Time. Everyone desperately needed more time, but they were on the clock, so they all had to make do. The entire militia was exhausted after their ordeal, and they all knew that they would be facing an even larger force the very next day. Rest was essential.
Unfortunately, they also had to prepare for that fight, and there was much to do. Messengers were sent with a report of the battle. It had taken two and a half days of marching to arrive, but their four fittest members were expected to run much of the way, and all through the night, so they would arrive the next day if all went well.
Members from each squad were delegated to preparing food and setting up tents, while the majority started cutting wood. It was just as hard as Yaric had thought it would be, with their long halberds being awkward and clumsy to use. They also weren’t designed for chopping wood, but they were simply making rough stakes, and they were good enough for the job. No one stopped until there were at least five stakes per person.
Then they all collapsed to eat and sleep.
Yaric and the others didn’t have that option, however. They had a battlefield to prepare.
“It’s still close enough to their territory that we could lure them there,” Lauren said.
“But this village here is closer,” Li Na argued. “The goblins might go there instead.”
They were sitting over a hand-drawn map of the region and discussing the best location for the battle.
“I agree, the terrain there is ideal, but Lina is right. The goblins might break off to attack the closer target,” Sven said.
“I’ll be bringing them to wherever we want,” Yaric replied. “They won’t break off.”
“And you’re willing to risk that?” Sven asked.
“There’s no risk. If we lose this fight, they’re going to rampage regardless. And they will hit far more villages before turning back. Giving ourselves the best chance of winning is the best chance of saving that village. And a lot of others too.”
“We could set up here as well though,” Sven countered, getting a nod from Li Na. “It’s more isolated.”
“And it’s not quite as good,” Yaric pointed out. “But it’s also much further from here, so getting there will tire everyone out, and there will be less time to set up. And then the field is so wide that there is a much greater chance of being enveloped.
“Lauren’s location is narrower, and the flat ground is on top of a small hill, so we can start at the crest with the goblins coming uphill. It’s easier to get there, the militia will have more time to set up and rest, I’ll have more time to thin the goblins out, and it’s the goblins that will arrive tired and spread out. The difference is huge.”
“We’d need to warn that village,” Li Na proposed. “They can decide if they want to stay so close to a goblin raid. I’d bet that some goblins break off to attack them while we’re fighting the main force. We can’t let them be surprised.”
“Yes,” Yaric agreed.
“So we send another messenger then,” Sven said. “What about the battlefield?”
“You guys set up on the flat hilltop, right at the edge. You can use the stakes to create a better defensive position, and the militia can hold off the goblins as they run all the way up the hill. There’s enough to have two rows of stakes. One to break up the charge and force a stop just as they get in range of the front line, and a second row of stakes under those halberds, so the second line can more easily keep goblins back.”
“That’s pretty standard,” Lauren said, though her tone indicated that she expected more.
“If tomorrow is anything like today, it’s not going to be enough,” Yaric admitted. “Not even close. The starting position isn’t just to kill goblins though. I want to try to buy more time for the four of us to inflict more damage with spells, and the change to an uphill charge will force them to bunch up more while giving us an easier shot. Every minute we can hold the crest will mean hundreds more goblins killed.”
“And then?” Li Na asked.
“And then we’ll be forced to start retreating when the militia starts getting worn down. They were barely able to hold their weapons up when the fighting ended today; they won’t be able to hold out against several times as many when we fight tomorrow. We retreat slowly, absorbing the charge, while the goblins throw themselves against the halberds.”
“That will just delay the inevitable,” Sven said. “And not by much. I don’t see how this battle plan is going to give anyone a chance to survive.”
“It’s not, you are. You and Lauren and Lina. I’m going to leave tonight to start harassing the goblins and lead them to the hill, but you three need to leave as well so you can start casting spells on the field.”
“What spells?” Lauren asked. “We can’t cast anything that doesn’t have an immediate effect.”
“I know,” Yaric grinned.
