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“Very well,” he says. Looking to the fleeing soldiers, he grins when he finds the palisade, which had so well protected them during the long siege, is now a wall barring their escape. Madoc’s forces, so long desiring retribution for the rape of their country don’t even offer them quarter, they simply cut them down.

The battlefield is a ghastly sight, the dead and dying cover the ground between the river and the palisade. Cries from the wounded men sing out and the light from the Star can be seen moving from one to the next as Miko does his best to save every last one of them. Even Brother Willim and the three remaining members of the Hand are out among the injured doing what they can for them.

“Ceadric!” hollers Illan. “Have some of the men get the wounded and those unable to fight back to the city.” They may have beaten this force, but there’s still the other force James saw in his mirror on the way.

“Delia, have your group stay with Hedry’s” he hollers. The battle before the palisade is winding down, men are escaping through the gates. Madoc’s men are riding in pursuit. Seeing one of Madoc’s officers nearby, Illan shouts, “Kippen!”

Looking his way, Kippen brings his horse to a halt. As he does, Illan hollers, “Get your men back. There’s another force on the way and we have to get into position.”

“Yes, sir,” he replies and kicks his horse into a gallop as he races to the palisade.

“We’re not going to fight another battle are we?” a voice from the slingers calls out.

Illan turns to them but can’t determine who asked the question. “Yes we are. They’re not expecting an attack and the element of surprise will give us an edge.”

“Any of those son’s of a dog we take down now will be less we’ll have to face later,” Ceadric adds.

As Ceadric’s men begin removing the injured and recently healed, Illan starts moving toward the palisade. The remainder of his force, still over seven hundred strong, follow along behind.

Calling to the officers from the various forces to fall in, he begins marshalling the chaos around him back into an effective fighting force. Hedry and Delia’s people stay to the rear this time, no need being out front.

To one officer of a cavalry unit he orders, “Send out riders and find the force coming from the south.”

“Yes, sir!” the officer hollers as he carries out the order. Soon, four riders are racing for the gate in the palisade.

“They may already know of the battle from those who fled,” one of Ceadric’s men states.

“Be that as it may, we are still going to engage while the numbers are on our side,” he says.

Madoc’s archers fall in behind their force as well as soldiers from many units, swelling their numbers by the minute. While not in the actual line of command for any of these forces, in the face of the Black Hawk banner, none will gainsay him. His legend awes them into compliance.

On the far side of the palisade, they find what’s left of the enemy’s camp. Tents, wagons and a large number of slaves who are being set free. Many can’t believe their lives are once again their own. Some have never known freedom, having been born slaves and simply don’t know what to do now that they are free.

Off in the distance, pockets of fighting are still going on as Madoc’s men continue the annihilation of the enemy. No quarter is given as their anger and rage at the Empire has finally found an outlet.

Illan sends the cavalry off to the right to swing around the approaching force to take it from the rear once the fighting begins. As his army makes its way through the palisade’s gate, he gets them into position to meet the oncoming force. At the rear are the five catapults with wagons of rocks to use for ammunition, this time filled with smaller rocks ranging from the size of a baseball to that of a watermelon. Moving along at the pace of the slowest unit, the army doesn’t cover ground very fast. But then Illan would like to hold off confrontation until the cavalry has had a chance to maneuver around them.

Having sent the cavalry around to come at their rear, all he