“Oh, aye.” Tealdo hunkered down lowerbehind his log as the shouting on the other side of the path got louder. “Andnow they’re going to try and throw us out again.”

Still shouting “Urra!” Unkerlantersswarmed across the path. Tealdo blazed one down, but then had to scramble backfrantically to keep from being cut off and surrounded. All at once, he understoodhow the Forthwegians and Sibians and Valmierans and Jelgavans--aye, and theUnkerlanters, too--must have felt when King Mezentio’s armies struck them. Hewould sooner have done without the lesson.

Mezentio and the Algarvian generals hadoutplanned their foes as well as beaten them on the battlefield. TheUnkerlanters here in this stretch of wood showed no such inspired generalship.All they had were numbers and ferocity. Tealdo tripped over a root and fellheadlong. Those were liable to be enough.

“Rally by squads!” Captain Galafroneshouted, somewhere not too far away.

“To me! To me!” That was Sergeant Panfilo.Never had his raucous voice seemed so welcome to Tealdo.

As Tealdo made his way toward Panfilo,Galafrone shouted again, this time for his crystallomancer. Tealdo’s lipsskinned back from his teeth. One way or another, the Unkerlanters were going tocatch it.

He only hoped he didn’t catch it first.Along with Trasone, he found Sergeant Panfilo. They all had to keep fallingback, though, ever deeper among the trees. Tealdo began to wonder if they wouldrun into still more Unkerlanters there. He would hear cries of “Urra!” and “Swemmel!”in his nightmares as long as he lived. He hoped he lived long enough to havenightmares.

He cheered when eggs started falling amongthe Unkerlanters who’d broken the Algarvian grip on the path. He cheered againwhen shouts of “Mezentio!” rang out from the east, and yet again when theUnkerlanters started yelling in dismay rather than in fury.

As Algarvian reinforcements struck theUnkerlanters, the pressure on Galafrone’s company eased. “Powers above bepraised for crystallomancers,” Panfilo said, wiping sweat from his face.