It took almost an hour to decide on exactly how they would implement Yaric’s plan, as there were simply too many variables to set down specifics, but everyone was comfortable by the time they were finished.
Yaric even had time to eat and get a few hours of sleep. Augmentation would allow him to cover the distance to the first outpost in just a couple of hours, so he didn’t need to leave immediately.
“Be careful,” Lauren warned. She hugged him awkwardly around his armor and equipment. Sven shook his hand and nodded in agreement, while Li Na settled for a light kick to the shin.
“Don’t make us come find you,” she added.
There wouldn’t be any time to arm himself when Yaric brought the goblin army to their established position, so Yaric had to take his bow, quivers, shield, and sword along with him.
“The Corporals would make you run laps,” Lauren laughed, looking at everything Yaric was carrying.
“They’re not arcanists,” Yaric smiled. “At least I’m not wearing a hood.”
Lauren gave him another hug, and then he was off, heading out into the dark night. He’d been very careful to keep away from fires or any other light sources before then, so his night vision was already almost as good as it would get, and he made good time.
Yaric didn’t slow down until he got close to the site of their previous battle. Approaching cautiously, Yaric strained to listen for movement. It would make sense for the goblins to have sent scouts ahead, and the site of a previous battle would be an obvious starting point for them to head toward in the morning.
Shadows moved ahead.
It took several minutes of watching for Yaric to work out what they were doing. At least a dozen shadows were moving around the field, leaning low to the ground before slowly moving off to one side. They were stripping their dead of weapons.
No one would be coming this far the next day, so Yaric didn’t feel any need to waste time trying to take care of the scattered goblins. It would be difficult in the dark, and he would likely miss many of them anyway, so he carefully skirted around the edges to avoid detection. That didn’t stop him from hitting four of them with wind blades, however. Every goblin that fell was a goblin not attacking their lines later that day.
Several squads of goblins forced Yaric to pause or change course as he made his way toward the outpost he had originally attacked. There was too much chance of individual goblins getting away and raising the alarm, so Yaric stuck to his training and avoided taking out any patrols. Even goblins were likely to notice if a patrol went missing or, worse, if the bodies of a patrol were found. Getting close to the satellite village without detection wouldn’t be possible if he picked off their screening force.
The final approach was particularly difficult. Dozens of goblins moved along the hills opposite the village, constantly moving and patrolling in overlapping sections. There were plenty of gaps between them, but those gaps closed and shifted repeatedly.
Yaric was forced to take a risk he hadn’t expected.
Grass tickled his face as Yaric crawled his way up the hill, pausing at the slightest sound or movement. It had been easy to watch the moving silhouettes when standing and looking from a distance, but now, with his head just above the ground and the grass extending above his head, Yaric found his vision reduced to a few meters around him. The smell of dirt and grasses was heavy in his nostrils, and the feeling of dry blades bending underneath his weight was matched by the soft sounds of crunching grass. It was barely audible, yet the crackle of grass right beneath him sounded entirely too loud in the darkness despite the noise coming from the village just over the hill.
Every foreign sound could be a patrol passing nearby. Even worse, the more obvious noises set his heart pounding in his ears, making it difficult to be sure that the fading sounds he heard were from the patrols moving away.
Yaric took his time, crawling forward so slowly that it felt like he wasn’t making any progress at all. The last thing he needed was a patrol attacking him while he lay prone on his stomach. The crest of the hill finally appeared ahead of him, and Yaric had to hold himself back from rushing over. Two more patrols passed before he felt confident in crawling over the top.
There was still danger, and Yaric was technically surrounded now that he had passed through the outer perimeter, but just knowing that the patrols were looking out, while he lay on the inner slope, was enough to help him relax somewhat. Yaric still took his time crawling down the other side, however. It was simply impossible to forget that there were goblins at his back.
Dropping down the slope offered some cover from the patrols above, but Yaric couldn’t go too far down if he still wanted to be able to get a good view into the village, so he stopped when he was just a third of the way down.
