Feathered Dragon - Douglas Niles [51]
Still he could not break free. Finally, vaguely, he became aware that the battle had faded to silence around him.
The monsters of the Viperhand attacked the Nexalan refugees before dawn, hurling themselves in a vast wave up the shallow ridge that separated them from the humans and their lush valley Atop the ridge stood a thin line of Kultakan and Nexalan warriors and legionnaires.
The Mazticans showered the attacking horde with arrows. Cordell’s soldiers, those with crossbows, waited until the squinting, pig-eyed forms materialized from the darkness. Then the weapons chunked loudly, delivering a devastating volley into the attacking ranks.
In another moment, the two forces clashed with sudden, brutal violence. Spears set to meet the charge, the native warriors stood firm, driving their stone-tipped weapons home. But the bulk of the attackers pressed on heavily and many of the spearshafts snapped and splintered from the force of the collision.
Obsidian-edged macas in the hands of both sides chopped and hacked furiously The line twisted and bent, collapsing in places only to reform as the human warriors counterattacked and drove the monstrous foes back. The Mazticans fought with an unaccustomed fury, striking to kill instead of
to capture.
And the monsters knew only to kill, for each death on the field was a sacrifice rendered directly to Zaltec
The few horsemen remaining to Cordell charged into the line of ores, and the humanoids proved as helpless as had the Maztican warriors to resist the plunging lancers.
“The ogres! Slay the ogres first!” The captain-general howled the command, and his riders turned their lances toward the hulking brutes, few in number, that loomed among the ores.
A small band of ores burst through the line. Howling, they
turned upon the flank of the defenders. Cordell’s only reserve, several companies of Kultakan archers, fired volley after volley against the breakthrough, cutting down most of the ores before The line could collapse. Finally the remainder of the ores turned back toward the breach, only to find that it had closed behind them. The reserve company moved forward, cutting down the last of them with macas and daggers.
On the right. Tokol roared and shouted among his warriors, leaping into each breach with a shrill howl of combat! lust, laying about with the bloody blade of his sword, singled handedly driving the ores before his blows. The Kultakan leader fought like a wild man. driving his men to equal heights of frenzy. As his father, Takamal, bad done for seven decades, Tokol elicited the greatest levels of courage and dedication from his warriors.
To the left, Chical, Captain of Eagles, stabbed with his 1 lance, standing firm and, l›\ example, holding the long line! of Nexalan warriors. The tip of his weapon, formed from*8 sharp steel knife, drove into the bellies of the largest ogres and the mighty strength of the Eagle Knight drove the weapon home, killing the beasts whenever they lumbered toward him. His example, like Tokol’s, steadied and inspired his warriors to emulate him.
In the middle, Cordell himself fought like a maniac from! the saddle of his prancing stallion, driving home his own I lance until the weapon snapped in two Then the shaft of his* sword grew bloody at the cost of the orcan horde, while his steed bucked and kicked, crushing skulls and breaking! limbs among the howling attackers.
In the end, these three men would carry the burden of victory or defeat.
Hoxitl watched the battle from the rear of his army, at] first exulting in the momentum of the charge. But as the fight stabilized along the defenders’ line, he sensed that the monstrous forces, without the trolls to form a spearhead, lacked the iron-fisted punch necessary to shatter the humans’ line. The beastlord knew that he had to act, and with a great howl, he lumbered forward, cuffing his way through the ranks of his troops