Chapter No. 40 Victōria

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.

Dawn broke over the Ardendes forest to reveal the main royalist army lined up west of the city, their backs to the river Arkanon. Twenty thousand men strong, they represented the heart of the Empire's elite forces. Consisting of twelve thousand knights, five thousand archers and three thousand pikemen, the Royalists had an impressive numerical advantage over the Army of Light's force that opposed it.

This crucial fact did not go unnoticed in the main headquarters tent of the Army of Light.

"Our enemy has a three to one advantage over us," Morton said, shifting his concerned gaze from Paladin to the commanders. "How can we overcome this obstacle?"

Paladin simply rubbed his beard without looking up from a tactical map spread out on a large table. "I'm not sure there is a way to overcome it. We may have to concentrate on taking out some of their forces before we retreat into the Ardendes."

"Oh, great!" Sir Volta growled. "We haven't even engaged the enemy yet and you're already planning a retreat."

"I am open to suggestions," Paladin said, frustration showing in his dark eyes.

His appeal was met with silence.

"I have a suggestion," Mara said in a soft voice.

Volta glared at her. "Oh, really, bitch. Now you're an expert on combat strategy."

"There is no cost in listening to my plan," she said without emotion.

"Go ahead," Paladin said.

"The customary procedure is to have your main line of knights parallel to theirs, right?"

"Yes," Paladin said.

"You know what's going to happen when they see me. They'll bunch up in an attempt to be the first knight to take me out."

"Good," Volta bellowed. "The fools will make better targets for the rest of us."

"Right," Mara said, paying no attention to him. "So, instead of attacking in a line, why not allow the line to bulge out with me at the point. We start out in a straight line and then form into a loose arrow shaped formation. They'll bunch up even more, and just before we make contact, we allow the sides of our line to sweep forward to attack them from their flanks."

"I see what you mean," Paladin said. "The lines can swing around as if they were on a hinge. Besides allowing a flanking move, it would have the advantage of throwing their archers off range."

"Who is going to protect our archers while we're out of line?" Volta asked in a mocking tone.

Mara held her hand out like a blade. "After we move into an arrow formation, the archers can bunch up to oppose their secondary charge. They should be able to repel the enemy knights with concentrated fire, especially if they arrange themselves in a semi-circle."

"Yes," Paladin said, rubbing his beard. "It's a bold plan, but it might just make the difference."

"We certainly need a surprise," Morton said. "We will be easily outmatched in a standard formation."

"Agreed," Paladin said. "But we must make sure the sub commanders are in agreement with this plan. We have little time to prepare. If we don't execute it correctly, we will suffer from the confusion that will ensue."

"Speaking of confusion," Mara said. "I noticed that the ground is not exactly level out in front of their encampment. In fact, it slopes upward slightly in a swell that goes to the right."

"So what?" Volta hissed.

"Assuming they line up in front of their encampment, their line will be going up from left to right. If we skew our line slightly to the left, we may be able to force them into a greater misalignment. It would give our right flank the advantage of sweeping down on their left flank after the initial charge."

"That's good for the right flank," Paladin said. "How about the left? Wouldn't they be faced with a slight climb?"

"The ground levels out on the far left," Mara said. "If anything, it sweeps up to our left, giving us the advantage of the higher ground."

"You worry too much about the ground," Volta said. "The hell with how the ground goes. They will die just as easily no matter how high or low they are."

"I disagree," Paladin said, rubbing his beard. "Any slight advantage will contribute to success. But this will only work if we get into position first and that will require the effort of all the sub commanders."

"We may as well get busy," Morton said. "We have a lot of work to do to make this happen."

Mara adjusted her helmet, making sure there were no gaps in its connection to her gorget. She knew that preparation was the most important aspect of a battle. There would be no time for it when the battle commenced.

"Where do you want me?" Hilton asked while he adjusted his own helmet.

