They woke in the morning and gathered Yacob’s clothes from the tailor. As they were headed out to continue on their way toward Belge, bells began to ring out across the city. They were near the city’s western gate and saw one of the balls atop the wall crenelations turn red and begin to glow. They looked at each other and then at the squad of guards assembling at the gate.
Wali and Yacob approached the guards, “Sir, what’s going on?” Yacob asked.
“Horseman Hold is under attack. There’s a horde of monsters coming out of the forest to the West.” The guard replied as they partially closed the portcullis. They lowered it to just above head height, ready to drop the final meter and a half should the guards atop the wall trigger the winch release. Wali and Yacob thanked the guards and headed for the opposite end of the town. An unspoken agreement that they would help in any way they could. They could see folks battening down shutters and pulling in wares from shops. Guards marched through the town in tight block formations as the bells continued to ring. Halfway through the town, they began to encounter an influx of traffic.
At the center of the town was a large cobblestone square. Usually, an open-air bazaar of carts was here. Now the vendor’s carts were in the process of being trundled off down side streets, and guards were assembling there. Central to the town square was a large black stone tower. The massive iron bell atop the tower continued to ring. As Wali and Yacob worked their way across the yard, a familiar figure called out to them. “Yacob! Wali!” Shouted Captain Hollis. They turned at his shout and hurried over to him. As they approached, he looked them up and down. “I thought you were headed out today. Now I see you headed toward trouble. You kids want to help?”
“Yessir, we’d like to help,” Wali said. Yacob nodded beside him.
“Good, I can use you two. Since you two killed seven gnolls in the woods, I trust you can fight. Head to the western gate and wait for me there. I need to organize the troops.” Captain Hollis instructed.
The boys made their way to the eastern gate, fighting the tide of people moving into the town. Once at the gate, they saw that the flood of people was thinning, and guards were accumulating. Before Captain Hollis even made it to the gate, the portcullis was dropped, and the thick wooden doors were loosed from the walls but not closed. They moved to the shade of the wall, out of the way of the growing formation of guards. Wali took a moment and called Tag, sending the Nighthawk Owl spirit up and over the wall. He shared the senses of the spirit and flew out over the valley. The first thing he saw was the smoke. The Horseman's Hold's cluster of barns and buildings was ablaze. Thick columns of smoke climbed into the air from the buildings. He saw tiny figures crowded around the buildings in the distance. The herds of horses dashed across the fields with more of the figures chasing them. He pushed the spirit out toward the smoking farm.
As the spirit drew closer, he saw that the figures were hunched over, sometimes running on two legs, sometimes dropping to all fours. Finally, he recognized them, gnolls. The ones chasing horses in the fields were Feral Gnolls, but the mass around the farmhouse was dressed in rags, scraps of leather and carried clubs and crude spears. A few even had corroded swords. Wali tried to count them, but there was too much chaos and movement among their ranks.
He separated his mind from Tag’s and called Crocodilian into his body as Captain Hollis arrived with a company of militia and a platoon of guards. It seemed the city was prepared for this sort of situation. Hollis saw the boys and approached after giving orders. The militiamen took up positions around the gate and on the walls. Several going to the crenelations and activating the magical shields, four people to an orb, two archers, a spearman, and one to control the orb. The guards on the gate formed up with the platoon Hollis had brought with him. Hollis turned to Wali and Yacob, “Can you two help cover Darron there?” He said, indicating an older man dressed in fine clothing. “He’s our mage, and it would free up a squad for the line.”
“We can do that,” Wali said after sharing a look with Yacob, who nodded. “Sir, I used a spirit to scout the attackers. It’s more gnolls. Armed gnolls are burning down the buildings, and ferals are in the pastures harassing the horses.”
“Did you get a count of them?” Hollis asked with an appraising look.
“There’s too many moving around to get a good count. At least thirty ferals and as many armed ones.” Wali reported.
“Any leaders? Ones of a different color or bigger size? Warpaint, maybe?”
“Not that I could see.”
“All right, good work there,” Hollis said and turned to the men. “Gnolls, at least sixty. We’ll form a standard shield wall outside the gate with Darron and these two at the center. We’ll let them come to us. Let’s move!.” Hollis yelled to the platoon before leading the way through the gate. Wali and Yacob moved to flank Darron, who drew a slim wand from a sheathe at his waist.
Darron’s voice was thin and reedy but confident. “Just keep them off me, and I can work my magic, okay?” He said to Wali and Yacob. They agreed and moved with him.
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Outside the gate, men formed up into a wedge-shaped wall two deep. Shields and swords at the front, a spearman behind. A block of ten archers at the rear behind Wali, Yacob, and Darron. Captain Hollis was at the front and they all started to jog down the road, gaining some distance from the gate. Hollis shouted, “Set and lure!” The men stopped and set themselves. Large rectangular shields slammed spikes into the dirt, the spearmen behind lowering spears to fit between the shields. Darron raised the wand high, and a circle of power appeared at the tip. A mote of light shot forth with a piercing whistle. It burst into a brilliant pink and purple cloud with a thunderous boom a moment later. Wali and Yacob felt their gaze pulled upward to the cloud and then to Darron. Across the valley, all eyes stopped and turned to the formation as the draw of power pulled at them.
