On and on they marched, and nothing happened. Khollo’s every nerve was on the lookout, anticipating an attack, an ambush, anything. But nothing came. Then, miraculously, Relam’s army was emerging from the canyon and moving around the long, gray lake, closing in on the stone doors of Dun Carryl.
I do not like this, Kanin said as he continued to fly back and forth over the advancing army. This not knowing is terrible. I almost wish they would attack just to end the suspense.
You’re not the only one, Khollo replied nervously. Doubts were whirling through his anxious mind. What if he had missed some crucial detail when he was planning this battle, what if he had led Relam into a trap?
Then we fight and flame and destroy! Kanin replied. And we break the trap so that Relam King can escape or win the day.
Eventually, hours after the advance had begun, Relam’s forces stood in perfect order at the far end of the long lake. They stood facing outwards in a formation that resembled a pie with a little less than half cut out of it. The lake made up the missing part of the circular perimeter, protecting the army from that direction. In the section closest to the stone doors stood the catapults, targeted on the entrance to Dun Carryl.
They waited several minutes. Kanin hovered anxiously above and the soldiers of Relam’s army waited with bated breath, weapons at the ready. But no horde of vertaga was forthcoming. No sudden torrent of foes appeared.
Finally, Khollo heard indistinct shouts rising up from the command position by the catapults. Around the edges of the army, soldiers sheathed their weapons and began planting long, sharpened stakes in the ground.
This was their final ploy to draw the vertaga out. Surely, they would not let the Sthan army build a fortified camp to shelter behind. Khollo knew that even as the soldiers dug, they conserved their energy and were ready to draw their weapons again on a second’s notice. In the meantime, more and more stakes were being rammed into the ground, creating a thorny wall for the vertaga to negotiate.
Only minutes after the soldiers began fortifying their position, several things happened at once. First, the stone doors of Dun Carryl swung open. Second, a half dozen hidden tunnels appeared along the canyon and the sides of the lake. Finally, passages opened onto the slopes above the canyon.
Out of every one of these orifices poured enemy warriors. Vertaga marched in rigid lines from the gates of Dun Carryl. Lutag riders bounded across the slopes towards the archers. And more vertaga foot soldiers took up positions in the canyon and around the lake, cutting off Relam’s retreat.
For a moment, there was no reaction from the Sthan forces. Then Khollo saw the archers begin pouring a deadly hail of arrows into the enemy below, darkening the sky with the number of shafts they released. The small bands of cavalry peeled off and charged uphill, galloping to engage the lutag riders. In the canyon, vertaga struggled to advance under the hail of arrows, and the catapults began lobbing boulders into the warriors emerging from Dun Carryl’s gate.
Shall we lend a hand? Kanin asked pointedly.
Khollo surveyed the battle quickly, trying to take everything in, working out where they would be of the greatest help.
Let’s hit the lutag riders on the northern slopes, he said finally. The archers will be pretty much defenseless if they make it through the cavalry.
Kanin dove, pumping his great wings rapidly while Khollo hung on tight. Air rushed past him, threatening to rip him from the dragon’s back. Then they were leveling out, overtaking the Sthan cavalry, passing them, moving to engage the lutag riders. Kanin stretched out his front claws and opened his mouth wide.
The nearest riders tried to swerve to avoid the dragon, but Kanin still managed to knock two to the ground with his claws. Then he turned his head and blasted another three riders with a wall of flame, engulfing them. The lutags howled in pain and shock as their thick fur burned fiercely. Khollo caught the unpleasant stench of charred flesh and his eyes began to water. Kanin continued breathing fire and batting vertaga and lutags to either side, sometimes clobbering them with his tail if they managed to survive the first wave.
Quite suddenly, they were through the vertaga force and climbing into the air again. Khollo looked back and saw that the wild charge of the lutags had been severely disrupted by Kanin’s counterattack. Their formation was broken, their riders forced to fight singly or in pairs. The disciplined light cavalry, riding in an arrowhead formation, easily struck down their foes left and right. Unfortunately, several enemy riders slipped past and were left with an unimpeded path to the archers.
Another pass? Kanin asked anxiously. I think we can turn them back before they reach the arrow men.
Archers, Khollo corrected automatically.
Doesn’t matter!
You’re right. Another pass it is, and quickly!
Kanin wheeled and climbed a few meters, trying to judge the best place to intercept the enemy riders. After a brief pause, the dragon altered his course so that they would run diagonally across the vertaga line, taking them from behind. Khollo nocked an arrow to his bow, but did not draw yet, waiting for Kanin to get close enough that he could not miss.
Some of the lutag riders looked back and saw Kanin bearing down on them and altered their course, trying to escape the dragon. One swung wide to the right, out of Kanin’s path completely. The vertaga rider had only a few seconds to leer at the two keepers before Khollo’s first arrow
