My worries hadn't been exactly unfounded. We weren't in immediate danger though. Well, we were in danger but we were not about to be trampled under horse hooves right away. As it turned out a cavalry charge takes some time to prepare, especially if the cavalry just arrived on the battlefield. The cavalry arrived via the same road we had used except, they were arriving from the other direction. And the long column of heavily armored riders on equally heavily armored horses had to form up into a double line first. All of that took time.

We used that time wisely or at least the best we could. We properly disengaged from what little remained of the ghoul infantry. As we formed a proper line of battle we easily dealt with those that still came after us. We mostly ignored those crawling along on the ground as they were to slow and easily dispatched anyway if they got too close. We had plenty of polearms now as well, even if many of those carried by our enemy were a little on the short side compared to weapons custom made for people of our stature. Still, a pike was a pike.

My heart skipped a beat as I finally got to get a good look at the enemy arraying themselves for their charge. It took them this long to get into formation because there were so many of them. I couldn't get a proper headcount due to the knights being in motion as they formed up in two lines but there had to be more than four hundred of them and that was my most optimistic estimate. Five hundred was a more likely number. And that they formed two lines meant that they would hit us not once but twice in short order.

Of course they could get into each others way as well like that but I doubted that it would make much of a difference. And then they started moving. Again I could feel their movement through the ground as the earth started trembling in time with the trampling of the hooves. And it quickly got worse. Before it had only been the cavalry riding onto the battlefield. Now they were picking up speed far beyond that for their charge. I tore my gaze away from them, to look down our line instead. It filled me with pride that not a single one of my men and women broke rank.

I enhanced my voice with magic once more. “Brace yourself!” My warriors did just that. I followed suit as well. I jammed the butt of my weapon into the ground and braced it with one foot for good measure. At the same time I raised my shield as well. My armor had taken a lot of blows already, saving me a lot of pain and blood so far, but I was not entirely certain if it could take a hit by lance in a charge like this one. That might just be too much to ask for.

My heart started beating faster, as the knights closed in on us. My hands on my weapon's shaft were trembling a little. Or was that the trembling of the ground that propagated up through the shaft of the weapon? I couldn't tell. The remaining ghouls didn't even try to get out of the way and neither did any of the knights make an attempt to avoid them. Maybe they should have though. I had no idea if the knights were ghouls as well but their horses were still very much just normal animals.

The horses might have been well trained war horses but this was still very much against their nature. They wore blinkers for a reason after all. The blinkers could not hide the smell of blood and the stench of the shambling dead though. As the first of the ghoul infantry got under the hooves the first horses panicked as well. That the ground was slick with blood and worse didn't help either. A few horses tried to break away. Others slipped in the bloody mud. As they were already almost upon us the line of the knights fell into disarray.

It wasn't much, many of them were still coming at us at full speed, but I would take anything I could get. Then they were upon us and I had no more time to think about anything. A pike knocked one knight that had been aiming straight for me out of the saddle. My glaive punched through the armor protecting the head of another ones horse. Two lances slammed into Gash'zur's shield, punching through it but failing to hurt her. A cacophony of a thousand sounds assaulted my ears. Splintering wood, tearing steel, baying animals and screaming men. It all came together in one gruesome mix.

A human line or a line of elves or gorgons would have been shattered. Ours not so much. Many of us probably weighed as much as a knight and his horse together if not more after all. I wasn't exactly a lightweight either. Still my weapon would have been torn from my hand if its poison hadn't turned the dying horses flesh into a rotting mess almost right away. As it was the weapon tore through the horse and into the knight even before he was sent flying as his horse collapsed.

His gurgling scream, brief as it was, as the point of my glaive tore through his armor reassured me of one thing though. He was no ghoul. The same was probably true for most of the others at least if not for all of them. We had no time to celebrate though. Not yet anyway. I barely managed to pull my weapon free again before the second wave crashed into our ragged line.

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In many ways it was a repeat of the first. Quite possibly it was even worse for the human knights though. The ground was still a mess of blood, trampled ghouls and broken gear. Worse, the broken bodies of knights and horses had piled up in front of us as well. Our own formation had suffered as well though. Very few weapons pointed in the direction of the second wave as it hit us. I barely managed to turn back around myself. I didn't get my weapon back up in time though.

I turned out to be lucky though. The foremost knight of the second wave who was aiming for me was thrown out of his saddle, as a leg of his horse got snagged on one of the dead mounts of the first wave. I could see his eyes widen as he sailed through the air towards me. I managed to weave out of the way of the steel tipped lance just in time. I didn't manage to dodge the flying knight himself though.

Again the air was filled with the sounds of splintering wood and tearing metal as well as the sounds of the dying. I had no way to know how bad it was exactly though, as the knight crashed into me. Even the sound of his breaking neck as he hit me head on was only a small comfort.

I blacked out briefly as I hit the ground a few steps behind the defensive line that had devolved into another messy melee. It couldn't have been for long though. As I came back around the fight was still going on, pretty much the same way it had before I blacked out. As I blinked and made a first attempt to push the dead knight off of me Gash'zur smashed the head of another knight with her war hammer. It was not a pretty sight but it gave me the strength I needed to free myself and get back on my feet.

It took me a moment to find my weapon. I must have dropped it as I was sent flying. I picked it back up only to drive it into one of the few knights who remained mounted after crashing into our line, before he could drive his sword into Gash'zur's back. I didn't pull it free this time. Pulling the man from his horse with it instead.

I left him lying there in the bloody mud with my glaive's blade still buried in his body. It should be save enough like that. Instead I drew one of my knives. The melee was entirely too chaotic for a long weapon anyway. Armed with a shorter blade now I threw myself back into the thick of it.

Again and again I drove it into the gaps that even the best armor had. Armpits, hips, knees, open visors or at times necks. I smashed in a few faces with my shield as well. When my first knife blunted I simply dropped it to draw the other instead. If I survived I could look for it later after all.

Time and again blades scraped across my armor as well. Some even glanced off my Mage Armor. I paid them no heed. I would have bruises without end later but right now no hit that didn't draw my blood was worth paying attention to.

It was bloody work. It was messy work. It was bad enough that it made me gag several times. It was exhausting work as well. Finally though the din of battle ebbed away. Most of our enemies were done with dying. And those who had not been exactly alive to begin with were properly dead again as well.

I took a moment to regain my breath and regretted it almost immediately. The stench of the battlefield was pretty bad this time. Yet, it seemed that we had been victorious once more. Those left standing were all my men and women. My gaze wandered back to road, looking for the enemy commander in his chariot and his guard but they were gone.

I straightened myself. It was time to properly take command again. “Take the wounded to the healers! Anyone still up for it, check the units in the woods! Lend them a hand if necessary!” I cleaned my knife on a dead man's tabard before sheathing it again. I picked my glaive back up as well. I was sure we had won. I wasn't entirely sure if we were done with the killing though thus I had to stay on guard.