77. Chaos.
Night battles tend to be confused and unpredictable, moreso than pitched battles in general, unless bright moon and stars provide enough illumination for most beasts to see almost as well as in broad daylight. But on this night heavy clouds have gathered and only the sharpest-eyed creatures could discern other beasts beyond ten steps. There was a benefit to the woodlanders in that. The defenders of the camp had to shoot their arrows and throw javelins by guess until the attackers were almost upon them. If only the woodlanders had more beasts with experience of war, they would have stormed the camp in minutes, before most of the vermin could even find their weapons and gather themselves for battle. But woodlanders had not. In such darkness it was easy to lose sight of their commanders or the few seasoned warriors sprinkled around them. Though no trained soldiers, southswarders were not short of courage, and even without direction, they rushed where they thought the enemy was.
But now the palisade and ditch around the vermin camp were almost complete. Gwynfren, Eskil and Aldwin expected them to be, thanks to information from Belk. They ordered their army to prepare fascines of sticks and brushwood to quickly bridge the ditch, as well as pole hooks, lariats, and axes to bring down logs of the palisade; placed beasts with long spears and pikes in the first rank. Yet nearly all order disappeared among inexperienced warriors of Southsward as soon as the lightning flashed, and the foes saw each other, and the woodlanders charged, by order or without order. In many places beasts, who carried heavy and unwieldy fascines, were left behind. As soon as those ahead of them reached the ditch, the first wave of confusion hit. Some woodlanders jumped down and tried to climb to the other side, a feat in which only squirrels and a few other exceptionally nimble beasts could hope to succeed swiftly. Some stopped in their tracks, and more than a few were knocked down into the ditch by beasts running right behind them. All turned themselves into excellent targets for vermin arrows, spears and polearms. Though only a few vermin sentries defended the palisade at the first moments, they did not lose their nerve, and more and more vermin arrived to reinforce them, some clothed in nothing but their fur, but all armed and tested in battle. Surprise did not cause them to panic, for they did not know and could not see in the darkness how outnumbered they were, and unlike the main mass of their foes, even the greenest of them were now seasoned campaigners.
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The first reflex of soldiers from Blackear's score was to gather around her, and as soon as she thought that all of them must be right here, she heard Ulakhai, urging all who could move to defend the palisade on the forest side. Battlecries, howls of pain, snarls of rage, and thuds of impacts drowned him out quickly, but the orders were clear enough. So there she went, screaming and cursing at her own underlings, to make them haul their tails. And at first it seemed they were in time. Their arrows poured into the oncoming tide of woodlanders, while those were still delayed by the ditch, not even at the palisade itself, driving them back into the night.
Then they were nearly taken in the back and killed to a beast by another woodlander throng which managed to breach the palisade somewhere else. More soldiers with spears and halberds came just in time to hold back the screaming wave of creatures who no longer looked like prey. After that there were a few minutes which Blackear was hard-pressed to recall coherently. "Stay together," she yelled, "stay together." And her beasts did, or at least most of them. At least there was enough light to mostly be sure they were shooting the enemy. And the enemy was shooting, slinging and throwing too. A rat tried to run and was taken by a spear in the back just as Blackear thought she should shoot him herself. Then it appeared woodlanders were on all sides, but before they could converge on Blackear's small group, a black thing of nightmare came among them, slashing, hacking, and slaying left and right, sending heads and limbs flying. It took Blackear a few seconds to recognize Rugger. Soldiers and corsairs followed him, scattering the shocked foe and the woodlanders melted away.
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Kethra firmly intended to follow Suran in battle. She knew that whatever happened to her, the fox most likely was not going to be sad, at least not for longer than a minute. Foxes did not change their color no matter the season, and villains remained villains, even the soft woodlanders mostly agreed with this truth. Hellgates, Suran may have invented the story he told tonight on the spot, to squeeze some pity from his companions in case he survives the battle hopelessly crippled, an outcome at which Amber's prophecy could be pointing at. He may have saved her life in the rain, instead of stepping aside, as he did at Salamandastron, only by chance and reflex, which left him no time to think. And yet… She firmly intended to fight at his side, and do whatever she could to keep him safe.
But intentions are one thing, and fate is another. In chaos at the palisade, Suran jumped to one side to avoid a falling log, torn out from its position by the attackers, and Kethra to another. At that moment, a whole swarm of arrows hit the woodlanders around them. A wounded hedgehog thrashing in agony nearly knocked Kethra down before falling himself, and for some moments she was too busy staying on her paws and trying to avoid getting trampled by crowd, suddenly gripped by panic. And when she finally had a second to look around, she no longer could see Suran, or anybeast familiar near herself.
"Back! Back to battle you blunderin' blockheads! Their fence is breached, see?! Follow us!" The yeall that cut through screams of pain and panic was familiar to Kethra, that was one of Aldwin's subordinates, though in the confusion she could not say who. She looked and spotted polished armor of a couple of hares, and ran up to them, just as they charged towards the palisade, at least some southswarders following them. She did not pause to think where Suran may have ended up, inside the enemy camp already, or down in the ditch, wounded or dead, she could not do anything for him in either case without pushing the foe back first. She did not even notice that the breach in the palisade was much bigger than the one woodlanders around herself and Suran managed to make before getting routed. Missiles whistled around, and Kethra felt like all the foes – seemingly more numerous than before – were targeting her. Well, nobeast said Kethra the Brave was an easy name to bear, and in any case, hiding behind unarmored woodlanders was unbecoming for a ferret covered in steel. Half a dozen arrows, javelins and spears got stuck in her shield by the time the onslaught reached the enemy, and it saved her life one more time, as a weasel tried to push her back into the ditch with a long pike. One of the hares cut off the weasel's footpaw, but not before the pike got stuck in the wooden planks. So Kethra dropped her shield, and, exerting every bit of her strength and energy, cleared the earthen slope before another defender could take the place of the fallen weasel. Several vermin already were rushing to defend the breach. Well, nobeast said Kethra the Brave was an easy name to bear. She met them her axe in both paws, laying about herself with no consideration for defense. Then the two hares appeared next to her, fighting like invulnerable giants of steel from old legends, then a wave of woodlanders flooded into the camp, following in their footsteps and the vermin defenders crumbled.
