The boats and rafts at the front were now close to the riverbank. Some Barbarian soldiers had already begun jumping off and wading ashore, just as the earlier troops had done.
But the Barbarians on shore had no attention to spare for the reinforcements behind them. Their eyes were fixed on the enemy straight ahead.
When Heshima saw the cavalry charging out from behind the shield wall, he knew the enemy would not let his forces join up with their reinforcements easily. Still, he had not expected them to act so decisively and launch a cavalry charge at once.
Heshima knew it was time to fight for their lives. He stood amid the troops and shouted his orders, placing his few pikemen at the very front. They would be the first barrier against the onrushing cavalry.
Behind them stood the Barbarian archers, who were to inflict as many casualties as possible. The remaining soldiers, armed with short weapons, held the flanks. They had to work together, hold back the enemy, and stand like an unbreakable reef for as long as they could.
If that reef held until the third wave of troops crossed the river and landed in force, Heshima's army still had a chance of victory.
Nor had Heshima been idle when he withdrew his troops behind the wall. Using the few tools they had, some Barbarian soldiers had fashioned crude wooden barricades from timber stripped off the wall. These formed a first line of defense that could slow a cavalry charge.
As Viscount Rayne led the Golden Pear Cavalry out through the palisade, he saw the barricades ahead.
This time, Viscount Rayne wasted no time. Speed was everything. The enemy's reinforcements were already reaching the shore. If he failed to break the Barbarians arrayed there before they joined