He could see talmaad now, racing down a road between fields. Others went cross-country, jumping fences and weaving through trees, slowing now to allow others to come by, and attackers to gain range. And here were the pursuers, galloping hard to catch up with the retreating serrin. As soon as they made range, serrin archers fired, straight backward. A horseman fell, then another.
But there were not many. Errollyn frowned, and peered through the trunks and leaves of their limited cover. Here were the others, a larger mass of cavalry, leather- and mail-clad riders on big horses. He recognised several of the banners, and realised why this ambush was not progressing as he'd hoped.
“Lenays!” he called to the talmaad about him, and felt rather than heard the intake of breath that followed his announcement. Cavalry of Northern Lenayin. Men in black with silver steel, Hadryn, Ranash, and Banneryd, mixed with the Verenthane nobility of other provinces who followed their noble king. These were not men who would fall for tricks. Likely they'd have tricks of their own.
Some talmaad level with their position were now waving to Errollyn from down in the valley, and pointing across to some near place that he could not see, along this valley wall. From hand gestures, he realised that Lenay cavalry were sweeping these lower slopes, to guard against precisely this sort of ambush. He directed his force into the trees, progressing far enough forward until he could see the Lenays coming ahead. Already the range was good, and he yelled for a charge.
Talmaad burst from the trees and hurtled toward a Lenay force of several hundred. Trained as talmaad were not to waste arrows from range, they waited for a closer shot. The Lenays, in response, did an utterly un-Lenay-like thing, by turning to bolt.
They raced away down the slope, building that momentum on fleet horses. Several of Errollyn's talmaad got close enough for a good shot, but arrow range chasing after an enemy was not as good as when he was chasing after you, and most arrows fell short. And now the main columns of Lenays in the valleys below were getting close, and Errollyn knew that to continue the chase was to become cut off and pinned against this valley wall.
He signalled a turn, and they wheeled away from their prey, angling downslope across the riders below. Immediately the men they'd been chasing followed them and pursued, always holding just beyond the optimum range. Errollyn muttered as he steered his horse between outcrops of trees, then over a paddock fence. Lenays played lagand, and though he'd never seen a game, Sasha had described it to him often, and shown him some of her skills. Lagand was mobile strategy on horseback, and Lenays played it well.
Below, a mass of Lenay horsemen had galloped ahead of their main body and were sprinting now to cut Errollyn's force off. Errollyn angled his riders into a rough line astern, with still some height advantage over the men now racing parallel to him down in the valley. By holding this line, he dared them to come up to him, at a slow angle uphill, and give his archers targets. The Lenays declined, jumping now to cross new fields, splitting and pouring around a farmhouse and a small dam.
Suddenly there were talmaad in their rear, riders hidden behind the farmhouse chasing after them, loosing arrows into men's backs. Lenays fell, and others wheeled about to face the threat. The forward half of the Lenay line continued. Errollyn indicated with a yell, and charged downslope.
Seeing that line of talmaad coming downhill onto them, the Lenays turned away. And now the first group Errollyn had tried to ambush was charging across the slope onto his flank, as talmaad over that way broke and ran, firing back over their shoulders. Some Lenays fell, and then a talmaad too, though Errollyn could not see how that happened.
Now the Enoran cavalry broke from cover upslope, and came pouring down the hill. The near group of Lenays broke away and ran downslope, while those deeper in the valley raced back and around, hoping the Enorans would charge past them and expose their rear. Errollyn had to admire the coordination-even surprised, Lenay cavalry coordinated well to turn tables on their ambushers.
Errollyn let the Enorans come down past him, then yelled for a charge. He led his force across the Enorans' rear, blocking any pursuit, standing now in the stirrups to loose an arrow at the Lenays, who were also charging, knowing a head-on scenario to be a good option against talmaad. And it was, for Errollyn only got off two shots before Lenay and talmaad forces collided, and he drew his blade while steering with his bow hand, ducking and weaving between the big Lenay horsemen.
Their formation was fragmented, and most talmaad made it through, but with swords out for parrying, talmaad were unable to fire arrows at pointblank range. Errollyn got a good swing at a passing Lenay who swatted the blow calmly with his shield, ignoring him to focus on a serrin who barely ducked the swing.
And then they were clear, Errollyn sheathing his sword once more to draw another arrow, but already the Lenays were galloping at full speed out of range. He considered a high shot, but did not want to waste the arrow, and put it back in his quiver instead. Serrin formed up around him, and then the Enorans, moving back to make another line. The Lenays had exchanged blows with them, briefly, then pulled back and dared the Enorans to chase, straight toward the main Lenay force. The Enoran lieutenant had wisely pulled back instead, minus several of his number.
“They're good,” the lieutenant said grimly, reining in at Errollyn's side. “Damn good. I lost five; I think we only got two.”
“Northern cavalry are feared even in Lenayin,” Errollyn agreed.
“They've got crossbows,” said a talmaad arriving at his side, steadying her horse. “Some of them. Not our range, and difficult to reload on a horse, but dangerous enough if we let them get close.”
“They take away our extreme range, and our close range,” Errollyn surmised. “They limit our options, and when they find themselves in our kill-zone they retreat. At this rate we're unlikely to kill very many of them before we run out of valley.”
His plan had been to draw them into a series of pursuits along the valley, which would in turn be ambushed by group after group of hidden talmaad who would appear in their midst, as the serrin behind the farmhouse had done, and shoot them down. Enoran and Rhodaani cavalry then complicated the picture, charging to close range to hold the Lenays in place, allowing talmaad cavalry to close in and pick off targets.
But the northerners weren't falling for it; they evaded the talmaad's preferred shooting range while manoeuvring easily around regular cavalry ambushes, and when they did come to blows in close, neither talmaad nor Steel cavalry could match them for sheer ability.
He needed to make a dent in their numbers, but even now he could see the main column of Lenay cavalry advancing behind, at no more than leisurely pace. Probably they would send out columns like these to chase and harass for a while, and spring talmaad ambushes before they could do any real damage, and then rotate those columns back into the main force while sending out fresh columns to replace them. They could do that all the way down the valley, and suffer very little. Errollyn thought he smelled Koenyg's planning in this.