"On my left. Sir Hillan will be on my right. When we are just about to make contact, I will pull up slightly, allowing you and Hillan to make contact first, preventing a block. This will allow me the opportunity to break through and take out several knights in their second line before the melee begins."

Hilton shook his head. "I hate the melee. It's so disorganized and chaotic."

"It only appears chaotic," she said. "The object is to bunch up their knights and contain them. You must ignore the knights who have been unhorsed and concentrate on those that are still on mounts."

"Simple to say; difficult to do."

"You will do well, young Hilton."

He sighed. "You always say that."

She laughed, and he could not understand how she could be so jolly right before a crucial battle.

He always felt morbid anxiety prior to battle, and this was not just any old battle. This was the big one, the one that would hopefully be a turning point. And, he hated it. The thought of it made his stomach churn uncomfortably. Breakfast was not going to be at peace in his stomach today.

Hilton retched, earning him laughs and derisive kidding. It was false bravado on their part; Hilton was not the only soldier to lose his breakfast that day. For some it would be the last meal they'd lose.

Mara only smiled at him, the kind of smile that said she understood.
But, did she?

Mara seemed nonplussed by an impending battle. If anything, it was as if she actually enjoyed combat. Why? Why did she like killing? Killing is unnatural, not something one can get used to.

Why then do men go to war? Do they enjoy killing one another, or is it just some morbid fascination with proving their valor? Mara didn't appear to have machismo. She seemed hell bent on destroying the devils that opposed her. Maybe, she is really battling the devils inside her.

The rebel army moved into battle position as fast as they could. The royalist soldiers lined up slowly and deliberately accompanied by constant drum rolls. General Alisto, the Royalist supreme general, ordered his knights to move into two lines with a third line in reserve. Two regiments of archers took up position on the flanks with a third regiment massed in front of the third line.

The battlefield lay to the south of the Arkanon River in an open plain between the Ardendes forest and the river. The royalist army had the best ground, having positioned in front of a line of birch trees. Several battalions of archers held position in this tree line, enjoying the only cover in this flat open land.

What they didn't notice was the slight skew in the rebel line. The royalist knights moved to oppose them unaware of the slight advantage to the rebels.

Drums and trumpets signaled the call to battle. Mara and Hilton were the first to form up. Sir Hillan moved up to her right and gave her a nod. Sir Volta moved down near the end of the line, wanting nothing to do with Mara and the knights that associated with her.
Paladin and Morton stayed back with three hundred knights and some older sub commanders. They would be the last defense if Mara's plan went awry.

" The die has been cast," Morton said. "If this doesn't work we will be reduced to guerrilla attacks and small skirmishes."

"We are at the mercy of the gods," Paladin said. "We need this victory or we will be nothing more than a disorganized rabble."

"We will see victory," Morton said with his jaw set firm with determination.
Paladin gave him a brave salute, but internally he had his doubts about the rebel cause this day.

The enemy knights began their charge, prompting Mara to move into action. The Army of Light's line of knights rode out at gallop to meet the Royalist knights. As Mara had predicted, the enemy knights bunched up opposite her position. When she lowered her lance, the knights on either side of her began to pull back to form an arrow. This action confused the enemy archers. While the rebel archers found the range to the enemy knights all in a straight line, many enemy arrows fell short of the advancing rebel knights.
An instant before contact, Mara sent a mental signal to Chevron to pull up slightly, allowing Hilton and Hillan to take out knights bunched up to oppose her. The knight directly opposing Mara became a victim of the two knights on either side. When they were knocked to the ground, their mounts collided with his horse, causing it to fall and spilling him to the ground. Mara jumped Chevron over the fallen knight and his mount and moved behind the lead enemy line. She turned to the left and unhorsed knight after knight before her lance broke. She grabbed her battle-axe and charged the broken line of knights with a vengeance. Many knights still possessing a lance tried to unhorse her, but she managed to avoid each of then, often paying them with a horrendous axe blow.

