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with his life.
And Zedar cast another enchantment. and in the form of a great
stag went he out from the host again even unto the forest to the
north. And behold, a great grey wolf, grizzled and old, appeared at
the edge of the forest and harried him back to the host from whence
he had come, and the cruel jaws of the wolf did rend his flesh, and
he was sore afraid even for his life.
And one last time the great horn blew to the north; and one last
time the great horn answered from the east; and one last time the
horn within the city walls replied- And again and nearer now the
sound of the many brazen trumpets came from the west, and the
glinting of the sun was as upon a great ocean.
And then opened the gates of Vo Mimbre, and there issued forth
the mounted Knights of the Mimbrate Arends. Clad in steel were
they, and bright were the pennons on their lances, and the iron-shod
hooves of their chargers made a great sound, even as the thunder.
And the fell horde of the Mallorean Angaraks, servants of the
Accursed One, raised a great cry and clashed their spears on their
iron shields, thinking that their enemies were in their grasp and that
the city would soon be theirs.
And the Murgos exulted, and the Thulls and the Nadraks also,
and all pressed forward that they might quickly overwhelm the
Mimbrate Knights and take the city'
With a mighty clash, the Mimbrate Knights struck the forefront of
the Host, and the front ranks were overthrown. On they pressed, the
cruel, iron-shod hooves of their foaming chargers trampling the
living and the dead. And behold, the second rank was overthrown
and crushed to earth by the fury of the charge.
Still the Malloreans clashed their spears on their iron shields, and
still exulted the Murgos and the Thulls and the Nadraks also' for the
numbers of the Mimbrate Knights were diminished, even as the
force of a wave is diminished as it rushes upon a strand. And a great
joy was in the hearts of the Grolims, the dark priests of Torak, and
they urged on the Malloreans and the Murgos, the Nadraks and the
Thulls.
And then, even as the watchers from the walls of the city despaired,
a great thunder arose from the east, and there burst forth from the low
and sullen hills a great charge of many warriors. And in the center the
dread long spears of the Drasnians moved like a forest in the wind.
And on the flanks the Algar horsemen curved out like two great
sickles, and none might withstand them. And upon the Murgos they
descended like wolves on the fold, and great was the slaughter and
the bloodshed they wrought. And King Ad Rak Cthoros of the
Murgos cried out in a great voice to rally his people, and they turned
away from the Mimbrate Knights to bear the charge of the Drasnian
spears and the long swords of the Algar horsemen. But their axes
could not reach past the long spears of the Drasnians, and they fell
before them. And their maces were too slow to stem the swift attack of
the Algars, and they fell as wheat before the scythe.
Recoiled back then the mail-shirted Murgos and formed they a
shield-wall to ward off the Drasnians and the Algars, and behold,
there were among them, even in their very midst, Ulgo warriors in
curious armor and with strange weapons - long knives with hooks at
their points or with edges like saws, and horrid curved things on
handles of iron with cruelly pointed spikes that reached into the mail
of the Murgos and sought out the life inside - and veiled were the
faces of the Ulgo warriors, and the Murgos were sore afraid. And the