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Even the best of warriors, like Gallopers, could lose each other in chaos of a night battle, but most of them remained with Aldwin, as he led them along the palisade. The hare Captain had limited faith in fighting ability of farmers and peaceful woodland creatures, but he believed they have enough courage and resolve to distract the vermin while he and his warriors find an undefended or weakly defended spot in the camp's perimeter. He was not wrong. But as he and his hares started circling back after getting past the palisade, to take the vermin defending against the main bulk of woodlander army by surprise, a big tent appeared before them. And guarding that tent were what seemed like half a hundred of vermin, all armored, all ready for battle. That was apparently a big, unpleasant surprise for both sides, but Gallopers recovered first.
"Eulalia!" Aldwin shouted, as he dispatched the nearest ferret with a single stroke of his claymore, cleaving through the vermin's head despite a chainmail cowl covering it.
"Fight, you bullies! They're just a pawful!" Some female in the vermin ranks took stock of the situation far too quickly and correctly for Aldwin's liking.
"Eulalia!" Aldwin claymore became a blur in his paws, splitting shields and mail. Other Gallopers echoed him. He hoped that the vermin at the palisade may be disheartened by the warcry of Salamandastron hares right at their back, for judging by the odds, the Gallopers were not going to offer any other help in this battle.
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Blackear decided that the safest option would be to follow Rugger. The black fox had monstrous strength and, of course, good sword and armor, whenever he went, he cut a bloody swath through the foe. Her score, those who were still alive, apparently decided that the safest option would be to follow her, except, when she looked a round in a brief moment of respite…
"Where is Treestalker? Did anybeast see what happened to him?"
Before she got an answer, Rugger's battle howl and clang of weapons told her that the pause in battle was over almost before it began. But this time woodlanders were few in number, and they turned tail when Rugger knocked down the beast who led them, a mailed otter, with a blow to her head that would have split her skull in two, if not for the helmet. Looking around to see if more foes remained near, Blackear saw Rugger raising his sword for a finishing blow to the otter's unprotected face, but then…
"Rugger!" Blackear heard a beast roaring, and as the black fox, warned by it, leapt to the side, some instinct told Blackear to fall flat. So she did, and the spear which Rugger just dodged flew above her, impaling a stoat who wasn't so quick or perceptive.
"Vulpuz' maw, here's the old traitor Suran! Die!" Squint, a veteran rat, who marched with the score before Blackear herself joined it, stepped past her, and started drawing his bowstring.
Then, just as Blackear was rising, she heard a wet sound of a sword cutting flesh very clearly, and blood splattered her, as Squint's now-headless body collapsed. Blackear backed away in terror, falling once again, before finally managing to rise.
"Suran is mine, you bastards!" Such menace was in Rugger's words, and so terrifying he was, huge, dark, in metal helmet with the demonic-looking mask as scary as his real face that every vermin soldier froze on the spot.
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Surely the vermin would have lost the battle quite quickly, if not for Ulakhai. He could not be in many places at once, helping wherever the defense faltered, but he tried his best to approach that. By the time Marda brought him his armor and he found half a minute to don it, he gathered about a score of fighters, soldiers and corsairs both, around himself. So when he saw vermin running and woodlanders pouring into the camp, he had means to meet the foes boldly. Of course, in another time and another place the mustelid Captain would not have even thought of boldness in the face of looming disaster. After all, nobeast was more experienced in abandoning faltering causes and escaping from battles against odds than him, Ulakhai, who ended up in these sunset lands unheard of in his old home, because he ran often and far. But here and tonight Ulakhai led his small band into a counterattack. Maybe seasons made him soft after all, made him care for beasts who were not even his own species, or maybe with age return to life of a wandering exile who had to start everything from scratch once again started to scare him more than death, but here and tonight he decided to fight.
A hare in blood-splattered armor, with curved saber in his paw, was ahead of the other foes. He saw the big mustelid drawing the big bow right in front of him, and raised his battered shield to protect his face, but Ulakhai put an arrow into his footpaw instead. The hare toppled instantly, crashing to the ground head over heels, the arrow must have torn his limb pretty badly. Another armored hare charged Ulakhai, screaming with such fury, that her voice cut through all other sounds of battle. Ulakhai let loose another arrow, but his luck ran out after one great shot – it bounced off the helmet curve covering the hare's forehead. Ulakhai was barely fast enough to drop the bow and snatch his halberd from paws of the stoat, who carried it. Blind wrath betrayed the hare – in her headlong charge, she ran straight into the fearsome swing of Ulakhai's weapon. Steel carapace withstood the blow which would have slain an unarmored beast instantly, but living flesh inside was not as tough, and the hare fell, stunned. As woodlanders and vermin screeched and slaughtered each other all around, another armored beast charged Ulakhai before he could finish off the fallen opponent. Captain blocked the new foe's battleaxe with the shaft of his halberd, and only then realized that he saw this creature before – among enemy ranks in another time and another place.
"Kethra!" Ulakhai shouted as he pushed against her axe with all of his might, making her stagger a couple of steps back. "What a meeting!"