“Five hundred!” Bock also said…stunned. “M’lord we should…”
“No…don’t say it,” Gwaynn ordered, standing up and facing his friend and General. “We have a good plan…we will fight them here.”
Bock looked torn and was about to speak but then thought better of it and closed his mouth, then changed his mind once more.
“Let them come,” he muttered and drew his kali, craving battle like never before.
?
Tarina N’dori appeared out of thin air directly to the right of Captain Kerr in the very midst of the heavy fighting near the rear of the column. She killed two Knights before anyone even knew she’d arrived and was spinning and slashing with a skill Kerr would not have believed possible if he was not near enough to witness the feat. With a sudden jerk, Kerr turned a lance meant for his chest and slashed threw the neck of the attacking Knight, dimly aware that N’dori had killed another two in the same amount of time.
“Gather your men and flee south!” She shouted to him while her immediate surroundings were clear of any new targets. “The north road is packed with Knights. I will hold them off for as long as possible to allow you to make some distance.”
Kerr nodded and spun Karly, his mount, just in time to counter a blow from another Knight. He pulled Karly farther around in order to defend himself, but N’dori sprinted behind the Knight and with a graceful leap landed on the back of his horse. The man’s head was removed just as gracefully and N’dori unceremoniously dumped the body from the saddle then hopped her butt into the soft leather support and slipped her feet into the stirrups.
“Hurry now!” She said and spurred the horse into the thickest part of the battle. Kerr took a moment to watch her ride, admiring the way the Tarina sat her horse…very natural and very balanced, a natural rider, and despite her age, there was something in the way she moved and killed that the Captain found strangely erotic. With difficulty he shook away such thoughts and set about saving what men he could from the butchery. He fought and shouted orders to sergeants and common soldiers alike for what seemed like hours, sending them down the road to the south and away from the battle. Some left in groups as large as fifty, while others straggled off in twos and threes. He kept at the task until a large contingent of Knights came charging out of the woods to the west and he was forced to flee with a group of no more than a dozen. They thundered down the road heading south just before the enemy broke clear of the forest. Kerr and his men did not pause but continued to gallop away from the battle. He glanced back once and happily saw that the Knights were not pursuing so he pulled to a stop and turned about, searching for N’dori. The Tarina was not in sight, only a mass of enemy horseman. The sounds of battle still filled the forest road and Kerr was tempted for a moment to charge back into the fray and attempt to rescue N’dori as she had rescued him.
“Captain,” a young soldier said trotting up to his side. The young man’s horse snorted, shaking it’s head, revealing its own eagerness to rejoin the battle, but the young man held the reins tightly keeping the animal in check. “Captain we must go,” he repeated and Kerr looked over at him as if coming out of a dream.
Kerr stared at the youth, who had a deep gash just above his right temple. The wound bled copiously, but the young man appeared not to notice. Kerr frowned, trying to remember the soldier’s name. It would not come.
“Sir,” the soldier said. “Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Kerr said spinning his mount around once more. “Let’s move,” he added and risked one final glimpse back in search of the Solitary, but he saw only the backs of the enemy.
But N’dori was there, still mounted and fighting like a tigress. She was surrounded by enemy Knights, most whom were armed with lances which posed serious problems for the Tarina. But as long as the weapons were aimed at her she was able to spin and deflect them. She knocked aside lance after lance, guiding her horse with skill and daring. He was an excellent fighting animal and darted this way and that, guided only from the pressure she gave through her thighs. They moved in concert, the horse shifting and charging as she attempted to close with her enemy and kill with her kali.
She managed to confuse and kill a half dozen Knights before one Knight decided to go for her mount. He struck the animal in the chest driving the tip of his lance deep into the animal’s left lung. The injured horse screamed in pain throwing blood over those nearest, and immediately faltered and fell to the ground. N’dori cursed but deftly leaped from the saddle and rolled under a well aimed lance. It missed by inches and the Tarina gutted the horse carrying the attacker. It too began to scream and as the horse went down the Solitary broke into a run, deftly dodging another pointed lance. Again she streaked by an attacker, this time cutting the arm from a Knight and the man’s screams joined in with those of the two wounded animals.
Talented and deadly as she was, N’dori was now surrounded by nearly fifty mounted soldiers all well trained and all determined to kill her. She held them off; killing several more before finally they broke through her defenses. A lance slipped past her kali and caught her in the right shoulder. The point went deep, but glanced off of her shoulder socket then slipped out of her body leaving a deep bloody cut just below her armpit. But instead of breaking free, the point of the lance caught in her leather jerkin and she was lifted off her feet and carried back until steel tip buried itself in trunk of a large tree. N’dori tried to shift her position but found herself held securely in place. Without thinking she turned another lance, but saw that there were four more close behind and she could not hope to keep deflecting all the blows sent at her.
In the end she was forced to pull herself from her jerkin, wincing at the pain her injury caused her, but relieved when she was finally free of the trap. She stood panting for a moment then looked to her shoulder. She was now wearing only a thin cotton undershirt which was drenched in blood. She pulled off the garment unmindful that she was now naked from the waist up and wrapped her undershirt tightly around the deep cut just below her shoulder. It was very cold but she was not aware of it. She moved swiftly and sliced through the necks of nearly two dozen Knights before she became momentarily disoriented. She fought the dizziness, yanked a Knight from his mount and gingerly pulled herself up onto the horse and projected. She searched for Captain Kerr, who’d fled to the south. She found him quickly, already two miles away, leading a large group of horseman from the vicinity of the battle. She smiled, wavered again from dizziness then rapidly opened a bridge. The vortex was powerfully made and the bridge sprang to life large and stable. N’dori then released time; all around her slain Knights toppled from their mounts. The Solitary paid them no mind, instead she spun her horse and spurred it through the bridge. She was vaguely aware of shouts of shock coming from the fight as she left the area, but they were quickly silenced as the bridge snapped shut.
She and her horse appeared in the midst of the galloping Massi horseman directly beside Captain Kerr and again her ears were assailed by shouts of surprise. Her sudden appearance caused several horses to veer sharply away, but no one toppled. Kerr stared at her with a stunned expression, his wide eyes going from her face to her bare bouncing breasts. N’dori laughed at the look he was giving her, then slumped in the saddle and would have fallen had not the Captain reached over to catch her. He continued to hold her up as he reined his horse back, thankfully N’dori’s mount followed suit, thoroughly confused. When they finally came to a halt the Tarina sagged farther.
“I…I need food…water…and rest,” she said just above a whisper.
“Of course,” Kerr answered, hardly able to come to grips with her presence. He pulled a wad of jerked beef from his saddle and gave it to her. She snatched it greedily away and stuffed it in her mouth like someone starving. After a moment he handed her his water skin. She drank deeply before taking more jerked beef.
“You escaped,” Kerr said with awe.
