Bekkar, sensing that his soldiers were nearing panic at this frantic, seemingly suicidal attack, quickly signaled to the men he had left at the barricade to move forward and join the battle. He and his men, used to fighting on the open plains against enemies who lined up and marched calmly into battle, were not prepared for the all-out madness of the barbarian onslaught. As the relief column trotted two abreast down the canyon toward the battle, the last 30 or so of Lashki's warriors made themselves known. These were men with leg or head wounds severe enough to keep them from participating in hand-to-hand combat, but they could still draw a deadly bow.

On the steep hillsides of the canyon walls, nearly invisible with caked mud and dirt covering their bodies, they released a flurry of arrows down on the advancing soldiers. The first volley struck their targets and two score men lay writhing on the ground before the surprised soldiers even knew they were under attack. Since Lashki's warriors were hard to see amid the shadows and boulders, the soldiers could not tell how many attackers there were or exactly where they were located.

Most stood their ground, trying to find a target, until the second volley of arrows fell another dozen of their comrades. Hearing the screams of the dying and the clash of weapons from farther up the canyon and seeing their fellows dropping to the ground, dead at their feet, some began to back away from the slaughter. When another volley of arrows from the hillsides dropped even more of the frightened soldiers, most of the survivors broke and ran. A few actually raced in the direction of the main battle at the far end of the canyon, but most headed toward the barricade and an exit from this corridor of death.

Some of the overwhelmed soldiers at the closed end of the canyon where the main battle was taking place, those who were not too seriously wounded and a few others who simply did not wish to die on that barren patch of dirt began to edge away from the battle to also seek an exit.

They met soldiers who had survived the arrow attack farther down the canyon and both groups warned the others to turn back or face certain death.

More and more of Bekkar's troops began to break away from what now seemed to be a hopeless battle and attempted to flee down the canyon and were met with deadly arrows from the hillsides. Lashki and his remaining warriors, covered with blood and sensing victory, attacked what was left of Bekkar's forces with even greater madness. Screaming their blood-curdling war cries, they hacked their way through bodies that were now, for the most part, merely trying to avoid the slaughter. The battle had unexpectedly become a bloody rout.