'Which is all the more reason for me to stay,' Shigeru told him. Then, after a pause, he continued, 'Tell me, Halto-san, if I were to escape, would you and your friends come with me?'
Halt hesitated. Then he replied, knowing that Shigeru deserved to hear the truth.
'No, your excellency, we wouldn't. We've trained these men to fight. It's up to us to stay here and lead them when they do.'
'Exactly. And I've asked these men to fight in my name. It's up to me to believe in them when they do. So, like you, I have to stay and take my chances.'
There was silence between them for some time. Then, with a barely perceptible lift of his shoulders, Halt capitulated.
'Well, I suppose we'd just better make sure we win,' he said.
Shigeru smiled. 'Which is precisely why I need to be here.'
The four gojus slipped through the palisade gate two hours before dawn. With each group of fifty formed up in three files, they set out down the pass.
Discipline was excellent, Halt noted approvingly. Aside from a few muted commands to march, there was no sound other than the jingling of their equipment and the rhythmic tramp of their boots on the rocky ground of the valley below Ran-Koshi. For the time being, at least, the walls of the valley should mask those sounds from the sentries at Arisaka's camp.
When they reached the mouth of the valley, the leading goju – the Bears – wheeled left in response to a hand signal from their leader and doubled round the bluff to their appointed position on the flat plain. The Bears, formed now into two ranks, would cover the left of the Emperor's battle line, with the obstructions assembled by Jito's workers protecting their left flank. Selethen's Hawks came behind them, taking position on the right.
The final two gojus – the Sharks and the Wolves – took position behind the others, in a slightly staggered formation that covered the gap between the two leading gojus.
Moka, with fifty of Shigeru's Senshi warriors, formed a mobile reserve behind the gojus, ready to react to any breach.
The battle line formed with a minimum of noise and confusion. Each man knew exactly where he was supposed to be and went to his place without hesitation. They were all in place before the first grey fingers of light started to streak the sky in the east. Will, Horace and Selethen moved among the Kikori, telling them quietly to rest and relax, saving their strength for the coming battle. The men sat in their ranks, laying their heavy shields aside. Some of the women, organised by Jito, moved among them with water, pickled rice and smoked fish.
Other members of Jito's work party were putting the finishing touches to the hedgehogs. Horace strolled over to inspect the devices at closer quarters. You had to hand it to Halt for ingenuity, he thought. First the false wall at the palisade during the first attack, now these.
Each hedgehog was constructed of six sharpened poles, two metres in length. The poles passed through a central rope yoke, with six closely spaced loops to hold them in place. The sharpened poles were thus formed into a shape that resembled three large X's bound together. They were light and easy to assemble. But once in place, they were difficult to push aside, as the wide-spread feet tended to dig into the ground. In addition, each set of four was linked together by stout poles and chains, making them even more difficult to displace. As a final touch, the array of hedgehogs was draped with rope, looped around the arms and trailing loosely between the individual units. The ropes were festooned with sharp iron hooks, Horace knew. They were small, so not easily seen. But they would snag an attacker's clothes or equipment and slow him down while he struggled to free himself.
Beyond the lines of hedgehogs was the drop-off – a small cliff some four metres high, which put an extra barrier in the path of a flanking force from the left.
He heard a slight noise behind him and turned to see that Will had joined him, inspecting the defences.
'All in all, not a bad job,' Horace said.
'I wouldn't care to be one of Arisaka's men tangled up in those hedgehogs,' Will said. 'Have you seen Mikeru and his dartmen practising?'
'I have. They're frighteningly good, aren't they? Another one of Halt's better ideas.'
Will was about to reply when they both heard the sound of distant shouts of alarm, followed by a strident bugle call ringing over the plain. They both looked in the direction of Arisaka's sprawling camp.
'Sounds as if someone's seen us,' Will said. He gripped Horace's hand. 'Good luck, Horace. Take care.'
'Good luck, Will. See you when we've sent Arisaka running.'
'He won't run,' Will answered. 'But if we can settle with him before Yamada's army turns up, we're in with a good chance.'
'And if we can't?' Horace said.
Will met his gaze in silence for a few seconds. 'I don't want to think about that,' he said eventually.
Horace nodded and unconsciously loosened his sword in its scabbard. 'I wonder where the girls are?'
Will's expression, already grim, grew a little more so.
'I'm guessing they didn't make it. If they'd managed to convince Nimatsu and his people to help us, they should have been here a week ago. I'm afraid we're on our own.'
