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The mercenaries, on the other hand, in such a position, were effectively pinned in place, denied access to supplies which might otherwise have been seized in the countryside. When contingents of mercenaries would leave their ditched fortress to attack the peasants, they found they could not close with them, for the peasants would withdraw before them, leading them farther from their fellows and isolating them from support, where, soon, ambushed and wearied, surrounded and outnumbered, picked off one by one, few of the would-be attackers could manage to do as little as make their way back to their fellows. Exacerbating the predicament of the mercenaries was that the range of the peasant bow exceeded that of the crossbow, allowing the peasants to, in effect, remain out of range of the shorter, heavier, quarrels while being able to discharge their own weapons with comparative impunity, and the almost indefinite quantity of ammunition at their disposal, arrows borne less in quivers than bundled into carts. This plenitude of striking force was applied both singly and randomly and, occasionally, in thick volleys, falling like a dark, torrential rain of death. I, and others, my men and the fighters of Mytilene, from the town walls, watched the mercenaries' harried retreat to the sea, through a corridor flanked by lifted shields. The corsair ships did not risk coming within range of the peasant archery but sent forth a small fleet of longboats to ferry their mercenaries to the safety of the ships. These boats were few and overcrowded, and largely exposed to arrow fire. - (Avengers of Gor, Chapter )