Careful use of earth magic allowed him to create sharp spikes of rock without launching them anywhere, which Yaric pushed slowly into the hill above him. Each one raised the ground slightly, tearing roots and shifting dirt to create a small mound. The extra height gave great cover when Yaric lay below the mound, eliminating all possibility of seeing him from above.
More spikes raised the ground around him enough that the grass created cover from the sides, leaving Yaric to painstakingly lift sections in the middle to create a space for himself to lie down, wrapped in his blanket and with his weapons placed across his chest. Then each section of grass was placed over the blanket, forming a small hump and leaving only his neck and head exposed. Grass hid his face from view while still allowing him to peer out at the small fires visible between the wooden poles that formed the village boundary.
Yaric’s cover was far from good enough for him to spy on the village all day, and the Corporals would have thrown a fit if they could see his shoddy work, but it didn’t need to be perfect, or even very good. His main concern was the patrols above him, and the mound he’d made completely obscured his presence even without the grass covering his body.
The view from the village was a different matter, however. They would look directly onto the slope, where only his blanket of grass provided cover. Worse, he didn’t have any way to separate his cover from his body, so the grass shifted slightly with his shallow breaths. But it would pass a casual glance, and he didn’t expect any close examinations by the goblins inside. Besides, he wasn’t planning to hang around after the sun rose.
Even from where Yaric lay, watching the comings and goings through the crude wooden wall, it was clear that there were far, far more goblins than before. Small fires were out in the open and scattered amongst the spaces between buildings, crude spears leaned against each other in small pyramids, the tips forming scattered peaks every few meters, and near constant fights broke out between wandering goblins and those they woke up, usually by tripping over them in the dark. It was clear that there were a lot more goblins than the village could house.
All the while, no one inside the village ever bothered to look out into the darkness beyond their walls, while the patrols along the top of the hill shuffled past overhead without ever raising an alarm.
Yaric was starting to get thirsty when the sky finally started to light up. He couldn’t see the sunrise on the horizon from where he lay, but the sky slowly started turning grey as the stars began to fade. Dark silhouettes gradually began to morph into rough wooden poles, and the intermittent arguments inside gave way to a constant babble of chittering and barks.
Initially the plan was to launch an early attack, just when the goblins were about to leave, so he could catch them by surprise and push them to give chase, but it soon became clear that the goblins were nowhere near ready to leave.
Fires were built up and goblins began tending to their weapons, with none looking like they were about to march out or even in a rush to get going. Important-looking goblins called groups together on multiple occasions, surrounding themselves with mini hordes before giving what appeared to be speeches. Each one ended in a chorus of cheers and screeches, before the goblins drifted away and went back to sitting around and doing their own thing.
Yaric had to wait until mid-morning before there was any sign of the goblins leaving, and by then the tension was almost unbearable. He’d been lying in place for hours, including more than four hours in daylight. Trying to get past the lookouts now would have resulted in the entire horde being alerted long before he could get off any attack, but his position was becoming more precarious by the minute, so seeing goblins begin pushing their way out of the gate was a great relief.
Those in the front didn’t start making their way up the other side as Yaric expected, but they all stopped at the small stream below the village, drinking and splashing their faces. More and more goblins were shoving their way through the exit with every minute that passed, causing the crowd at the bottom to continually spread out along the stream, and moving the near edge closer and closer.
Yaric took a deep breath, his spell pre-formed and ready to go, and then slowly shifted his arms to take hold of the weapons lying across his lap.
The Corporals had taught him that sudden movements would only attract attention, so Yaric didn’t leap to his feet and burst from the ground as he so desperately wanted to. Instead, Yaric forced himself to sit up casually, gripping his shield and bow as he did, and then stand up as if he were getting up in the morning.
Yaric had already secured his bow to the attachments on the back of his armor, and he was just adjusting the straps of his shield when the noise around the stream began to fade away. Dumbstruck goblins stared up at him, with more and more beginning to notice the random human casually standing beside their camp in the shadow of the hill, one arm holding a shield while the other brushed the loose dirt from his armor.