As usual, the melee degenerated into individual combat between mounted and dismounted knights. The noise of metal against metal, screams of pain and anguish, grunts and yells filled the dusty air. Men and their horses fell in heaps of wreckage and blood. Horses cried and men screamed in pain and struggled to escape the mass of bleeding bodies.

Mara moved as fast as she could to a position near Hilton. She came up from behind an enemy knight who was getting the better of her bunkmate and whacked him in the back of his helmet, knocking him to the ground. Hilton returned the favor by smashing a dismounted knight who was about to swing a sword on Mara from behind. She had barely enough time to acknowledge his help. Two mounted knights approached her from opposite sides. This was the obvious attempt to subject her to the dual attack dilemma. If she attacked one, the other would be free to attack her.

She had the ultimate defense for the dual dilemma. She sheathed her battle-axe and pulled her twin swords. She slashed both knights at the same time, felling both at the same time. She returned the swords to the scabbards on her back and returned to the use of her battle-axe. It afforded her with the maximum power when riding.

Hilton pulled in back of the melee swinging his battle sword at any mounted knight he could get near. The first knight raised his battle-axe to counter him, but Hilton stabbed his sword into his underarm. The slash knocked the enemy knight's axe out of his hand, rendering him vulnerable, but before Hilton could finish the job, a rebel knight moved up to whack the enemy knight from behind, unhorsing him. Hilton gave him a stare before he rode off to find another target of opportunity.

When he needed help he didn't get it. Two enemy knights decided he was a target of opportunity. They charged at him with their battle swords at the ready. Hilton entertained the idea of moving away, but he noticed that the two knights were together and they were both right handed. All he had to do was move to their left and swing around behind them. The ploy worked, sort of. He hit the first knight on the back of his helmet, but all his blow did was give the enemy a bad headache. Both royalist knights turned around to counter him. Fortunately, the one he had hit had not cleared his head as yet. Hilton charged the second and took a swing, only to have his sword blow countered. The contact of steel against steel sent a harsh vibration back through his arm to his shoulder, causing a sudden sharp pain in his rotator cuff. With much pain, he swung his sword to counter a chopping blow.
Meanwhile, the first knight had regained his senses and charged up to help his comrade. Hilton tried to move away, but his horse balked, and all he could do was raise his sword to defend himself. But, with his shoulder pain, he was not going to be very effective.

Mara moved up and whacked the first knight, knocking him off his horse in an explosion of blood. The second knight swung at her, but she easily blocked his blow. He paid one hell of a price for taking her on. She smashed her axe into his faceplate, splitting his helmet and his face.

Hilton winced when he saw the violent blow's result and heard the noisy report. What really blew his mind was the speed with which she delivered the blow. The enemy knight had no time to react. All he could do was die quickly.

With his shoulder steeped in sharp pain, Hilton moved away to pull himself together. But as it were, there's no rest for the weary. A royal knight snuck up on him and delivered a harsh sword blow to his left pauldron, severely denting it and putting one hell of a hurt to his shoulder. Now both shoulders ached.

He had little time for self-pity. Two knights approached with murderous intent. He managed to counter the sword slash of the first, but took a hard whack to his back plate from the second.  That made him really angry. Despite the pain, he delivered a slicing blow to the second enemy knight with enough force to knock him off of his mount.

Mara took care of the first enemy knight, delivering a blow so violent it knocked him off of his horse and into another enemy knight, unhorsing him. 
Mara moved away from the main melee and rode toward the knights in the secondary charge. Hilton and Hillan rode after her. The main problem for them was that these knights still had lances and they did not. But, Mara had no intentions of taking them head on. She stopped and began shooting at them with her crossbow. When Paladin and Morton saw this, they moved out with the reserve knights to attack. With Mara, Hilton and Hillan shooting at them on one side and the reserve rebel knights attacking them on the other, the second line of Royalist knights retreated. Those who chose to fight were easily defeated. It seemed as if the enemy knights were reluctant to fight when they were the least bit disadvantaged. Perhaps, it was because they were not as desperate as the rebels.

