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."Tell the troops to get a bite toeat.I'll go talk withMcGibbon and Alyssa."Herzer passed the word and sat himself down to eat.The smell of the bodieswas rising up over the palisade and between that and the cries of the wounded,for water among other things, it was not one of the best meals he'd ever had.But he managed to choke it down.Finally Edmund came back, chewing on a bar ofmonkey, and nodded at something down the hill."He was serious."The whole force had gathered at the base of the hill, with the armored figuresin the center by the trail and the archers and Changed arrayed to either side.At a gesture from McCanoc, the whole force started up the hill."He's got some tactical sense," Edmund said."He knows that with us in hisrear he can't get to the town and that we can obviously outmaneuver him on thehills.""So what are we going to do now?" Herzer asked nervously.The small force onthe hill was outnumbered nearly a hundred to one."See how many of them we can make die," Edmund said with a chuckle."And then,run away."Herzer heard the horses start up the defile and looked around involuntarily."Eyes front," Edmund called."They come up the hill and we kill them.Not muchmore to it."The orcs moving among the trees were a poor target for the bowmen so theyconcentrated on the armored figures moving up the trail.Again the figuresdropped, one by one, but behind them was a tide of orcs and as they ascendedPage 292ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthe trail the surviving enemy bowmen reached a position to start to fire back.Their bows were lighter than those of the Raven's Mill archers but theyscored, mostly among the archers and their assistants.The archers shiftedfire to get rid of them and in doing so gave the armored men-at-arms thechance to scramble up the hill unmolested.The men-at-arms on the trail were making much better time than those on eitherside and they reached the palisade first.Again there was the desperatestruggle around the giant tree as the armored figures burst over the palisade.Herzer waded in with a will, swinging a giant mallet used for driving in thestakes of the palisade, and his corded muscles brought it down with enormousforce.But it required two hands to wield and one of the armored men-at-armsgot past it, giving him a deep slash on his shield arm.However, in a briefflurry of battle all of the armored figures were down and it was time to dealwith the orcs that followed them.Herzer found himself in the thick of that battle as well.He picked up adropped pilum and drove it down the hill into the shield of one of the orcs,then stooped to pick up his shield, drawing his short sword as he did so."BLOOD LORDS TO ME!" he called, slashing at the grotesquely Changed figuresclambering over the parapet.He found Cruz and Deann on either side of him and the three managed to get theshield wall reformed as the tide swept up the battlements.Then it was time toforget; all they did was hack and slash at the enemy in front of them,sweeping at exposed arms, dropping their shields just long enough to drivethem into feet with an over-the-top jab at the face, covering their shieldbrethren.In the midst of it, Herzer could sense Edmund moving to either side of him.Wherever the line needed bolstering, suddenly the hammer of the baron wouldcrash down and an orc or two or one time three would be smashed back over theparapet in a welter of blood.Herzer didn't know how long the battle went on; it was simply hack and hew,just like training, except for the screams of the orcs and the occasionalgrunt from either side of him.Finally the tide turned and the only peoplestanding in the trench were the defenders from Raven's Mill.The trench was filled with bodies, most of them orcs but a few of the BloodLords, and more of the archers, were down.Ed Stalker was lying in theblood-filled trench, a sword driven all the way through his body, but his ownsword in the throat of the orc that had killed him.Bue Pedersen had a nastygash on his sword arm that was dripping blood from a hastily applied bandageand at least three of thearchers were never going to see Raven's Mill again."Toss the bodies of the enemy over the side and start taking the parapetdown," Edmund said."Start moving the wounded up the hill.Bury our dead in the trench.""Yes, sir," Herzer answered tiredly."What about stripping the bodies?" hecontinued, looking at the corpses and a few that were wounded.The orcs werebeing finished off as he asked."There's some good material here that the towncould use.""We can't carry it, though," Edmund pointed out."I'd say leave it.McGibbon.""My lord.""Send half your archers up to the first retreat point," Talbot said."Thereshould be a rider waiting there [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]