Much of the shadows fled as a fireball flared into life and flew across the gap, not into the goblins gathering below but straight into the crowd gawking from the gate.
Boom!
The explosion knocked two dozen goblins over, many of which never moved again, while also sending a short-lived, swirling mushroom of flames into the air. A second sailed through the rising cloud of fire and smoke to impact within the camp, while two more finally went downhill to strike the goblins assembled around the stream.
The cries and screeches were deafening.
Just like an anthill, the goblins inside went from impatiently waiting to get through the gate to swarming over the walls, their furious screeches only urging those around into an even greater frenzy. Yaric began running up the hill while some of the lookouts ran to intercept him.
Wind blades intercepted them first, and Yaric was on top of the crest and in the clear without ever needing to draw his sword. He took the time to throw several more fireballs into the chaos. At this point in the plan he needed to get the attention of the horde, and the more angry he made them the better. Yaric let out shouts and taunts of his own, doing his best to ensure that his voice could be heard through as much of the camp as possible. Explosive fireballs tore holes through the flimsy walls and detonated inside clusters of goblins.
Yaric needed to be careful to ensure his attacks didn’t disrupt the goblin’s exit with something like fire, but the holes he made in the wall only increased the rate at which the goblins exited. He would need to run once large numbers started to threaten the position, so it was essential to have the goblins exiting as quickly as possible. Slower exits would mean a more extended line when they chased him, and he couldn’t afford to allow the goblins at the rear to divert toward nearby villages.
By now the nearest goblins were only meters away, so Yaric threw his last fireball and turned to run, making his way down the other side of the hill. More wind blades fired over his shoulder took out the nearest goblins, allowing him to slow down somewhat so the main horde could catch up. Yaric also managed to get enough time to unstrap his unused shield from his arm and clip it into the harness on his back, making it much easier to run.
A few more goblins approached, more than what he could cut down with wind blades alone, so Yaric drew his sword while casting with his free hand, cutting down the rest with steel as large parts of the horde watched impotently, too far to do anything themselves. That only spurred on the cries, and soon the horde was in a frenzy.
Their planning the night before had assumed that the goblins would leave at daybreak, requiring Yaric to attack much earlier than he had, but one of their main objectives had been to delay the goblins for as long as possible. This Yaric still did, leading the horde on a wild chase that zig zagged through the countryside.
The zig-zag pattern was not random either, as Yaric moved away from the nearby villages he’d seen on the crude map, doing his best to anticipate their actual positions and ensure that the goblins never got close enough to be tempted, or worse, close enough to run into actual villagers going about their day.
Yaric paused whenever possible to launch spells at the chasing goblins. Besides keeping the goblins away from villagers while leading them to their chosen battlefield, Yaric’s other objective was to thin out their numbers as much as possible. Looking at the horde spread out behind him, Yaric felt like they’d made a mistake with that part of the plan. There were so many goblins chasing him that he wasn’t likely to have any real impact on their numbers before arriving at the battlefield. He’d never even caught sight of the rear of the group, being forced to continue running while more goblins still crested the furthest hill.
He did catch sight of the palanquins, however, indicating that the chieftains were nearby. All three of the palanquins that he’d spotted were empty, with their owners no doubt running on foot in order to keep up.
Stopping to cast spells also became more dangerous as time went on. More and more slingers joined the front runners, and Yaric had more than one stone impact his armor. A strike to the head would likely be deadly with the entire horde on his heels.
Goblins also began to spread out more, and Yaric soon found himself genuinely running to survive. Where he had been slowing down in the beginning to ensure that the goblins could keep him in sight and keep up the chase, now he found himself racing to escape pincer movements and attempted ambushes. Thrown spears began flying past in addition to the increase in whistling projectiles from the slingers.
