Using this tactic each horseman usually got off at least three arrows. As he reached the front of the file he released his bowstring, nocked another arrow and shot it as he wheeled his horse right and loosed a third arrow over the back of his horse as he returned to the rear of the file. In this way each of Vagises’ dragons shot around six hundred arrows a minute at the enemy.
After ten minutes a dust-covered Vagises rode back to where I watched.
‘The Egyptian horsemen have fled, Pacorus. We are shooting down black men carrying hide shields and spears. Hundreds are dead.’
‘Nubians,’ remarked Scarab with sadness.
‘What of the enemy’s archers and slingers?’ I asked.
‘Most have been cut down with the Nubians, their bows do not have the range of ours,’ he answered. ‘Though their slingers have the measure of them.’
‘Spandarat,’ I called. ‘Time for your and your lords to assault what is left of the enemy’s left flank.’
He whooped with joy and rode back to his fellow nobles.
‘Pull back your men, Vagises,’ I ordered. ‘Let them save their arrows and let us hope that Peroz has enjoyed similar success against their other wing.’
I coughed as dust entered my mouth.
‘This ground is very sandy,’ remarked Vagises, who dug his knees into his horse’s sides and sped off followed by a score of men.
A few minutes later there was a great rumbling sound behind us and then the earth began to tremble as Spandarat and my other lords led their horse archers forward. It was not a disciplined approach to the target followed by an ordered attack to maintain a steady rate of missile expenditure; rather, a wild charge of men possessed of a feral rage and desirous to kill as many of the enemy as possible.
Too late, and to my horror, I realised that I had made a grave error in throwing Spandarat against the Egyptians for soon the visibility was further drastically reduced by the thick dust cloud created by twenty thousand galloping horses. We started coughing as the fine particles got in our eyes and entered our throats. I could hear shouts and screams to the front and the cries of wounded and dying horses but I was effectively a useless bystander to the battle, unable to dictate its course.
I heard horns in the distance and then trumpet blasts coming from ahead and to the left. The phalanx! It must have halted. I smiled to myself. Perhaps Peroz or Haytham had shattered the enemy. Perhaps they themselves had been shattered! I could see no more than a hundred paces in any direction so thick was the dust enveloping the battlefield. For all I knew the Egyptians could have been behind me.
The earth shook once more and somewhere in front of me a sizeable number of horsemen were galloping from the right to left. I peered into the yellow haze but saw nothing and then they were gone. Most strange.
‘I saw breastplates and helmets, uncle,’ said Spartacus, whose eyes were obviously keener than mine.
‘Are you certain?’
He nodded.
I turned to the commander of the company of horse archers that was with us.
‘Follow me,’ then tugged on Remus’ reins to turn him left. One thing was certain, neither Haytham nor I had horsemen wearing armour, which meant they could only be enemy riders.
We trotted forward keeping close order with arrows nocked in our bowstrings. The sounds of battle were initially on our right as we moved towards the centre of our battle line but then I heard shouts and cries and the sounds of blades striking each other ahead.
‘Ready!’ I shouted as we broke into a fast canter and rode straight into a huge mêlée.
Agraci warriors were fighting a multitude of other horsemen wearing bronze helmets and breastplates and greaves around their shins, armed with the xyston — a long spear — and the machaira, a vicious short sword with a curved cutting edge. Four of my men were speared immediately as we rode among the turmoil.
‘All-round defence,’ I shouted.
I raised my bow and shot an Egyptian in the chest as he spurred towards me with his spear levelled. The company closed around me and began loosing arrows in all directions, scything down enemy horsemen like a farmer cuts crops. I was not worried about my men hitting Agraci, only that they would run out of arrows.
Then, directly ahead, I saw Haytham and Malik fighting among a dwindling band of their men, black shapes lying on the ground all around where Agraci had been killed by the enemy.
‘Forward!’ I shouted. We had to get to Haytham’s side or he would be cut down. There seemed to be an endless supply of enemy horsemen. Where were the rest of the Agraci?
Suddenly Spartacus broke ranks and galloped forward, shooting an Egyptian who was closing in on Haytham from the right.
‘Come back you idiot,’ I called to no effect.
‘Maintain formation,’ I shouted, just as Scarab also bolted forward on his horse to join my other squire.
They both made it to Haytham’s side just as half a dozen Egyptians with spears levelled closed in on the Agraci king. Spartacus shot two of them in quick succession and then killed the horse from under a third who was about to ram his spear into Haytham’s unguarded right side. Spartacus and Scarab rode to the king’s side and loosed arrow after arrow at the enemy, killing two more before the sixth beat a hasty retreat.
If anything the dust was getting thicker as I drew level with Haytham and the soldiers of my company formed a cordon around what was left of his bodyguard. He let his blood-covered blade fall to his side.
‘You are a most welcome sight,’ he said.
Malik on his other side raised his sword to me.
‘Are you hurt, lord?’ I asked.
Ahead of us Spartacus loosed an arrow that went into the eye socket of an Egyptian. Haytham pointed his sword at him.
‘That young puppy saved my life.’
‘My nephew has his uses,’ I replied. ‘Where did these Egyptians come from?’
‘Emerged from behind that great group of spearmen in the centre. Speared hundreds of my men and forced us back. I sent Yasser and most of my other lords to support your archers on the left after they had smashed the enemy in front of them.’ He shook his head. ‘That appears to have been a mistake.’
He had had a narrow escape but as my men sat in their saddles with arrows nocked in their bowstrings the sounds of battle in front of us began to recede.
‘Keep watch,’ I shouted, ‘the enemy might return.’
Sure enough there came the sound of hooves pounding the earth to our left and so I redeployed my men to face the new threat, with Haytham and his Agraci formed up behind. The riders drew closer and out of the dust came hundreds of black riders — Agraci!
‘Stand down,’ I ordered as Yasser halted his horse in front of his king and hundreds of Agraci warriors fell in behind Haytham. He looked at the dead bodies spread across the ground.
‘The enemy have been broken, lord. Those who have horses are fleeing west; the others are being killed at our leisure. What happened here?’
‘We had our own private battle,’ was all that Haytham said.
I rode with him, Malik and Yasser forward to where small groups of the enemy were desperately trying to defend themselves against Agraci attacks, supported by Peroz’s horse archers on the left and Spandarat and his men on the right. The phalanx had collapsed and great piles of enemy dead lay where they had been killed, most by the spears and swords of the Agraci after they had attempted to run and had been cut down.
As we continued to ride forward the dust began to clear and I saw Peroz and his senior officers in front of their horse archers. A company would ride forward and unleash arrows against a group of Egyptians, after which the waiting Agraci would ride in and hack the survivors to pieces like a pack of ravenous wolves.