The sun moved to the west. Hawkwind extended his wings, completing a thin encirclement against which Nassefs warriors collided randomly, like flies against the walls of a bottle. He put more and more strength into the circle, daring El Murid to try something with his battered Invincibles. The Wahligs men filtered out of the cauldron and became part of the circle.

Some of Nassefs men tried to surrender, but Prince Farid had ordered his to take no prisoners.

They have taken away our last ounce of choice, Nassef moaned. We have to throw these pitiful few hundreds in to give those men down there a chance to escape.

Nassef?

What? The voice of the Scourge of God was both sorrowful and angry.

Im sorry. I was wrong. The time wasnt right. I listened to myself instead of to the Voice of God. Take command. Do what you can to save what you can. O Lord Almighty, forgive me for my arrogance. Pardon me for my vanity.

No.

What? Why?

Ill tell you what to do, but you do the leading. This is no time to show weakness. Salvage some respect from the disaster. Do that and we can always say that they tricked us, that the Evil One blinded our eyes.

Nassef! Youre right, of course. What should we do?

Fifteen minutes later the survivors of the Invincibles hurled themselves against Hawkwinds circle. They did not strike toward the center, but cut a shallow chord meant to break the widest possible gap.

Nassefs warriors began flooding through while the gap was still opening.

El Murid and his brother-in-law rode at the head of the charge.

El Murid flailed about him with his sword. The clash of weapons, the screams of horses and men, were overwhelming, maddening. The dust choked him. It stung his eyes. A horse plunged against his, nearly unseating him. A wild sword stroke, partially turned by Nassef, cut his left arm, leaving a shallow, bloody wound. For an instant he was amazed at the lack of immediate pain.

Nassef struck about himself like some war djinn just released from Hell. The Invincibles did their desperate best to keep their prophet from coming to harm, but...

Now! Nassef shrieked at him. Give the order to fly. To the wadi. We can lose them in the rocks. Most of Nassefs men were away. The circle was collapsing toward El Murid and the Scourge of God.

El Murid vacillated.

A random swarm of arrows rained from the cloudless sky. One buried itself in his mounts eye.

The beast screamed and reared. El Murid flew through the air. The earth came up and hit him like a flying boulder. A horse trampled his right arm.

He heard the snapping of bone over his own shriek. He tried to rise. His gaze met that of a Guild infantryman who was calmly working his way through the chaos, braining wounded Invincibles with a massive war hammer.