“Archers, launch volley!!”

There was barely a moment in between my order and hundred of arrows arcing into the sky.

“”“Garrraaaagghhh!!””

From the edge of the village’s wheat field, twenty ogres roared in annoyance more than anything as the arrows barely penetrated the top layer of their skin. Even from here I could see some of them plucking out arrows like one would remove a splinter.

 Less than an hour had passed before the validity of Aislinn’s warning was proven. The ogres emerged from the eastern edge of the forest, and unfortunately, our defenses hadn’t even been half complete.

Out of the village’s five hundred population, only two hundred and thirty of them were suitable for combat. Of those, less than half of them had any experience beyond hunting and the occasional drunken brawl.

To compensate for this, I tried to place the fifty most experienced guards and hunters on the outer walls rampant with as many arrows as we could gather. The others were divided between smaller units that assigned to specialized tasks and the last line of defense.

Considering that results of the last ogre raid had refreshed within the mind of the villagers, the overall morale wasn’t that high, but their backs were against the wall and the ones itching to leave had nowhere to run and hide.   

So long as they were here I’d get the most out of them.

“Second volley!!”

Once more the Arrows flew into the sky, but before they even reached the pinnacle of their arc, I was already trying to think of a strategy to buy more time. We could only get off one more volley, at best, before the ogres reached and subsequently broke through the wall.

I turned towards my second in command and leader of the guards, Callum, and asked him a simple question.

“How long until preparations are complete?”

“Chef what you asked for is─”

“How long!? “

“At least a couple of minutes.”

I was a bit grateful for that assessment because it was at least something manageable.

“Third volley!!”

““Graaagggh””

I didn’t even bother to watch the predictable results of the volley, instead, turning to the dozen or so men off to my right.

“At my signal.”

The group was composed of the village’s stonemasons and artisans, but their de facto leader managed to nod his head despite his knees buckling. It would have to do.

Returning my gaze towards the ogres below, I began to measure the distance between them in the wall.

Forty feet

Twenty-five feet

Ten feet

“Now!!”

“”Symene rou fo ecaf eth ni gnidleiynu dnats. teef rou htaeneb dnuorg yrev eth, pu esir””

A fifteen-foot wall of dirt and rocks sprung fort blocked the ogre’s path a mere yard away from the wall. Despite the structure's sudden appearance the ogres didn’t even bother to stop their change, slamming headlong into the earthen wall.

Even though more than thirty ogres had collided with it the earthen wall held. However, that wasn’t enough to stop them.

“Gaahhaarr”

After righting themselves, the ogres started to claw out chunks of the dirt from the wall. Had it been a simple mound of dirt they would have cleared it in a matter of seconds, but with each claw-full of dirt was replaced almost as quickly as they were taken.

However, this wasn’t a permanent solution. The earthen wall only covered a third of the wall we were stationed on. Once the ogres realized that, there’d be nothing we could do to stop them from attacking an undefended section.

Luckily enraged ogres weren’t known for their intelligence, and they mindless tried to remove the obstacle directly in front of them. But the strain maintaining the earthen wall was already starting to show on the faces of the mansions and artisans.

They had been selected to carry out this task because of their affinity to earth magic, but that affinity didn’t mean that they had the skill or ability of trained mages. Even now, some of the younger and less experienced of them were on the verge of collapse.

“Chief, we’re ready to go.”

Callum came up to me with the news I’d been waiting for.

“Archers, fall back and prepare for melee combat! Defense management, increase the walls size and density of the wall to its maximum then fall back! Support one, start coating the wall with the concoction! Support two and three, await my command.”

Everyone began to act upon my orders at once, with the archers marching down one ramp as another group began tossing a steaming concoction at the wooden wall out of whatever container they could get ahold of. I even saw a few people using cups and ladles making round trips between the wooden wall and the communal drum the concoction had been boiled in.

Down below the earthen wall thickened to a depth of three feet and stopped regenerating itself as the mansions and artisans all fell to their knees in exhaustion. I couldn’t expect any more from them and ordered a few soldiers to help them down the ramp.

 After reaching the ground, I silenced the others and entirely focused on my sense of hearing. Everything on this side of the wall was deathly silent, opposed to the constant cacophony of roars and claw slashes that came from the other side of the wall.

While it was a difficult task to separate the sounds from one another, I stayed my hand until I was certain the ogres had breached the earthen wall.

“Support two, collapse the wall!”

Although the wooden stood an impressive twenty feet high, it was only a series of large wooden panels held together by a few connecting pegs and supported by the scaffolding behind it.

It wasn’t all that surprising then, that when the pegs were removed, it was a relatively easy feat for a determined group of people to knock the wall down.

Though it stalled for a bit, three sections of the wall were sent crashing down on the heads of the ogres.

“”Garrgghhaa””

The sound of splintering wood and pained cries filled the area as the ogres were flattened under those wall sections. Had the enemy been bandits or less resultant breed of monster, the weight and momentum would have been enough to kill them, but the ogres were a bit tougher than that.

It was a good thing we managed to scrape together enough oil and animal fat for my plan to work them.

