[center][h3][color=0054a6]Jehan de Challon[/color][/h3][/center]
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Jehan turned his head to the distant sound of a horn blaring. He swallowed, suddenly nervous. [color=0054a6]"The battle begins"[/color] he said softly to no-one in particular. As the orcs closed the distance and ended up in the range of the forward skirmish formation several arrows flew from his archers and those who had gone with them. It was to far away for Jehan to tell if there were any casualties but some wounded orcs were to be expected. As the orcs kept coming the archers turned and ran. At one point, a few archers turned to shoot a few additional arrows, but again they were forced to run as the orcs kept coming. 

The skirmish formation retreated behind their lines, Vincent passing next to Jehan clearly tired from the running but with a fierce grin on his face. It took a special kind of crazy to advance before a formation, then run before they got too close. But they had done it. The orcs had stopped now however, and Vincent and the others took up a position behind the lines, knocking arrows. 

Jehan could tell there were more then they had expected, which was problematic to say the least. They needed some heavy horse but they had none. In truth, there were many things they could need but did not have and in the end they had to make it with what they had. Three orcs came for their group and Jehan slammed down his visor and entered his combat stance. Henri stood to Jehan's right shoulder, spear at the ready. 

The orcs came then, one with two axes, another with spear and shield and the one in front with a great sword. Jehan prepared himself, changing the grip on his poleaxe, any fear he had felt just before vanished as he was forced to either step through it, or freeze. He swung, hard and wide, forcing the first orc to take a step back. The orc moved in as he recovered and swung. Jehan was just able to deflect the blow as Henri buried his spear in the first orc's chest. Jehan pushed back the orc back with a shove and swung, a diagonal swing from his left side. It hit home with a meaty thud between the neck and shoulder of the orc. Jehan took a step back as an orc spear was jammed at his face, though it glanced of the helm, doing nothing except a loud clinging noise inside his bascinet. Henri prodded at the orc spearman with his longer spear, keeping it at bay. 

The orc with axes attacked Jehan then, as the orc spearman tried to support him. The axeman slammed Henri's spear away with one axe which caused the orc spearman to surge forward. The other axe deflected Jehan's blow. Then the orc's bulky body smashed into Jehan, knocking him to the ground. Jehan drew his dagger and stabbed upwards, into whatever flesh he could find.