[center][h2]Eastwards Road[/h2][/center]

At the falling cloud of smoke, the retinue fell back and away--thinner in the centre, now, if someone were to make a direct charge for it... but that would also mean that the Iron Roses themselves would be hampered by its caustic nature, possibly too much to effectively fight through where the line was weakest. It was at least doing more than the fireballs, where they were happy to thrust their shields in counterpoint, the attacks breaking and streaming [i]around[/i] the individual knights to no effect.

In the melee, there was was a curious revelation: for all they were figures of story and legend, it was the [i]Iron Roses[/i] that had the advantage here. After all the training, they were stronger, more skilled--and yet, still outnumbered, and the reason why this retinue was so famous became clearer. Even for all they could be overwhelmed, capitalising on it to actually injure one of them was proving to be difficult--

For all that many of their number had stood aside, they hadn't sent so many to the wings that their teamwork was compromised. It was less akin to fighting a larger team, and closer to a single enemy with [i]many[/i] limbs. Where normally it would be impractical to step in so closely, these knights were able to intervene to deflect the blows aimed at their compatriots, even allowing them to regain their footing and have the original aggrieved part strike back. Being hemmed in so closely didn't seem like it was hampering them to any normal extent, which meant trying to break them in detail like this was only playing to their strengths: the Talderians could use their superior numbers to fend off damage, and then rely on the limited space to further restrict the Roses' options. 

Although, seeing them strain against the heavy blows despite this ought to be gratifying.