Joel Shepherd - Haven

He fitted an arrow, turned left across the galloping formation, and drew with his left hand across his body. It was his weaker side, but not by much. Several men closest had shields raised on their left side, so he selected a man further on and put an arrow through his neck. Around him, fellow talmaad did the same, arrows peppering shields and horses, some falling, riders behind swerving to dodge tumbling men and animals.

Cavalry on this side of the formation quickly began to break up, unwilling to run straight while being picked off by the parallel formation of serrin riders. Suddenly a group of Lenay cavalry were breaking and charging directly into the serrin line, scattering them. Errollyn shot one man through the shoulder, turned quickly across two more, drew and shot another man through the back. And then there was a forest patch forcing a merging of the two lines of cavalry, and things became crazy.

He dodged past incoming cavalry, ducked a close swing, shot a Torovan through the chest, then drew a blade to gallop fast through a gap between five more, deflecting two swings as he went. The next gap abruptly vanished, and he cut in front of a Kazeri rider on the opposing side and half-collided, his horse skittering as he fought for balance. Everywhere were galloping riders and swinging blades. He was directly in the middle of the enemy stream, and if he stayed here, he would die.

Jaryd tore into the oncoming cavalry front on, accompanied by every surviving Rhodaani, Lenay, or talmaad cavalryman who still sat ahorse. What followed was insanity. Men and horses collided at full speed, bodies were sent spinning in horrid collisions. He thrashed at enemy bodies, took blows on his shield, and dodged his frantic horse as best he could, unable to see the results of his strikes and given no time to care. He saw men killed on all sides, saw bodies rolling underhoof, saw a serrin girl who had no business attacking Lenay cavalry with a blade die horribly. Another serrin aimed her horse for deliberate impact with a group of hurtling Lenays that smashed bones and sent riders cartwheeling through the air. The serrin knew the stakes. To lose here was to lose everything.

He cut a Kazeri man through the side, took a blow across his left shoulder, then smashed a Torovan's face with the edge of his shield. He found some space, where several evading talmaad had managed to find time to fire arrows. He wheeled to protect them-accurate talmaad in this melee could kill far more quickly than he. They fired, and men racing past fell from the saddle. Some Torovans now charged the serrin, who shot, bringing down one man and toppling another's horse. Jaryd performed a fast dodge and reverse to charge up an unexpected side and take another Torovan through the neck with an overhand chop, then wheeled back to chase off several more.

More serrin joined the first group, numbering more than ten now, firing arrows in all directions, toppling enemy riders from unexpected angles, without the time to bring their shields into play. Jaryd waved his sword at others, Lenay and Rhodaani men coming to join his defence, forming a line to block those who charged the serrin, allowing the serrin to shoot sideways at men who could not defend themselves.

It lasted until a small group of Hadryn riders hit his defensive line from the side, killing Rhodaani and Lenay defenders with brutal strokes, then ploughing into the serrin before they could fire, scattering them and killing several. Jaryd chased, smashed the skull of one Hadryn who did not look behind in time, then barely dodged another who tried to do the same to him. He needed eyes in every side of his skull to counter this madness. Everywhere riders were dying who never saw what hit them. Still more fresh attacking cavalry charged in. There seemed no end to their numbers.

Rhillian led her line of talmaad galloping north, to where the far end of the wall's defenders, Ilduuri and Rhodaani Steel, were now retreating at what was more of a mad sprint than an orderly retreat. On one side the Regent's men pursued them, a running tide of feudal warriors who had suffered awfully beneath the defensive artillery and had blood on their minds. On the other side, the charging mass of attacking cavalry mostly headed past Rhillian's position to hit the gathering infantry formations upon the far side of the Dhemerhill River, but some now charged in to finish these straggling defenders, caught out of position by the rapidly changing circumstances.

Her talmaad formed two lines, one to engage the cavalry and one the infantry. Rhillian joined the infantry line, lacking confidence that her archery would be effective against fast-moving horsemen, urging her horse into space between the running Steel and the sea of pursuing infantry. Standing low in the stirrups, she drew and fired repeatedly into that running mass of men. Other serrin, more accomplished than she, manoeuvred closer and cantered before the tide, drawing and firing, killing man after man with ruthless precision, swinging back and forth for the best angle and never quite letting the next infantryman catch up with the horse.

For a short time it was a killing spree. Mounted archers against unsupported infantry was a deadly weapon. Soon the infantry wave was halting, men pausing to shelter behind their shields and form defensive walls, supported by pikes that the talmaad had no intention of charging. They simply switched targets to those who were still running and thus relatively defenceless, often cantering alongside running men with insolent disrespect and shooting until all were dead, or crouched defensively. Shield walls were harder to penetrate, but neither were they any threat to the Steel men in retreat.

Then the attacking cavalry broke through.

Rhillian wheeled fast, seeing serrin scattering before a wall of charging horsemen. Well, she'd known that by placing herself between two enormous enemy forces she was likely killing herself and everyone with her, but the situation was what it was. They'd bought enough time for some of these defenders to make it back to their main formation. Now for the price.

She stowed her bow in the canvas bag behind her left leg and drew her blade. This, she was better at. Attacking men fell, hit by arrows, then the shooters were killed in turn, swords in their scabbards. Rhillian dodged around several attackers, accelerated past some more, blocked a blow, swerved an attack, hurdled a falling horse, ducked another strike, then split a Kazeri's head with an optimistic lash that was more the sharpness of her blade than any true power.

She was doing rather well, she thought, until a big Banneryd horseman came crashing past, found her passing too fast for his blade, and so stuck out his shield instead. It was like riding into a wall, at speed. For a moment, she was flying.

The river saved them. It was the biggest cavalry charge in the history of anything, but it was strung out across the valley, only a portion of it striking in the first wave. And to hit the rapidly assembling lines of Rhodaani and Ilduuri Steel, and the Army of Lenayin, it first had to cross the Dhemerhill River.

Only twenty paces wide at this point, the river was still deep enough to make horses stop in a lunging spray of foam, and struggle forward through the deepest part before reemerging. And when they did, they hit a wall of impenetrable shields.

Sasha rode up and down her line of shieldsmen, manoeuvring to pass behind the archers now shooting over their comrades’ heads into the charging cavalry. The river disappeared beneath their numbers, a solid mass of horseflesh and waving swords. Now there were ballistas firing into them, their mobile wagon mounts twisted even as they retreated, raining heavy, fast-moving bolts into the horses’ midst. Cavalrymen bashed and hammered at the wall of steel, and men in the shield-line leaned into each other as the whole line shook and flexed beneath the assault. But for all the things cavalry could do, it could not ride through walls.