“But look!” she said, springing up. “Here is something! Riders are coming in! Theido and Ronsard! They have returned, alive and safe!”
“Yes, that is good news,” said Durwin rising slowly. He walked over to where a group was already gathering to hear what the scouts had to report. In a moment Durwin’s hopeful expression was once again exchanged for one of despair.
Theido came through the crush without speaking; Ronsard followed close behind. “Come,” he said. “Let us go to Selric’s tent. You come too, my Lady.”
They gathered in Selric’s tent where they found the monarch pouring over detailed maps of the area drawn on skins and parchment.
“You are back, the gods be thanked! What news? What did you find?”
“Nothing good,” replied Ronsard. His face was flushed and sweat trickled down his neck into his tunic. “We have ridden far and find that all approaches are cut off. We are surrounded.”
“Jaspin is strengthening his forces on all sides. He has summoned men from every corner of the kingdom.”
King Selric received the information with calm acceptance. “I see,” he said.
“So it is!” said Durwin. “No more than we already know.”
“What?” demanded Theido.
“Kellaris returned just after dawn,” replied King Selric evenly. “He did not get through. Your words confirm his own.” He pointed to the maps. “I have been studying these charts to see if there may be some vantage we may defend.” He sighed heavily. “I find none.”
“What will happen?” asked Alinea. Her voice, though steady, held a note of anguish.
“We will fight them,” said Theido simply. “They mean to destroy us. That is certain. Jaspin will offer no mercy. He has not left us even a means of honorable retreat.”
“He means to cut us down where we stand,” said Ronsard, hotly.
“When?” asked Alinea.
“That I cannot say,” replied Theido. “The enemy is still building his position. He may attack at any moment.”
“Nimrood’s dread Legion has not yet arrived,” replied Durwin. “That is what they are waiting for.”
“I have put my men to work excavating a ditch just beyond the trees. It may be they will have time to finish it. That will offer some defense,” said King Selric. “We must keep our backs protected in order to retreat to the ships when the time comes.”
“Must we talk of retreat so soon?” demanded Ronsard. “I will die rather than retreat.”
“Yes, of course,” replied Selric evenly. “I was thinking of the Queen.” He glanced at Alinea’s dark eyes which flashed defiantly. “I am sorry, my Lady…”
“I will fight side by side with my comrades, and die with them if necessary. I will not fly. If my King has not life left in him, of what use is my crown? Without my King I am no Queen and there is no kingdom. I will fight.”
The stouthearted companions looked to one another around the tight circle, silently pledging their lives to the cause. “Then it is settled,” said Theido softly.
At that moment a shout went up from the men outside and a messenger came running. King Selric stepped from his tent to receive the runner. “The enemy approaches, sire. They march hither-half a league distant.”
“To arms! To arms!” Selric bellowed. He called to his trumpeter. “Sound the alarm! Call the men to arms!”
Within moments the scene was a flurry of flashing steel and shouting voices as the king’s men took up sword and shield and the knights buckled on their armor.
“Assemble the knights before me!” shouted Theido above the tumult. “I have a plan that may buy us time.” He himself had donned his armor in a flash and was standing before the king’s tent with shield slung over his shoulder, his sword raised high in the air.
The tumult in the camp subsided as quickly as it had begun. The soldiers ranged themselves behind the earthen wall they had that morning constructed and lined with sharpened pikes. The knights under Theido and Ronsard’s command, sixty in all, formed two groups which would take up positions to the right and to the left as the enemy approached the field of battle. It was Theido’s plan to cross these two mobile forces back and forth between each other, scissor-like, and thus wear down the enemy, blunting his attack before he could reach the footmen behind the ditch.
King Selric commanded the footmen and, with Trenn, kept watch over the Queen, despite her protests. For her part, she appeared hard of nerve and eye, armed with a slim sword and a buckler, more fined to her hand than the heavier shields of the knights. She wore a corselet of plaited mail and a helm with a visor, as did all the king’s men-at-arms.
They waited.
Far in the distance could be heard the trumpets of King Jaspin’s army signaling their convergence. Dust from horses and tramping feet spiraled up into the noonday sky. Bright banners fluttering on long poles and pennons streaming from the lances of the knights, the far-off glint of a blade drawn, the sun’s rays catching the visor of a helmet: these could be seen by the soldiers awaiting the clash.
Closer. The steady thump of the drums and the rumble of five thousand soldiers marching as one carried on the wind. The sun darkened under the cloud of dust sent up by the advancing soldiers. Carrion birds soared overhead, gathering for a feast.
Trenn twisted his stout neck around, sniffing the wind. “There it is!” he muttered to King Selric. “I knew I smelled something. Look yonder.”
The first faint wisps of smoke drifted overhead. Selric noted the condition with a quick nod. “They burn the forest behind us.” He gripped the pommel of his sword tighter in his grasp. “So be it!”
“Where is Durwin?” asked the Queen, looking around. “I have not seen him.”
“I saw him making off behind the tents. I do not see him now,” answered Trenn. “He will be up to his tricks if I know him.”
The tempo of the drums increased. A mighty shout arose from the plain.
“They come!” cried King Selric. He flourished his sword in the air above his curly red head. “For honor! For glory! For King and Kingdom!” His soldiers returned the battle cry.
The swiftly advancing front was a wedge of knights on horseback racing ahead of the larger body of men on foot who hurried behind. The rest of the assembled armies held back, waiting for their turn to bolt into the fray.
As the wedge thundered down upon the waiting troops, a shout went up from the woods on either side. Theido and Ronsard and their knights darted forth and caught the hurtling chargers in mid-flight. They came on from both sides at once; the advancing knights did not have time to turn or even to meet them as one. The charge faltered and then dissolved in confusion. Horses went down, rolling over their heavily armored riders.
Theido and Ronsard closed the gap and leaped to the attack. Instantly the heavens were rent with the ring of swords and the cries of the dying.
The footmen, seeing their advancing protection stymied, fell upon themselves and drew back. Theido turned his force after them as Ronsard contended with Jaspin’s knights. Many went down into the dust, never to rise again.
Jaspin’s warriors buckled before the fury of Ronsard’s knights and retreated, leaving half their number upon the ground.
Theido and Ronsard quickly called off the attack and rode back to the ditch to the cheers of the soldiers waiting there.
“Did you see them?” asked Selric anxiously.
“No, the Legion was not among them,” answered Theido.
“Where are they?”
“Most likely, they will wait to see how we acquit ourselves on the field,” answered Ronsard, raising his visor. “We surprised them just now; we may not be so lucky again. But I have a trick I learned before Gorr.” They fell into a quick discussion, then the knights mounted their coursers once more.
“Remember,” called Theido. “Tell your men to watch for any of the Legion. Stay out of their reach; melt before them and attack behind them. I think the soldiers will try to use them as protection and follow in their wake.”