Lan’s forces had seized the Gap with their initial charge, shoving the Shadowspawn back before they were able to emerge into the valley. That was more than Lan had expected. The Gap was a long, narrow piece of rocky ground nestled between craggy rises and peaks.
Holding this position required nothing clever. You stood, you died and you killed—as long as you could.
Lan commanded a cavalry. It wasn’t ideal for this kind of work—cavalries did best where they could spread out and had room to charge—but the passage through Tarwin’s Gap was narrow enough that only a small number of Trollocs could come through at once. That gave Lan a chance. At least it was more difficult for the Trollocs to take advantage of their superior numbers. They would have to pay a butcher’s bill for every yard they gained.
Trolloc carcasses had formed an almost furlike blanket leading through the canyon. Each time the creatures tried to push through the gorge, Lan’s men had resisted them with lances and polearms, swords and arrows, eventually slaughtering thousands and leaving them heaped for their fellows to climb over. But each clash similarly reduced Lan’s numbers.
Each assault forced his men to withdraw a little farther. Toward the mouth of the Gap. They were less than a hundred feet from it now.
Lan felt the fatigue pressing deep into his bones.
"Our forces?" Lan asked Prince Kaisel.
"Maybe six thousand still able to ride, Dai Shan".
Less than half of what they’d started with a day before. "Tell them to mount up".
Kaisel looked shocked. "We’re going to retreat?"
Lan turned to the lad.
Kaisel paled. Lan had been told that his gaze could unnerve any man; Moiraine had liked to joke that he could outstare rocks and had the patience of an oak. Well, he didn’t feel as sure of himself as people thought, but this boy should have known better than to ask if they were retreating.
"Of course", Lan said, "and then we're going to attack".
"Attack?" Kaisel said. "We are on the defensive!"
"They’ll sweep us out", Lan said, pulling himself into Mandarb’s saddle. "We’re exhausted, worn out and nearly broken. If we stand here and let them come at us again, we’ll fall without a whimper".
Lan knew an ending when he saw one.
"Pass these orders", Lan said to Prince Kaisel. "We will slowly pull out of the pass. You have the rest of the troops assemble on the plain, mounted and ready to attack the Shadowspawn as they come out of the Gap. A charge will do great damage; they won’t know what hit them".
"Wont we be surrounded and overrun if we leave the pass?" Kaisel asked.
"This is the best we can do with the resources we have".
"And then?"
"And then they eventually break through, slice our force into pieces and overrun us".
Kaisel sat for a moment, then nodded. Again, Lan was impressed. He’d assumed this boy had come with him to find the glory of battle, to fight at the side of Dai Shan and sweep their enemies away. But no. Kaisel was a Borderlander to the core. He hadn’t come for glory. He’d come because he’d had to. Good lad.
"Give the order now. The men will be glad to get back on their horses again". Too many of them had been forced to fight on foot because of the lack of maneuverability in the narrow confines.
Kaisel gave the orders, and those orders burned through Lan’s men like an autumn fire. Lan saw Andere being helped into his saddle by Bulen.
"Andere?" Lan said, heeling Mandarb toward him. "You are in no condition to ride. Go join the wounded at the back camp".
"So I lie back there and let the Trollocs butcher me after finishing you lot?" Andere leaned forward in the saddle, teetering slightly, and Bulen looked up with concern. Andere waved him off and forced himself upright. "We’ve already moved the mountain, Lan. Let’s budge this feather and be through with it".
Lan could offer no argument. He called the retreat to the men ahead of him in the pass. His remaining men bunched around him, slowly backing out toward the plain.
The Trollocs hooted and yelled in excitement. They knew that once they were free of the walls that restricted their movement, they would win this fight easily.
Lan and his small force left the narrow confines of the Gap, those on foot running toward their horses tethered near the mouth of the canyon.
The Trollocs—for once—needed no push from the Myrddraal to charge. Their footfalls were a low rumble on the stony ground.
Several hundred yards out of the Gap, Lan slowed Mandarb and turned. Andere brought his horse up beside Lan’s with difficulty, and they were joined by the other riders, who formed long lines of cavalry. Bulen cantered up to the other side of Lan.
The storm of Shadowspawn neared the mouth of the Gap, a charging force of thousands of Trollocs that would soon burst out into the open—and try to consume them.
Lan’s forces were silently lined up around him. Many were old men, the last remnants of their fallen kingdom. This force that had managed to plug the narrow gap now seemed tiny on the much larger plain.
"Bulen", Lan said.
"Yes, Lord Mandragoran?"
"You claim to have failed me, years ago".
"Yes, my Lord. It—"
"Any failing on your part is forgotten", Lan said, eyes forward. "I am proud to have given you your hadori".
Kaisel rode up, nodding to Lan. "We are ready, Dai Shan".
"This is for the best", Andere said, grimacing, still holding to his wound, barely able to remain in the saddle.
"It is what must be", Lan said. Not an argument. Not exactly.
"No", Andere said. "It is more than that, Lan. Malkier is like a tree that lost its roots to whiteworms, the branches withering slowly. I’d rather be burned away in a flash".
"I’d rather charge", Bulen said, voice growing firm. "I’d rather charge now than let them overrun us. Let us die on the attack, with swords pointed home".
Lan nodded, turning and raising his sword high above his head. He gave no speeches. He had given those already. The men knew what this was. One more charge, while they still had some strength, would mean something. Fewer Shadowspawn to flood into civilized lands. Fewer Trollocs to kill those who could not fight back.
The enemy seemed endless. A slavering, rampaging horde without battle line or discipline. Anger, destruction incarnate. Thousands upon thousands of them. They came forward like floodwaters suddenly released, s
