Sooth to say, the hand-play was not so hard to them as it had been
betwixt the bent and the houses; for the Dusky Men were intent on
dealing with the men of the kindreds from the southern road, who
stood war-wearied before them; and they were hewing and casting at
them, and baying and yelling like dogs; and though they turned about
to meet the storm of the Woodlanders, yet their hearts failed them
withal, and they strove to edge away from betwixt those two fearful
scythes of war, fighting as men fleeing, not as men in onset. But
still the Woodlanders and the Wolves came on, hewing and thrusting,
smiting down the foemen in heaps, till the Dusky Throng grew thin,
and the staves of the Dalesmen and their bright banners in the
morning sun were clear to see, and at last their very faces, kindly
and familiar, worn and strained with the stress of battle, or
laughing wildly, or pale with the fury of the fight. Then rose up to
the heavens the blended shout of the Woodlanders and the Dalesmen,
and now there was nought of foemen betwixt them save the dead and the
wounded.
Then Face-of-god thrust his sword into its sheath all bloody as it
was, and strode over the dead men to where Hall-ward stood under the
banner of the Steer, and cast his arms about the old carle, and
kissed him for joy of the victory.
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