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They had applied their ti the days the Trollocs had pushed their way through arduous barriers to the mouth of the pass The entrance to the valley was now fortified with a series of chest-high earthen bulwarks Those would be excellent for crossbowmen to use as cover, if Ituralde’s pike formations were ever pushed back too far

For now, Ituralde had split his aranized them into square formations of pikes, billhooks and crossbows He used mounted crossbowmen as skirmishers in the front and on the flanks, and had for pikes, twenty feet long He’d learned from Maradon that you wanted to keep your distance from the Trollocs

Pikes worked wonderfully Ituralde’s pike squares could pivot and fight in all directions in case they were surrounded Trollocs could be forced to fight in ranks, but these squares--properly applied--could break up their lines Once the Trolloc ranks were shattered, the Aiel could kill with abandon

Behind ranks of pike billhooks and halberds So the weapons aside or pulling theht of corpses The billhook the leading Trollocs This gave the leading foot soldiers tiroup while the next wave of soldiers--e the Trollocs

It orking, so far He had a dozen such squares of troops facing the Trollocs in the night They fought defensively, doing whatever they could to break the surging tide The Trollocs threw the to crack them, but each square operated independently Ituralde didn’t worry about the Trollocs that auntlet, because they would be handled by the Aiel

Ituralde had to keep his hands clasped behind his back to conceal their shaking Nothing had been the same after Maradon He’d learned, but he’d paid dearly for that education

Burn these headaches, he thought And burn those Trollocs

Three tiiven the order to send his ar the square for NoHe wanted blood

Each time, he’d stopped himself They weren’t here for blood, they were here to hold To give that man the time he needed in the cavern That hat it was all aboutwasn’t it? Why did he have sothat lately?

Another wave of Trolloc arrows dropped onto Ituralde’s men The Fades had some of them stationed on the tops of the slopes above the pass, in places that Ituralde’s own archers had once held Getting the; the walls of the pass were very steep Howthe atteood shots with bows, but they didn’t need to be, when firing at arht while holding those, but they kept the arrows increased, pluht air The storain, keeping it away They claimed that at several moments, the army had been mere breaths away from an all-out storm of destruction At one point, hail the size of a man’s fist had fallen for about a ain

If that hat awaited the their bowl, Ituralde was more than happy to leave them at their task The Dark One wouldn’t care howa blizzard, twister or hurricane to kill the hue at the ht air, followed by other calls confirht fro

"Withdraw the seventh and ninth infantry squads", Ituralde said "They’ve been at it too long Pull the fourth and fifth out of reserve and have the positions Prepare forWhat were those Trollocs doing? They’d pulled back farther than he’d have expected, drawing into the darkness of the pass They couldn’t be retreating, could they?