facing about, raised a shield wall against the rain of arrows. Long spears, passed forward to what was now the second rank, coming down to face the cats. Another trumpet call; the legions moved forward over their own dead.
The King never saw the signal for the charge, but he heard the thunder as five thousand heavy cavalry came over the ridge. Left and right they smashed through what was left of the Imperial light infantry. The center, lances down, horses at a gallop, hit the rear of the legions.
Still the Imperial center did not break. What had been the middle of the formation, now the rear, reversed again, started pushing back. Trumpet calls, shouts; Stephen pulled his men back uphill, beyond javelin range. What was left of three legions reformed in a rough square, perhaps as many as a thousand men still standing.
Everything slowed. The Imperial heavies were a triple line of shields, front rank kneeling. On the ridge above them archers were again forming up, interspersed with blocks of heavy cavalry. On the opposite slope the cats had for the moment stopped shooting. Harald and the King, mounted, picked their way through the bodies that littered the slope.
Harald stopped just out of javelin range