Whatever he'd been about to say was lost to time as Eragos repeated a move from his childhood years. Ducking down in his saddle, bracing the blade of the flambard against the pommel of his saddle and letting force do the rest. One of the horse's legs was hacked off - Barada spilled out of the saddle with an audible cry and a dull thump. Then he was still. As more of the mercenaries began to close in on the White Rider he hissed out steaming breathes between his lips. Barada and the grey rider dead. There were too many for her to defeat alone, even with her back to the wagon. But wading in on horseback was a fool's errand. The flambard shifted to the other hand as the horse raced forward. His skin began to harden before he knew it, so that when the time was right - and he'd swung one leg over the saddle - Eragos' skin was as hard as stone. At the last possible second a fellow looked up. The last of the grey riders. Eragos hurled himself from the saddle and slammed into the fellow, listening to the sound of a dozen bones and more breaking in unison.
Rock, after all, was not pleasant as it struck the flesh.
He barely felt the blow of landing so hard. The grey rider, on the other hand, was leaking blood from his eyes and ears. Eragos came to one knee with his sword pointed toward the sky, gripped in both hands, and spared a half-second to glare down at the grim mask of death that had already taken over the face of the man he'd crushed.
Too bad.
The horse kept running as Eragos found his feet, only a half-dozen yards from the White Rider. Meanwhile he could see, from the corner of his eye, the king rushing out to aid his daughter with sword in hand. The mercenaries couldn't flee this fight now - if they did, they'd be cut down from behind like dogs. There were only four of them left. There must have been a few of them fleeing into the hills by now. Eragos didn't blame them. With shifting grey skin grinding every time he moved the dragon knight stared down his would-be assailants. They, in return, merely looked frightened enough to urinate on themselves.
There must have been one more rider. If there was, he'd gone. And left these to their fate.