Mara and her two friends joined the melee, but by the time they got into it, the battle was nearly finished. All that was left was the mop up. Fearing an ambush, the rebel army decided not to chase after the retreating forces. The Army of Light had caused enough damage for one day.

Paladin and Morton rode up to Mara and saluted her, and she returned their salute.

"Your plan turned the day," Paladin said. "I commend you on your strategic skill."

"Thank you," she said. "But, this victory belongs to all the knights who fought here."

"I concur," Morton said. "But now we must attend to the dead and dying."

"Make it happen," Paladin said.

Along with squires, archers, and knights on foot, surgeons searched among the wreckage of men, horses, armor, severed arms and legs for anyone still alive. Many wounded knights were loaded onto their shields to be carried. Mara had the advantage of being able to single-handedly carry a knight in armor to the surgeon's tent.
After the hard, long cleanup, Mara relaxed around a campfire and Hilton joined her.

"This battle was shorter than I had expected," Mara said.

"It was more than long enough for me," Hilton said, frowning. "The quicker the better."

"These Royalists act as if they have no stomach for combat. I'm surprised."

"They have no incentive," Hilton said, "other than the wrath of their Emperor."

"They have no soul," she said. "They're just going through the motions. We bested a force thrice our size and we did it with a minimum of casualties."

"And why not; we have you," Hilton said. "You are our secret weapon."

"You wouldn't know it from the way I'm treated around here. You and Hillan are the only knights who will fight by my side."

"I don't know about Hillan, but I am honored to fight by your side."

She gave him a teasing grin. "I love you too, young Hilton."

He blushed. Luckily, he had the red glow of a fire to hide it.

But, Mara could not sleep that night, tossing and turning uncharacteristically. On the contrary, Hilton slept like a baby, his body bruised and sore, but his anxiety about combat soothed by the end of hostilities.

A noise woke him. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to convince himself that he wasn't seeing things, that his personal goddess wasn't having trouble sleeping.

"What's wrong?"

Mara looked at him briefly but turned away. "I don't like the fact that this battle ended so quickly."

"What are talking about? What's so bad about a quick battle?"

"It doesn't make any sense. Why would an army three times our size simply break off and run?"

Hilton sat up. "But, you said that they have no soul, that they have no interest in fighting."

"That was a rash conclusion. I believe that they wanted us to come to that conclusion."

Hilton stood up. "What are you trying to say?"

Mara got up and motioned to Hilton. "I think it best we go confer with your father."

"He's not going to like being awakened from a much needed slumber."

"When he hears what I have to say, he'll get over it."

Hilton tagged after Mara on her mad dash to the command tent. Hilton was surprised to find both his father and Morton pouring over maps.

Paladin looked up at Mara and his son with puzzled eyes. "Now what?"

Mara wasted no time. "I believe that the Empire has set an ambush for us."

"How so?" Paladin asked.

"I think that they have positioned a sizeable force in the woods along the trail to the ford across the river. They can attack us using both archers and knights with crossbows. We will have no way to escape with the river at our right. Our archers will have a difficult time firing into the trees."

Morton shot a knowing glance at his commander. Paladin answered with a headshake before turning to Mara. "Your hunch has merit. We've had scouts out since the battle and they have been unable to find the main enemy force. Some of the scouts are overdue."

"How can we get back across the river without taking casualties?" Morton asked.

"We can't," Mara said. "But, we can minimize the attrition by engaging the enemy on our terms."

Paladin frowned. "How?"

"We must take a gamble," Mara said. "The only way we can overcome their deployment in the forest is by moving a decoy force along the trail and sweeping a second force though the forest to flush the enemy into an engagement on tie open ground before the trail narrows."

"What you suggest is very dangerous," Paladin said. "Fighting in a wooded area is difficult if not actually impossible."

"Not if we spread out our forces and seek the enemy as wolves do."

