The Fireseed Wars

III

"Your Sanctity, the Agrysi bandits are up ahead. They're now openly flying the Raven Banner!"

"The fools!" Grythos exclaimed. "We'll feed their corpses to the ravens, that's what we'll do. They must think we're another band of outlaws poaching on their territory. How many men did your scouts make out?"

"Three to four hundred, sir."

"We'll run them into the ground. Commander, give the orders."

"Your Sanctity, shouldn't we use the wedge formation? We're up against twice our number, sir."

"Not today. We don't want to announce to the world that we are Knights!" The wedge formation was one that called for a lot of drilling and precision and was not used by any other army in the Five Kingdoms. This was a secret expedition and they had a lot of ground to cover before they would be back at Agrys City. If word leaked out that they were Zarthani Knights, every hand in Hos-Agrys would be raised against them.

Grythos finished with, "Remember, Commander, I was a Knight Commander in the Order before I put on my priestly raiment. When the day arrives that three Blades of Knights cannot defeat twice their number of turkey thieves and arsonists, it will be time to remove Styphon's Sun Wheel from our flags."

"Yes, sir. I'll draw up the men in formation for a charge."

"Very good, Commander."

Grythos watched from the top of the rise, as the Knights galloped down toward the enemy below. He wondered why the bandits had chosen such an empty clearing, with almost no trees or other cover, for their stand. He'd had his scouts check and they didn't have any hidden guns to haul out. It didn't make sense, but Soton had so completely disorganized the League after their attack on his men that it appeared their wits had been left behind as well as their best troops.

The first four lines of the charge were lancers, followed by pistoleers with lightly armed skirmishers on either side. When the two lines had almost come together, the first ranks of the bandits fired musketoons at almost point-blank range into the Knights formation. Grythos was awestruck by the carnage.

The first line of Knights went down as if hit by grapeshot. Their horses stumbling and tripping the ranks behind. It was a complete cockup!

The bandits continued to shoot their musketoons and pistols, but it wasn't the attacker's gunfire that was causing most of the casualties; it was the out of control, falling, tumbling, dying horses. The only time he'd ever seen anything comparable was when three carriages in Balph had all tried to get through an intersection of the road at the same time and instead hit each other, with the coaches behind tumbling into them one after another.

The bandits used the confusion at the front ranks to suddenly execute two flanking maneuvers! These bandits were using Hostigi-style tactics- no, it couldn't be. Kalvan was off in Thagnor with his city besieged.

He needed to get word to the center. He ordered his trumpeter to sound "recall."The recall order sounded, but his men were too tangled with each other and scrambling horses to comply with his order. He turned to the three oath-brothers. "Warn them about the envelopment!"

But would they listen to the scouts? No, I need to be there!

Grythos pulled out his horse pistol. "Follow me," he cried to his bodyguards.

Suddenly, he was down the rise and bandits were coming out against him with pistols and swords. The Knights were now completely surrounded and trying to fight their way out of the surprise envelopment. The bandits weren't giving them a blade's-width. He shot one man out of his saddle, then took a blow to the head from behind-