For the knights had ridden out of their castle.
SIXTY-SEVEN
Sulla heard the horns.
Then he saw that the gates of the city had been opened. It could only mean one thing-the knights were riding forth. Instantly he recognised the danger, for his army was packed up against the breaches, trying to storm the city.
His men were not expecting an attack from behind.
He signalled his cavalry chief and saw Gaius raise his lance tip in acknowledgment. His four hundred horsemen would ride to intercept them.
The knights would come, but they would not find Sulla so easily caught.
No one barred their way. No spearmen attempted to hem them in, no arrows fell amongst them and no cavalry rode to intercept them.
They had taken the Kinshra by surprise.
Out they charged, following Sir Amik. The old knight’s tattered banner waved above their heads and he brandished his sword before him. Through the gate they rushed, onto the plain. Their white helms and burnished shields reflected the bright morning sun from the east, blinding their enemies and filling them with panic.
The Kinshra infantry outside the westernmost breach had no time to react. They were too disorganised to repel an attack from an enemy they believed they had already beaten. Into the loose body of black-armoured men the knights charged. They smashed the invaders aside, trampling them under the hooves of their warhorses and driving their way to the centre of the group before any pikes could be levelled.
Sir Vyvin fought at Sir Amik’s side, cutting the arm off the nearest enemy and parrying the panicked thrust of a pike.
“Sir Amik! We must charge the guns!” he yelled.
But Sir Amik pointed to the east, where Gaius’s cavalry was approaching.
Then Sir Vyvin knew what Sir Amik intended. The lance points of the Kinshra horsemen would be deadly, and to remove the danger the knights had put the Kinshra infantry between them. So if the enemy cavalry chose to fight, they would have to ride through their own soldiers and sacrifice their tight formation. And if they did that, swords rather than lances would hold the advantage in close quarter fighting.
Ebenezer gripped the runes tightly. His heartbeat quickened. He knew Sir Tiffy and Marius shared his excitement, for both stared fixedly before them. Sir Finistere greeted them and sent away the messenger with a gold coin in his hand.
“He went this way,” the old knight said, pointing to a culvert at the base of the wall-one which was large enough for a man to duck under.
“That way leads to the sewers of the city,” Sir Tiffy said quietly. “If you know the way, you can actually get under the wall and out into the woods beyond. It may be that the traitor is attempting to run.” He and Marius looked darkly at each other and Ebenezer knew that neither was willing to give up the chase, not even if it meant abandoning their city.
“He only went in a moment ago,” Sir Finistere said. “He stood outside for several minutes before disappearing. Could it be that he is expecting somebody?” He, like the others, held his sword tightly.
“I know the way through the culvert and under the wall,” Sir Tiffy said. “We should go after him now-just us, for we have no time to spare.”
He looked briefly to the three other men. No one spoke. With a grim nod he drew his sword.
“Then let us go” he said, running briskly toward the culvert.
Across the road, in an abandoned town house, the man smiled grimly as he watched the four figures run to the culvert. He had known of the hidden entrance for many years.
He watched as the group disappeared under the wall, seemingly into nowhere. With a heavy sigh, he loosened his sword in his scabbard and ran after them as swiftly as he was able.
The Kinshra infantry was broken. The men closest to the savage onslaught of the knights turned their backs on their enemy, pushing their way through their comrades in an effort to flee.
Gaius watched as Sir Amik gestured with his banner, rallying his men behind him for a sudden charge that would direct the fleeing infantry into the path of the oncoming cavalry.
At the same time, another knight took charge of a dozen horsemen, riding out ahead of Sir Amik to the north. They prevented the Kinshra infantry from spreading out, herding them back directly toward their own oncoming cavalry.
Gaius saw exactly what his enemy were up to and he cursed bitterly, knowing there was nothing he could do. If he broke off his attack to avoid the fleeing infantry, then the knights would have the advantage and the speed to close in on them. Yet if he were to continue, then the infantry would be crushed by his own horses.
Yet that would give him a small chance to keep his formation intact and a slim possibility to enter the battle with speed and weight behind him.
With a cruel snarl Gaius made his choice. He raised his hand in command and the Kinshra cavalry gained speed, their direction unchanging.
They were going to ride down their own men.
The militia moved toward the gates of Falador, Lord Tremene at their head. The sounds of plunder were accompanied by the roaring flames that consumed the houses nearest to the breached wall. Yet their advance went unchallenged. It was as if the enemy had melted away. For the charge of the knights had cleared the western breach-those Kinshra who were not caught by their onslaught had hastened east to join with the rest of their army.
Lord Tremene saw Captain Ingrew watch them from the gatehouse, where he and his fellow guards had barricaded themselves in the hope of holding it long enough for the knights to ride out.
“Lord Tremene! How goes the war?” the captain called down from the fortified height.
“It appears the Kinshra fist has fallen upon the northeast quarter of the city,” Lord Tremene called back. Even as he spoke he looked warily toward the nearby houses and cast an expectant eye up to the high walls. As the commander of the militia he would be the first target of any archer. The thought made him uncomfortable, and unconsciously he gripped his reins tighter, until his knuckles paled.
There was the sound of the barricades being ripped away from behind the stout doors, a testament to how far the city guard had gone to seal themselves in. Captain Ingrew emerged from the gatehouse.
“I have forty men with me” he said, blinking in the darkening sky as the wind carried the plumes of black smoke from the fires in the east.
Nearby, a house that had been burning since the Kinshra onslaught collapsed. The men nearest to it stepped back, away from flames that even from thirty yards were uncomfortably hot.
“Then what shall we do?” Lord Tremene asked the younger man.
“I suggest we march out onto the plain with the knights. That way Sulla will have to call his men out of the city, and our fellows still fighting in the northeast will have fairer odds.”
Lord Tremene looked at his men sorrowfully. It would be a suicide mission. Carefully he turned his horse toward the open gate and rode slowly forward. As one, the men of Falador marched out after him.
The Kinshra cavalry had mercilessly ridden into their fleeing infantry, crushing them and ignoring their cries in their eagerness to engage the knights.
Yet the infantry had severely impeded their charge. Many of the Kinshra foot soldiers had sought only to save their own lives, and swiftly they had dug their pikes into the soft earth and stood resolutely before the black-armoured horses charging them down. In the end the infantry had been destroyed, but the Kinshra cavalry had lost its momentum and many of its foremost men.
That, in itself, would have been enough to give the Knights of Falador a fighting chance of victory, but Sir Vyvin chose to make it a certainty. As the Kinshra cavalry charged through the last of their own infantry, he urged his horse on and his men followed his example.