Paladin's eyebrow rose. "Wolves?"

"Wolves hunt in packs, sending out scouts ahead to find prey and calling up the rest to surround and corner."

"What you ask is unconventional," Morton said. "Splitting up into squads and sweeping through woods--I'm not sure the men can do this effectively."

Mara set her jaw. "We must adapt or die."

Hilton swallowed hard. He was convinced that Mara was right. So much for relaxation after a battle. The next phase of this battle is beginning to sound worse than the first.

Dawn was only two hours away when Mara, Hilton, Hillan and two freshly dubbed knights moved out of the main rebel camp. Many other small groups of knights were preparing to follow. Only a few squires accompanied these groups because of the extreme danger.
Approaching the dense woods at night was unnerving at best. Hilton hoped that his horse could see better than he. The last thing he wanted was to be tossed off a falling horse in the dark.
When Mara and her little squad penetrated the tree line, darkness covered them like a blanket. If not for the dim glow of an impending sunrise, Mara and the others would have been plunged into total blackness. Progress under these conditions was slow and torturous. What was even more harrowing was the fact that none of them had any idea where the enemy was. Mara had predicted that the royalist forces would be found along the trees line that borders the trail running parallel to the river, but even she had no idea how many scouting parties were moving around at the rear of the enemy line, the very location they were attempting to approach.
Surprisingly, Hillan saw it first, a faint spark of light up ahead. He simply intoned a caw sound to alert the others.
Mara gestured for everyone to dismount. Fighting on horseback in a dense forest was not an option.

"Those idiots made campfires," Mara hissed. "They've made our job easier."  She pulled up her crossbow. "Make every shot count. Things are going to get wild."

Going to? Hilton thought. Shit!

On Mara's command the squad split. For the first time, Hilton was alone, and it made him especially nervous. How was he going to fight in this damnable dark? He could barely see. Oh, if he only had Mara's divine vision.
He took aim as best he could at a lookout about twenty yards left of the campfire. Mara had assigned him that target, as she had done for the rest. No use everyone shooting the same enemy soldier.

Hillan's caw sound began the battle. Hilton took his shot and he was surprised that it found its mark in the lookout's throat. When Hilton moved behind an old oak to reload, the sounds of alarm and cursing interrupted the gentle chirping of insects and the hooting of owls.

Then all hell broke loose.

Crossbow bolts began flying all over the place. When Hilton peeked around the tree, he almost had a heart seizure. An enemy knight was running his way holding a crossbow. When the enemy spotted Hilton, he took a shot that stuck in the tree less than an inch from Hilton's head. Hilton took his shot, felling the attacker, but he was forced to take cover when several bolts impacted the tree simultaneously. He saw enemy running for cover all around him. Mara had taken her squad into a hornet's nest of enemy soldiers.
Part of the reason that the enemy soldiers were running Hilton's way was because Mara was shooting bolts faster than her targets could answer. She also didn't hesitate to shoot while running, something that was near impossible for a knight in armor.

Aiming his shots well, Hilton managed to fell two more enemy soldiers before a bolt penetrated through his breastplate. The missile hit with the impact of a boulder. He fell unconscious into a tall clump of grass and was ignored by the retreating enemy. They had a more pressing problem.

Mara, Hillan and one of the newly dubbed knights pursued the fleeing enemy knights. The other member of her squad had taken a bolt and was incapacitated.

Consciousness returned gradually. Pain convincing Hilton that he was still alive, He lay there wondering if this was it—the end of everything. He couldn't get a good look at the wound because of the darkness and the fact that the bolt had penetrated his armor. Only removal of his armor would reveal its severity. No way he was going to do that. All he could do was lay there and wait either for rescue or death.

Time passes so slowly when you're waiting. Insects began chirping again now that the noises of battle had subsided. The glow of dawn filled the sky in the east, casting long jagged crimson shadows. Was this to be the last sunrise?

