A quick inspection showed that the half dozen enemy who were manning the earthworks had been dead long before the attack. They must have died during the night from earlier wounds and had been propped up at the barricade so the attackers would think the canyon was still defended. Bekkar leaped to the ground within the canyon and motioned his men to follow, being careful to avoid the pitfall of the trench. When most of his men were within the canyon, he had them spread out and make a complete search, even though there was essentially no cover for a man to hide behind. Fully a hundred men could not have simply disappeared.

'The enemy could not have escaped this deathtrap,' Bekkar fumed, 'unless they had all sprouted wings and flown away.'

The canyon itself was full of darkened shadows and would remain that way until the sun finally crested the near mountaintop, but there was enough light to see that no enemy was visible within the canyon confines. Most of his men had quickly searched through the canyon and were now near the back wall, while about 50 remained at the barricade as a rear guard.

All of them were confused and frustrated at the loss of their prey, but they were suddenly frozen in their tracks as the sound of a war horn flooded the narrow canyon. The long blast echoed off and around the walls and the men spun one way and then another, trying to determine where the sound was coming from. Before the sound of the horn died away, it was replaced by frenzied war howls and suddenly the air at the far end of the canyon was full of arrows. More than a dozen men died in the dirt before they could raise their shields in defense and many more were dead and wounded before they could tell where the attack was coming from.

Bekkar whirled toward the back wall of the canyon and saw a sight that chilled his blood. It seemed as if sections of the very hill were coming alive and firing weapons at his men. He turned to see his soldiers in confusion, trying to defend themselves from an attacker they could not see and many more had now dropped to the ground with arrows sticking from their bodies.

On the canyon walls, it appeared that more and more sections of dirt and even small boulders were coming alive and firing arrows into his men. In an instant, Bekkar realized what was happening, and shouting above the screams of pain and battle, he tried to rally his men to attack.

Amid the murderous fire of arrows from the walls, he was able to form his men into several ragged lines so they could advance on the enemy that were using the boulders and brush of the hillsides as cover. It seemed that the enemy had apparently wetted themselves in the spring and thenrolled around in the dirt of the canyon floor, caking themselves and their clothing with mud. Some had even attached leaves and branches to their clothing and armor in an attempt to better blend in with their surroundings. After the mud had dried on their bodies and they had taken up positions on the hillsides, as long as they remained immobile in the shadows of the brush and boulders, they were nearly invisible unless someone was right on top of them.