I woke to rays of light on my face. Wiping the drool from my face, I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light. Men were waking up to get ready for the day before us but few were talking. I rubbed my face drowsily. I had almost been too excited to fall asleep the last night. Rising and walking over to the rocky cliff, I relieved myself on the wall of stone. The cool morning air blew across the camp. The faint smell of wildflowers was a welcome addition to the morning.

When I had finished watering the rock, Estrianes rose and put an end to Helion’s snoring with a swift elbow. The three of us were excited for this day, we were one day closer to glory. More warriors were waking and arming themselves when commanders came through shouting for everyone to rise and ready themselves for the march. I gnawed on a piece of dried meat I had from my bag, while I donned my cloak, shield, and helmet. Father and Estriadites seemed to have left for the front of the line.

Everyone around us was in various stages of readiness. Some complained while others were drowsily collecting their belongings and barking orders at their slaves. Others took their time and stretched or made conversation before doing anything of worth. Space within the pass was rapidly filling with warm bodies, yawning and scratching themselves.

Leandros squeezed his way back to us. “Father requests you and Estrianes to join him,” he said with his head slightly bowed to me. In that moment, I actually felt envy. It was unclear if it was a dream or if it was the way the sun struck him, but I envied him for inheriting father’s imposing physique, while I took after my mother.

I looked back to find Helion pissing. “Tell father we will join him presently.” Leandros nodded. He turned to leave I called to him, “Wait!” He turned back. “Does father-” I paused trying to find the right words.

Shouts trickled up to us along with a rumbling noise. “Is that a rock slide?” I asked ignorantly. The rumbling got closer with the sound of metal striking metal. Looking around, I saw a dust cloud behind us. Where we stood was close to the back end of our line, closer to The Narrows.

“That almost sounds like horse hooves,” stated Helion. “That can’t be right.”

“Come with me, quickly,” pleaded Leandros as he placed his hand on my shoulder.

With all the men around us, there wasn’t much space to move. We squeezed through a group of hoplites and slaves, only to get stuck pressed against more men beyond them. “Please make way. Please make way for my master!” pleaded Leandros.

A big hoplite in front of him was pressed against other men, “I can’t move.”

“Please, make way!”

Removing his helmet, “I don’t take orders from slaves,” he said and pushed Leandros back into me. I hadn’t been paying attention because I was trying to see what was happening behind us. Knocked off balance, I turned. The large hoplite in front of Leandros made a fist but an arrow pierced through his eye and the big man fell back into others.

“Fuck!” I yelled. We turned to see enemy horsemen riding through our disorganized line, chopping and slashing at unready hoplites. “How the fuck did they get up here with horses?!” Everyone tried to run in different directions but either tripped over equipment or got stuck in the mass of soldiers. Many, regardless of how ready, grabbed spears and turned to face the enemy.

That was the first time I saw him. I will never forget that moment. A rider emerged and the sun glinted off the silver scales of his lamellar thorax. His redshirt was brighter than blood and the sleeves were embroidered with gold. Around his neck was a torc made of gold. The helmet he wore was engraved with a screaming face, above the brow line. When he leaned forward in pursuit, the howling face of bronze stared down at his prey.

I had never seen an enemy warrior, of any kind. The horse trampled a hoplite and knocked another to the ground. He quickly drew from his hip quiver and loosed a shaft into a slave, killing him instantly. The speed with which he drew and fired was astounding. By the time the second hoplite regained his footing, the rider loosed a shaft into an unarmored hoplite and another slave. Both were fatal shots.

By the time it was realized he was only one man, more of his men rode up and began loosing arrows. One struck my shield and shook my body. I fell back into Leandros, who helped me regain footing. “The line’s starting to m-” an arrow flew over m shoulder.

I looked behind me to find Leandros collapsing with an arrow sticking from his throat. His eyes were wide and watery, blood ran like a stream from his wound. The men around us backed away. I stood there stunned, watching Leandros cough and choke on his own blood. Estrianes grabbed me by the shoulder. “The column moves!” he shouted. “Keep your shield up!”

Chaos reigned. Leandros was kicking and writhing on the ground, turning the dirt beneath him red. Some men in front of me began throwing spears at the horsemen, causing them to turn back the way they came. The rider with the golden torc turned away, rotated around on his horse, and fired a parting shot which struck a hoplite in the groin.

There was shouting behind me. I could see our men making way for someone. Emerging from the chaos behind us was Kyron and Klysestes, fully armored, desire for blood in their eyes. “Fall to fucking formation!” Klysestes barked. “We’re now the rearguard. The phalanx forms here.” Men who lacked them quickly grabbed shields. “Form up four ranks deep. Anyone else goes with the army!”

Helion, Estrianes, and I fell in with the first rank, ten paces from Klysestes. Our shields locked together and our spears were ready. In front of us, the riders had ridden back to deal with the groups of our men that they had first attacked, killing the survivors. Their screams echoed through the pass. Seeing this, Kysestes craned his head back, “Turn back and set feet to purpose! Reform two hundred paces back, now!”

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Our two hundred hoplites turned and ran back towards our advancing column as quickly as we could. Around one hundred paces, keeping as much order in the ranks as possible, we stopped and the last row running turned and became the first rank facing the enemy. Everyone panted in their armor. Our shields locked and a bead of sweat rand down under my helmet. No sooner did the sweat fall to the ground when our enemies came down upon us.

