e fought here and now, in the streets of
Mayfield, and before the day was over it would be known whether the city
would continue its struggle to live or whether it would become another
Berkeley.

Chapter 16. _Black Victory_

The spearhead of the nomad infantry attack broke through between two
lightly manned guard posts whose garrisons fled in retreat with a few
ineffective shots. The column came through in a widening wedge. As it
met more defenders it fell back, but it appeared to the nomads that the
whole defense line had crumbled or had been diverted to the south, as
anticipated.

They poured along Main Street in the faint dawnlight until they reached
12th Avenue. There, they split and fanned along 12th, east and west. It
was their strategy, obviously, to occupy and seal off this large
northern sector of the town, which amounted to one-quarter of its total
area and cut across a large portion of the business section. They would
solidify their position here, destroy all opposition, then move to still
another sector until they were in command of the entire town.

It was a strategy that would work, unless everything Mayfield possessed
were thrown against it, Ken thought. He saw now why 12th Avenue had been
chosen as the line of attack: the defenders were intrenched there and
were offering forceful opposition.

He looked for a moment to the south again. The defenses there were
light, yet the charge of the mounted nomads had to be contained or they
would drive all the way to the center of town, burning and killing as
they went. If they succeeded in joining with the infantry they would
have split Mayfield's defenses in two.

Johnson had mounted his best men, using the captured nomad horses as
well as the town's own. Desperately, this small force was trying to
contain and exterminate the fierce-riding enemy. Picked sharpshooters
had been carefully stationed with the best rifles available. Although
the gunfire was not heavy, Ken could see Johnson's men were taking a
heavy toll of the invader.

In the north, the lines of fixed battle had now been established. The
nomads had drawn back to positions of cover in the empty houses facing
12th. Their flanks were more mobile, fighting for advantage along
streets parallel to Main but some blocks away on either side, and
extending all the way back to the point of breakthrough. While he
surveyed the scene from the roof, Ken watched the stealthy movement of
defenders movi