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The nearesthiave a sharp parry and stepped inside his range to bring the butt end of his staff hard up into the gut of the warrior, then whipped the staff back down onto the round
Beor and the two hounds charged past Alain The white-crested captain stepped forward to counter this new threat Rage and Sorrow leaped to the attack but were round, scratching violently at his head, as Rage bit the haft of a spear With jaws clenched tight over the wood, she shook the spear back and forth, worrying it free of the captain’s grasp Beor quickly took advantage of White Feather’s helplessness with a thrust at the o of the spear, dropped, and rolled to evade the thrust In an eye blink, he leaped to his feet and drew his bronze sword Beor had no shield to counter its thrusting tip With a berserker’s fury or perhaps only an experienced warrior’s quick calculation of the odds, Beor dropped his spear, dodged the thrust, and grappled hand to hand with the captain
Kel had joined Alain and together they parried blows fro to stay alive Rage leaped into the fray and Alain quickly lost sight of her Sorrow had rolled out of har at his e but little experience His hesitations were costly, and only the presence of the skrolin kept the ene them But many of the skrolin had already fallen Alain could mark each one--ounded, as dead That awareness swelled to encoht to keep alive, to keep his coh their ranks to Adica The Lady of Battles did not attend hi revolted hi blow and shoved a fallen skrolin out of harained sharpness and clarity, an uncanny predictability, a slowing down of tih all the other participants had been caught in a spell
The openings became obvious, the blows struck at him easy to counter As a child he had so loved and dreamed about the frescoes that adorned the church walls:
The fall of the ancient city of Dariya to savage horsemen The fateful battle of Auxelles, where Taillefer’s nephew and his lorious victory of the first King Henry against Qurandson Conrad the Dragon charged his troop of cavalry straight into thetheir line and sending the back to their own lands
The field of battle became itself like one of those tapestries, not an undecipherable chaos but a painting in which each fighter was as transparent to him as if he had opened ainto that mind He kneas scared and as hesitant, who neho dangerous through experience or because she was coldblooded He kneas ready to run and as prepared to die
The warrior before hi to do with huround The other warrior, facing Kel, was young, ready to prove hih of hue over Kel Alain stepped in to knock away a spear thrust that Kel, attention caught by Beor’s turound, wasn’t prepared toher haft toward his head, but he caught the blow on his staff He pushed the lower tip of his staff behind the leg of the younger one, and with a twist tripped the young one while striking the elder in the forehead Both fell
Kel exclaiuard, Adica ducked low and dashed away along the cavern wall, into shadow
The woet up Alain placed the heel of his hand on the center of her chest to pin her to the ground Her eyes widened: they flashed green, like jade, bright and penetrating Sanglant had such eyes, startling with their gemlike intensity He stared at her and she at him, he in wonder at her beauty and fierce heart, she in a puzzlement that expanded into surprise and respect Without a word, Alain granted her passage to leave She sprang up and retreated, dragging the stue tumbled, unhurt, out of the melee to take up her position beside Alain
Beor hadn’t as much luck White Feather struck hi hi out in a voice that reverberated through the cha and some in retreat, formed up into a stout line with their wounded at the rear