Several of the men gasped, as that was just an eyeblink out of lance range.
Ranthos smiled, and several of the nearer troopers reflexively drew back. "My orders are that the first two ranks are to use their musketoons, then pistols and swords. I know you won't like this order, but our success depends upon it. The Knights' chargers, due to their disguises, are unarmored, and I've only seen two or three with chamfrons. That means their horses are vulnerable to head shots."
III
"Your Sanctity, the Agrysi bandits are up ahead. They're now openly flying the Raven Banner!"
"The fools!" Grythos exclaimed. "We'll feed their corpses to the ravens, that's what we'll do. They must think we're another band of outlaws poaching on their territory. How many men did your scouts make out?"
"Three to four hundred, sir."
"We'll run them into the ground. Commander, give the orders."
"Your Sanctity, shouldn't we use the wedge formation? We're up against twice our number, sir."
"Not today. We don't want to announce to the world that we are Knights!" The wedge formation was one that called for a lot of drilling and precision and was not used by any other army in the Five Kingdoms. This was a secret expedition and they had a lot of ground to cover before they would be back at Agrys City. If word leaked out that they were Zarthani Knights, every hand in Hos-Agrys would be raised against them.
Grythos finished with, "Remember, Commander, I was a Knight Commander in the Order before I put on my priestly raiment. When the day arrives that three Blades of Knights cannot defeat twice their number of turkey thieves and arsonists, it will be time to remove Styphon's Sun Wheel from our flags."
"Yes, sir. I'll draw up the men in formation for a charge."
"Very good, Commander."
Grythos watched from the top of the rise, as the Knights galloped down toward the enemy below. He wondered why the bandits had chosen such an empty clearing, with almost no trees or other cover, for their stand. He'd had his scouts check and they didn't have any hidden guns to haul out. It didn't make sense, but Soton had so completely disorganized the League after their attack on his men that it appeared their wits had been left behind as well as their best troops.
The first four lines of the charge were lancers, followed by pistoleers with lightly armed skirmishers on either side. When the two lines had almost come together, the first ranks of the bandits fired musketoons at almost point-blank range into the Knights formation. Grythos was awestruck by the carnage.
The first line of Knights went down as if hit by grapeshot. Their horses stumbling and tripping the ranks behind. It was a complete cockup!
The bandits continued to shoot their musketoons and pistols, but it wasn't the attacker's gunfire that was causing most of the casualties; it was the out of control, falling, tumbling, dying horses. The only time he'd ever seen anything comparable was when three carriages in Balph had all tried to get through an intersection of the road at the same time and instead hit each other, with the coaches behind tumbling into them one after another.
The bandits used the confusion at the front ranks to suddenly execute two flanking maneuvers! These bandits were using Hostigi-style tactics- no, it couldn't be. Kalvan was off in Thagnor with his city besieged.
He needed to get word to the center. He ordered his trumpeter to sound "recall."The recall order sounded, but his men were too tangled with each other and scrambling horses to comply with his order. He turned to the three oath-brothers. "Warn them about the envelopment!"
But would they listen to the scouts? No, I need to be there!
Grythos pulled out his horse pistol. "Follow me," he cried to his bodyguards.
Suddenly, he was down the rise and bandits were coming out against him with pistols and swords. The Knights were now completely surrounded and trying to fight their way out of the surprise envelopment. The bandits weren't giving them a blade's-width. He shot one man out of his saddle, then took a blow to the head from behind-
IV
Ranthos watched as the scouts went around and cut the throats of the seriously wounded Knights and stripped their corpses. There was going to be a fair profit from used armor and arms to be made out of this expedition. But the big prize was lying on the ground unconscious before him. An Archpriest of the Inner Circle-talk about a big fish! The question was: What to do with him?
He kicked him in the breastplate with his foot. The Archpriest groaned, but his eyes remained closed.
Captain Reme rode over. "We got most of them. Maybe five or six got away, several with wounds. Should we chase them down, sir?"
His sudden respectful demeanor said more than his words. Ranthos hadn't led his troops in battle since they'd left Greater Beshta; there they'd fought mostly against lightly armed border reivers with a few real soldiers as backup. This had been a real dustup. Plus, they'd killed Knights, Styphon's House's handpicked troops, among the best this time-line had to offer.
"The men did well, even with orders they didn't like."
"Sir, the men have soft spots for horses, not for Styphon's spawn. And we killed a good lot of them, sir!"
He smiled. "That we did. Let's move over here, where we can talk in private."
Ranthos found a shaded spot under a big hemlock. "Who's in the coach?"
"We found a young girl, says she's eight winters old, and her father, another Duke. He's still shaking from his time with the Knights. Claims he wants nothing to do with his cousin Demistophon or the Styphoni devils. He overheard the Archpriest saying that Soton would have him beheaded and his daughter put on the Throne, if her cousin Dementros couldn't be found. Apparently, the Styphoni said some things they shouldn't have in his presence."
"Great Galzar's Mace!" Ranthos said, as he took his pipe fixings out of his breeches. "It's hard to believe Styphoni arrogance."
Captain Reme nodded. "That Archpriest Grythos is Styphon's Voice's handpicked man. He used to be a Knight Commander in the Order of Zarthani Knights. He was sent to the siege of Agrys City to watch over Grand Master Soton and Archpriest Roxthar."
"How did you find that out?"
"One of their Agrysi scouts told me. He overheard most of it from two drunk Knights, after they sacked a small village for victuals, who were bragging about their commander. He hates the Styphoni and would have deserted but for the oath-brothers. They captured one Agrysi deserter and skinned him with their knives, then they staked him out in the hot sun screaming until he died. The Knights and their oath-brothers thought it was marvelous fun, and the scouts stopped deserting. But it cost the last of their loyalty."
"That's very interesting," he said as he lit his pipe with his tinderbox.
"There's more, Grand-Captain. This Grythos is supposed to be the new Regent of Hos-Agrys, after the City's taken and Demistophon is beheaded for his crimes against Styphon's House and his subjects."
"Hmm." He drew long on his pipe, taking in a lungful of smoke. It would be a real coup to return to Eubros City with a live Archpriest trundled up and ready for questioning. On the other hand, this Grythos might do more good as a Regent than as a prisoner. Also, if they captured Grythos, Soton would have to conclude they'd put him under torture to get to the truth about what the Archpriest was doing in the hinterlands of Hos-Agrys, which would foul up all the good work he'd accomplished today.
"Captain, toss the Archpriest into the pit with the rest of the dead. Let him think we thought he'd been killed, not knocked out. Throw a couple more of the badly-wounded in with the dead ones. The Archpriest will be so busy thanking Styphon he won't question his good fortune, if it's done right!"