Riders with swords and axes were galloping towards us. They reared their horses and stopped the charge when presented with our armored forest of spears. The lead rider stopped his horse ten paces in front of us, only to take a spear through his chest. He toppled backward off his horse. I looked over and saw Klysestes with his throwing arm still outstretched. He looked over his shoulder at the man behind him, “Spear!” The man eagerly supplied him.

The other riders steered their horses back in the other direction to get out of range. Arrows dropped in front of us as their horse archers made their way towards us. “Spread word!” shouted Klysestes. “We move back a step on my command!” The order was echoed by other men, to spread the order throughout the line. More arrows fell on the ground at our feet. “Shield wall!”

At Klysestes’ command, our second rank pressed in and held their shields above ours, theirs leaning back at an angle. Our third rank moved in closer and used their shields to support the weight of the second rank and cover their own heads. The flanks of our line bent in so that the line formed a very shallow C shape. The spears we held protruded through the small spaces between shields.

Arrows made loud thuds as they struck our shields. I couldn’t tell how many archers there were. Looking out between a small space between shields, it sounded like rainfall. “Back!” yelled Klysestes. In one movement, as close to unison as we could manage, our shield wall moved back a step. Again and again, the command was issued.

“Someone’s behind us!” shouted a man behind me.

A cold sweat formed on my brow. My hands that strained to keep my shield up grew cold as ice. My teeth clenched as the third arrow struck my shield. Voices behind us yelled “Cover them!” said one.

“Aim for the horses if you have to!” shouted another.

I exhaled in relief. The man behind me clapped me on the shoulder. “Our archers will over our retreat!” he said excitedly.

I couldn’t see how many archers had joined us, but the enemy horsemen withdrew quickly in small groups, still firing as they fled. “Withdraw!” ordered Klysestes. Our shield wall broke apart and we began our rush to regroup with the army began. The hoplites jogged while the sixty archers escorting us kept up with ease, often turning quickly to loose shafts to keep the horsemen at bay.

Arrows landed behind us while we ran. Nearing the end of the pass which held the path down to the plain below, our enemies’ arrows fell even closer to our heels. I looked behind us. The enemy cavalry was rapidly closing the distance between us. The archer running to my side took an arrow to the chest as he turned to fire. Another had his foot pinned to the ground, screaming in pain. I could see the sparse trees that marked the end of the path. Around the bend would be the start of the path down. There was a very loud noise from behind my helmet, and I fell forward onto my face. The world turned black.

****

I couldn’t tell what was happening or how long I had been out. Though I was awake, I couldn’t move my body. My feet dragged over the ground. Someone was trying to carry me or at least pull me forward. Slowly, I got my feet under me and mumbled something. Looking up, I saw it was Kyron dragging me. “Start running you useless fuck!” Behind us were Helion and Estrianes with their shields taking arrows.

I got my legs working and pushed Kyron off. “Cock eater,” I think I mumbled.

He cracked a smile I could barely see through the cheek guards of his helmet. “Perhaps someday you may actually become a man.” I attributed my lack of retort to my throbbing head.

The hoplites made it through the pass. One of the last ones in line, I ran around the bend and was caught by Klysestes, pulling me to a stop. “We’re ambushing these cunts,” he said with a grin. Still stunned, I didn’t pretend to know what was happening. I just followed Kyron, taking up position just around the bend that led downhill. The rest of our hoplites were further along the path down. Our ambush party of thirty hoplites hunkered down while what remained of the archers in the pass held the enemy off and began to fall back, retreating past us.

We formed a diagonal line so that if horses bolted around the corner they wouldn’t crash into our men and be vulnerable on their flank nearest the cliff at the edge of the path. I took my helmet off and looked at its back. There was a sizable dent. I rubbed the back of my head. “They’re coming!” cried an archer as he ran by us. I put my helmet back on and readied my spear. Galloping hooves thundered towards us, crows cried above us, a death omen. I raised my shield.

Horsemen swiftly rounded the corner, right into our trap. The startled riders reared their horses in front of our line. Our men set their hands to purpose. Spears thrust into the bellies of horses. Riders fell to the ground and were themselves speared. The cavalry charge had stopped and the ones in front shouted in their savage tongue to those behind.

I plunged my spear into the belly of a horseman to my side. The bloody spearhead ripped out of him and the man fell from his horse. “Push them back!” roared Klysestes. “Kill the horses!” The rider-less horses that panicked looked desperately for a way out. They turned and galloped back into other riders, forcing a few off the cliff, who fells screaming. Those in back retreated as quickly as possible.

We broke rank while closing on our foes. I stayed out of reach while striking a horse in the neck. It fell and Kyron thrust his spear into the rider’s side, toppling him from his mount. My spear planted in the man’s unarmored chest. I looked at Kyron and nodded.

Klysestes felled two riders, his spear moving quickly like a serpent’s tongue. Whatever was keeping them from leaving seemed to have been sorted and the remaining riders and panicking horses in the back fled into the mountain pass. I found a wounded man and with a roar, plunged my spear so hard I felt it pierce the dirt beneath him. At first, he grabbed the shaft of my spear but then his grip slackened and his eyes grew distant and still.

Beneath us on the grass were about fourteen bodies and none of them ours. Peering around the corner, I could see many more horsemen regrouping. The redshirt stood out from the rest. The rider with the golden torc shouted at his men and pointed in my direction. “We need to leave,” I said.

When I turned around I saw everyone else already moving down the path to the plains below. Jogging after them, I saw what stirred their flight. Our army had made it down onto the plains but a large body of cavalry appeared and suddenly engaged them. Under arrow fire, I saw a wedge of horsemen speed toward the back of the line. I set my feet to purpose.