The Black Riders were crowded by the entrance to the granary. Rixa knocked one over, firing into him two balls from the harquebuses handed to her by Tybald. But some others had got out into the green and the Wallcreeper and the rest, already mounted, rode out and followed them. One of the horses immediately reared up and fell down—Reynevan was already waiting on the battlefield with his hunting crossbow. Tybald shot another horse with a handgonne, himself almost losing his life doing so when one of the Riders galloped up behind him with sword raised, only for Samson to hurl the goedendag at him and knock him from the saddle. Tybald fell on the man like a hawk and stabbed him under his gorget with a short sword. Meanwhile, Rixa stabbed another on the ground.

Scharley fearlessly ran in front of the Wallcreeper, slashing his horse across its forelegs. The horse crashed into the ground muzzle first; the Wallcreeper flew from the saddle and rolled across the dirt floor. Douce of Pack screamed piercingly, reined her horse around and went for Scharley, javelin in hand. The penitent didn’t panic, didn’t run, but waited with the falchion held in both hands. Douce stood up in the stirrups and wound up to throw. At that moment, a bolt from Reynevan’s crossbow hit her horse in the neck. The horse reared. Douce fell and slammed onto the ground.

The Wallcreeper sprang up, dashed to the last of the Riders, knocked him from his horse and leaped into the saddle. He saw Samson running towards him, saw Rixa and Tybald reloading hand cannons. With a sudden movement he raised both hands, made a complicated gesture with them in the air and screamed out a spell. A ball of fire emerged from his palms and quickly began to swell.

Seeing what was about to happen, they all rushed for cover. But the Wallcreeper wasn’t aiming at anyone in particular: he simply tossed the flaming ball upwards, where it exploded with a thunderous crack.

Taking advantage of the confusion, the Wallcreeper galloped over to Douce who was getting to her feet, pulled her up onto the horse and galloped away, towards the hillock where the windmill stood. Rixa fired the handgonne at them but missed.

Reynevan did not.

Struck by a bolt, the black stallion squealed, bucked and threw off both riders. The Wallcreeper and Douce bolted. Douce was limping.

Reynevan seized one of the horses running around the yard and leaped into the saddle, giving chase. The Wallcreeper turned around, seeing the horse’s teeth just above his head, and howled with fear. But he nimbly dodged, raised a hand and shouted a spell. A stream of sparks, fiery needles, shot from his fingers. The horse neighed and reared up. Reynevan fell off, smashing the pickets of a fence as he fell. The Wallcreeper grabbed the reins and jumped into the saddle. And sped away.