Hilton caught sight of him in the corner of his eye, an enemy knight with a loaded crossbow. All he could do was freeze as if he were dead.

Hold your breath. Don't move. Pray to Appolo for deliverance.

The enemy knight aimed his crossbow directly at Hilton's heart, inches away. A bolt fired that close would easily pierce his armor--and his heart.
He stood there just holding the crossbow. Why doesn't he shoot? What's he waiting for? Mara, I love you. I guess I've always loved you. You're beautiful.

The enemy knight left. Guess he didn't want to waste a bolt on a dead knight. Ah, I can breath again.

"Hilton! Hilton! Where are you?"

What's this: a voice from heaven?
"I'm over here," he said more in a strained whisper than a yell.

Mara's face shrouded by steel appeared above him. "Are you injured?"

"No, I'm just taking a nap," he said with a sarcastic lilt.

"Oh, God," she said. "You've taken a bolt."

She helped him to sit up, noting with dismay the pained expression on his face.

"I don't think it's too bad," he said. "Just hurts like hell."

She gave him a cautious smile. "That's a good sign. If it doesn't hurt. . . ."
After extracting the bolt, she cautiously removed his breastplate. The pain of the removal caused Hilton to cry out.
She finally pulled back his leather shirt to reveal the wound. "You're lucky, young Hilton. It took a nasty gouge out of your side, but it didn't penetrate anything important. I'll bind it up for you."

"What happened to the enemy?"

"We got them all," Mara said, without emotion. "There were fourteen of them in all. Unfortunately, we lost Sir Groten. He wasn't as lucky as you."

He grimaced when Mara tightened his bandage. "Now what?"

"We have to get moving," Mara said. "The main battle is ahead of us."

"I'm not sure that I will be of use in a battle," Hilton said with an apologetic smile on his lips.

"You'll be as good as new," Mara said. "As soon as I get you bound up properly."

Sir Hillan appeared. "We're ready to go."

Mara helped Hilton up. "Let's get going."

Hilton swallowed his pride and allowed Mara to help him put his breastplate on and mount up. The pain of his wound argued with his attempt to keep up with the others. Fortunately, dawn had blossomed, ratcheting visibility higher.
Good thing, because Mara was hell bent on getting up to the enemy line. Frustrated with trying to maneuver horses through heavy woods, Mara decided to go on foot.

Hilton considered walking through the woods just as difficult as riding, especially trying to nurse a wound. Knights were just not fitted for walking, and he found the process exhausting and painful.

Mara didn't care. She easily moved ahead of her little squad. Hilton fell back to the rear, limping along as best he could. He froze when Hillan gave his call. Dropping down, he waited and listened. Sounds of many men yelling drifted back to him, and it did little to bolster his already fractured wits.
Hillan came back to him. "The enemy is ahead. Mara wants us to find the rest our people and move them up to the rear of the enemy line."

"How are we going to do that? We don't even know if there are any of our men near here."

Hillan offered him a guarded smile. "You of all people should know Mara by now."

Hilton sighed. "You're right. She waits for no one."

Hilton got up and moved out with Hillan, hoping that if they did run into any of their fellow soldiers, they wouldn't get accidentally peppered with bolts.

Mara was hiding behind a large boulder when Hilton and Hillan returned with a dozen other rebel knights. She gave them a disappointed look.

"Is this all you could find?"

"It's a big forest," Hilton said, trying not to sound offended. "If others have survived, they may be scattered."

"We have a big job ahead of us," she said, pointing north. "We have to drive those bastards up there out of the woods."

"We can't take on a whole army with a handful of men," Hilton argued. "We wouldn't last five minutes."

"Well," Mara said, "We'll just have to make them think we're a lot bigger than we are."

She turned to the others. "I want you to spread out and take up position near their line. When you hear shouts, begin shooting and yelling as loud and as often as you can."

The men saluted her and faded into the darkness.

Mara got up and readied her crossbow. "Make your shots count."

Before she started, a large group of rebel knights appeared out of the darkness. She motioned for them to gather.

