Shattered (Heirs of Anarwyn, Book 3) by J.W. Elliot

Author:J.W. Elliot [Elliot, J.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Fire and Fury

CAM RAISED HIS hand and whirled it twice in a horizontal circle. Two hundred Lakari archers concealed by the rock outcrop swept in a half-moon formation, hugging the bottom of a narrow wash behind the enemy encampment. His archers had already picked off the guards, opening the way through to the vulnerable camp.

Drakeman led the Tathanar archers on the far west side of the encampment. The enemy hadn’t bothered to break camp yet, which was especially unwise when they knew the enemy was so near. Perhaps Laird’s assassination had done more damage to the chain of command than they anticipated.

Cam carried a short, recurved bow, unlike anything the Anar used up in the Haradd Mountains. This bow was made from a single piece of the hard, gnarled orange wood grown in the hill country of the West Mark and had been backed with long strands of sinew. Though powerful, it had taken Cam a while to get used to it. A quiver of three dozen arrows hung from the saddle at his right hip.

He kicked his horse into a gallop to join the archers as they pounded out of the wash and over the hill directly at the enemy’s rear, where their horses were picketed in a long line. Some horses tugged at their picket lines as shouts rang through the camp.

His archers swept into the outskirts of the camp, slicing the picket ropes with their swords. The horses shied and galloped away or joined Cam’s archers as they continued into the camp. The archers loosed arrows at men as they snatched up their weapons or scrambled from their tents. It was slaughter, pure and simple, but it couldn’t be avoided.

Cam joined the fray, slashing with his sword and ramming his horse into the panicking men. The battle raged for several minutes until more Inverni rushed from the center of the encampment to support their comrades. Cam gestured for the man with the horn to signal the withdrawal. The soldier gave one long blast of the horn, and the Lakari archers wheeled as one and raced out onto the prairie, stampeding the Inverni horses before them.

Upon reaching the rock outcrop, they wheeled again and came in on the east flank of the army. Spearmen emerged to form a ragged line of defense. Cam had no intention of trying to hack his way through it. Instead, his Lakari archers spread out in a long line and rode to within thirty paces of the row of spearmen. A few arrows flew from the encampment—but to no effect. Cam’s archers whirled north, riding along the edge of the encampment, swinging in a rotating circle. The archers loosed their arrows and withdrew to reload and make room for the next archers to gallop up and loose.

The column swept north like a whirlwind, stirring up great clouds of dust and wreaking havoc on the Inverni army. When they reached the northern edge of the tents, they disengaged and fled north. They had administered a dose of damage and scattered the horses.

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