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Vaelin glanced behind hi the dunes Ihis sword he scanned the field oncein the centre of the Alpiran throng, blue silk eet Frentis’s attention and pointed his sword at the pennant Frentis nodded and drew his oord, barking a command at his men to follow suit

“Stay close,” Vaelin told Janril then spurred Spit into a gallop, Frentis and his scout troop following He led theood distance froht so as not to be drawn in too soon, then turned sharply towards the naked Alpiran flank Fifty horse against two thousand Still, an adder can kill an ox if it finds the right vein

The first Alpiran he killed was a well-builtbeneath the chin-guard of his helm He was an excellent rider and a fine swords his sabre in an impeccable parry as Vaelin closed The star-silver blade took his arm off above the elbow Spit reared and bit at the Alpiran’sthe rider as he slipped fro fro down a second rider, slashing through his leg then hacking at his face until he fell, his jaw hanging loose froush of blood A third rider cae and bloodlust Vaelin reined Spit to a halt, twisted in the saddle to let the lance-pointhis sword up and down to cleave into the neck of the charging horse The ani free of the saddle to surge to his feet, sabre drawn Spit reared again, his hooves sending the Alpiran reeling, his hele Nearby Frentis was running his sword through a dismounted Alpiran whilst the rest of the scout troop were cutting their way through the throng, although he could see three blue cloaked bodies lying a over at Brother Inish’s co as the Alpiran advance lost ed his attention back to the battle Another Alpiran was charging, sabre outstretched, then abruptly pitching froih his chest However, the hing into Spit’s flank, the force of the iround

Spit was up quickly, snorting in rage, kicking and biting at the offending horse then chasing after the terrified ani deterrey stallion, parrying desperately until Frentis spurred between them to cut the man down “Wait there brother!” he called above the din, reining in to dismount “Take my horse”

“Stay in your saddle!” Vaelin shouted back, pointing again at the tall pennant in the centre of the Alpiran host “Keep cutting!”

“But brother - ”

“GO!” Hearing the i brother hesitated before reluctantly riding away, quickly sed by the swirl of battle

Glancing round he saw Janril was also disashed and he supported hi clumsily at any Alpiran who ca a throwing knife at the face of a rider who raised his sabre to hack down theaith the steel dart eht thethe bleach-white of his skin, the pained sag of his features

“Apologies my lord,” Janril said “Not so fast a rider as you…”

Vaelin jerked hi the earth Vaelin hacked the lance in two then half-severed the rider’s leg with the back-swing, grabbing histhe ani He calmed the panicked horse as best he could then hauled Janril onto its back “Back to the beach,” he commanded “Find Sister Gilainst the horse’s flank to send thely as they sped through the confusion of flesh and rasped the standard and thrust it into the earth, leaving it upright, the hawk sigil snapping in the stiffin wry amusement Test of the Melee indeed

About twenty yards away he saw a sudden convulsion in the Alpiran ranks, nificent white charger forced his way through, waving his sabre for them to clear a path, his voice raised in command The rider was clad in a white enaold with an intricate circular design that echoed the wheel sigil on the pennant still standing tall in the Alpiran centre He wore no hele Oddly thehi back in servile deference as the white-cladbriefly to point his sabre at Vaelin in challenge, then spurred into a charge

Vaelin waited, sword held low, legs balanced, breathing slow and even The white-cladin his eyes Anger, Vaelin recalled Master Sollis’s words, a lesson froer will kill you A er is dead before he ht This man with his fine white are-filled e, his weapons, his aran his charge

It was one of the more hazardous lessons they learned at the hands of e by a mounted opponent “When you are afoot a e,” the wild-eyed horse-o “The horse Take the horse away and he is just a man like any other” That said he had spent the next hour chasing the to ride the out in his shrill, madman’s voice “Dive and roll!”

Vaelin waited until the white-clad ht, diving past the thunderous dru the sword round to cleave through the charger’s rear leg Blood bathed hi to the earth, the white-clad le as Vaelin leapt the thrashing ani down, the ena with the force of the blow The white-clad hed blood and died

And the Alpirans stopped

They stopped Upraised sabres hovered then fell li riders reined in to stare in shock Every Alpiran within sight of the scene si and stared at Vaelin and the corpse of the white cladas arrows took thelanced down at the corpse, the sundered golden wheel on the bloodied breastplate gleaht A man of some importance, perhaps?

“Eruhin Mahktar!” Words spoken by a dis at a wound in his ar in his tone, soer or accusation, a depth of despair Vaelin had rarely heard “Eruhin Mahktar!” Words he would hear a thousand tiered forward, Vaelin uard, he was unar past Vaelin to collapse beside the body of the white-clad allah!” he howled Vaelin watched in horror as the er from his belt and drove it without hesitation into his own throat, slu fro the Alpirans, a sudden fierce shout rising from the ranks, every eye fixed on Vaelin, sabres and lances levelling as they stirred thean to close, murderous hate writ on every face

There was a sound like a thousand ha a thousand anvils and the Alpiran ranks convulsed again, Vaelin could see men thrown into the air by the iled to turn their e of burnished steel skewered their host

A hulking figure clad head to toe in arh the lighter mounts of the Alpirans, his mace a blur as it clubbed the life from men and horses alike Behind hi-swords and ed Alpirans fought back savagely,hooves, but they had neither the nuht Soon it was over, every Alpiran dead or wounded None had fled