Free Doom's Break by Christopher Rowley

wanted to leave four hundred men. Heuze had insisted on leaving just two hundred.
    "Sir?"
    "Yes, Polluk?"
    "What are we going to do now?"
    Heuze reflected that he probably deserved that one. He gave a grunt and stood there, working on the problem, when a shout directed his attention to the woods on the far side of the clearing. A large formation of mots was marching out under their own banners. Pikes and spears formed a forest above their heads. Their shields were painted brown with a green wave, which made their united front look like a single living thing.
    Heuze gave a strangled cry. He was trapped again. He was outside the protection of the fort and the enemy was launching a frontal attack.

CHAPTER FIVE
    Panic would be disastrous, Heuze understood that. But it was hard not to panic as rank on rank of monkeys came on with their shields held up.
    He forced himself back from the brink of panic. He had a thousand men. In theory, that would be good enough to counterattack. But he knew that they were tired and out of formation. They'd been chasing the monkeys through the woods for an hour or more. And they were cut off from the fort, which had fallen in some mysterious fashion to the enemy.
    Now his tired men were about to be attacked by what looked to be a force larger than their own. Heuze had learned from bitter experience that while the men of Shasht were better soldiers than the mots, they could not always overcome them.
    A glance to his right showed that Polluk was waiting for him to make a decision. The officers behind Polluk were waiting, too. They were all waiting for him. He had taken command of this mission, and now it was up to him to get them out of this jam.
    Heuze spun around. "We have to fight our way down to a beach. What is the nearest, practical route down from these cliffs?"
    A young lieutenant with red hair shouted, "The backhead trail, sir! It's almost a mile north of here."
    "Good. What's your name?"
    "Cump, sir."
    "General Polluk, I suggest you put Cump here up for promotion, if both of you survive the rest of this day."
    Polluk said nothing to that but turned away and began issuing orders for the companies to face right and march quickly for the trees.
    "At the treeline we will form into column by company and march up the coast to the backhead trail."
    Earlier the men had wanted a fight, but now they weren't so keen. There seemed to be a hell of a lot of the fornicating monkeys over there. And there might be more in the woods trying to get on their flank.
    At the edge of the forest, Heuze looked back. The monkeys were still coming, moving at a steady pace, keeping their formations crisp. There were no gaps to take advantage of with a quick counterattack. Heuze cursed steadily under his breath. He felt his stump starting to burn unpleasantly, while in the small of his back there was a sullen ache.
    He went on, hurrying as fast as he could manage. The ground before them broke up into gulleys and pits where the underlying limestone had eroded away. It became harder for either side to maintain formation. Within ten minutes, the men were hopelessly mixed up in a mob that was on the verge of breaking into a rout.
    Heuze was struggling to keep up. He sensed the gathering panic. Whenever he caught a glimpse of his men, he saw they had a lost, frightened look about them. Not that Heuze had any ideas. If he had, they fragmented every time he jammed his peg leg down into one of the cracks in the ground.
    Suddenly Ensign Combliss and another soldier came up on either side of him, took hold of his arms, and carried him across the next pit. They set him down a moment, then took him up again and helped him over a set of natural steps in bare rock.
    Heuze was beyond any embarrassment now. If he had to be half carried, then so be it. He went on, sweat running down his back, his stump burning in the socket.
    Thankfully, the trailhead was discovered a few minutes later. Polluk organized a rearguard of two hundred and