He was unperturbed, and concerned only with the trophy of the chase, but the horses were nervous and skittish. 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. 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. How could these obese animals behave differently? Even the lion runs from the hunter until he is wounded or cornered. No other game we had ever hunted had stood to receive our first charge. We both expected the huge animal to run from us as soon as he realized that we menaced him. "Hi up" I called to Patience and Blade, and they opened up into a gallop. Then the bull squealed again, and he ran. 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. Behind us the rest of our column was strung out in single file.
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