It gave him the edge he needed. Miro leapt and darted between the legionnaires. He thrust into a man’s side. Blood burst from the warrior’s body. Miro’s zenblade sparked against a shield, cutting it in half.
Miro’s vision was a blur of grunting, thrusting men. Then he saw a commotion in the distance. The second Alturan force must have arrived at the other end of the canyon. Miro felt the pressure of the warriors increase. There were just so many of them. They were unstoppable, like a wall of flesh.
Miro looked around and saw the other bladesingers begin to fall back.
The imperials felt their opponents turn, and pushed by the force behind them, they eagerly surged forward.
Miro saw a bladesinger go down under the throng, the rushing crowd simply too fast, too powerful. With the bladesinger’s song disrupted the runes began to fade. Legionnaires crowded around the fallen figure, hacking at it with their swords. A huge man, his head shaved, suddenly held up a human head. The imperials cheered.
"Fall back!" a bladesinger cried.
The legion roared in response.
The bladesingers began a strictly-controlled withdrawal action. About half the glowing warriors would fight a delaying action against the horde, while the other half fell back and, taking positions, would then fight while the others withdrew.
A buzzing sounded, growing louder before the swift shape of a dirigible flew overhead. Prismatic orbs again rained down from above. An explosion sent gouts of smoke billowing, blinding those below. Miro added as much protection as he was able, but the complexity grew too hard to follow and he started to falter. He gave up shadow and was just able to keep the sequence going.
Miro saw Ronell ahead, the runes starting to darken as the panicked recruit seemed about to lose his song. Then Miro was forced to fight, turning back to face the horde.
Miro parried a vicious blow from the two-handed sword of a black-armoured soldier twice his size. The force of the blow pounded at his head but his crossed zenblade managed to block it just in time. The legionnaire’s weapon had silver runes glowing along its length — explaining how it had survived the clash with the zenblade. Miro pushed against the legionnaire with the full weight of his body. The legionnaire fell back for an instant only, before, recovering, he smashed his shield against Miro’s body. The armoursilk flared as it hit the shield.
Miro realised in a contest of brute force he was never going to survive. He swung twice in quick succession, forcing his opponent back. Looking over the legionnaire’s shoulder he saw rank after rank of the enemy. Miro started to back away. Seeing his enemy draw back, the legionnaire’s confidence grew and he raised his arms to strike. It was the opportunity Miro had been looking for. He ducked and hacked at the legionnaire’s legs. The zenblade carved through his knees as if they weren’t there. The legionnaire screamed: a terrible sound.
Miro realised he needed to pull back; he was among the last of the bladesingers facing the enemy. He removed a prismatic orb from the belt at his waist.
"Kuhn-rah!" Miro activated the orb, his song momentarily lost as he did so. A spear flew through the air at him, scoring his shoulder — a messy wound, but fortunately not deep. Miro threw the orb into the crowd of black-clad soldiers, resuming his song as he turned.
He never saw the explosion behind him, but he felt the blood splatter against his back.
Miro ran to catch up with the bladesingers in front of him. He found Ronell panting, prone against a wall, an expression of terror on his face. Ronell’s runes were completely dark.
"Ronell!" Miro cried. He grabbed hold of the recruit, shaking him. "You must resume your song!"
"Can’t… do… it…" Ronell panted. "No… breath…"
Looking back, Miro saw the horde running for them, only moments away.
"Slow your breathing! Start with protection only!"
The effort of talking while interspersing his sequences was taking its toll on Miro too. He stopped trying to talk and, taking Ronell by the arm, began to run. Miro could just see the other bladesingers in the distance.
Fortunately, their armoursilk was infinitely lighter than the heavy armour worn by the legionnaires. The two recruits quickly drew away, but ran for only a few minutes before they both tripped over something.
It was the broken body of a bladesinger, his green armoursilk gone dark. Fire had taken most of his upper body, leaving the lower half remarkably intact.
Ronell stared at the man in horror, his breath steaming. The recruit’s armoursilk was still dark.
Miro stopped his song. He would only have this one attempt.
"You need to resume your song! Quickly, just start with the first sequence for protection!"
Ronell panted, his breathing coming ragged. "Just leave me… Just for a moment… When… breath comes back… No problem… song."
Miro looked over Ronell’s shoulder. They had gained in height. In the distance he could now see the green of the Alturan soldiers chasing the swarm of legionnaires, pushing them hard from behind. The bladesingers were nowhere to be seen. The imperials would be with him in moments.