Several minutes later, the four swordsmen stormed out of the thicket with their horses newly enveloped in thick plates of crude Innutukian metal. Instead of carrying their swords in their hands, they held weapons from their fallen foes, more conducive to the horseback fighting Innutukians were experts at. Tom and James had taken the spears, with the Martin brothers snatching up the clubs.

"So, what's the plan?" Trevor asked, voice broken up by the bouncing motion of their galloping.

"For now, light attacks to get our bearings." Tom replied, "Don't stop moving and just pick off men on the outskirts while we scope it out."

"Jay will love that." Trevor remarked with a smirk.

Jay's lips twitched, but he didn't fully smile. They picked up even more speed, Jay soon hurtling ahead of his comrades due to his little mare's superior swiftness. He engaged first as well, knocking an oblivious Innutukian in the head with his club. The man appeared dazed, but also angry. He forced his horse into pursuit.

Meanwhile, Tom engaged his first opponent with a stab aimed at his exposed thigh. The Innutukian bared his teeth and batted the spearhead aside, making an opening to thrust his own forward. Exuberance reared underneath Tom, taking the impact on one of the armored plates on his flank in the process. No penetration ensued, and once the horse's hooves touched the ground again, he continued on.

"You're a clever one, my friend." Tom remarked fondly as he scoped out a new target.

Exuberance whinnied and edged over a little to trample an Innutukian who had dismounted to retrieve something from his saddlebag. When one of his nearby comrades attempted a retaliation, Tom retaliated him. He didn't succeed in killing the man before Exuberance galloped on, but a likely infection of his now exposed innards probably would.

An Innutukian horseman broke off from the formation surrounding the town to engage Tom and his comrades. Tom's spearhead aimed at the nearer man's neck, and his opponent's aimed at his heart. See, this is where armor comes in handy, I'd suppose.

With a quick thrust of his longer arms, Tom hit his target first and found the time to swerve out of the way before the Innutukian could make a stab of his own. The man slumped over in his saddle, horse continuing on without input.

Tom glanced farther ahead, where an Innutukian swung a war hammer at Jay. Jay blocked with his club, but the impact split the wood and knocked it from his hand. With a strong grip, the Monteraynian snatched his opponent by his arm and yanked him from his horse. The Innutukian wailed loudly as he dangled from Jay's grasp. Only after stealing his war hammer did Jay let him go, letting him tumble to the ground only to be trampled by Trevor's horse.

Now a javelin flew at Tom. A clumsy swipe of the body of his spear knocked the weapon aside, but that only left him open to a blow from a club-wielder who seemingly appeared out of nowhere to strike him. Tom cried out at the impact to his ribs and nearly let go of the reins to place a hand on it. But he regained his focus just in time to rip open the leg of an incoming archer, causing him to miss his shot at James. James himself made the killing blow, a stab directly for the Innutukian's neck.

Tom galloped on, frowning when he noticed one Innutukian toss an object into the grass a few paces ahead. Exuberance leapt to avoid it, and as they flew over, Tom realized it was a sort of spiky ball to impale hooves. Making a mental note to keep an eye out for such dangers, he continued on.

The Innutukians finally mobilized a proper team of riders to challenge Tom's men. Galloping forward in a menacing formation with shields in one hand and war hammers, axes, or a combination of the two in the other, they presented a wall of armor moving at high velocity. Tom gulped.

Of course, Jay ran into the formation first and attempted smashing through his first opponent's wooden shield with the war hammer he'd stolen. And he did succeed, but the head stuck in the smashed wood. The two horses galloped off in opposite directions, leaving Jay to face the rest of the grim-faced Innutukian formation with only his arming sword, which he swiftly unsheathed.

One of the men swung a powerful blow of his war hammer at Miyan-Chen's head. Even though her snout was protected by armor, the impact still forcibly turned it, effectively scaring her and swerving her off course. She tripped, throwing Jay off the saddle and into the grass. He cried out in terror as the thundering formation turned aside to pursue him.

Tom, James, and Trevor galloped for the formation with one accord to save their imperiled friend. Where most of the skirmishes before had taken place with horses traveling in opposite directions, they now pulled alongside the Innutukians and rode in parallel.

Trevor engaged first with a swing of his club on the horseman next to him. The Innutukian easily defended with his shield, and then a spear point jutted out from behind it. He didn't thrust far enough, but that didn't stop him from trying again. This time, Trevor knocked the spearhead aside.

James assisted Trevor by stabbing the Innutukian from the one angle his shield didn't cover. In clutching his bleeding leg, he gave a moment of vulnerability for Trevor to swing his club in for a concussion.

Even though the three swordsmen had sufficiently distracted the formation to keep it away from Jay, they hadn't escaped their own peril. The Innutukian riders constantly drove their horses into their attackers', driving them wherever they wished in the process. All the while, axe blades, hammer heads and spear points presented terrifying threats.

One hammer impacted the edge of a plate covering James' horse's flank. Though the armor protected the equestrian from the blow, it crumpled a little, allowing the next Innutukian to swing his axe into the exposed flesh. James and his horse both tumbled to the ground, soon lost to Tom's vision as his own predicament snatched his attention.

The Innutukian horsemen cleverly altered their course so as to use their horses as battering rams into the sides of Tom and Trevor's horses. They withstood a few of the hits, but finally, when two Innutukian horses each bashed into them, they dropped to the ground.

Tom grunted upon hitting the ground, but he immediately was forced to scuttle about to avoid the flying hooves overhead. Time flew by in a blur as he crawled to and fro in constant evasion.

Finally, the formation had ridden past them, but of course, they soon made a synchronized turn and came about, galloping straight for the fallen swordsmen again. Tom, Trevor, and James painfully rose and each gripped the nearest weapon they could find. Jay also hurried in from behind.

