My sorry, Istawen. Remember, Falco thinks he knows everything, and he's sure of that, too.
I'll fix my post to show that Lira and the hobbits are on their mounts yet. I'll figure something out for the rest of it.
Do remember, though, that the narration had it that the party was an hour outside of Fornost when the attack occurrred. So Lira and friends may need to hide. And by the way, Lira's idea to draw off some of the force and so divide and conquer is just as valid as Falco's idea of keeping everybody together. It's just a matter of who is expecting to win. Falco sees the good guys at a severe disadvantage and so thinks defensively, and doesn't want to
be divided.
But by dividing the enemy into 2 groups, the good guys may have a better chance to wrap things up quickly. Not without taking a little damage, of course.
And where's Menel?