Hand Over Fist

Chapter 15: Let Loose the Bears of War!

They came across the frozen ground like a dark tide, Equus Rapid Foot spearheading the attack, Bovis and Ursa heavy assault troops following after as quickly as possible. Short spears ready, the Rapid Foot slammed into the Primiad flank with an audible 'crunch'. Then they were peeling away to let the heavy assault troops pound into the dent they had made, the broad and power Bovis swinging their double-edged axes with deadly effect even as the giant Ursa smashed aside handfuls of Primiad soldiers at a time with massive swings of their oversized swords and maces.

As they fought, the Ursa sang, a deep and powerful hymn that rose and fell in time to the swings of their leviathan weapons. Even when the Primiad, having absorbed the initial attack with astounding resilience, counterattacked with their swarming assault, the song never wavered. If anything, it grew in timbre and strength as the Primiad began to pull individual ursa and bovis down, their superior numbers too much for even the giant warriors to counter for long.

Just as the Primiad twisted as a whole to address this new threat, the Equus Rapid Foot swung around and once more drove into their flank. This time the attack came perpendicular to where the ursa and bovis foot soldiers were fighting, simultaneously creating a second battle front and releasing some of the pressure on their comrades from the Primiad counterattack.

Instead of peeling back as they had after their first run, the equus troops dug in this time, slashing and stabbing with their short spears to breach the outer ranks and throw the centre of the Primiad formation into chaos. Aware of where the equus were penetrating the Primiad formation, the ursa and bovis soldiers shifted their own angle of attack to work towards their comrades to make sure the Primiad couldn't collapse around the equus column and cut them off as they had the Gideonite cavalry.

Despite that, it would only be a matter of time before both formations were absorbed by the horde's vastly superior numbers. An observation Uthon made as he and a pair of Kanid guardsman did rearguard duty as Longspear escorted Kata down the ladder into the chaos-filled courtyard where Blacklock and the rest of Kata's guard were attempting to clear a passage through the tumult to the inner wall.

"Blood and shadow," he exclaimed, peering through the smoke and the failing light. "Are we being reinforced?"

"I do not recognize those races," one of the guardsmen said, kicking a gutted Primiad solder back to also peer through the fading evening.

"Nor do I," Uthon conceded. "If they're coming to our aide, I don't much care Who they are. But their charge has turned the Primiad flank. We need to strike out from the fortress or they'll be overwhelmed as the Gideonites were."

The guardsman quickly nodded in agreement then shook his head.

"Except we no longer hold the outer wall," he pointed out, a note of frustration in his gruff voice. "We cannot sally in support."

"Wait!" the other guardsman suddenly cried, pointing at the shifting battle. "Two additional companies have advanced onto the battlefield. They are moving to support the counterattack!"

Uthon frowned as he squinted through the gloom. Bloody ashes but the Kanid soldier was right. There Was two more companies moving smartly onto the field, one the battered Gideon company that had just managed to cut itself free from the Primiad trap. For some reason they had halted their retreat towards the fortress to once again engage.

The other, however, was harder to identify. Even as his eyes fell onto them, they angled to cut through the Primiad's artillery position, swiftly taking care of the crews and a smattering of soldiers protecting them. A heart beat later the big trebuchets began going up in flames, drastically dropping the volume of ordnance coming towards them.