#ESO CYNDICATE DRIVER#
#ESO CYNDICATE FULL#

Perhaps these animals were every bit as dull-witted as they looked. We were right on the bull now, but still he stood his ground. They rampaged through the grove, smashing up the capsized chariots, stamping the carcasses of the horses under those massive padded feet, throwing the bodies of screaming men high in the air and trampling them as they fell back to earth. However, the wounds had not weakened them, but seemed only to have aggravated their fury. The two great bull elephants bristled with arrow-shafts, and the blood streamed down their bodies, leaving wet streaks on their dusty grey hide. The bull lifted his trunk high and then swung it down like an executioner's axe.

#ESO CYNDICATE DRIVER#

The driver lacked Hui's skill, and his turn away was inept. The next chariot in line was not so fortunate.

#ESO CYNDICATE FULL#

The elephant wheeled to chase after Hui, but he was at full gallop and raced clean away. He pulled the shaft from his own flesh and threw it aside and came on after us, reaching out towards us with the blood-smeared trunk. He merely reached up with his trunk and - gripped the shaft of the arrow with the tip, as a man might do with his hand.

'We should take him first.' The pup was every bit as keen as his sire. Our plan was to come in and split on each side of the bull, firing our arrows into him as we passed, then wheeling around and coming back in classic chariot tactics. 'That one on the right is the biggest,' squeaked Memnon.īehind us the rest of our column was strung out in single file. It was hard to control them and keep them running straight. They had picked up the scent of this strange quarry, and they threw their heads up and crabbed in the traces. He was unperturbed, and concerned only with the trophy of the chase, but the horses were nervous and skittish. As yet we knew nothing of the unbelievable strength of these creatures, and I called back to Tanus, 'There must have been a great storm through this forest to wreak such destruction.' It did not even occur to me then that the elephant herds were responsible they seemed so mild and defenceless. As we drove forward, we were forced to swerve around the branches that had been torn from the trees, and to dodge the trunks of giant acacia that had been uprooted. We ran on, still in column, through the acacia grove towards those two great bulls. I gave the signal to the chariots that followed us, and we veered away from the breeding herd of cows and calves. This was no porcine sloth, but a courageous and terrible adversary that we had challenged in our arrogance and ignorance. They were not the eyes of an animal, but those of an intelligent and alert human being. I looked up at him, for he towered directly over us, reaching out with his trunk to pluck us from the cockpit of the chariot, and I could not believe the size of him, nor the fury in those eyes.

For a moment I lost control of the team, and we swerved away. The horses shied wildly, so that I was thrown against the dashboard with a force that bruised my ribs. He threw up his trunk and loosed a blast of sound that stunned and deafened us. It was as though the bull heard and understood the challenge. There were broken chariots scattered across the field, for Kratas out on the left had fared no better than we had. I pulled up my horses at the edge of the grove, and we stared back aghast at the carnage of our shattered squadron.

His archer from the footplate behind him fired an arrow into the bull's cheek a hand's-span below the eye, and that pulled his attention from us. Hui came in from the side, lashing his horses and yelling like a demon. Hui in the second chariot of our line saved us, for we were defenceless against the old bull's fury. Let Kratas have the other, it's good enough for him.'

'You heard the royal command,' Tanus laughed.

Eso cyndicate