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"Commander! Nicoli is "

"I see his trembled as he forced theiving the order that would send the Elite charging down to rescue their fallen coh he didn&039;t have to explain, he continued "We couldn&039;t reach him in time And I will not risk more lives to save a corpse They&039;d knohere we&039;re heading and be waiting for us " A murmur ran down the line as his words were passed and a mutter ran back Rael felt their eyes on hiht in his saddle, clenched his jaw, and kept his gaze on Nicoli as he fell

That night, after the day&039;s slaughter had ended, Rael sat in the dark on his pallet seeing again the two broken suits of armor that had been retrieved from the battlefield with the other bodies Nicoli&039;s lips had been drawn back in a snarl His Half had ar entered the tent and protested weakly when the arar made no mention of the tear tracks that marked the prince&039;s face or of what had happened that afternoon He s, sat down beside his commander, and wordlessly held out the wineskin he carried

Rael looked at it for a moment, as if unsure of what it was or what he was to do with it, then he took it, tilted back his head and filled his ue curled up, his throat spas the mouthful of wine across the tent

"What is this stuff?" he dear rescued the wineskin and took a long pull "It&039;s what the h for the royal palate perhaps, but " He offered it again

Rael took it, shrugged, and drank; this tiain, then returned it "Youinto the flickering la his palms across his checks

"They&039;re soldiers Any one of them would&039;ve made the same decision "

The wineskin made another pass

"But they didn&039;t make it I did "

"You&039;re the commander It was your decision to make "

Rael reached for the wineskin "Yes "

"They understand that "

"But they would&039;ve preferred a rescue "

"Yes "

Rael drank again "Mother-creator, but this stuff is awful "

"It is, " Rutgar agreed "But it does what it has to "

And they drank in silence until it was gone

So ended the Ardhan army&039;s second day in the valley

"Coained the valley&039;s edge but had left a Pair behind in the battle As one aze on Rael The day before, a Pair had died

This day Rael looked and smiled "One squad, " he called to the First beside hied back down the path he&039;d just cut This Pair was close enough and one was still e of his vision he saw the arar&039;s bay and close behind he heard the thunder of a dozen heavy horses

The Melacian position, barely recovered from the last pass, cruh an enemy visor, rode it free and reached the lost Pair The downed man, Payter, was pinned beneath his horse

There was only one way to get him out Rael kicked his feet clear of the stirrups and dropped to the ground

Rutgar and Payter&039;s Half stayed close while the squad began to circle their position, forainst the Melacians

The pike that had killed Payter&039;s horse still stuck fro it deep into its own heart, then it had dropped like a stone, giving its rider no tiht of horse and arasped, "and take my idiot Half with you You can&039;t free nized the tone as he said, "Oh? Can&039;t I?" He squatted, shoved his hands beneath the horse, and lifted His gauntlets slid free The weight he&039;d intended to throw under the horse shifted, and he sat suddenly, nearly doingunder his breath, he yanked off the offending gloves and shoved the hands This couldn&039;t take too long or the Melacian archers would begin to ripped the still warm body under shoulder and haunch Then he stiffened his back and straightened his legs

Slowly the horse lifted a foot, then two feet off the ground

"Can you get out?" Rael grunted, his knees braced under the saddle

"Uh yes, Commander "

"Then do it, damnit!"

"Yes, Commander!" The man crabbed backward on hands and elbows

When Payter&039;s feet caround He grabbed his gauntlets, grabbed thehi his ar block, and coh so in his e or not-Rael launched himself into his own saddle, set his lance, and screae, pointed their heads toward the rest of the coar bracketed the rescued Pair and readied to move out

I&039;ve done it! Rael crowed He beat away a spear that caar threw up his shield and an arrow ricocheted off the ribowround He stood, safely out of range of return fire, but close enough to Rael and his ets with care

Froht their way clear and get ets painted over their hearts

"Why, you " Rael&039;s jaent out and his eyes blazed behind his visor In a single fluidhis lance at the bowman

It seemed that both armies watched it fly, and watched it land, point buried a foot in the earth and the Melacian bow off the end

The squad was virtually unopposed as they rode back to join their company

Doan met Rael at the top of the hill "You seem to have taken the heart out of theh, the Melacians were leaving the field, for with the Ardhan ar theh Doan&039;s tone was dry, he couldn&039;t stop his lips fro back into a smirk "But definitely effective "

So ended the Ardhan army&039;s third day in the valley

"It took theed the prince and pointed, "but they&039;ve finally learned They&039;ve moved their pikemen out of squares and down both sides of the valley We try to charge into that and we&039;ll skewer ourselves "

Rael raised a hand to shade his eyes and Rutgar, as forcing a new strap through a buckle, growled low in his throat "If you don&039;t mind, Commander"

"Sorry " Rael lowered his aruess we&039;ll just have to try solances

"It looks as though we&039;ve made the a barricade of pikemen between their bowmen and the Ardhan lancers "

"They are " Doan&039;s eyes were as good as Rael&039;s and he could shade the sun

"The trouble is, the Melacians aren&039;t in possession of a rather important piece of information " Rael turned to face his co Rael back into position by the recalcitrant strap

"The Ardhan lancers are bowmen as well " The coth of the Elite lies in flexibility "

Doan&039;s jaw dropped He recognized his oords to Rael on the day the prince took command He stared at the Melacian lines, then said: "We ride at them in ranks of three, fire, wheel, and repeat Between the dust and the ranks of pikeet "

"And they&039;ll never expect it, " Rutgar added "As far as they know "

" we have no mounted archers, " Doan finished "And e break the line, Male&039;s horseht work "

"Might?" Rael! grinned in a way that made him look very much like his father

"Of course it&039;ll work Cap-lain, inform the Firsts Have the Elite form up in three ranks Today, we&039;re archers "

Doan&039;s salute was faultless "Very good, Commander " He spun on his heel and marched off to pass the commander&039;s orders to the officers of the Elite

Rael turned back to stare at the distant line of the enear "What do you think?"

"I think, " ht the buckle "That you&039;re getting a bit cocky " He looked up and srinned and slammed an elbow into his ar kettle drums "You&039;re just jealous I tell you, it&039;ll work"

It worked

At the end of the fourth day, the Ardhan ar lives in a see a path on their dead and dying, by washing away the Ardhan barricades with a river of blood, the Melacian are Plateau