That didn’t stop Yaric from throwing more spells over his shoulder, however, and he began favoring explosive fireballs once again as he drew closer to the battlefield. The others were likely already worried about how long he was taking, and the sound of explosions should give ample warning. Creating explosions that wiped out large groups and knocked pursuers off their feet was a big help as well.
The final stretch required another change in strategy. Where before Yaric had wanted to keep the goblins bunched up for the chase, he now wanted them spread further out, so the militia could defeat them in detail. The last thing they needed would be to have the entire horde descend upon them in one big mass.
Incendiaries proved very effective, as each one created patches of ground that had to be avoided. Goblins that got impeded then got in the way of others, causing even more chaos and slowing additional sections down. Yaric’s patchwork spread of incendiaries hindered the movement of hundreds of goblins.
Many goblins were actually ahead of Yaric when the battlefield finally came into sight. They were far off to the side and attempting to encircle him, but the line of militia at the top of the next hill would make that impossible.
Yaric was running with his sword in his hand, cutting down the goblins that got too close. Several stones had already struck the shield on his back, and one had struck his hamstring hard enough to make him stumble. The goblins were close to overwhelming through pure numbers.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
There would be no jumping over the line this time, not when he was running uphill with the line of militia at the crest, with rows of sharpened stakes planted before them. Yaric fumbled with his shield while he ran, unhooking it with one hand and flicking it upward to push his arm through the central strap. It wasn’t very secure, but he only needed it for a moment.
Lines of halberds were lowered when Yaric neared the top. A hatchet-armed goblin angled in towards Yaric, forcing him to slow so he could cut it down, while one on his left pressed forward with a spear.
Yaric blocked, stopped just before the first row of stakes, and swung his sword while turning, cutting the goblin’s torso in half. Two stones struck his shield nearly simultaneously, and with both hands occupied, Yaric anchored his spell to his face and sent a stream of flames downhill, swinging it left and right to clear the area around himself.
More stones rattled off his shield as he carefully backed up toward the militia, picking his way through the stakes as he went. They parted without a word, and Yaric rushed around the back of the lines to meet with Lauren on the left flank. Goblins were already throwing themselves against the lines.
“We were getting worried,” Lauren said, throwing explosive fireballs as she spoke. The militia was cutting the goblins down without a problem at the moment, but this was just the vanguard. Still, not a single goblin had made it into the narrow field of stakes, and the longer that lasted, the longer they could stay in place and use their advantage. There were so many goblins that they needed the bodies to roll downhill, which wouldn’t happen with goblins killed inside the line of stakes.
“They left late,” Yaric panted. He sent his own fireballs downhill to join Lauren’s, though he focused on the far left and primarily used incendiaries in an attempt to coral the goblins to the center. Anything that dissuaded a flanking movement was useful.
Goblins began to arrive in greater and greater numbers; however, even worse, the number of stone projectiles began to grow significantly. Yaric and the others began to focus on the slingers, but the injuries kept increasing. There was nothing serious yet, not to the extent of taking someone out of the fight. The real problem was the fact that they had only just begun, and the battle was going to be far more challenging than the previous.
Soon the palanquins made their appearance on the far side of the goblin horde. Large goblins were already inside, watching the battle while surrounded by some of the most impressive looking goblins in the horde.
By now the density of attackers had reached its peak. Already tired and then forced to run uphill, the goblins weren’t able to mass an overwhelming number of fighters at any one moment, but they just kept on coming.
Goblins on the flat ground below made their own contribution to the horde’s efforts, their screeching war cries and sheer numbers making the horde seem like an insurmountable foe.
Some of the goblins were more intelligent than expected, at least from the perspective of those trying to defend against their onslaught. More than one goblin died while pulling up a stake, either sacrificing itself for the others, or simply not realizing that there was no chance it would survive the attempt. It didn’t matter either way because the rows of stakes were very slowly being whittled down, adding to the difficulties faced by the flagging defenders.
Lauren made the call. “Odds, make the switch!”
Others echoed the call, and every second fighter in the second row moved forward to replace the person in front of them.
