Darkwalker on Moonshae - Douglas Niles [108]
XV
FREEMAN’S DOWN
THE ARMY OF evil seeped from the woods, gathering just beyond the shelter of the trees. The raiders overbalanced the little force standing before them by at least three to one. The broad field between them, covered in a sea of colorful blossoms, lay open to bear the attack.
Tristan noticed the vibrant colors in the petals of the wildflowers, and he smelled the pollen-laden air wafting past his nostrils on a gentle breeze. The scent was one of peace, not war.
Then the wind died away, and he heard flies buzzing in the suddenly heavy air. He looked across the field, and watched as more northmen emerged from the woods. For several minutes the only sound was the droning of the plump insects. Several hundred yards away, he could see the northmen gathering for a charge, but they made no sound.
Then the host of northmen raised a great cry, thrumming a deep chorus against the walls of the valley. Voices thundered and pounded against the Ffolk, as thousands of voices roared their primitive challenge.
But, from the line of the Ffolk, clashing notes sang an answering challenge. The peasant warriors cheered lustily, knowing for a fact that a greater bard stood with them, and that the dwarves and Sisters of Synnoria were joined in rare common purpose. The notes smote, impossibly loud, upon the ears of all who were present.
The northmen charged in a great, howling mass. Their bearded faces grimaced as the berserk rage took them.
The prince signaled the longbowmen. The archers sprang to the crest of the apparently empty hill, and sent showers of arrows onto the center of the charging line. Dozens of the missiles found a mark of flesh, but the losses seemed to make no difference to the horde. Leaving the fallen where they lay, the howling northmen rushed forward.
Avalon carried the prince along behind the two ranks of Ffolk lined up at the central ditch. Canthus raced at his side, and Tristan still carried the lance with the Lone Wolf pennant aloft. His hastily recruited troops seemed determined, their leaders working to steady and calm them as the northmen drew closer.
Rays of sunlight slanted sharply across the field, highlighting the flowers for a last glimpse of beauty, before the blossoms disappeared under the trampling charge. Now, the weapons gleamed in the late afternoon sunlight.
The first raiders to reach the ditch slipped and fell in surprise. Ignorant of the obstacle, their companions to the rear swept onward, and the entire momentum of the charge vanished in the steep slope and muddy bottom of the trap. As the fallen attackers regained their balance and struggled out the far side of the ditch, the Ffolk met them with a line of stabbing and slashing weapons.
A tall farmer thrust with a pitchfork against the broad axe of a stumbling northman. The raider nonetheless lifted his weapon to deflect the blow, and the clash of metal rang out across the battlefield. In seconds, the noise melded with thousands of similar sounds. Crashing and clanging, the armies met in a fight to the death.
The Ffolk fought like veterans. A young farmwife cracked a stout staff across the face of a leering northmen. He fell, and she reached down to claim his sword. Daryth and Pawldo, together, stabbed the raiders crawling from the ditch before them, until a pile of bodies collected.
The Ffolk had been given cause to fight in the last weeks. They all harbored burning hatred for the northmen after the outrages of the Eastern Cantrevs. Spears, forks, and stakes all thrust the slipping raiders back into the ditch. Many of the Ffolk fell to fatal thrusts from the attackers, but the line reformed quickly under the commands of the lords and veterans.
And then the farmwife fell, dropping her new sword into the mud of the ditch. The man behind her died, gurgling over the shaft of a spear in his chest, and suddenly the front line broke. A dozen raiders burst through, turning to strike the Ffolk from the side in an effort to expand the breach. Desperately, the prince spurred Avalon toward the scene.
But Robyn was already