The Feral Gnolls turned and began a yipping, baying, screaming charge at the formation. Behind the platoon, the gates closed and the magical shields slid through the air. The two closest magic shields extended the lines of the wedge almost to the wall, while another two hung in the air over the platoon. The shield wall waited as the slavering gnolls came screaming. Hollis called out, “Steady! Prepare to receive a broken charge.” Darron began to draw in the air in front of him. Runes of power glowed where the wand’s tip passed. The word formed, Darron slashed through the word, and a ripple of energy spread out and down into the earth in front of the shield wall. Spikes of stone no taller than a hand sprouted in a field in front of the human defenders. As the Ferals began to run into the field of spikes, their howls turned from fury to shrieks of pain. Some fell from having a foot impaled and then fell bodily onto the spikes themselves. The few that made it to the shield wall were quickly dispatched. Wali made a note of the word and effect, intending to teach it to Yacob, who should be able to do something similar.
The Ferals came in a steady stream, the regular gnolls not far behind them. The armed ones stopped their charge some distance away. “Ready bows!” Called Hollis. More than thirty bodies of Feral Gnolls lay bloodied around the shield wall. Another forty or fifty gnolls stood before them in a ragged line. The archers drew their bows and prepared to shoot in a low arc over the heads of the shield wall. “Prepare!” Called Hollis and the shield men kneeled, drawing their shields back at a steep angle, the spearmen kneeling behind them in a smooth, coordinated movement. “Loose!” Ten bowstrings thrummed, and arrows shot forward. “Stand!” Called Hollis and the shield men stepped forward, returning to their previous formation quickly. A wave of power spread out in front of the gnolls catching the arrows in a rippling elastic shield.
“Caster!” Called Hollis, as a gnoll in a ragged wolf skin cloak stood forward. A necklace of bird and rodent skulls hung around its neck, and it was missing an eye. One hand raised, it barked something and pointed at Hollis. Sickly green and black flames shot forward from the finger. Darron shouted a word of power. The flames splashed across a magical wall that shimmered into being in front of Hollis. The flames showered downward, catching the Feral Gnolls’ blood and corpses alight. The stench was terrible and more than one man retched.
Wali turned to Yacob and Darron. “Keep the caster busy. I’ll take it out.” They nodded, and Yacob’s face turned hard. He kneeled behind the shield wall, and a wave of earth rolled forward from his hands. It started small, barely shifting the men in front of him but raising to almost waist high as it approached the line of Gnolls. The gnoll caster spread out his hands and fired blasts of the green-black flames in a sequence of explosions that blew the earthen wave apart. Darron flashed up the wall of power again, deflecting the splashing flames and rock. Darron breathed heavily, taking a knee.
Wali spoke with Gale, “Do you sense the power of the one in the center of their line?”
“Yes! I want to consume his power!” The bloodlust from the elemental billowed out from the spear. Some of the men glanced back, sensing it.
“I’m going to lob you that way,” Wali stated.
“Just throw me already!” Gale interrupted, so Wali did. He threw the spear on a high arc, knowing it would normally land short of the target. At the top of the parabola, as the spear began to tip back to the ground, it flashed forward. A clap of thunder and a blinding flash of light blinded everyone, followed by a thunderous crash. When their eyes cleared, there was a smoking hole with a spear centered in it. Arcs of electricity shot out from the spear, zapping the closest gnolls. All that was left of the caster was a splatter of gore. This did not break the gnolls but spurred them to act. They began to charge.
“Incoming!” Captain Hollis shouted as he put his shoulder to his shield. The rest of the shield wall recouped from their momentary stun at the command. The charging gnolls came in screaming and frothing, weapons raised. They trampled over the fallen ferals, a few stumbling on the stone spikes. Most slammed into the shield wall. The spearmen lunged forward, stabbing out at the attackers: clubs, axes, and swords hammered against the shield wall, which held fast. The shield men held, a few screaming as the iron-bound wood shields were pierced or broken.
Two gnolls climbed over the front line and leaped over the shield wall into the center. Wali turned to one with twin tusk daggers. It held a spiked club that swung down at him. Wali rolled to the side, and Gulli rushed forward at it. The gnoll froze for a second as the totem spirit charged through it. That was all Wali needed as he cut into one thigh of the gnoll, ripping out a chunk of flesh and causing it to stagger toward him. He slammed the poisoned dagger into the thing’s neck, finishing the kill. Yacob turned to the other, caught the swinging woodsman’s axe with a stony hand, and crushed its ribcage with a punch. It dropped instantly, blood pouring from its mouth. Darron had retreated a few steps behind the archers who had drawn swords to reinforce the shield wall.
The fight was over in a little over a minute. Three more gnolls passed the line to be dealt with by Wali and Yacob. Most of the gnolls died fighting, but a few tried to flee. Darron took down two with a shower of stone spears. Archers picked off the other six after recovering their bows. Two men lay dead, sixteen injured to various levels. As the last gnoll fell, the survivors cheered.