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they had to stop the hundred lancers coming their way. Spinner took quick stock. They had himself and Haft, five of the men from the rear point, and Fletcher. Postelmuz had lingered; he was one of the partly trained men who’d fought the Jokapcul at Eikby. He was armed and looked ready to fight—nervous, but ready. The caravan was now too far ahead to get more men back before the Jokapcul arrived—nine men to stop a hundred. He turned to Veduci.
    “You say you’re willing to fight alongside us?” he asked. “This is your chance to prove it. Get your men into an ambush position along the side of the road.”
    Veduci nodded sharply and darted back into the trees.
    “Get those people out of here,” Spinner ordered.
    Fletcher put one able-bodied woman in charge and had her lead the women and children up the road as fast as they could go. He returned the weapons to the two of Veduci’s men who’d stayed behind.
    “Where’s Xundoe?” Spinner muttered, suddenly sorry he hadn’t sent for the mage. He glanced about; other than Haft’s demon spitter, none of them were carrying demon weapons.
    “Alyline, ride forward and get fighters.” Spinner paused a second to think of who was where in the column. “Sergeant Phard and his men are near the rear. Get them.”
    The Golden Girl snorted; the Skraglander Bloody Axes alone wouldn’t be enough to swing the battle in their favor. But she was already mounted and turning her stallion to ride for help before Spinner gave his order. She’d tell Phard, then she’d find demon weapons and bring them back. She galloped off, riding on the edge of the road to avoid forcing her way through the frightened racing women and children.
    Veduci came back.
    “Where are your men?” Spinner asked.
    “They’re in position.”
    Haft shot him a quick, hard look. “Yes, you would know how to lay an ambush, wouldn’t you.” It wasn’t a question.
    “I know even more,” Veduci said, and hefted a thin, coiled rope.
    Haft looked at it curiously.
    Veduci ran across the road. He found a mid-size tree and tied one end of the rope around it near where its roots spread out. He ran back, uncoiling the rope to lay on the road.
    “We don’t have time to do this properly,” he said. “Get your men into position.”
    Veduci grabbed a few handfuls of leaves and dirt from the edge of the road and tossed them along the rope. It wasn’t effective camouflage, but it might be enough to keep the cantering Jokapcul lancers from spotting the rope in time. He ran into the trees.
    Spinner and Haft quickly took in the situation under the trees. Veduci’s men were only a few yards off the road, far enough to be hidden from a casual bypasser but not so far that they didn’t have clear shots with their bows. Short bows, Haft noted, not powerful enough to be effective against the Jokapcul armor. It was a well-set hasty ambush, even though it had no rear security. It was as Haft had said: these men knew how to set an ambush.
    Haft went about quickly checking everyone’s position. Spinner ran from man to man saying, “Wait for my signal.” The lancers reached the killing zone before the two Frangerian Marines were settled in their own positions.
    Veduci turned the end of the rope once around a slender tree trunk a foot above the ground and waited for the first rank of horses to get close enough.
    Their armor was gray. Maybe it’s supposed to be silver, Haft thought. Unlike the trailing patrol he and the rear point had ambushed a short while earlier, the lancers didn’t have scouts riding ahead. They were in a tight column of twos with only enough space between ranks for the horses to avoid bumping each other. The silver-plumed officer rode alongside the third rank. They carried their lances in their hands, ready to drop the upheld points level with the ground and tuck the butts under their arms. Short swords flapped from each side of their belts.
    As Haft thought they would, the lead lancers saw the rope