Crusade - James Lowder [116]
After an instant of hesitation, the king grabbed his own standard and shouted, "Call them back!" to the young knight carrying it. The king's banner, emblazoned with the purple dragon of Cormyr, ordered a retreat. The signal was to no avail; the nobles continued their charge.
"What does Harcourt think he's doing?" Azoun cried bitterly to no one in particular. "Has he gone mad?"
The cavalry meant to guard the left flank saw its counterpart's charge and followed suit. In helpless anguish, the king watched the silver dots he knew to be armored knights race across the field and cut off the Tuigan retreat. Some of the fighting was obscured by smoke, but it was clear that the better armored western nobles were having an easy time wiping out what little remained of the broken Tuigan charge.
A messenger, sweaty from an obviously furious dash through the lines, made his way to the king's side. "Words from Lord Harcourt," he said, neither bowing to nor saluting the monarch.
Azoun shook a mailed fist at the boy. "What's going on?" he snapped.
"Why did he charge?"
"Th-the nobles, sire. They, uh-"
Seeing the fear in the messenger's eyes made Azoun realize what he was doing, and he tried to calm himself. His face still red with anger, the king said,
"The message, boy. Don't be afraid."
"Lord Harcourt sends his apologies, Your Highness." The boy swallowed nervously and glanced around. "The nobles disobeyed his orders and charged."
"By the gods, why?"
The boy wiped a gummy hand across his forehead. "Lord Darstan and some others said they could easily chase down the horsewarriors when you, one wizard, and a few knights escaped from the Tuigan camp on your own. I heard 'em say it, Your Highness."
The shock from that statement had little time to settle on Azoun. A deep, rolling rumble crossed the field, and for an instant, the king thought the wizards had cast another powerful spell. A single look at the battlefield revealed how wrong that guess was. Through the patches of smoke and fire, Azoun could clearly see the entirety of the khahan's army advancing at a gallop across the body-strewn field.
The black line on the horizon spread as it moved closer, and the king realized why Yamun Khahan had waited until now to attack in force.
"They're going to surround us," he said, turning to Farl. "The khahan was hoping to bait the cavalry forward so he could surround us easily."
The infantry commander scowled. "Without cavalry on the wings, the Tuigan will outflank us without trying." He spurred his horse and charged away from the king, shouting orders.
By now the rest of the Alliance had realized what was happening, too. The wizards, unprotected by any kind of armor, pushed from the rear of the formation to the short space between the first line of infantry and the mixed line of swordsmen and archers. Shoving their way to protection, the mages threw the second rank into turmoil. In a few places scuffles broke out, though the captains saw to these with harsh efficiency.
Assessing the situation as quickly as possible, Azoun decided to force both lines up the hill farther. In a normal assault, the archers' palisades would be used only if the frontal assault drove the first rank into retreat. Then, the wooden spikes would hamper a full-scale charge. However, if the Tuigan got to the rear of the Alliance and forced the second rank downhill, the palisades would be useless.
"Front rank retreat to the second rank's position!" the king cried, waving his sword to motion the retrenchment. The standard-bearer echoed the order, and sergeants and captains barked out the command all down both lines.
For a well-trained army, this maneuver would have proved little problem, but the Army of the Alliance had had only a limited amount of time to drill. As a result, the retrenchment took far too long. By the time the ranks were in place, the Tuigan had outflanked