Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...

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"Uhnnn."Heavy . He was dead weight. She heaved him over her saddlehorn and Sova fell in beside her
as they galloped back to the rest, face full of shock.
"Is he all right?Khyd-hird , is he all right?"
The Kommanza could see movement beyond her troop as it formed up, pike-points and helmets and
dust. A Yeoli heavy-foot regiment, coming up at the double and deploying at the run.Impressive . Their
pike-points came down with a long ripple, and the archers fanned out to either side. There was another
regiment double-timing up behind them, Schvait in black armor and tunics, and a pair of springalds
bumping along in the vanguard; light catapults with horizontal throwing-arms powered by skeins of
twisted ox-sinew. The Alliance foot halted just out of crossbow range, staying motionless as Arkan
points came down, the Imperials spitting on their hands and bracing their pikes. Waiting for the
arrow-storm from longbows that outranged their own missile-troops' weapons.
Whack. A vicious sound, as the first of the springalds was swiveled around and cut loose. It threw a
glass sphere that caught fire in mid-flight, then arched down to draw a streak of inextinguishable flame
through the Arkan ranks. Clingfire, naphtha and tar, sulphur and phosphorus and pitch.Whack : the other
springald fired, and trumpet and drums brayed from the group around the eagle-standard. The Arkans
gave a deep guttural shout, loud enough to drown the screams of men being roasted alive in their armor,
and charged.
The Yeolis charged to meet them, giving their war-cry, "Ai-yae-ohhhhhh! The flat snap of crossbows
resounded under the musical massed thrum-and-whistle of longbow fire, javelins rattling through the air,
the Imperials screaming out "Kellin, kellin."The impact was a massive rolling sound, thudding in chest
and stomach as eighteen-foot polearms struck with both sides at a dead run, thousands behind them.
Both front ranks just disappeared, and the ripple threw warriors off their feet for scores of meters back
into each formation; then they were locked, a giant tumbling street-brawl under the bristling pikes of the
rear ranks. File-closers and decurions moved in with halberds and two-handed swords; warriors with
shortswords and daggers clenched in their teeth crawled and rolled under the ranks too tightly locked to
move, and stabbed and sliced from below.
Another Imperial rejin was moving down the road from where it had waited concealed, as the Schvait
formed to deploy on the Yeoli's right flank. The springalds kept up their steady buckingwhack-whack ,
clingfire globes making smoky tracks through the arching grey storm of missiles that sped both ways
above the packed fight.
We re safe for the moment. Even Gold-bottom Chevenga wasn't going to be able to finesse a meeting
engagement; this dance would last for a while. Those lancers weren't coming down to mix it in, either.
Two many had lost their mounts, or their lives; the survivors would stay up on the hills, now, and keep
the Yeoli foot from pursuing too hard when the Imperial infantry pulled back.The Arkans are learning
how to retreat , I think. She had more immediate business.
"You insubordinate little shit!" She struck Sova across the side of the helmet again, harder, making a
sound like a cracked bell; the girl kept her silence, and backed her horse out of reach. But her eyes went
wide; now she realized what she'd done.I've never campaigned with a child before, it's enough to
turn your hair white . "Iknow you're sheep-fucking brave, now show some brains. It's the trickster
god's ownmiracle you weren't killed! Gods-dammit, I want you at my funeral twenty years from now,
not me at yours tomorrow!"
"Ve couldn'tleave him, he's one of Echera-e's childhood friends!" The girl's Thanish accent always came
out more, when she was excited.Now she'll change the subject; Shkai'ra was getting to know Sova