:Right.: The Companions, now without riders, made a square of their bodies around the turtle. “Yourselves space out,” Alberich ordered. “Bunch not, but knee to flank go—Companion, Guard, Companion.”

Garbled and heavily accented as his words were, they evidently figured out what he wanted; with riderless Companions between them, they wedged themselves into the circle, facing outward. Under the turtle of shields, there was still a lot of movement and raised voices, but nothing was coming out, so Alberich dismissed the struggle from his mind.

He looked sharply toward the battlefield; in the middle of the fighting, where it was at its most heated, the King’s banner still waved. But—but their lines were now on the verge of the little stream, not behind it. Sendar’s charge had carried the entire line of battle forward; insane as the move had been, it looked as if it might have had the desired effect.

He saw the faint movement above the heads of the milling fighters on the other side of the stream, behind the Tedrel lines, and acted on instinct.

“Shields up!” he shouted, and put his over his head as example. The others did the same.

Just in time; arrows clattered down on them, force in no-wise spent by their long journey. The movement he’d seen had been the arrows arcing up to clear the battle lines from the Tedrel side.

The arrows fell harmlessly, thanks to his instincts; the shields, their armor, their mounts’ armor, kept anyone from being hurt, and under the turtle, Selenay was completely safe. It sounded like being caught in a terrible hailstorm, however, and the first volley was followed within a moment by a second, a third—

:She’s stopped fighting. I think the arrows have scared her.: said Kantor.

Good. One less thing to worry about.

“The turtle stay under! Shields up!” he ordered, as another rain of arrows clattered onto the upheld shields. He did not look behind him to see if he was being obeyed; he knew that even if Selenay rebelled, the Heralds would make sure she stayed put. Myste would sit on her to make certain of that.

An unfamiliar mind-voice touched his inward “ear.” :For once being clumsy paid off; if I’d tried to hang onto her and pull her onto my saddle, she’d probably have gotten away from me, but she couldn’t do anything about my falling off with her.:

:Myste?: He was astonished. She’d never tried to Mindspeak to him before.