Part 93 (2/2)

As Ca.s.sander rode past the forest, a line of Daut knights charged from cover, lances leveled. Ca.s.sander became aware of drumming hooves; he looked around in startlement to find a knight bearing down on him with lance ominously steady. Ca.s.sander tried to wheel his horse, but in vain; the lance pierced his right shoulder and carried him from his horse, so that he fell heavily on his back, in a confusion of stamping hooves and clambering warriors. An old Daut, face contorted in battle-rage, hacked at Ca.s.sander with an axe. Ca.s.sander screamed and jerked; the blow sheered the proud crest from his helmet. The Daut yelled in fury and again struck down with his axe; once again Ca.s.sander rolled aside, and one of his aides cut through the Daut's neck with a sweep of the sword, so that the spurting blood drenched Ca.s.sander where he lay.

King Audry came lunging forward, swinging his sword back and forth like a man possessed. At his side rode Prince Jaswyn, fighting with equal energy. At their back rode a young herald on a white horse holding high the gray and green standard. The battle swirled in confusion. An arrow pierced Prince Jaswyn's eye; he dropped his sword, clapped his hands to his face, slid slowly from his horse and was dead before he struck the ground. Audry gave a great groan. His head sagged and his sword became listless. Behind him the young herald took an arrow in the chest; the gray and green standard tottered and fell. King Audry called a retreat; the Dauts fell back into the forest.

With Ca.s.sander wounded, Sir Ettard a.s.sumed command and restrained his forces from pursuit, for fear of the losses which they would surely take from ambush and arrow. Ca.s.sander sat on a dead horse, holding his shoulder, his face white and clenched in a dozen emotions: pain, offended dignity, fright to see so much blood, and nausea which caused him to vomit even as Sir Ettard approached.

Sir Ettard stood watching with eyebrows contemptuously arched. Ca.s.sander cried out: ”What now? Why have we not given pursuit and destroyed the whelps?”

Sir Ettard explained with patience. ”Unless we advanced with the stealth of ferrets, we would lose two for their one. This is both foolish and unnecessary.”

”Ai ha!” cried Ca.s.sander in pain as one of the heralds tended his wound. ”Be easy, I pray you! I still feel the thrust of the lance!” Grimacing, he turned back to Sir Ettard. ”We cannot sit here in a stupor! If Audry escapes us, I will be the laughing stock of the court! Go after him, into the forest!”

”As you command.”

The Lyonesse army cautiously advanced into the forest, but came upon no Daut resistance. Ca.s.sander's dissatisfaction was compounded by the pulsing pain in his shoulder. He began to curse under his breath. ”Where are the skulkers? Why do they not reveal themselves?”

”They do not wish to be killed,” said Sir Ettard.

”So it may be, and so they defy my wishes! Have they nested high in the trees?”

”They have probably gone where I suspected they might go.”

”And where is that?”

A scout came riding up. ”Your Highness, we have discovered signs of the Dauts! They have fared westward, where the forest gives upon the plain.”

”What means that?” cried Ca.s.sander in perplexity. ”Is Audry bereft that he would invite a new attack?”

”I think not,” said Sir Ettard. ”While we prowl the forest, peering in nooks and searching the crannies, Audry wins to freedom!”

”How so?” bleated Ca.s.sander.

”Across the plain is Poelitetz! Need I say more?”

Ca.s.sander hissed between his teeth. ”The pain in my shoulder has stopped my thinking. I had forgotten Poelitetz! Quick, then! Out of the forest!”

Breaking once more out upon the Plain of Shadows, Ca.s.sander and Sir Ettard discerned the straggling Daut army already halfway to the scarp. Sir Ettard with his knights and cavalry dashed off in hot pursuit; Ca.s.sander, unable to ride at speed, remained with the foot soldiers.

The sally-port of Poelitetz showed as a dark blot at the base of the Lang Dann; other elements of the fortress, built of native rock, seemed a part of the scarp itself. Almost in front of Poelitetz Sir Ettard and his cavalry overtook the Dauts; there was a short sharp skirmish in which King Audry and a dozen of his bravest knights were killed and as many more cut down as they guarded the way into Poelitetz for the defeated Daut troops.

The portcullis clanged down at last. The Lyonesse cavalry wheeled away to avoid the arrows which were striking down at them from the parapets. On the plain before the scarp sprawled a dismal litter of dead and dying. The portcullis lifted once again. A herald emerged upon the plain carrying a white flag, followed by a dozen warriors. They circulated among the bodies, giving the coup de grace where needful, to friend and foe alike; and conveying the wounded, again friend and foe alike, into the fortress for such rude treatment as might be practical.

Meanwhile the balance of the Lyonesse army arrived and made camp on the Plain of Shadows, not much more than an arrow's flight from the fortress. Ca.s.sander set up a command pavilion on a hummock directly in front of the portal. At the instigation of Sir Ettard, he called his advisers together for a consultation.

During an hour of discussion, interrupted by Ca.s.sander's groans and curses, the group considered their present condition. All agreed that they had honourably fulfilled their mission and might now return to the east, if that were to be their decision. King Audry lay dead and twisted out on the Plain of Shadows and his army had been reduced to a rabble. But there still remained scope for greater achievement and further glory. Close at hand and seductively vulnerable was North Ulfland. Admittedly the Long Dann barred the way, with the only feasible access guarded by the fortress Poelitetz.

However, another fact must be taken into account, so one of the group pointed out. The G.o.delians were now at war against King Aillas and had in fact invaded North Ulfland. A courier might therefore be sent to King Dartweg, urging him to march south and attack Poelitetz from its vulnerable rear approaches. If Poelitetz fell, then both North and South Ulfland lay exposed to the might of the Lyonesse army.

The opportunity seemed too good to ignore, and might well yield victories beyond all King Casmir's expectations. In the end a decision was made to explore the situation. The army built its fires and cooked its evening rations. Sentries were posted and the army composed itself to rest.

Across the eastern edge of the Plain of Shadows the moon rose full. In the commander's pavilion Sir Ettard and his fellows wearily divested themselves of their armour, spread out horse blankets and made themselves as comfortable as might be. Ca.s.sander kept to his own tent where he gulped down wine and ate powdered willow bark to dull the throb of his mangled shoulder.

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