“Evens, switch now!”
The previous scene repeated itself, only now the remaining fighters switched out. It wouldn’t make a significant difference, as the second row was also involved in the fight, but the intensity would be reduced. The change helped them make it just a little longer.
“They’ve already killed more goblins than yesterday,” Lauren huffed, looking down at the endless surge of goblins.
“How far do you think they have left?” Yaric asked, sending another ball of flame downhill.
“We’ve probably cleared maybe twenty percent.”
It wasn’t good, but they still hadn’t had anyone killed just yet, while also clearing out even more goblins than the day before.
“They have more experience this time,” Yaric noted.
“They actually have some experience this time,” Lauren replied.
It couldn’t last forever, however. There were simply too many goblins, and no one in the militia was physically capable of fighting that long.
“Time!” Sven called, shouting from the other side of the line.
Yaric looked down the line and noted the exhausted expressions on the faces of the militia. Even the movements of their halberds had slowed, and the stakes everyone had prepared were almost all gone, removed by suicidal goblins.
“Agreed!” Lauren shouted back.
Sven stepped away from the line so he could face everyone. “Begin the retreat!” he bellowed.
The militia stepped back and started moving slowly backward, facing the goblins as they did and striking them down as if nothing had changed. But things had changed, and the further back they went, the worse things got. Goblins cresting the hill now had the space to begin running again, this time on flat ground, and the pace of those attacking the line started to increase significantly.
One benefit of the halberds was the fact that the sharp spike on the end could only penetrate so far before the axe head impacted the goblin’s body, which in turn knocked it back and cleared the halberd for the next thrust. This came in handy as goblin after goblin charged into their lines.
Several goblins managed to get close enough to stab with their spears, but no one had suffered any significant injuries yet. It was pure luck, and it couldn’t last.
Yaric felt the sticky ground beneath his boots before he saw it, and Lauren’s glance confirmed it. They were almost at the second prepared line.
A stone struck someone’s head just then, knocking them out. The teenager crumpled instantly and had to be dragged back by the floaters. Another took an axe to the foot and stumbled back and out of the line, screaming at the top of his lungs.
There wasn’t far to go, but the militia were exhausted and almost at their breaking point.
Still the goblins surged forward.
They cleared the area Lauren and the others had put together and continued their retreat, heading for lines of stakes lying flat on the ground in front of prepared food and carefully arranged waterskins.
After a full minute of retreating further Yaric saw torrents of flames surge from the opposite flank, and Yaric and Lauren soon copied them, casting the same spells they had used the day before increase the power of their flame spell and lesson the pressure on the militia.
They didn’t have far to go.
Someone else fell, this time with a spear through the throat. More and more goblins were getting through the worn-out lines of defenders, increasing the rate of casualties.
Stakes rolled beneath Yaric’s feet on his next step backward, but Lauren was already shouting down the line. “Hold your position! Just one more minute!”
Lauren threw a fireball over the heads of the goblins, with the other three soon joining her. Two actually stuck goblins directly, but the rest landed on the ground, bursting into flame and spreading their incendiary fluid far and wide.
Flames spread like a wave, swallowing an area that covered the entire width of the battlefield and extended over forty meters deep. It even arched around both the defenders and the goblins, discouraging any attempts to go around.
Of course, none of them were capable of casting incendiary spells that covered that much ground, but none of them needed to. Lauren, Li Na, and Sven had spent most of the morning casting their regular incendiary spells, only without any components to ignite them. The flammable fluid had burst out on impact without burning, and repeating the spells just built up a larger and larger area of the incendiary liquids.
They would have made the area even larger if they could have, but it took a ridiculous number of spells to fill the area they had, and there simply wasn’t enough time to cast anymore. Still, they had found a way to effectively precast spells, and the goblins paid dearly.
