Six riders wheeled back toward the gap while their crossbowmen halted farther down the muddy slope.
Loccy planted her feet in the mud beside her upright hammer as the riders regrouped beneath the patiently waiting crossbows. Behind her, the pikemen kept their points inside the opening, and not one of them looked eager to leave it.
"No pursuit!" Hans bellowed from the catwalk rail, jabbing his spear at the crossbows beyond the riders, "their road belongs to them, and this gap belongs to us!"
"Rabbits don't chase wolves out of the burrow, we let them stick their teeth where the stones can break them," she sang back.
Up on the catwalk, Hans swung his spear toward two weapons settling into place above the horses.
"Two arbalests loaded, watch the second rank!"
Loccy flung a Wing across the opening and braced as its pull dragged at her shoulder blades.
