The Unknown upped the pace, Hirad feeling the Protectors ease along while he suddenly felt every one of his thirty-nine years.
'I could do without this,' he said, gasping slightly.
'Too much good living with the Kaan,' said The Unknown.
'Let me do the jokes, all right?' said Hirad.
They rounded the corner, Ilkar now beside them, and in moments, the docks were awash with chaos.
For a few paces, it looked as if the impossible would happen and they'd beat the Dordovans to the ship but when they were seventy yards from Denser and Darrick, the General yelled something inaudible and the Xeteskian mage brought his fists together in front of his face before bringing them down in a punching motion.
The warehouses close to the berth shuddered, were still and then shuddered again. The stone of the docks rippled by the timbered buildings and loose wood tumbled off the roofs. There was another momentary pause, in which Hirad saw the first Dordovan horse gallop on to the dockside, before huge wedges of stone thrust out of the earth in a dozen and more places, cascading cobbles, flags, mud and water in all directions.
The centremost of the three warehouses buckled at its front as one of the rock wedges shattered supporting timbers. The wall bulged outwards and the roof slipped sideways into the road, and above the sudden roar of noise, the sound of terrified horses rose briefly as riders tried to control bucking and twisting mounts desperate to avoid the avalanche of wood from above and the rock from below.
'Good old Denser,' said Hirad. But it was only a temporary hold. Already, horses were picking their way around the still shifting stone and splintered timbers, and though the EarthHammer would have caused casualties, the Dordovan cavalry came on.
'Let's go, let's go.' said Hirad, sprinting forwards as the first horseman closed on Denser.
'Aeb!' called The Unknown. 'Take left, Hirad takes right. I need an angled wedge.'
'Yes,' came the reply.
'And speak freely. Do what you have to do,' added The Unknown.
'Yes.'
The first horseman didn't even get close to Denser. The mage backed up in response to Darrick's shout and the General swept his sword high and fast into the rider's ribcage, clipping the horse's head on the way up and severing an ear. The rider collapsed out of
the saddle, his mount whinnying in pain as it ran blindly past, a threat to no one but itself.
Hirad ran on. The main body of the Dordovan cavalry detachment was picking its way out on to the docks now, an initial move to the ship halted by an urgent shout. Quickly wheeling, the cavalry formed a line that moved towards the onrushing Protectors headed by The Raven. Over the heads of the horses came FlameOrbs, splashing off Ilkar's shield, the mage ensconced in the middle of a three-deep line.
The horses hadn't the space to make speed for a full charge and, as they closed, the animals faltered, shying away from the solid wall of men who showed them no fear.
The Unknown slowed a little, tapped his blade twice on the stone and smashed it through the neck of the first horse. It came down in a tumble of limbs and a spray of blood that was washed away by the rain. The sky was lit by lightning that flashed through the tumbling cloud, thunder rumbling and echoing as it fired.
Beside The Unknown, Aeb, his axe unhitched, sword still across his back, batted the cheek of a horse with a flat blade, sweeping up in the same movement to bury the edge in the stomach of the rider who was lifted bodily from the saddle and thrown backwards under the hooves of the horse behind.
Hirad stepped smartly inside the flailing fore-hoofs of a rearing horse and ducked the sweep of a sword, placing his own above his head to catch any downward strike. He hated fighting cavalry. Space was tight, blows came from all angles and horses moved unpredictably in the press, making crushing a real risk. But after him came the Protectors and he knew that, for once, he could ignore the threat from behind, confident that Xetesk's killing machines would watch his back.
In between two tall horses, he jabbed right with an elbow and flashed his sword left, clashing with the rider's axe. Moving to a one-handed grip, he glanced right and grabbed for that rider's jerkin, pulling him off balance and dragging his sword flat to catch the return blow from the axeman left.
Unexpectedly, the grabbed rider fell and Hirad ignored him as he hit the ground, snatching his sword back and hacking it into the axeman's unprotected leg before letting himself drop, his knees
connecting with the chest of the man he'd pulled down. He heard and felt ribs snap and a blow to the throat with the pommel of his sword ended the enemy's struggles.
Around him was a mass of flailing legs. He moved to a crouch and then up, hearing the cries of a dying man behind him, and struck forward once more, seeing, to his, left, The Unknown's blade savage through the midriff of a Dordovan and Aeb's axe fall on another's neck.
The cavalry were losing their shape. Their commander yelled for a break and those that could wheeled and rode away from the fight, the Protectors letting them go, riderless horses following on. Fourteen Dordovans lay dead as did one Protector. The Unknown had a gash on his left arm.
'Unknown, all right?' asked Hirad as they reformed.
'Bloody sword. Terrible balance. No wonder Arlen was never good as a fighting town. Their weaponsmith needs stringing up.' He put a hand to the wound and looked at the slick of blood, quickly diluted by rain, that came away. 'They've ruined my shirt, the bastards.'
Hirad smiled. 'We need to focus on the next charge. I-' There was a roar from behind and the rush of hooves. Hirad looked back. Dordover and Lystern were coming. 'Shit. Trouble.'
'Understatement,' said The Unknown. 'Aeb! Rear defence. Tight form. We can't allow them amongst us this time.'
'It will be done.'
The Protectors moved immediately. From three ranks, they stepped up or back, each one hefting a single weapon, presenting a solid line to the Dordovan and Lysternan cavalries coming at them.
From Hirad's direction HotRain fell on the Dordovans, flaring on shields and blowing on to the ruined warehouses nearby. It was Denser's work but largely ineffective this time. The horsemen turned and charged.
'Be ready,' said The Unknown, his sword blade tapping.
'You know it,' said Hirad. The hooves clashed off the stone, the fires behind him lit the blades of the attackers in stark relief. Hirad roared to clear his head and looked for his first target.
*
Xye watched the crush of opposing forces with the detached analysis afforded a Protector through the sifting of every stimulus by the entire brethren in the Soul Tank. It allowed him to assess immediately, act with supreme confidence and authority, and minimise the chances of damage to any Protector or Given. He had the unfailing support of every brother and his courage was eternally undimmed.
He stood in the centre of the line, his back eight paces from those of Sol and Aeb, looking back towards the fires that had engulfed the fish market, the inn, and the timber yard and now threatened the foundry and warehousing nearby. The fires denied the night and shed a garish glare over the entire dockside, lighting the charging horses and their riders in the colours of hell.
Xye considered the enemy had taken an ill-conceived gamble based on panic, not tactics. The mixed Dordovan and Lysternan forces drove hard along the dockside, the latter unsure, the former desperate to destroy the line threatening their comrades. But behind them, the mages had dropped their barricades and the Given mages launched FlameOrbs, HotRain and IceWind across the cavalries as the Protectors, unhindered by ForceCones, surged after them.
And into the melee came more that Xye couldn't place. Men on foot, directed by a single man on horseback; and through the maelstrom of thoughts and pulses, Xye picked up a thread that warned of the howling of wolves. Animals to be spared.
Strength and courage. Fracture the charge. Help comes from behind,. We are one.
Xye knew the brethren could not lose.