Arisaka's army assembled in their usual loose formation – a large curved front, three or four men deep. They moved steadily across the plain towards the silent, waiting ranks of the four gojus. Unlike the Kikori, they didn't march in step, but simply moved in a loose gaggle. The Senshi preferred to fight as individuals and they moved the same way.
There was one change to their normal deployment. Arisaka had been told of the dangers of the Kikori shield wall and he knew he had to break that rigid formation. Will had surmised that he might use something similar to the Macedon Phalanx – a wedge formation armed with long, heavy lances, designed to smash through an enemy's line. His guess was a little off target. Arisaka knew nothing about the Phalanx.
But he knew about battering rams.
At intervals along the line were five young tree trunks, trimmed and sharpened, and borne by six warriors each, the men holding onto rope handles spaced along the logs' six-metre lengths. The sharpened logs, swung underhand at waist height by the long rope handles, would act as battering rams and smash great gaps in the enemy's defences before the Kikori could come to grips with their attackers. No shield bearer could withstand such a shattering impact. And once the integrity of the shield wall was breached, the Kikori lost their greatest advantage – their ability to fight as a team, with each man supporting and protecting his neighbour.
'So that's what he's got in mind,' Horace muttered to himself. He watched as the Senshi line advanced, overlapping the Kikori line at either end. As the space available closed down, those outer wings would have to fold back in behind Arisaka's front ranks. They'd be poised three and four deep behind the rams.
Will was running across the rear of the two leading gojus, shouting to attract Horace's attention.
'Doorway! Doorway!' he called and Horace waved in acknowledgement. They'd practised to defend against a wedge of heavy lances. The rams were essentially the same thing, and they had a tactic they could use against them. Will continued to run to pass on the same message to Selethen.
Horace hurried to join his goju. He moved quickly behind the second rank, calling to his men.
'Use the doorway tactic when they get close!' he called and he saw section leaders in the front rank turn briefly and indicate that they understood.
The advancing Senshi were fifty metres away now, almost within effective javelin range.
'Second rank, open order!' Horace yelled and the rear rank responded as one man, stepping back three paces to give themselves throwing room.
'Javelins ready!'
Twenty-five arms went back, the javelins angled upwards.
'Aim for the rams!' Horace ordered. He watched the approaching army, judged they were in range. 'Throw!'
The javelins hissed away on their arcing flight. Several seconds later, he saw sections of the Senshi line collapse in confusion as the heavy missiles struck home. One of the battering rams crashed to the ground as half its bearers were hit and the others were forced to release their grip on the rope handles. The heavy rolling log caused more confusion among the attacking Senshi. But they reformed and came on. There were still two of the battering rams aimed at the Bear Goju.
The nearest ram broke from the Senshi front line as its bearers went from a steady tramp to a run. They lunged forward at the Kikori shield wall, their sudden increase in speed catching Horace by surprise. The heavy, sharpened log swung forward on its rope handles, bludgeoning into the front rank. Three of the Kikori went down and the men on the ram moved quickly to consolidate their position. The second rank had closed up again after throwing their javelins. Now they used their reserve weapons to stab over the heads of the front rank, at the ram and its bearers. The ram swung back, then forward to smash into the shields again. More Kikori went down and the waiting Senshi screamed in triumph as they saw the previously impregnable wall disintegrating. The ram went back again.
'Doorway! Doorway!' Horace yelled, his throat dry and his voice breaking.
This time, as the heavy log swung forward, the Kikori facing it stepped back and to the side, opening a gap in front of it. Without any resistance, the battering ram whipped forward through thin air, throwing the men wielding it off balance. The second line of men opened as well and some of the Kikori grabbed the ram and dragged it through their ranks. As the men on the rope handles staggered through the gap left for them, the deadly stabbing blades of the Kikori went to work. The surviving ram wielders found themselves in the clear behind the second rank, bewildered and isolated. As they realised their predicament, ten men from the front rank of the Shark Goju moved forward and quickly surrounded them. Within a few seconds, Arisaka's men lay still. But, in the more open style of fighting, they had taken a toll. Five Kikori lay dead beside them.
With a shout of rage, the Senshi line surged forward. But the doorway closed as quickly as it had opened and they found themselves facing that formidable line of shields. They cut and slashed ineffectually, denied the space they needed to wield their swords to best effect. The short swords of the Kikori flickered in and out between the shields, wounding, maiming, killing.
The Senshi backed away, moving out of range of the shorter weapons. Now some of them began a more careful attack, lunging at the small gaps between the shields with their longer katana. This time, however, forewarned of the Kikori tactic of jamming shields together, they withdrew their blades almost immediately. It was an effective technique. More Kikori fell, their places taken by men from the second rank.