Vibulenus was suddenly certain that he was going to die. It wasn’t fear, exactly. The feeling was more akin to knowing that you would hit the ground even as you slid over your horse’s shoulder.
“Caper, you little coward!” cried one of the oncoming line of mice. “Come out and take your medicine.”
Couples of warriors were fighting at intervals between the waiting lines, though when a frog fell or a mouse there would be a general surge from either side and a struggle over the body. One of the mice, striding on hind legs much longer and more powerful than those of the little crumb-nibbler his head and torso mimicked, was coming straight toward Vibulenus. The voice of his sneering challenge was that of Falco, though it came from a furry throat and past great chisel-edged gnawing teeth.
“I’m here, Falco,” Vibulenus shouted back. He charged the spear-brandishing mouse, trying to adapt his mind to the unfamiliar — multi-jointed — leg motion his new body found congenial.
Vibulenus held his spear overhand, a little before the balance, so that the butt joggled against his shoulder as he ran. The weapon was much longer than the javelins with which he had trained. That made it unwieldy; but in mitigation of its size, the spear was surprisingly light — certainly no weightier than the heavy pattern of Roman javelin.
All the items of Vibulenus’ panoply felt awkward to him, but the frog body he wore was more skillful with them than the tribune had been in battle with legionary equipment. He was not a warrior, but his present muscles and the instincts which came bundled with them were those of a veteran.
The mouse with the voice of Rectinus Falco sank ankle deep at every step, but his shield and spearpoint had a hard glitter that suddenly frightened Vibulenus. His spear was longer than the mouse’s, so he thrust in a panicky attempt more to keep his opponent away rather than to do injury.
The frog spearhead was narrow and slightly twisted because it had been flaked from a seashell. The instant it clicked on the face of Falco’s shield, Vibulenus feared the shell would shatter and disarm him. The point broke, all right, but it broke into another wedge-shaped profile which would certainly pierce flesh with an arm’s full strength behind it.
The mouse rocked at the blow and stumbled, his narrow feet less suited to the marshy surface. Vibulenus cried out in relief which replaced his foreboding as suddenly as lightning tears the limbs from a tree.
He could not follow up on the thrust because his weapon was too long. As his frog hand tried to shorten its grip, he remembered the similar plight of the spearman who had faced him that morning — and Falco, striking desperately, drove the dense, sharp point of his ceramic spear through Vibulenus’ shield and into his thigh.
The wounded tribune screamed. The reasoning part of his mind — which had nothing to do with the struggle — noted that the sound was an unfamiliar croak, though when he cried “Wait, Falco!” an instant later the words were in Latin.
“I told you you’d pay!” the mouse shouted as he jerked his weapon free with a slime of pale blood on its tip. He had been off-balance even before he struck, and the effort of clearing the heavy spear cost him his footing. Falco fell with a splash and the terrified cry, “Father!”—his own or perhaps Jove, father of gods and of men. He probably did not know that he had spoken.
Vibulenus’ leg trembled with cold fire, but his enemy was under the point of his spear. He stabbed downward as Falco struggled to rise. The shell point chipped again on the edge of the ceramic shield, crazing the surface, then dug into the mouse’s breastplate.
Falco tipped over on his back again. The spearpoint was through the leather, but the wickerwork beneath held it for a moment. Vibulenus strode forward, dropping the handle with which he had maneuvered his strap-slung shield and gripping the spear with both hands.
His wounded leg buckled so that he fell sideways.
For a moment, the mouse was still pinned by the spear caught in his breastplate. He slid on his back, twisting, and the point sprang free.