The pitch of the screeches changed drastically as the wave of fire spread out, engulfing all the goblins already within the wide area. Most didn’t last long, with only those nearest to the defenders managing to make it out alive, while the others quickly fell silent. Yaric knew that the fluid had most likely reacted with the oxygen while exposed on the ground, or maybe the grass itself just needed to burn off, but he couldn’t help but see the thick black smoke that rose up when the fire first started as coming from the goblins that had fallen within the flames.
There were still a lot of goblins inside the area between the defenders and the edge of the flames; however, some burnt goblins managed to continue their assault while still screeching in pain. It didn’t change much, as seeing the end of their ordeal so close at hand was enough to give the militia a second wind, and they cut down the remaining goblins without any further casualties.
That had also been a part of the plans Yaric and the others had drawn up the previous night. They could wipe out the goblins they caught in the trap, or they could do that while also cutting off a manageable group of goblins from the rest of the horde, which the militia could then defeat in detail while the other goblins burned. This way they reduced the horde even further before taking a well-earned break.
“Fall back to the final line and plant your stakes!” Sven shouted. “Stick to the plan!”
Everyone moved back and placed their halberds on the ground, spikes facing away and to the rear, and then went back to gather the near rows of stakes. They quickly started pushing them into the ground, points angled toward the horde, forming an uneven and random field just as large as the previous one, almost two meters deep. The front line of the militia would be able to attack goblins before they moved into the field.
Then everyone moved back to the food and collapsed where they were. Sven helped the injured as much as he could, but all they could do for the injured foot was bandage it up, and there was nothing he could do about the head injury. Yaric didn’t recognize the man who’d been hit in the throat. He was already dead.
Water went down easily, but most people were struggling to eat. Yaric and the others had to move around encouraging everyone to just chew and swallow. Many were trying to eat with hands shaking from adrenaline and fatigue.
“It’s too quiet,” Yaric said, huddled together with the other three.
“The goblins are waiting for the fire to die down,” Lauren pointed out.
“He means the people,” Li Na said quietly, twisting to look at the militia laid out behind her.
“They’re all just sitting there,” Yaric added. “No one is talking; they’re just staring at everything around them.”
“It’s shock,” Sven said. “They still haven’t dealt with the things that happened yesterday, and now it’s happening all over again. Only worse. Every time I talk to one of them I become more and more convinced that they were brought here without any honest explanations of what to expect.”
“Do we leave things like this?” Yaric asked.
“There is something.”
Sven gestured for everyone to follow and started moving down the line. He paused at the first squad leader he came across and knelt down to speak with him.
“Have you checked your squad and their equipment?” Sven asked.
“Sorry, sir?”
“No sir, necessary; I’m not an officer,” Sven replied. “That fire is buying us the time we discussed this morning, I’m just checking to make sure that you’ve all made sure your squad mates are okay and aren’t sitting quietly with injuries no one knows about. And that your equipment is still okay to keep fighting with.”
“Uh… not yet.”
“Just make sure you do it before that fire starts to die down. It’s something you can do even while you rest.”
Sven stood back up when the squad leader nodded, and only then did Yaric realize that Sven had been talking much louder than he usually did. It still sounded natural, particularly with crackling flames not too far away, but his voice had undoubtedly carried. Three other squad leaders were already going through their team.
Two more stops were enough to get everyone checking on their squads, and the distant stares and shocked silence quickly gave way to concerned questions from teammates and confident confirmation on the state of various equipment.
The fire was starting to die down by now, but there was nothing they could do about it. It was far too large an area for them to make any difference before the fire died out. Besides, no goblins would be charging across that area the second the flames disappeared, as the fire had already been burning for over ten minutes, and it would still be going for some time yet. The ground would be too hot to traverse long after the fire had disappeared.
Yaric and the others began casting incendiary spells in small areas between the defensive line and the fire, not to catch any goblins within, but to create barriers that would break up any assault. The biggest downside to their chosen tactic was that the horde would now be gathered and bunched up on the other side of the fire, and they needed to prevent a tidal wave of goblins from charging down their line once the assault resumed.
