Burning oil rained on the beasts that gathered in front of the gates of Caen, the sickly smell of burnt flesh and chitin filled the area as some of the bog walkers screeched in agony, immediately pushing against each other to try and get away from the lethal, falling oil. If this was a smaller group, this would have been enough to cause enough infighting to spread through the horde to disperse them, but any beasts that tried to escape were immediately gutted by the sea of eager claws waiting behind them. There would be no deserters in this siege, from the looks of it.
“Quick! Prepare a refill!” The Guard Captain ordered around, trying his best to prevent the inevitable. “Send these motherless bastards right back to Hell!”
The door kept banging, louder and louder each time, splinters flying as the wood endured each ramming as well as it could. It felt like an actual, synchronized siege, the bog walkers banged on the gate at the same time, until the first cracks began to appear on the mahogany surface, right besides the hinges. Cracks that soon became larger, and longer, spreading like vines all around the doors.
“Everyone, step back from the gates!”
Most people were agile enough to heed the warning, quickly pushing each other away as the heavy gates finally broke, being violently ripped from their hinges and thrown right down. A few unfortunate souls, however, could only watch as the huge wooden planks fell right on top of them, the sounds of their bones breaking echoed even with the sound of clicking and snarling from the bog walkers.
They had officially broken through.
People on the front line immediately pointed their pikes forward, trying to steel themselves and stop shaking on their boots as the horde stomped on the fallen gate and immediately rushed towards them, claws raised and jaws unhinging, showing the rows upon rows of teeth they were oh so eager to sink into tender human flesh, only to feel the bite of a wall of pikes waiting for them.
“Keep your positions! Be brave, men of Caen!”
Impaled and immobilized, the first wave of bog walkers gave way to a second, and a third! All of them were skewered by iron pikes and wooden lances. There was a surge of optimism through the Guard as bog bodies fell to the side… but it soon started to fade, as people on the frontline kept pushing wave after wave of desperate beasts. Soon they realized that killing a few of them had little to no effect on the horde at large, for they truly were without number.
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It was a matter of time until one of the beasts was smart enough to not just rush towards its death, the latest wave of bog walkers suddenly stopping short and, at the same time, grabbing the weapons that had felled their many companions. Panic ensued, as those powerful claws simply snapped their polearms like mere twigs of a famelic tree.
Soon an arm had the same fate, broken and cut in half, blood spraying all across the battlefield.
Someone screamed. The lines trembled and shook as the front line now had to resort to their swords and daggers. The beasts kept their advance and all the guard could do now was face them without the advantage of reach. Someone less courageous would have ran for the hills at this point… and most of the current front line tried. Turning around, ignoring their companions waiting behind them, many soldiers immediately forced their retreat as growling bog walkers gave chase.
“Cowards! Brigands! May you all burn in hell!”
The captain, gruffed and tired old man as he was, decided that his people needed him now more than ever. He took a lance for himself, jumping off from the towers to land in the middle of the advancing monstrosities’ path… surprisingly, his legs didn’t break! And the adrenaline pumping through his veins was enough to keep him steady and unaware of the pain in his old bones as he quickly flourished his weapon. The front line was broken, but the next people in formation were rallied by their leader’s gallantry. Gabrielle had her eyes wide open, staring in awe as the old man killed the beasts one at a time with violent, yet precise stabs through their hearts.
She took a broken pole from the floor and charged along with the second line, jabbing the wooden stick deep into a creature’s maw. The beast stumbled and hit the floor, coughing and snarling before steel reached its chest, Gabi’s sword sinking deeply into its heart. She immediately stood up afterwards, regaining her posture and swinging her sword toward the next bog body coming towards her. Blue blood spilled all over the floor, the stench of burning oil and dead bodies was already dizzying enough to make some of the people on the back vomit.
“Pull back! Pull back!”
The captain was a brazen man, passionate and intense in his beliefs, but still held enough rationality to see when a battle was being lost. He didn’t want his people to die… but they needed to buy time for an evacuation. That was the only reason he didn’t call a full on retreat. Returning to his now front line, the man took a moment to look to the horizon, towards the port. If everything was alright, people would be boarding any boats available and sailing towards Brest any moment now.
With a sigh, the captain turned right around, only to face the beast about to pounce him. His one eye widened, body already preparing for the worst, when the creature was violently pushed aside by a red headed figure tackling it. Gabrielle didn’t even think much, just acted and pushed sword-first into the abomination.
Only to feel one of her arms grabbed by the creature’s claw. Her eyes widened again, feeling how the chitin squeezed her flesh and shattered the bone of her forearm— she howled in pain like never before, for a second even fearing her hand would be cut. Her filthy, thin gauntlets were all that stopped the beast from fully ripping it off. Seeing that it couldn’t simply cut Gabi into pieces, the bog walker used its inhuman strength to simply toss her off to the side. Her body crashed into a nearby smithy… and she remained there, motionless in a cloud of dust…