Beyond the lines of hedgehogs was the drop-off – a small cliff some four metres high, which put an extra barrier in the path of a flanking force from the left.
He heard a slight noise behind him and turned to see that Will had joined him, inspecting the defences.
'All in all, not a bad job,' Horace said.
'I wouldn't care to be one of Arisaka's men tangled up in those hedgehogs,' Will said. 'Have you seen Mikeru and his dartmen practising?'
'I have. They're frighteningly good, aren't they? Another one of Halt's better ideas.'
Will was about to reply when they both heard the sound of distant shouts of alarm, followed by a strident bugle call ringing over the plain. They both looked in the direction of Arisaka's sprawling camp.
'Sounds as if someone's seen us,' Will said. He gripped Horace's hand. 'Good luck, Horace. Take care.'
'Good luck, Will. See you when we've sent Arisaka running.'
'He won't run,' Will answered. 'But if we can settle with him before Yamada's army turns up, we're in with a good chance.'
'And if we can't?' Horace said.
Will met his gaze in silence for a few seconds. 'I don't want to think about that,' he said eventually.
Horace nodded and unconsciously loosened his sword in its scabbard. 'I wonder where the girls are?'
Will's expression, already grim, grew a little more so.
'I'm guessing they didn't make it. If they'd managed to convince Nimatsu and his people to help us, they should have been here a week ago. I'm afraid we're on our own.'
Arisaka's army assembled in their usual loose formation – a large curved front, three or four men deep. They moved steadily across the plain towards the silent, waiting ranks of the four gojus. Unlike the Kikori, they didn't march in step, but simply moved in a loose gaggle. The Senshi preferred to fight as individuals and they moved the same way.
There was one change to their normal deployment. Arisaka had been told of the dangers of the Kikori shield wall and he knew he had to break that rigid formation. Will had surmised that he might use something similar to the Macedon Phalanx – a wedge formation armed with long, heavy lances, designed to smash through an enemy's line. His guess was a little off target. Arisaka knew nothing about the Phalanx.
But he knew about battering rams.
At intervals along the line were five young tree trunks, trimmed and sharpened, and borne by six warriors each, the men holding onto rope handles spaced along the logs' six-metre lengths. The sharpened logs, swung underhand at waist height by the long rope handles, would act as battering rams and smash great gaps in the enemy's defences before the Kikori could come to grips with their attackers. No shield bearer could withstand such a shattering impact. And once the integrity of the shield wall was breached, the Kikori lost their greatest advantage – their ability to fight as a team, with each man supporting and protecting his neighbour.
'So that's what he's got in mind,' Horace muttered to himself. He watched as the Senshi line advanced, overlapping the Kikori line at either end. As the space available closed down, those outer wings would have to fold back in behind Arisaka's front ranks. They'd be poised three and four deep behind the rams.
Will was running across the rear of the two leading gojus, shouting to attract Horace's attention.
'Doorway! Doorway!' he called and Horace waved in acknowledgement. They'd practised to defend against a wedge of heavy lances. The rams were essentially the same thing, and they had a tactic they could use against them. Will continued to run to pass on the same message to Selethen.
Horace hurried to join his goju. He moved quickly behind the second rank, calling to his men.
'Use the doorway tactic when they get close!' he called and he saw section leaders in the front rank turn briefly and indicate that they understood.
The advancing Senshi were fifty metres away now, almost within effective javelin range.
'Second rank, open order!' Horace yelled and the rear rank responded as one man, stepping back three paces to give themselves throwing room.
'Javelins ready!'
Twenty-five arms went back, the javelins angled upwards.
'Aim for the rams!' Horace ordered. He watched the approaching army, judged they were in range. 'Throw!'
The javelins hissed away on their arcing flight. Several seconds later, he saw sections of the Senshi line collapse in confusion as the heavy missiles struck home. One of the battering rams crashed to the ground as half its bearers were hit and the others were forced to release their grip on the rope handles. The heavy rolling log caused more confusion among the attacking Senshi. But they reformed and came on. There were still two of the battering rams aimed at the Bear Goju.
The nearest ram broke from the Senshi front line as its bearers went from a steady tramp to a run. They lunged forward at the Kikori shield wall, their sudden increase in speed catching Horace by surprise. The heavy, sharpened log swung forward on its rope handles, bludgeoning into the front rank. Three of the Kikori went down and the men on the ram moved quickly to consolidate their position. The second rank had closed up again after throwing their javelins. Now they used their reserve weapons to stab over the heads of the front rank, at the ram and its bearers. The ram swung back, then forward to smash into the shields again. More Kikori went down and the waiting Senshi screamed in triumph as they saw the previously impregnable wall disintegrating. The ram went back again.
'Doorway! Doorway!' Horace yelled, his throat dry and his voice breaking.
This time, as the heavy log swung forward, the Kikori facing it stepped back and to the side, opening a gap in front of it. Without any resistance, the battering ram whipped forward through thin air, throwing the men wielding it off balance. The second line of men opened as well and some of the Kikori grabbed the ram and dragged it through their ranks. As the men on the rope handles staggered through the gap left for them, the deadly stabbing blades of the Kikori went to work. The surviving ram wielders found themselves in the clear behind the second rank, bewildered and isolated. As they realised their predicament, ten men from the front rank of the Shark Goju moved forward and quickly surrounded them. Within a few seconds, Arisaka's men lay still. But, in the more open style of fighting, they had taken a toll. Five Kikori lay dead beside them.
With a shout of rage, the Senshi line surged forward. But the doorway closed as quickly as it had opened and they found themselves facing that formidable line of shields. They cut and slashed ineffectually, denied the space they needed to wield their swords to best effect. The short swords of the Kikori flickered in and out between the shields, wounding, maiming, killing.
The Senshi backed away, moving out of range of the shorter weapons. Now some of them began a more careful attack, lunging at the small gaps between the shields with their longer katana. This time, however, forewarned of the Kikori tactic of jamming shields together, they withdrew their blades almost immediately. It was an effective technique. More Kikori fell, their places taken by men from the second rank.
Horace glanced down the line to see what had happened with the second ram. The men wielding it, having seen what happened to their companions, were more circumspect in their attack. They swung the ram in short, savage jabs at the wall. Shields split, men went down. Then the men on the ram drew their unwieldy weapon back and hurled it into the Kikori front line, immediately drawing swords and following it through the gap they had breached.