15 XV

Farn's fine chariot bounced under Thyrn as it rolled over the hilly terrain, but the suspension absorbed the worst of it. It was fast, Thyrn reflected as he notched another arrow, but that didn't matter too much when riding in formation; the formation only moved as slowly as its slowest member.

Thyrn's chariots skirted the left flank of the enemy horde, kicking up dust and pincushioning it with arrows. Farn would be on their right—the left flank of Thyrn's force—doing the same. Combined with the proper infantry, who would be hitting their center right about now, the goat mongers were crumbling. Too quickly, Thyrn thought.

"I didn't send Farn to press them into an army just for that army to scatter," Thyrn growled, loosing another arrow.

They finally reached the back of the host—or perhaps its front, now that they had turned tail and run—and cut across it, peppering it with arrows. That caused some confusion, but the larger part of the army kept running, just in a different direction now. Thyrn clicked his tongue in annoyance, and told his driver to turn.

A few spears were thrown at the charioteers, but even now the slingers Farn had complained of didn't show. Thyrn's first wave had scattered them good.

Thyrn led his chariots across the front towards Farn, whose contingent was coming around from the other side. The king hailed his suzerain as they neared, and their chariots formed a perimeter so they could talk.

"We're routing them! We've won!" Farn beamed.

"As always you fail to look past the current engagement." Thyrn sighed. "You need to look at the bigger picture. This will be a victory, but not a decisive one."

"We've scattered their army."

"It'll just reorganize." Thyrn shook his head. "We need to press it back together and surround it. Any thoughts?"

"Just that that's a bad idea. They'll fight harder when surrounded."

"Only if they have no way out. I intend to give them one: surrender."

"It would be nice if they would take it. And maybe they would." Farn shrugged. "But it isn't a sure thing. If they scatter, though, we have the chariots to ride them down and defeat them in detail."

"If I secured their surrender, I could get them into my army. Meitz knows I could use the manpower."

"Would you call that a primary objective, or a secondary? Neutralizing this army is your highest priority, is it not?"

"Yes, but if I can accomplish both—"

"You can't," Farn said bluntly. "Their army's too far gone anyway. Chariots can outmaneuver them, but we don't have enough to surround them, and chariots can't exactly push either."

Thyrn looked out over the battlefield, at the fleeing goat herders, and sighed. "'Bitz take you, but you're right. Something with the speed of a chariot, but with actual pushing power, would be nice, though. Perhaps we should look into that."

Farn nodded. "And who knows, maybe some groups will even join you. This army isn't from a united kingdom after all; it's more a coalition of tribes. Some will surely take you up on your offer."