Chapters (75)
The column of axemen and swordsmen on the left moved forward at an angle, the macemen on the right following suit, while the pikemen in the centre began an orderly retreat backwards, with the pikes in front still facing the screaming riders.
Unwittingly, Prince Ilathor's men were funnelled into the space that opened up in front of the retreating pikemen. Some of the long line of riders smashed into the swordsmen and macemen on the left and right, but the majority fell in behind those ahead, forming a spearhead that thrust into the space opening up in front of them.
Ella was no strategist, yet even she could see the disaster about to unfold. Placed as she was somewhere in the middle, she could see that the grey warriors now flanked the riders on the left and on the right, like the horns of a bull. Ella wondered at the incredible discipline of the enemy; they still hadn't made a sound, and their ranks were in such tight formation they reminded Ella of Halrana constructs.
Then the riders in front hit the bristling wall of pikes, and the grey warriors to the sides closed in.
The sound of thousands of horses being impaled was a scream and crunch that Ella never wanted to hear again. The prince's army, however, was by far the larger, and the momentum of the horsemen took them deep into the ranks of the pikemen. Desert warriors slashed down from horseback, their heavy sabres designed specifically for this type of combat, and Prince Ilathor turned them in an arc, evidently intending to drive into the swordsman on his left flank and burst through to regroup outside the enemy's attempted encirclement.
It might have worked, but the majority of the riders were facing forwards, and the swordsmen were on their left. With unbelievable ferocity, the flanks closed in, attempting to envelop the Hazarans in front, on the sides, and most dangerous of all, the rear.
Ella's eyes widened with fear as she saw enemy swordsmen and axemen closing in on her left, the grey warriors wielding huge two-handed swords, battle-axes, and some even with two smaller axes held in both hands. Around her every rider was becoming embroiled, preventing all further movement, and the whinnies of horses, jangles of armour, and clashes of weapons were deafening.