"You men go up and join our men up near the line. When the battle begins, make lots of noise. We want the enemy to think we have the entire rebel army behind them."

Hilton took cover behind a large chestnut. His heart racing, he waited for Mara's yell. He had no idea how their little force could possibly make a large enemy contingent move away. If the royalists realized whet was going on, they would send him and the rest of the rebel knights to the nether world.
I wonder if anyone will mourn my death. I wonder if they'll find my body. I'll probably end up as a meal for wolves. Damn, how my ribs ache. I need you, Mara. I need a long rest. I take that back. At least the damn pain reminds me that I'm still alive.

The yelling sounded more like banshee screams instead of the primordial guttural battle calls that accompanied charges. No matter. All that Hilton could manage was a cry of a wounded moose.

Crossbow bolts began cutting through the air like a plaque of locusts. Hilton stuck his head out and immediately attracted a parcel of bolts, one impacting with the top of his helm with enough violence to nearly deafen him. He waited until the missile barrage subsided before sticking his head up. All he succeeded in doing was attracting more bolts. Evidently, the enemy was not happy about being forced out of their wooded deployment.
Deciding that he couldn't move forward from his current position, Hilton decided to move back and look for a less defended location. He literally crawled away and ducked behind a clump of poplars.

He nearly tripped over a knight lying in a clump of high grass.

"Groten?" he nearly screamed. "I thought you were dead."

Groten gave him a cocky smile that was tempered with pain. "Left for dead. A bolt just missed my neck, but I took a bad hit my leg."

Hilton looked over his wound. Groten had removed his leg armor and had extracted the bolt, binding up the ugly wound. Blood liberally stained the bandage.

"Yeah, I took a bolt in the ribs," Hilton told him. "We're the walking wounded."

Groten grunted. "Walking would be an exaggeration in my case."

Hilton pointed. "I noticed a rocky hill to the right. Perhaps we could climb it to get a better look at the enemy."

"I'm not sure that I can climb anything," Groten said.

Hilton offered him a hand. "I can climb. I'll help you."

Groten awkwardly stood up, steadying himself with Hilton's help. "Let's go."

The two knights slowly made their way to a small mound of rocks and boulders. The climb up was torturous and painful, but they made it.

"We're not going to be very much of a threat to all those enemy soldiers down there," Hilton said. "If we shoot a few bolts at them, they'll just send some knights up here to put us out of our misery."

Groten smiled, a reaction that confused Hilton. "I have an idea that may get results."

"What?"

"I have a couple of slings and some peat balls."

"Peat balls?"

"Yes. If we set them alight, we can start fires in the dry brush. If that doesn't move those bastards, nothing will."

Hilton examined one of Groten's peat balls. "How are going to fire them?"

"I have some flint and some loose cotton soaked in oil. Once we get them glowing, we can sling them out without exposing ourselves. They'll never know where they came from."

"I like this not-exposing-myself part," Hilton said, grinning.

Mara, Hillan and several other rebel knights were engaged in a frantic firefight with a much larger force of royalist knights. Mara ran around like a maniac shooting as fast as she could, but all she was accomplishing was a delaying action. Despite the fact that many enemy knights had felt the rage of the knighted witch, the main enemy unit was not being compelled to abandon their protected position.
The sudden smell of smoke compelled Mara to fall back to her comrades, who were firing from behind rocks and trees behind the enemy line. "The forest is on fire," she said. "We must move."

"Which way?" Hillan asked.

"The fire is in the enemy line, probably a carelessly tended campfire. We will fall back and move to the east so that we can join our main force."

Hillan looked to the north. "The fire has accomplished what we have failed to do: move the enemy out of the forest."

"I'll take victory anyway I can," Mara said as she grabbed Chevron's reins.
They led their mounts through the woods, moving on a slant away from the fire. When Mara saw two knights limping along ahead, she hurried to them.

Hilton turned to look at Mara. "It was Groten's idea."

