They marched out onto the plains. If they got there first, then they would be the ones to decide where the battle would be fought. Rimmer guessed that the night's airstrike had probably brought the odds down from five to one, to about two or three, but they were still outnumbered. From now on, everything depended on strategy and how well they fought.
When Rimmer felt they'd reached the best place, he called a halt. They were a couple of miles out from the village and the plains stretched out wide and open around them. It would have been better strategically to have had somewhere they could corner the enemy, but the landscape of Santa Ria offered no such place. There was nowhere to hide; for them or the Furies.
The battalions fanned out into a V shape, with Rimmer at the head and Lister and Ethan out to the sides. And they waited.
They didn't have to wait long. After half an hour or so, they began to see shapes moving towards them through the haze on the horizon. Soon, the sound of marching feet began to reach them and every man's heart beat in time with their rhythm; a countdown to what could be the final moments of their lives.
Finally, the two armies stood facing each other. Lister stared at them. He'd not seen the Furies yet and had been expecting something more like the Kinitawowi. But these were almost reptilian. More or less human shaped, but with greyish skin that looked tough, almost scaly and eyes that bore a striking resemblance to those of snakes. Lister took a deep breath. No doubt about it, these things were scary. One of them snarled, showing ragged, pointed teeth and he tightened his grip on his sword. And unpleasant, he added to himself. Very definitely unpleasant.
Across the divide between the two armies a howl went up. The Furies pulled out their weapons. A lot of them, Lister was dismayed to notice, had laser guns. Some further back had modern high-powered crossbows. There was another howl and they started to charge. Lister wheeled round to his men, "Ready to fire at the back!" He shouted, and heard Rimmer and Ethan yelling similar commands. All through the battalions, the archers took aim. At the front, Rimmer's men were ready with the spears. The Furies were getting closer, closer and then, "Fire!" Rimmer bellowed. A storm of arrows flew through the air and floored the first row of the Furies charge. As agreed, Lister and Ethan waited five seconds before releasing theirs simultaneously and taking down another row.
A barrage of laser shots came at them. "Shields!" Lister shouted the warning to his men and took cover under his own. He heard a few shouts and thuds behind him and staggered as a blow glanced off his shield. He looked up and saw the Furies smash into Rimmer's battalion, many of them driven onto the spears by the crush of bodies. "Swords!" He shouted and heard the sharp ring of steel as 150 men simultaneously drew their blades. This was it. "Our people," he murmured under his breath. Then he threw back his shoulders and took a deep breath. "CHARGE!"
