The Arrow Flies | Tales of the Knights II - Pt. 3

 For the first time since the ambush, Arossa and her allies were on the offensive again.
 After their discussion, she and Vypp had headed straight for the chosen gathering point: a hidden chamber behind a stairway heading down to the lower floors. With only one way in and out, it was a risky choice, but the patrols had focussed their search around the main intersections and fortunately did not seem aware that the room existed. Arossa had certainly not noticed, until Amse raised his suspicions during the briefing. The chamber was not depicted on any survey of the undercity that they had been able to uncover, but certain perculiarities in the construction and layout of this section had clued their engineer onto it and they had decided to take the chance.
 There was hushed celebration as she and Vypp had entered - repeating the same code phrase from before to identify herself as their commander - and she had carried out a swift assessment of the troops present. Of the fifty knights that had entered, three ad-hoc squads of at least five knights each had made it, plus Vypp and Amse from her command team. Perhaps there were more still on their way, delayed by encounters in the tunnels as she had been, but her tracker showed that there was no time to wait. Once more, the knights set out for battle, charging down the steps with Arossa, sword raised and pointed into the darkness, at their head.
 Like an armoured wave, the knights swept onto the main throughway and encountered their first opposition. A patrol of four, in lighter cuirasses like hers, looking for a stray individual or two and totally unprepared for the dimished, but nontheless overwhelming, rush. Carried by their momentum, and with their champion leading the way, the charging knights drove straight through with a storm of slashing and piercing strikes, leaving the defeated foes scattered on either side of their path. Without slowing, the charge continued on its course, forwards and downwards into the depths where their target awaited them.

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 From a plinth at the rear of the chamber, all the way down in the depths of the undercity, the warlord looked over their forces. Although each defender wore armour equivalent to an elite knight, these troops were at a level closer to new initiates, and were no match individually for the veteran forces that had journeyed into the tunnels. The deciding factor in this battle would be strategy.
 Events had started favourably, as it was expected that the knights would take a bold approach along the main throughway, and so the ambush had swiftly broken their forces and left them scattered throughout the labyrinth. However, it was evident that they were back on the move again and in some numbers too - patrols missing their check-ins had been the first sign, but now they could hear the pounding of metal underfoot coming from above and growing nearer with every unrelenting beat.
 Walking swiftly, the commander headed down from the platform and began ordering their troops into position, correcting the mistakes in formation, and even individual posture, which had been visible from the elevation, along the way. As they finished the circuit back at the base of the plinth, the leader noted that the reverberations had reached on the lowest level now - the enemy would be here soon. Drawing a finely crafted sabre, they took position at the centre of their forces and spoke a battlecry, prounounced firmly and eloquently above the encircling noise:
 "Warriors of the lance! Valour be your blades!"