If there are any Sunpriests still helping them. He had to wonder, in the back of his mind, if the reason his Gift had suddenly broken through was because the Karsite Sunpriests had abandoned their erstwhile allies as soon as the Tedrels were fully occupied with Valdemar…

He hoped so. If the priests decided to mix in with this, it would make things so much worse.

At this distance, he couldn’t see anything other than the dark purple blot under the purple Tedrel battle banners; he couldn’t make out individual arrows, and he wouldn’t see anyone fall if they were hit, so he didn’t even trouble to try to watch for it. He would know if anything happened by the tide of battle. :If there are any Animal Mindspeakers still here, ask if they can spook the Tedrel horses.: One more bit of damage; the officers were all ahorse, and even if his arrow trick didn’t work, if he could drive them off, there would be less control on the battlefield.

He didn’t want to interfere any more; the rest of the Heralds were the only way the various parts of the Valdemaran Army had to communicate with one another. Things were falling apart on their side badly enough as it was.

Instead, he kept his shield above his head, although there were no more hails of arrows. The Valdemaran archers were doing that much, forcing the Tedrel archers to duck under cover, or even into a full retreat. And he kept Kantor turning in a slow circle, watching not only to the front, but to the rear and the sides, looking for a suicidal charge into their ranks, assuming that there could still be an attempt to capture or kill Selenay. Of course, the Tedrels might not realize Selenay was still here; her battle banner was on the ground, dropped when Myste lunged for her, and the only white uniform on this hilltop was Alberich’s.

All the more reason to keep the four of them on the ground.

Then it came—

A flash of blue.

On the left; attackers, fresh, unwounded, and seasoned, hidden in a ditch full of bushes and about to emerge.

It wasn’t much warning, but it was enough; he turned to the left, spotted movement and shouted, pointing with his sword to get the attention of Selenay’s guards.

And they just popped up out of nowhere, a band of twenty, thirty—forty?—more?—suddenly materializing as if conjured—but they hadn’t been, of course; they’d found cover and slipped through the lines, avoiding detection by avoiding fighting. It was a trick he’d used himself, and so had the bandits he’d fought.

And now, at last, he had something he could vent his own anger and fear against.