She looked away from the corpses below. The Aes Sedai positions on the hilltops had been compromised. As the Trollocs returned their attention toward her force, Egwene gave orders for gateways. She had the pikemen withdraw uphill through the gateways as her archers continued to shoot projectiles into the Trollocs below. Then, Egwene and the remaining Aes Sedai rained destruction down on the Trollocs long enough to get the archers through the gateways.
Before disappearing through the last gateway on her hill, Egwene gave a final look at the battlefield. What had just happened? She shook her head as Gawyn stepped up to her side, faithful as always. He hadn’t had an opportunity to draw his sword this battle. Neither had Leilwin; the two seemed to be having a little silent competition as to who could act as the better guard, remaining right by Egwene’s side. She’d have found it annoying, but it was better than Gawyn’s sullen regret in previous battle engagements.
He was looking pale, though. As if at the start of a sickness. Had he been getting enough sleep?
"I want to go to the camp and find General Bryne", Egwene said. "I want to know why this was allowed to happen. And then I will go to our troops defending the ford, and avenge our people who just lost their lives here".
They both gave her frowns.
"Egwene . . ". Gawyn said.
"I have strength yet", Egwene said. "I have been using the sa’angreal to keep from having to work too hard. The men fighting in that quarter need to see me, and I must do good where I can. I will take as many guards as you wish me to take".
Gawyn hesitated, glanced at Leilwin, then finally nodded.
Lan dismounted and handed the reins to Andere, then continued past the guards—who seemed shocked to see him and his numerous guards, many of them bloodied—toward the command tent. The tent was little more than an awning now, open on all sides, with soldiers moving in and out like ants in a hill. The air was hot here in Shienar today. He had not received reports recently from the other battlefronts, but had heard his would not be the only desperate stand today. Elayne fought at Cairhien; the Amyrlin on the border of Arafel.
Light send that they were having a better time of it than Lan. Inside the tent, Agelmar stood with maps on the ground all around him, pointing at them with a thin pole and moving bits of colored stone around as he gave orders. Runners would come and give updates on the progress of battle. The best battle plans lasted only until the first sword was drawn, but a good general could work battles like a potter working clay, taking the ebbs and flows of soldiers and molding them.
"Lord Mandragoran?" Agelmar asked, looking up. "Light, man! You look like the Blight itself. Have you seen the Aes Sedai for Healing?"
"I am well", Lan said. "How goes the battle?"
"I’m encouraged", Agelmar said. "If we can find some way to stall those Dreadlords for an hour or two, I think we actually have a fair shot of turning the Trollocs back".
"Surely not", Lan said. "There are so many".
"It’s not about numbers", Agelmar said, waving Lan over, pointing at a map. "Lan, here is a thing that few men understand. Armies can and often do break when they have superior numbers, superior battlefield advantage, and a good chance of winning.
"When you spend time commanding, you start to think of an army as a single entity. A massive beast with thousands of limbs. That’s a mistake. An army is made up of men—or, in this case, Trollocs—each one on the field, each one terrified. Being a soldier is about keeping your terror in check. The beast inside just wants to escape".
Lan crouched down, inspecting the battle maps. The situation was much as he'd seen it, only Agelmar still had the Saldaean light cavalry watching the eastern flank on the map. A mistake? Lan had confirmed for himself that they were no longer there. Shouldn’t runners have brought Agelmar word that the map was wrong? Or was he somehow distracting them from noticing?
"I’ll show you something today, Lan", Agelmar said softly. "I’ll show you what the smallest man on the practice yard must learn if he is to survive. You can make the larger enemy break if you convince him that he is going to die. Hit him hard enough, and he will run, and won’t return to let you hit again—even if you’re secretly too weak to hit again".
"That’s your plan, then?" Lan asked. "Today?"
"The Trollocs will break if we show them a display of force that frightens them", Agelmar said. "I know it can work. I’m hoping that we can bring down the leader of those Dreadlords. If the Trollocs assume they’re losing, they will run. They are cowardly beasts".
Listening to Agelmar made it seem plausible. Perhaps Lan just wasn’t seeing the entire picture. Perhaps the great captain’s genius was beyond what others could fathom. Had he done right in countermanding the order to move the archers?
The messenger Lan had sent earlier came galloping back to the command center. One of Lan’s High Guard was there, too, holding his own arm, a black-fletched arrow stuck in it. "An enormous force of Shadowspawn!" the messenger said. "Coming in from the east! Dai Shan, you were right!"
They knew to come in that way, Lan thought. They couldn’t have just noticed that we’d exposed ourselves, not with those hills blocking their view. It’s come too quickly. The Shadow must have been told, or must have known what to expect. He looked at Agelmar.
"Impossible!" Agelmar said. "What’s this, now? Why didn’t the scouts see it?"
"Lord Agelmar", one of his commanders said. "You sent the scouts in the east back to look at the river, remember? They were to inspect the crossing for us. You said the archers would . . " The commander paled. "The archers!"
"The archers are still in their positions", Lan said, rising. "I want the front lines to begin withdrawing. Pull the Saldaeans out of the fighting, ready to strike to help the foot soldiers disengage. Pull the Asha’man back. We’ll need gateways".
"Lord Mandragoran", Agelmar said. "This new development can be used. If we pull apart and then smash them between us, we can—"
"You are relieved of duty, Lord Agelmar", Lan said, not looking at the man. "And, unfortunately, I must request that you remain under supervision until I can sort through what has happened".
The command tent grew silent, every aide, messenger and of
