The Reformation Wars: A Hero's Peace

Chapter 10

About an hour of battle came and went. Innutuk maintained its initial strategy of keeping a unified front while sending out companies of cavalrymen every so often to challenge the Monteraynian defenses. So far, Monterayne had held for the most part, though the numbers of replacements were thinning.

Princess Kate stood behind a barricade of shieldmen in the front of one of the battalions nearest the castle. With her bow in hand and quiver of arrows strapped to her back, she had every intention of discouraging any advances made directly toward the castle. So far, only an individual cavalryman here and there had attempted to do so, which hadn't been a smart decision by any stretch of the imagination.

But Kate's green eyes still squinted at the thousands of Innutukian soldiers standing in a perfectly still formation across the field. The time had come for a change in tactics, if they were to gain any more ground. At least, that's what an intelligent commander would do, she mused.

Sure enough, men began stirring in one corner of the formation. Suddenly, their horses exploded into action. Another company charged forward, this one headed right for Kate's battalion. Her hand darted back to snatch an arrow, as did all the other archers in her row. Once the lead horse entered range, Kate loosed an arrow on him.

She hadn't been able to test for changes in the wind since she'd last fired, so her arrow strayed from the target. With a shrug, Kate nocked another, adjusted her aim, and loosed it. This time, she hit dead center in the exposed bicep of the rider in the lead. He jerked his arm as a reflex, which snatched the reigns and twisted his horse's head to a strange angle. The equine reared, and though the Innutukian managed to keep his seat, the horse behind rammed into him, toppling both equines over and crushing the man beneath them.

As they maneuvered around the fallen horses and riders, the incoming company's cohesion splintered. Kate's fellow archers also landed shots, several of which missed, but those that did make impact took out spearmen or their mounts, all of which diminished the impact they'd make upon reaching the battalion.

When Kate spotted archers among the incoming cavalrymen, she made haste to take them out. She hit her first archer just when he had been about to loose an arrow of his own, and in the process of his flinching, he released the projectile into the man riding along side him. Both toppled off their horses and were subsequently trampled by horses galloping behind.

An Innutukian arrow whistled through the air and took out the archer standing beside Kate. The princess' heart first leapt in surprise, but then it dropped in sorrow as she watched the suffering man crumble to his knees with widened eyes staring down at his pierced flesh. Another arrow hit the shield of the spearman standing in front of Kate. She watched it spin in the air before landing at her feet.

Kate pursed her lips and returned fire. Her projectile only collided with armor and bounced away. But that didn't stop Kate from cycling through her quiver until empty, loosing arrow after arrow and usually causing at least injury to the incoming Innutukians, if not dismounting or killing them outright.

By the time Kate had released her last arrow, the remaining dozen or so horsemen had come far too close for comfort. All the shieldmen in the front few lines braced themselves for impact, and Kate threaded through the ranks as a precaution herself. She was no coward, but a princess could take no unnecessary risks.

The Innutukian cavalrymen came crashing into the Monteraynian shield wall. In some spots, the men managed to hold their ground and force the armored horses to a grinding halt, while in others, the shieldmen simply found themselves crushed underneath their protective devices. The backup shieldmen squeezed forward in the formation to reinforce compromised sections of the line, and in other cases, to be a second line of defense to further slow the horses.