The horn blast came again, closer, and the Marrow Ridge line broke formation.
"They're pulling back!" Joren shouted. "Kane, look!"
Kane didn't lower his blade. "Could be a trick. Hold position."
Riders crested the north road at full gallop, forty at least, banners snapping behind them, and Kane read the colors before Brennan's voice confirmed it from where Ottilie had dragged him to safety.
"Holt and Ferris," Brennan called, breathless. "They came. A full day early."
The Marrow Ridge fighters facing the gate hesitated, caught between the coalition's thin but braced line and a fresh cavalry force closing fast on their flank. Their commander shouted an order Kane couldn't hear, and the whole formation peeled away from the gate, retreating toward the tree line at a dead run rather than c
