In cold blood no one could, perhaps, have ridden fearlessly against such
an obstacle; but in the excitement of the moment the warriors of Edwy
seemed capable of charging any imaginable barrier: and it became almost
a pure calculation, not of the respective bravery of the troops, for
none were cowards on either side, but of mere physical laws of force and
resistance.
Elfric scarcely looked where he was going. He saw a shining lance point,
about to impale him, he diverted it by his sword blade, as he was
hurried into the midst of axes, swords, lances, and beheld the warrior
opposite to him in the second rank raise his axe to inflict a fearful
blow, which would have severed his horse's neck, had not an arrow
transfixed the foe.
The wedge seemed partly broken, and the king had begun to exult in the
anticipation of speedy victory, when from behind each end of the
entrenchment rushed two bodies of hostile cavalry; they fell upon Edwy's
forces in the rear, and in a few moments all was confusion.
The warriors of Edgar rallied, drove the horse out of their lines,
advanced slowly, and the horsemen of the rival brothers, mingled
together in deadly strife, in personal combat, where each man seemed to
have sought and found his individual foe.
They moved slowly down the bill towards the brook, man after man falling
and dotting the green sward of the hill with struggling, writhing bodies.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205