigi guns at better than three to one.

Phidestros had been forewarned that Kalvan had eliminated most of the pikes in the Royal Army. He had tried to take advantage of that by having the Ktemnoi and mercenary horse charge the Hostigi center. Kalvan's artillery had performed as a meat grinder on the charging cavalry and Phidestros had been forced to recall the charge before more than a handful had reached the enemy musketeers. Still, he had a hunch that Kalvan's over-reliance on his musketeers was a vulnerability he could exploit. First, he had to somehow neutralize Kalvan's big guns. To do that, Phidestros was using the best infantry he had, man for man, as cannon fodder. The ground gained by the Sacred Squares was costing hundreds of lives, but if he could force Kalvan to withdraw his mobile batteries, or even better let the Sacred Squares overrun them and then turn them on the Hostigi-this battle could be won.

On the right wing the Ros-Zarthani had been slow to start, but now it appeared their cavalry was making real progress. Their mounted archers had already neutralized about ten of Kalvan's guns. The foot, behind two-man shields, were moving slowly and inexorably, despite horrible losses from cannon fire, toward Kalvan's forward mobile guns.

Phidestros watched through the farseer in amazement as one troop of silver-scaled cavalry advanced obliquely on one of Kalvan's mobile field pieces. Ignoring heavy musket fire, the Kataphracti (as Zarphu called them) threw javelins at the gunners who were trying desperately to slew the gun around. The Kataphracti were the Ros-Zarthani light cavalry and each one carried a sword and four javelins. He watched as the forward regiment threw flight after flight of javelins at the Hostigi gunners, finally killing most of them and forcing the rest to retreat under a hail of spears. Moments later the Kataphracti dismounted and, despite heavy musket fire, destroyed the wheels of the artillery carriages with sledgehammers and set the carriages on fire with turpentine.