Our tactical withdrawal to Camlann took us five days. The distance was less than forty miles. A single rider could make the journey in two days, or less if one could change horses, but we were two legions consisting of ten thousand men on horseback.
Our initial egress from Portchester allowed us to get as far as Southampton by nightfall, where we attempted to set up an ambush. Lancelot was ecstatic, but Mordred's generals were smart enough to send scouts, so the enemy knew we were waiting for them. So instead of us attacking them, they struck first.
We had been expecting them, so their attack was not a surprise. The enemy didn't attempt cavalry at night, but they came at us in a phalanx. We repelled them with a shield wall at the edge of a grove of woods. They couldn't enter the trees wi