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“Support one, dump everything on the pile and make way for support three! Everyone else ready your spears!”

What remained of the concoction was toss onto the pile of the sluggishly moving limbs and broken wood. Once support one was out of the way I gave the order they everyone had been waiting for me to give since this encounter began.

“Support four, fire everything!!”

“Etingi emalf…”

“Llaberif...”

“Onefrni sseldne...”

The chanting of various spells blended into an incomprehensible slurry as everything from fireballs to streams of fire decided upon the oil, wood, and boiled fat covered ogres.

““Aaaaggggghhhhhhhhh!!!”

The smell of burning flesh immediately clogged my nostrils as the ogres were set ablaze, but the danger hadn’t passed yet.  

Some of the ogres were already starting to break away from the inferno. However, what awaited them was a concave of elves armed with speared were ready and waiting to deal with them.

Every time that an ogre broke free they were frantically stabbed until the charred body could no longer move. Unfortunately, there were another twenty or so ogres left.

…

..

.

Thirty minutes. It took thirty minutes before the fires or the spires snuffed out the last of the ogres. The smoke, sweat, and the smell of burnt flesh permeated the makeshift battlefield. What remained of the ogre horde was a pile of butchered corpses and the still burning bonfire.  

By the end of it, we’d lost ten people, thirty or so others had been badly injured, and the everyone else sprawled out on the ground or using their spears to remain standing.

All things considered, it was a far better outcome than one would expect given the situation.

“Alright, anyone that can still stand let's get to work dousing the fire and start moving the─”

““Garrraagh!!””

A shiver ran down my spine as I heard that roar. The ground began to tremble once more as thirty more ogres made their way towards the village. The majority of our remaining combatants were left dumbfounded as they realized that the battle wasn’t over yet.

“Ha… ha hahaha!!”

It was the half-crazed laughter of an unknown man that managed to break us from our trances.

“Hold your ground, remember we’re the only ones standing between them and our loved ones. Don’t falter!”

While I said that, my mind was already trying to overcome this no win situation. My last strategy had been a major gamble, the success of which depended on all of the ogres perishing in one fell swoop. That was the reason, they were heralded right in front of the sections of walls we collapsed with the arrows and earthen wall.

But now, a massive gateway had been opened for the second wave of well-rested ogres and all of our combatants could barely raise their weapons. Even if by some miracle we triumphed, there would be heavy casualties.

As the leader, the responsibility fell on my head.

“Fallback to the inner-wall! Support one, support two, and defense management guard the archers and support three as they retreat!”

While some of them began to move in response to my orders nearly half of them didn’t budge or had already started fleeing.  

“All of you…”

My voice trailed off with a shake of my head. No matter how well they had performed just before these weren’t soldiers, they were regular people that had been pushed well beyond their limits. To expect anything more of them now would be asking too much.

I wish the best of luck to ones that fled, and to the one left immobile… at least they could buy us a bit more time. With a heavy head, I turned my back on those unwilling or unable to follow my orders and ran towards the inner-wall.

It wasn’t long before agonized screams and the wet sounds of flesh being torn from the bone. Those brave enough to look were horrified by what they saw and doubled their efforts to reach our last line of defense.

“Aahhh!!”  

“Nooooooooo!!’

When the ogres caught up to the slower runners our organization fell through, as people began tripping others to save their own skin.

By the time I reached the main gate the two hundred and thirty we started with had been reduced to a mere forty men, while twenty-five ogres bared down on use.

The only thing we could do was hold our ground and take as many of them with us as we could.

“I should have told her I loved her when I had the chance.”

Being trapped by the machinations of fate left me with a strange sense of clarity even as the distance between us and the ogres shrank.

“If we shall fall, we shall fall defending our home!! Htap rouy taht lla nwod ekirts. Edalb ym sa tca ot nopu llac, dinw eth fo stirips!”

Nearly invisible blades flew from my position in a random patterned and cut down a few of the charging ogres.

“”Haaaaaaaahhhhh!”””

With a final war cry, the remnants of our forces engaged the ogres head on. The battle was brief but brutal.

Even as some of my men were impaled by the ogres’ claws and fangs they would hold on long enough to jam an arrow into one of their assailant’s eyes or launch a fireball down their open mouths.

Despite our best efforts, for every one of them, we killed three of our own fell. As the bodies continued to fall around me, I would cast an offensive spell whenever I heard an ogre’s roar.

Without stopping, I cast spells one after another, not stopping even as I felt blood seeping from every orifice and my vision began to blur. In a desperate attempt to continue the fight, I kept trying to continue cast spells.

It was only when I was sent flying and abruptly stopped by a collision with the main gate did I stop and take in my surroundings.

About a dozen or so ogres remained standing and my men had been reduced to bloody slabs of meat scattered across the field. I attempted to stand up, but the new gaping hole in my abdomen made that rather difficult.  

As the act of simply breathing became a chore in it of itself, I could only pray that to whatever ancestor that would listen that at least some of people would get away.

That was the last thought to cross my mind before release was brought at the hands of one of the ogres.