“Cavalry that are bogged down by their enemies are just dead men and horses.” - Saying attributed to Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor of the Elmaiya Empire, after his victory at the Battle of Horsehead Valley.

As she rode on her steed at the head of her two hundred strong unit, Astra felt the exhilaration that always accompanied a good ride, even when it was done during a battle. Her riders were positioned at the left side of the first squadron that her father personally led, so they had the longest distance to cover when they threw their javelins at the enemies earlier, but on the return pass they would be the closest instead.

When her father gave the signal to turn around however, Astra saw the enemy riders – probably half their number or so – riding hard to catch up to them. She knew that getting that return pass unbothered was unlikely, so they’d have to deal with the enemy cavalry first to be able to harass the main enemy formation some more.

Sure enough, a second command from her father told them to prepare to charge into the enemy riders, so Astra didn’t take more javelins from the sack slung over her back, and instead grabbed her spear, which she shifted to her left hand. Then she took one javelin from the sack, as there was no reason not to throw one before they clashed with their enemies.

As she looked around, Astra noticed that most of the other riders had done the same. She also noticed that the third squadron behind them seemed to have veered off to the side. Her father had likely ordered them to veer around the intercepting enemy cavalry and continue harassing the enemy main force while the first squadron – Caroma’s elite cavalry – took the enemy on.

Soon another command from her father came and the squadron spread out to form a rough echelon formation, which she saw was mirrored by the second squadron to their east. The two echelon formations basically prevented the enemy cavalry from going after the third and fourth squadrons that veered off to harass the enemy main formation.

The distance between the two groups of cavalry was quickly eaten up under the horses’ hooves, as the Podovnian cavalry gathered together into a single formation while the first and second squadron of Caroman cavalry attempted to envelop them. Astra held her javelin as far back as her arm could reach, with her body twisted to the side on her saddle, just waiting for the right moment to throw it.

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Soon enough, as the distance between the two groups of cavalry decreased to under fifty paces, she hurled her javelin with all the strength that her body could muster, as did most every other Caroman. Their training had ingrained into them the habit to hurl the javelin when the riders at the front were fifty paces away from the frontmost enemy rider, the javelins hurled by those at front acting as a signal to those behind.

It was a short enough distance to feasibly get some decent accuracy to the throw, while still having enough time to switch over to their spear for the melee.

Astra did not see where her javelin landed, as the force with which she hurled the projectile had her twist her body all the way to face the other side. She brought her hands together and quickly transferred her spear to her right hand as she righted herself and pointed it towards the fast-approaching enemies. At the same time, she raised her shield to cover herself from the enemy’s thrown javelins.

Podovniy’s cavalry were also trained to use javelins, but they were evidently trained to throw it at shorter distances. When the Caromans threw their javelins first, some of the Podovnians panicked at the sight and threw their javelins instead of raising their shields. Some of those who made that mistake ended up falling off their horse with a javelin embedded in their body soon after.

Those who kept a presence of mind to instead raise their shields and prepare for the melee fared better, but the javelins hurled by the Caromans had claimed at least several hundred victims, and caused the Podovnian formation to loosen up as a result as some riders swerved around their fallen comrades while others leapt over them.

By then it was too late to throw their javelins so the Podovnians similarly shifted to their spears. A few still tried to hurl their javelins, though, and while some of the javelins met their mark since they were thrown at such close range, the ones who threw their javelins soon paid for it as they were late in switching to their spear when the clash happened.

Astra happened to face one such Podovnian cavalryman.

The man also hit one of her soldiers with his javelin. The javelin had struck the chest of the unfortunate soldier’s horse and sent it tumbling, which naturally threw the soldier off its back. The man himself seemed fine as he managed to turn his abrupt fall into a forward tumble and had even gotten back on his feet shortly after, but the horse was likely dead and gone.

Which was just as bad as losing one’s brother for most cavalrymen as they had gotten very close with their steeds.

Before the Podovnian soldier managed to bring his spear to bear, Astra rushed in from the left side and thrust her own spear towards him. The man’s surprised reflexive reaction had him lean backwards on his saddle in an attempt to avoid her strike, but Astra adjusted her thrust to compensate and her spearhead entered the man’s head from beneath his jaw.

The jarring impact also almost caused Astra to lose her grip on her spear but she was trained to handle that and pushed hard instead. As a result, the dead Podovnian was pushed right off his saddle and as the spear bent down under his weight, Astra allowed the corpse to slide off before she withdrew her spear and rode off towards her next foe.