Then met steel and men; here and there
an ash-stave broke; here and there a Dusky Felon rolled himself
unhurt under the ash-staves, and hewed the knees of the Dalesmen, and
a tall man came tottering down; but what men or wood-wights could
endure the push of spears of those mighty husbandmen? The Dusky Ones
shrunk back yelling, or turned their backs and rushed at their own
folk with such fierce agony that they entered into the throng, till
the terror of the spear reached to the midmost of it and swayed them
back on the hindermost; for neither was there outgate for the felons
on the flanks of the spearmen, since there the feathered death beset
them, and the bowmen (and the Bride amongst the foremost) shot wholly
together, and no shaft flew idly. But the wise leaders of the
Dalesmen would not that they should thrust in too far amongst the
howling throng of the Dusky Men, lest they should be hemmed in by
them; for they were but a handful in regard to them: so there they
stayed, barring the way to the Dusky Men, and the bowmen still loosed
from the flanks of them, or aimed deftly from betwixt the ranks of
the spearmen.
Pages:
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528