Free The Hordes of Chanakra (Knights of Aerioch) by David L Burkhead

her from recovering her sword.
    Kreg did not take time to think. "Kaila!" he shouted.  He threw his sword to her.
    Kreg's sword flew in a high arc.  It tumbled end over end twice before slapping, hilt first, into Kaila's hand.  Kaila plunged the sword into the throat of the foremost of her opponents.
    Kreg's right hand darted out and grasped one spear by the shaft.  A kick knocked another aside as Kreg sprang into the gap that kick had created and then he was among the guards.  This close, their spears became nearly useless as he grabbed one guard and shoved hard backward, reaching out with his leg to sweep the guard's supporting leg out from under him.  The falling guard tangled two others as Kreg let his own momentum carry him forward as he dropped low, almost to one knee.  His move put him in front of yet another guard.  He shot his right arm between the guard's legs and sprang upward, driving his shoulder into the man's groin as he reached up with his other hand to grab his cuirass at the collar.  He heaved himself upright, carrying the guard with him on his shoulders and then turned and dropped him onto the shafts of two more spears that were reaching out for him.
    For a moment, the space around Kreg was clear and Kreg breathed a silent prayer of thanks for the respite, but then he saw why.  The guards who were facing him rather than Kaila had drawn off to organize.  A short, but solid wall of spearmen faced him while several others ran to block any attempt he might make at retreat.  The momentary advantage that surprise had given him was gone.
    At that moment, Shillond shouted, " Klynkal veth sorthensen !"
    A green mist rose from the ground.  All those whom it touched, saving only Kreg, Shillond, and Kaila, fell instantly into a deep slumber.
    "Come," Shillond said. "That call has gone out.  Others will be here soon."  Kreg noticed with surprise that no more than a dozen men lay about them, either dead or asleep.  In the melee they had seemed like hundreds.
    Kaila tossed Kreg his sword and retrieved her own.  The city walls seemed unspeakably far away as they ran.
    #
    A long bowshot from the wall, Kaila hauled up short.  They had left pursuit behind for the moment but the city ahead offered its own threat.
    "Hold," she said. "Lest we be feathered by those within."
    "Don't hold too long," Kreg said, his voice broken with his deep breathing. "We've got trouble on our tail."
    Kaila thought for a moment. "Shillond," she said, "tear a length from the hem of your robe.  We will approach under flag of parley.  Yon guardsmen will honor it, methinks."
    Shillond nodded.  Kaila tied the strip of dirty white cloth to the end of her sword and held it aloft as they trotted to the city.
    "Halt!" called a voice from the top of the wall. "Who comes under flag of parley?"
    "I am Kaila, Duke of Zantor, Knight of the Order of the Sword." She stood tall and thrust her sword into the ground in front of her. "I have this night, with my companions, penetrated the lines of yon army.  I demand entrance in the name of King Marek Caelverrem."
    "How may we know that you speak sooth?" the voice asked.
    Another voice spoke. "Kaila, if indeed it is being you, what was the name of the first man whom you unseated with a lance on horseback?" Distance and shouting served to hide the true nature of the voice, but something about it was familiar to Kaila.  Some soldier, perhaps, from one of the northern provinces to judge by his speech?
    "Such would do most men little good," Kaila said, "for few know who I first unseated in secret training.  If you wish the name of the first man in open combat, then...."
    "Nay, Child," the voice said. “The first.”
    “That would be Faron, the weapons master, when he taught me skill at arms.  But who among you knows this is sooth?”
    "Old Faron is knowing." With those words the familiarity Kaila had heard in the voice fell into place.  It had been years since she had last seen him.
    "Marry!