ugh he hated the thought of turning his back on a Chezhou-Lei war- Pagonel spun suddenly to slow the charge of two Behrenese warriors.
"?caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, of something coming Behind him, Wan Atenn charged. Before him, the Behrenese stopped to trike defensive postures, then turned suddenly, surprised, as a twisting rm rolled over the wall. Pagonel threw himself backward, falling to his butt and rolling over.
The oilskin exploded, immolating the two Behrenese, startling and blind-ing Wan Atenn.
Pagonel came around and kicked upward, his feet catching the Chezhou- still had his sword up over his head - in the gut, just under the rib cage. The mystic extended full out, double-kicking, but shortening the blow with his right leg, which was closer to the courtyard, and extending fully through with his left, diving the Chezhou-Lei backward and turning him with the kick.
Pagonel came back to his feet on the edge of the parapet, with Wan Atenn falling hard behind him, to the city courtyard. The mystic could have leaped at the Chezhou-Lei then, trying to finish him with a single, clean kick.
But he knew the truth, and he hadn't the time.
He went to the wall then and looked to the south, and saw the torches of the approaching force - a force of hundreds, he realized.
"Fly away!" the mystic cried to the warriors outside the wall, and he climbed atop the crenelation, preparing to leap into the tumult below, wav-ing his arms in an attempt to garner some attention. ?A trap! Fly away!"
But his voice was a whisper amidst the thunder of battle.
Expecting his enemy to be leaping down at him, Wan Atenn braced him-self and set his sword above him.
When nothing followed him down, and as his breath came back to him, the proud warrior pulled himself from the ground. He wanted nothing more than to scramble back up and pay back the wretched Jhesta Tu, but he could not, he realized - not then. Ignoring the two soldiers burning and thrashing on the ground near to him, the Chezhou-Lei stalked to the gate.
He looked back to see the rest of his command coming forth, as they had been ordered, moving out from the shadows of the nearest buildings toward the gatehouse. He pointed to the commander of the group, then to - burning and falling door, then leaped to a ladder beside the gatehouse and made his way back up.
Confusion had taken the field immediately outside the gate by that point, as the torches of the two twenty-squares drew nearer and nearer and th To-gai-ru came to understand the truth of the trap. Wan Atenn could not spot the hated Jhesta Tu in the scramble, but he did see another figure, on that he knew at once.
Ashwarawu remained at the base of the door, his horse bucking and kick ing hard at the wood, the leader howling out for the continuing charge de spite the obvious forthcoming turn in the battle.
Ashwarawu!
Suddenly, Wan Atenn forgot all about the Jhesta Tu mystic. He moved to the gatehouse directly above the door, shoving aside those few guards re-maining inside the structure and ignoring the fight just to the side, where several To-gai-ru had managed to scale the wall.
His focus was below.
The doors went down and Wan Atenn's main garrison charged out into the thrash of To-gai-ru, streaming past Ashwarawu, whose great sword cut down one man and then another.
Smiling widely, the Chezhou-Lei warrior leaped down from above.
Her bow back in place at the side of her saddle, sword in hand, Brynn brought Runtly in tight maneuvers, chopping away at one Behrenese de-fender after another. The door was down, the enemy flowing out to meet the attack right there in the bottleneck of the gate.
Not enough enemies to overwhelm the attackers, Brynn knew - not com-ing from inside the fortified city, at least.
The torches she glimpsed to the north and to the south, though, made it clear to her that the time had come for a full retreat.
Amidst it all, she saw Ashwarawu, slashing away, chopping down enemy after enemy and howling gleefully with each devastating strike. He seemed so much larger than those around him, so above the battlefield, a god among mortal men, that Brynn found herself second-guessing her instinct to retreat. Could the strength of Ashwarawu take them through the bloody night?
But then a form dropped beside the large warrior, expertly taking him down to the ground.
Brynn forged Runtly in her leader's direction,