Of the first dozen companies, Erik and his men had routed, eight had surrendered and four had fought. Erik had been forced to delegate some of his men to escort the captured soldiers who refused to turn coat to a safe holding place.
His company now numbered eleven hundred men, spread out in five squads. Coordinating efforts was difficult, and he regretted the many horses who were lamed as messengers raced between squads, but all reports indicated the sweep of the Dimwood was going well.
More than once he had wondered how much of this Calis had anticipated, for it seemed too providential that he should just happen to be riding through here with six hundred crack soldiers when the Emerald Queen’s advance forces popped into view. Sometime he’d have to remember to ask just where Calis got so much good intelligence.
A scout came running toward Erik and one of the enemy soldiers behind a rock loosed an arrow that barely missed the man. Erik grabbed him by the tunic and demanded, ‘What’s wrong?’
The soldier was one of Duga’s mercenaries. Short of breath, he could blurt out only one word: ‘Saaur!’
‘Where?’ demanded Erik.
‘That way,’ said the soldier.
‘How many?’ Erik asked as he heard the thunderous pounding of their gigantic mounts echoing through the trees.
‘Fifty!’
Erik stood, risking an arrow, and shouted, ‘Fall back!’
The bowmen who were climbing a distant ridge turned to see what the shout was, and saw Erik waving them back down toward the tree line. They waved acknowledgment and started down.
Erik ducked’ as two arrows flew at him from the defenders’ position and shouted, ‘Archers! Kill anything coming through those trees.’
Erik had fought the Saaur once before, and he had no illusions of this being a simple fight. He might have two hundred men with him, but fifty Saaur were easily their match. And he had a hundred-plus mercenaries who could sally forth at any time, putting Erik squarely between two armed foes.
Erik ran back to where the horses were picketed, and climbed into the saddle. He shouted to one of the nearby soldiers, ‘Ride to the north. James of Highcastle is up there with his men. Tell him to come as fast as possible.’
Even if the soldier found the corporal from Highcastle and his men and they rode straight back, it might be too late.
The sound of the advancing Saaur was now like a storm about to break over them. Erik glanced around, frantically looking for any advantage. The Saaur averaged nine feet in height, with horses twenty-five hands at the withers. ‘Into the woods!’ shouted Erik.
Then the Saaur came crashing into view. Armored with helms, breastplates, greaves, and bracers, the riders looked like a soldier’s worst nightmare. Reptilian faces showed more emotion than Erik ever would have imagined before meeting them, and the expression on their faces was anger. A Saaur wearing the flowing horsetail plume of an officer led the charge. ‘Die, traitors!’ he cried as he saw Erik’s men pulling back.
The fight became a blur. Erik dodged around trees, attempting to strike at the hocks of the larger animals, avoiding the powerful blows of the Saaur. Erik had once charged a Saaur rider, and he knew just how much more powerful they could be. From the screams around him, punctuated with curses, it was clear other men were discovering this fact the hard way.
Erik lost track of time and let the battle flow. He knew that by giving his men a chance to survive in the trees he had lost any hope of organizing the fight. More distant shouts led him to believe the company they had been readying to attack had joined the fray.
A Saaur bore down on him from behind, and Erik felt the approach more than heard it, moving his horse around a tree just in time to avoid being overrun. As the alien rider swept past, Erik put heels to his horse’s flanks and took out after another Saaur, moving in a different direction. It was dear to Erik that attacking these giant creatures from behind was the best course of action.
The air hissed with arrows and Erik prayed they came from his archers taking Saaur riders out of saddles, and not the other side killing his men. He came up behind the Saaur he followed as the rider reined in to catch his bearings. The creature was half-turned in the saddle when Erik caught him with his sword point, thrusting as deeply into the creature’s ribs as he could. The shocked Saaur looked down at the smaller human, astonishment being the only possible word to describe the expression on that alien face, and then he fell backward out of the saddle, almost ripping the sword from Erik’s hands.
Throughout the afternoon they rode through the trees, a crazy weaving dance of death with both sides dying more from blunders than from the other side’s tactics. Then a horn sounded and Erik turned to see more riders entering the woods. He expected to see his men from the north, but these riders were coming from the south, as best he could judge.