“Now we’re to it,” Edmund said. “Alyssa,” he continued, raising his voice. “Get over with a few bowmen. Let’s see how long we can keep this a surprise.”
Alyssa dismounted her whole troop, and three of her horse archers moved over to the gap. The orcs struggling up the steep slope were easy targets and Alyssa’s archers began feathering them one after another as the others clearly prepared to defend the plateau. Some of the orcs, when hit, kept coming, pushing the arrows through their injured arms or sides, but others were killed and it quickly was apparent that the position was too well defended to be taken by the small force. The rider called them back and sent one of the uninjured Changed back in the direction of the main force.
“Come on, get a move on,” Herzer muttered, looking through the vegetation that covered their trench.
“Oh, they will,” Edmund said. “If they try to continue on, they know that Alyssa can sally out and attack them from behind again. They can block the defile at the base or chase her away up the mountain.”
It was quickly apparent that “chase her away” was the plan as most of the enemy force began to appear in the valley.
“Okay, everyone down and get your helmets on,” Edmund called. “Do not look up until I tell you or I’ll have your decurions run a sword through you. Alyssa, you have to be our eyes,” he added, putting on his own helmet.
“They’re deploying. They have some archers too,” Alyssa said as a few arrows whistled up the slope and fell harmlessly on the plateau. “They don’t have much of a chance from there, though.”
“Are they following the trail or spreading out?”
“Right up the trail,” she said, nocking an arrow and firing. “They’re coming up very dumb.”
“Good, fire a few more arrows and then look as if you are out,” Edmund said. “Longbowmen, prepare to stand up.”
“They’re coming straight up the trail. Some of the archers are stopping where they have shots.” She fired again. “But they’re no problem. Two hundred meters… one fifty… They’re spread all down the trail, about a hundred of them. Fifty meters…”
“ARCHERS UP!” Edmund called, standing up himself.
Herzer couldn’t see what was happening but he could hear and see the firing of the archers on either side and hear the screams from down the trail. The archers had placed arrow barrels all along the trench and he could see them pointing out particular targets and laughing as the inhuman enemy fell along the way. Finally Edmund shook his head.
“Stupid, stupid. I have to agree with the bunny.”
“When do we stand up?” Herzer asked.
“When they have a chance of making it up the hill,” Edmund chuckled. “And right now they’re clambering over bodies, which is making it hard. Damn, they’re retreating.” He rubbed his chin and shook his head. “And what are they doing elsewhere?” he asked rhetorically. He turned around and looked at the sun, which provoked a sneeze, then pulled out his small mirror. Herzer could now see that there was a clear spot in the middle and some sort of grid. Edmund lifted it and flashed up the hill for a moment and then waited. After a moment, Herzer could see a flag raised against the sun which twitched for a moment then lowered and raised, twitching again.
“Thank the Lord for stupidity in our enemies,” Edmund said, twitching the mirror again. “They’re turning their whole force around and heading back this way.”
It was noon before the full force was arrayed at the base of the mountain and Herzer had ordered the troop to eat another cold ration from their packs. They were running low on parched corn but by the end of the day they should be able to dip into their meal and have something cooked. Just after noon Dionys put in his attack, sending his orc fighters straight up the trail again as his archers tried to move up the steep hillside through the trees to get a shot at their enemy archers.
The longbowmen began feathering the Changed again but this time the orcs were crouched behind their shields and some of them were making it up the trail. Finally Edmund nodded. “Herzer, get the tree in position.”
“Triari! To the ropes!” Herzer called, scrambling up himself and getting a look at the battlefield for the first time since the early morning.
The first thing that he noticed was that the trail was choked with arrow-filled bodies, the horses and cavalrymen already starting to bloat in the sun. Farther down the trail there was a spray of orc bodies and a line of orcs, bent under their shields, scrambling over the bodies to try to reach the defenders. At the sight of the Blood Lords some of them stopped and screeched defiance, then came on under the weight of the fire, stumbling from time to time as an arrow found its way past their shields. As they got closer this became more common since the archers were firing from the sides, and even with their large round shields the orcs’ bodies were in view to either side. Herzer could almost feel sorry for them as they came forward into the storm of arrows but he had other things to worry about as the triari took up the ropes and pulled.
The tree was a fully mature chestnut and very heavy. It took all their straining to get it moving up the hill but after a moment it slotted into position in the gap in the defenses, the trunk well up the hill and the branches pointed towards the oncoming enemy force, creating a well-nigh impassable tangle on the downhill side.
The Blood Lords fell in on their positions and took up their shields, standing in a silent, disciplined line along the wall. To either side the archers continued their fire, slower now as they began to weary from the continuous draw and fire. They were less accurate as well as they fatigued and some of them were switching out for their assistants, stepping to the side and massaging their weary shoulders.
“Swords,” Edmund said as the first of the Changed approached the parapet. They had struggled around and through the branches of the felled tree and now clambered up the trunk, scrabbling at the stakes of the palisade. The first raised his head up in front of Cruz and fell back with a broad split in the side from the short, broad sword of the Blood Lord.
For a moment it was hot work all along the parapet as the Blood Lords hewed at the clutching arms of the orcs raising themselves up the parapet but there was no easy way for the Changed to force themselves past the soldiers. For the Blood Lords it was like a drill. They simply hacked and jabbed at whatever target was presented to them, keeping their shields up and forward to prevent being hacked at in turn. In short order the attackers fell back down the trail leaving a line of their dead and wounded piled against the parapet and being feathered in the back by the archers at either end.
The battle had not been completely one sided. Several of the Blood Lords were living up to their names with slashes on arms, battered helmets, or shields. But their heavy armor had been proof against most of the thrusts of the enemy and no one was killed except one of the archer assistants who had been caught up by one of the powerful orcs and dragged over the parapet to be hacked to death.
“Well, that was interesting,” Edmund said. “Consolidate your force, Triari. Post battle chores.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Almost everyone was red-splashed by the battle and one of the first orders of business was to clean their armor and weapons. After that, Herzer got to work, setting some of the force to work on the wounded while others repaired the limited damage to the defenses. The orcs had tried to pull the stakes down from the parapet but they were well driven into the ground. A few had been hacked nearly through, but they were quickly replaced with spares that had been laid up before the battle. At the same time one decuri was given the duty to stand sentry and otherwise the remainder had been told to eat, rest and work on their gear.