"What idea?" she asked, her brow wrinkling with confusion.

"The fire," Hilton said, worry crowding onto his face. "He had some peat balls and slings. We figured that a fire would drive the enemy out of a burning wood."

"Your actions saved your comrades lives," she said. "We could not have driven the enemy out with crossbow bolts."

Hilton looked at the black smoke billowing through the trees to the north. "We had better get the hell out these woods before we get cooked."

Mara turned to the other knights. "Give them a hand. We must make haste."

Mara's band of knights exited the woods and made for Paladin and some of his commanders standing in front of a reserve battalion of knights. The battle with the royalist army freshly flushed from the burning woods had already degenerated into a melee. Archers were roaming about in unconnected groups shooting at other similarly disorganized royalist archers. The battle was not going as Mara had imagined.

"This battle is disorganized," she said to Paladin as she rode up. "We need order."

"Another bold plan?" Paladin said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Of course," she said with a hint of frustration.

"My ears await your plan."

"Have the archers regroup and move to the west near the point where the trail narrows." She pointed to the left. "I will lead your reserve knights in a line to the east. That should entice the enemy reserves to follow. Have the knights in the melee break engagement and fall back to the archers."

"Why do you want to move our reserves to the east away from the trail to the ford?"

"I'm going to do something that these bastards have never seen: I will turn like a snake that is pursued and strike into the enemy line, splitting it and making it easier for your main force to attack their flanks."

Paladin blinked at her, his face clouded in doubt.

"It just might work," Morton said. "Especially if we attack in unison."

"It is our only hope," Paladin said. "If we get cut off from our escape route, we will surely take unacceptable looses."

No one took exception with that reality.
Hilton could hardly believe that he was riding hell bent for leather in a long line of knights away from the main battlefield with a bunch of enemy knights in pursuit. Either his partner was a military genius or totally insane. As far as he was concerned, a fine line separated those two states of reason.
Oh, no! We're turning back into the enemy line. I hope I can hold my lance well enough with a busted rib. This is going to hurt like hell.

Hilton watched Mara crash into the enemy line like a possessed maniac. While she smashed knight after knight, he managed to take out two knights trying to escape the wrath of the wild female knight. The snaking rebel line hit the reserve royalist knights like a whip, taking out many inside attacks. When the enemy line split, the main rebel knights attacked from the flanks, a move that avoided a melee when the royalists retreated.

Hilton was glad to see that he didn't have to end up in a melee. He followed Mara on her wild course around the retreating enemy line as her hit and run tactic took out a sizeable chunk of enemy knights. He did his best, but his lance broke and he was forced to fight with his sword, which he found a most painful process.

An enemy knight rode at him with a lance, a sight that strikes fear in any knight. He had to spur the hell out of his horse to avoid being spiked at the last split second. His horse expressed its disfavor by nearly throwing him.

"Take it easy! I'm only trying to save your ass as well as mine," he yelled at his horse.

Oh, no. Now I'm starting to talk to animals like Mara. The insanity is rubbing off.

No time for self-analysis. Hilton rode up behind a group of knights attacking Mara and took his swing. His sword slashed into the back of an enemy, knocking him off his horse. Another knight moved up to counter his attack, placing him in peril. His heart sank when he realized that he couldn't defend against three knights at one time.

Mara took care of that problem. She unhorsed two of the knights leaving only one for Hilton. Hilton blocked the knight's blow and moved his horse away. The knight took one look a Mara and departed. He gave her thanks by raising his sword. She returned the gesture.

When the main enemy knights tried to turn on the rebel archers, they were greeted with concentrated fire of both arrow and bolt. The end result was that what was left of the enemy forces moved to the east and the rebels moved to the west. With the rebel knights in front and the archers behind to protect them, the rebels backed up to the ford across the Arkanon River. The Army of Light had bested a much larger force, thanks to Mara. What had transpired here at Arkanon became the stuff of great legend.