The Spirit Stone - Katharine Kerr [175]
Twice more the Deverry and Westfolk riders made their feints, swinging close to the Gel da’ Thae line, but hurling javelins into the Horsekin at the rear. After the third feint, which brought Gerran and his men back to the front rank of the riders, Gerran saw the Horsekin surging forward into the rear rank of the Gel da’ Thae, only to be beaten back with whips and curses by the Keepers of Discipline. The Deverry horns rang out again. Gerran joined the rest of the front rank as they galloped forward and threw their second javelins. He caught a glimpse of one of the Keepers staggering with a javelin in his chest.
Behind him he heard yells and screams of rage following the fleeing riders. He spurred his horse on to rejoin the army, then turned and saw chaos breaking out in the enemy formation. The Horsekin had lost what discipline they had and were charging forward, disrupting the rear ranks of spearmen, pushing them into their fellows. The Gel da’ Thae had no choice but to charge in order to stay clear of the mob behind them. Spears at the ready, they came running up the road into the range of the archers.
With a hiss and whistle the first flight of Westfolk arrows arced up and plunged down. The Gel da’ Thae spearmen flung up their shields to protect themselves just as the second flight arrived, this lot aimed low to strike the men under their roof of leather and wood. The spearmen in the front rank began to crumple and die, disrupting their formation even more as the arrows flew again and again. Horsekin and Gel da’ Thae both milled in the road, trying to get free of each other and charge the enemy.
Brass horns blared like frantic screams. All up and down the lines the Keepers, so obvious in their red surcoats, fell pierced as the archers picked them out. The men they could no longer control trampled them as the spearmen surged forward. Without them the Horsekin turned into an angry mob. The Gel da’ Thae fell back and let their allies rush forward to meet the flights of arrows.
More Deverry horns, and the signal Gerran had been waiting for. He drew his sword, saw his men do the same, and paused until Calonderiel blew the final signal on an elven horn. The archers stopped loosing arrows, and like arrows themselves the riders charged. A Horsekin swordsman stood in Gerran’s path. As his mount swerved to the Horsekin’s left, Gerran leaned low over the horse’s neck and swung his broadsword like a sabre. He caught the man hard across the neck, saw him go down, and swung his weight in the saddle to his left to catch a spear thrust on his shield. His horse followed the shift and turned, allowing him to attack the wielder of that spear from the side. He made a hard swing at the spear itself and snapped it in half. Its owner dropped the pieces and ran.
Gerran pulled up at the side of the road to let his horse rest. Among the dead and dying men, Gel da’ Thae shields littered the road, only to be smashed under the hooves of the pursuing riders. Yelling and swinging, Deverry and Westfolk riders streamed past, cutting down Horsekin and Gel da’ Thae both. The enemy were running full-tilt, gasping for breath in the hot sun, as the horsemen caught up with them. The riders swung and struck; blades flashed up bloody, then swept down again. The unequal slaughter turned Gerran’s stomach, until he remembered the dead farmers of Neb’s village, laid out in a line for the ravens. He spurred his horse forward and joined