Tom gulped. There was no way this could work, but they had no choice but to try. He gripped the axe he'd found as tight as he could and clenched his jaw with just as much tension. Tom planted his feet and prepared to die fighting.

But then the sky darkened overhead, and Tom frowned. The Innutukian formation was slowing, slowing, stopped. Redirecting course, and fleeing. Tom turned his head to see what they were staring up at.

A massive flock of crows swooped in on the Innutukians, pestering some, tearing apart those with scantier armor, and generally destroying their horses' compliance. And the black birds just kept coming. Soon, Tom could no longer see the horses or their riders, only crows. Their squawking filled the air, as if to drown out the bloodcurdling screams of their victims.

One crow swooped out of the flock and alit on the blunt end of a spear that had been driven into the ground a few paces from Tom. It cawed at the swordsman and tilted its head, staring at him.

Tom chuckled. "You really did aid us, Bernard. We shouldn't have underestimated you."

Bernard cried out again before flitting over to Tom and perching on his shoulder. The bird's caw sounded right in Tom's ear, and then three of the crows swerved out of the attacking flock, as if to obey some order. Soon, Trevor, Jay, and James each had one of the black birds perched on their shoulders.

Jay's forehead wrinkled as they made their way back to their horses, who had begun congregating around Exuberance a ways off. "I'll never look at birds the same again."

****

With a little work, the four swordsmen had rounded up their horses, and now with the help of the swarm of crows, they galloped straight toward the main body of Innutukian troops. James' horse moved a little slower due to the axe wound it had endured prior, but it persevered regardless.

The crows swooped down on the Innutukians and split into two groups to drive the soldiers apart, forming an almost clear path for the swordsmen to gallop down. A few stragglers remained, but the birds who had perched on the swordsmen's shoulders helped distract each individual Innutukian long enough for a spear stab, clubbing, or hammer smash to destroy them completely.

In this way, they quickly reached the town's walls, an obstacle far less deadly, but somewhat harder to breach. Tom glanced back at the Innutukians they'd left behind, and indeed, they were still occupied by the persistent crows. A few had managed to skewer a bird here and there with a spear, but for the most part, their small size and great numbers gave them a massive advantage. The black cloud remained so thick Tom doubted even a single Innutukian could see them.

"So, any bright ideas for getting in?" Trevor asked dryly.

"Grow wings and fly, of course." Jay retorted.

James shook his head. "We could go to one of the gates and convince the townspeople to let us go in the normal way, couldn't we?"

Tom frowned. "Why would they let us in? They'd likely suspect we're merely making a hole in their defenses from the inside for those Innutukian bastards to exploit."

"Good point."

Jay threw up his hands. "Well, we can't just do nothing!"

Tom sighed and attempted to think something up. However, his mind raced far too fast for him to grasp any one thought and explore it. He glanced down at Bernard on his shoulder in resignation.

"What have you got, birdie?"

Bernard squawked loudly four times in his ear, causing Tom to tilt his head away. Then the crow leapt off and flapped until he gained enough altitude to soar over the wall. The other three shoulder-perched crows followed him.

"That's a great idea; why hadn't I thought of that?" Tom remarked bitterly.

Jay narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't depreciate them now. Maybe he's actually doing something."

"He'd better be." Tom said, glancing back and noticing that the swarming crows had begun to diminish in number. An uncomfortable number of avian corpses littered the ground.

They didn't have to wait long before Bernard and his trio of followers returned. One of the crows dropped a key into Tom's hand, which he frowned at for a moment. Then he looked up with equal confusion at the birds circling a spot and cawing constantly.

"I think they want us to follow them." Jay said.

With a shrug, they trotted after the black birds, skirting the octagonal structure of the town's walls until they reached the west side. The crows inexplicably circled around one particular spot for a while until diving down and cawing at the ground.

Tom frowned and dismounted to get a closer look. Upon inspecting the ground beneath the birds' feet, he realized something appeared odd about the grass in a squarish patch. He raised an eyebrow and touched the stalks. They didn't feel natural.

One of the crows tugged at one of the blades of grass, and it didn't come up, causing Tom's confusion to deepen. He grabbed a whole handful and yanked it up, only for the whole patch to come up, revealing a slab of wood beneath, with hinges and a keyhole.

"Is that a mat of fake grass?" James asked.

Tom nodded. "It appears so. And here, there's a door of some sort."

When the crows started up their squawking again, Tom hurried to insert the key into its hole and open the wooden hatch door. The birds immediately hopped down inside, and Tom glanced back at his companions.

Jay nodded. "Well, I suppose that's our way in. What to do with the horses?"

Tom squinted at Exuberance for a moment. "They seem to follow him without question. And Exuberance is cleverer than even I in some cases."

Trevor laughed. "I'd argue that's overstating it just a bit, but I agree. They'll know how to keep themselves alive."

With that, the four swordsmen removed the bits from their horses' mouths and urged them to leave. Exuberance was first to obey, galloping off to the west at an impressive speed through the clearing crows were creating between Innutukian ranks. The others swiftly followed, and after watching for a while, Tom and his comrades dropped down into the hole in the ground.

**** 

A/N: And in they go! Gotta be thankful for these crows, am I right? 

(Speaking of thankfulness, I'd appreciate votes and comments if you have them to give. 😂) 

Now I may have asked this recently, I don't remember, but the answer is likely different every time. What song are you currently addicted to? 

(I recently discovered "Samba Cantina" by Paul Desmond, and can't stop listening to it. As far as pitch goes, it's a little flat, but that almost gives it a more authentic feel to me. Overall, it's super dreamy and tasteful.) 

Anyway, that'll be it for me this morning. Have a great week, and I'll see you in Friday's updates!