“Eighth Company! Forward!” Even before the order is completely out of Fheldar’s mouth, the remainder of Eighth Company moves forward and rejoins First Squad. Eleventh and Twenty-third Companies also move forward, so that Eleventh Company is flanking Eighth on the right, if slightly back, and Twenty-third on the left, also back.
The Heldyan advance quickens, and the second Heldyan battalion speeds up even more, but does not take the slope but moves along the road, as if to cut off any possibility of the Mirror Lancers riding down to the road and withdrawing. Lerial doesn’t even have to use order-senses to see that the third mounted Heldyan battalion is swinging more to the east, so that the three will eventually form a solid line, designed to sweep over the small Mirror Lancer force and then flank Dhresyl’s main body.
Lerial glances south. Drusyn’s forces remain planted firmly in place. Good! Then he looks back at the lancers, checking their spacing—each company set in a tight ten-man front, essentially almost a square. His eyes go back to the advancing Heldyan mounted battalions. Forcing himself to be patient, he waits … and waits … until the lead riders are barely more than fifty yards from the front rank of Eighth Company.
“Mirror Lancers! Charge!” Lerial drops back into the middle of the first rank as Eighth Company levels its lances and heads downhill directly toward the middle of the Heldyan cavalry. He hopes that they are far enough from the main forces that the Heldyan mages will not immediately direct their attention to what is happening on the flank.
Lerial hears a command he does not understand—except that its meaning is clear, because the Heldyans immediately raise and brace their shields, angling them so that they can try to slide the lances rather than take a full direct impact. When he is less than ten yards from the wide line of Heldyan cavalry, he shouts a single-word order. “Flank!” Then he turns the gelding at an angle left … and downhill, while raising order-shields wide enough to cover himself and two riders on each side.
When his shields sweep aside two Heldyans, Lerial manages not to be unhorsed by the impact pressure, but is forced to shrink the shields so that they barely cover himself and the gelding. Even so, the front ranks of Eighth Company shear across the southwestern corner of the Heldyan cavalry and keep moving toward the rear of the other cavalry battalion, still on the shore road.
Behind him, Lerial can sense that Eleventh and Twenty-third Companies have managed to rip at an angle across more ranks of the Heldyans and then close up, so that the Mirror Lancers are now a tight wedge charging into the side and rear of the second Heldyan cavalry battalion. Lerial urges the gelding forward, aiming for a slight gap between ranks, possibly a break between companies.
He can feel the pressure as he rides into that gap, and then fragments of silver mists as Eighth Company and the rest of the Mirror Lancers follow, cutting down Heldyan cavalrymen as they aim through the cavalry and toward the middle of the encampment that still holds the Heldyan reserves … and at least two chaos-mages or wizards. Lerial knows all too well that not all of those death mists are from Heldyans. He hopes that moving quickly will keep the losses to his own men from being too great. But what else can you do?
From seemingly nowhere, a long blade slashes toward Lerial. He slides the heavier blade and backcuts as he passes, feeling that he has struck well, but not looking back, concentrating on where Eighth Company needs to go.
“Eighth Company! South on me!” He turns the gelding slightly, so that he is angling toward the westernmost point of the rear of the Heldyan reserves … or those that are mustered and actually moving toward the fighting.
Abruptly, a wave of chaos-flame flashes toward Eighth Company—and Lerial, who has been waiting for this, redirects it across the rear ranks of the Heldyan reserve foot battalions. Another more powerful chaos blast follows, and Lerial does the same.
Sensing what is likely to come next, he is already creating a multiorder line diversion and redirection pattern even before a line of brilliant gold chaos-fire sears directly at him.
The diversion sends it back at the chaos-mage. While the wizard’s shields hold, the chaos flares in all directions from him, incinerating likely well more than a company of Heldyan foot. Lerial is readying another diversion when the other mage strikes, this time with a probe that Lerial recognizes—an attempt to separate order and chaos right before Eighth Company.
Lerial clamps shields over the probe for a moment, then tries to locate the other mage, but can only find the diffuse sense of a shield. The other mage’s effort to shield himself breaks off the order-chaos separation effort, but the first mage sends more chaos at Lerial.