"A Fox! A Fox is among us!" The war-cry split the air , fierce and wild, carried on the wind like the call of some ancient predator. Lances sprang forward, their steel tips catching the light until they shone like a thousand stars.
Dust billowed thick beneath the pounding hooves, swallowing the riders in a swirling veil. Their shapes were little more than shifting shadows in the haze, but their presence was unmistakable. The earth trembled with their approach, and their howls, chants, and screams rolled like thunder across the plain, so fierce and unrelenting that it seemed a thousand riders bore down on Freusen, not merely two hundred.
Through the yawning gate they came.
Beside the breach, the town's footmen scrambled, clutching shields and spears with shaking hands. The commander, still perched safely atop the wall and unwilling to meet the charge face-to-face, bellowed orders to form a line. His words scattered like chaff in the wind.
Few answered.
