Scorching energy surged through their blood as the horses shifted their hooves, ready to shoot into the night like arrows loosed from a bow.
Hearing the resonant drums in the distance, Kanni knew the time had come. He turned his gaze to Yetos beside him.
More than nine hundred and sixty knights had quietly brought six hundred and seventy-two warhorses to the lower reaches of the Ice River. They had been waiting there for some time, having probably set out before eleven, before the allied army of the Seven Kingdoms had even taken up its ambush positions.
Dozens of war drums overlapped in a mighty roar like ocean waves. Merely listening made their ears ring beneath that powerful, all-consuming undertow of sound. Its echoes lingered, stirring their blood even at this distance.
Eyes closed, Yetos listened to the distant drums and to the army's marching footsteps, which the others could not hear.
His eyes snapped open, a trace of emerald light shining in them like two fireflies in the dark.
His palm slid over the hilt. He drew his greatsword and bellowed, "Charge! Kill them!"
The Knights' Order, lying hidden in the darkness, surged into motion. In almost the blink of an eye, the six hundred-odd warhorses covered a hundred meters, leaving the knights behind them with only a faint glimpse of their trailing firelight.
Where flames flickered, armored riders thundered past, hoofprints branded into the earth as shattered stones and sand flew.
"Something's moving!" The Zhao State general lying in ambush south of the Ice River's lower reaches seemed to sense something and shouted a warning.
His eyes were keen indeed, no less so than Qin Zihui's. He, too, was a renowned general. Though his influence fell short of Qin Zihui's, he had youth on his side and a