It wouldn’t happen immediately, even without any obstacles, as there were certain to be goblins who braved the searing hot ground earlier than the others, but as it cooled there would be greater and greater numbers of goblins willing to rush across the burnt field, and they would soon reach the point where they could overwhelm the militia. That’s when the additional patches would be ignited, to break up any waves too large to withstand.
Most flames were ankle-high by now, with the thick layers fueling the fire having been almost entirely consumed. The palanquins had been brought forward after the goblins nearest to the fire had become overly excited. Yaric wasn’t sure, but he thought that they had likely believed the fire was to give them time to run away. The excited cries had only started when the fires had died down enough for the diminutive goblins to see the seated militia.
Yaric met the malevolent gazes of the chiefs and communicated in the only way he knew the goblins would understand, by jabbing his fist at them. Most of the goblins laughed, thinking the outcome of the battle was already a foregone conclusion.
The people seated in organized rows had more than twenty minutes to relax before the first goblins started attempting to cross the burnt field. They didn’t make it across, but it was good for morale. Two goblins tried first, only to turn and run back, hopping and screeching as they did. People were laughing for the first time in days.
All good things must come to an end though, and eventually one goblin managed to hop and bounce its way across. It celebrated for a moment along with the rest of the horde, only to realize that it was stuck facing the entire militia by itself. Not that it mattered. Li Na sent a shard of ice through its chest, knocking it back into the smoldering field.
Soon it was followed by more, and the militia was forced to stand when the number of successful crossings began to exceed the number of goblins that Yaric and his friends could cut down with magic.
The surviving goblins made for a pitiful assault force. Such small numbers were cut down the instant they came into range, often with two different halberds piercing their torsos at the same time.
“Advance!” Yaric called. The bodies were starting to accumulate in front of the stakes, and he didn’t want them to be neutralized before they were even needed. Besides, the goblins hopping their way across the scorching hot ground weren’t focusing on their weapons, and that part of the field would function even better than the stakes until it cooled.
One of the goblin chiefs began chittering in a loud voice, holding the other goblins back. The militia were even able to rest again. Several attempts were made before the horde realized they could cross en mass, and the militia once again retreated behind their thin field of stakes in order to face another onslaught.
Goblins surged forward with hair-raising cries. The small sections of incendiary fluid were quickly set alight, and the militia braced themselves for the resumption of battle.
Everything went according to plan at first. Much of the momentum of the charge was broken up when the goblins were forced to move around patches of flames, and the rest of the momentum disappeared when they slowed to navigate the sharp stakes arrayed against them.
Then one enterprising goblin stepped past a stake, shifted to the side so the stake it had just passed was behind it, then jumped backward, landing on the sharpened piece of wood. The buried end popped out of the ground, leaving the stake flat on the ground. A smug grin had barely crossed the goblin’s face when sharp steel pierced it, but the damage was done.
Stakes on the hill had been placed perpendicular to the ground, as the slope naturally positioned the stakes to point outward, but here they were driven into the ground at a steep angle, and goblins up and down the line began jumping backward to land on the stakes behind them and rip them from the earth, neutralizing the entire defensive field in less than two minutes.
“Slow retreat!” Lauren shouted.
The line began to move backward, abandoning their position in exchange for slowing the rate at which the goblins engaged them.
More slingers approached, peppering the line with projectiles.
People began to tire more quickly now that they had already fought earlier, and several sections started to falter. Streams of fire from the flanks relieved some of the pressure, but four Novices couldn’t defeat an entire goblin horde on their own, and it wasn’t enough.
Then the inevitable happened. A dense group of goblins engaged the center, and Michayla’s squad came to a halt as they furiously engaged the attackers. The rest of the line continued moving.
“Get back here! Close the gap!” Kostas screamed. The second row of his squad shifted to cover the space left by Michayla’s team while floaters rushed to back them up. So many goblins shifted their charge toward Michayla that it was all her squad could do to just hold them off, and the space between them and the rest of the militia widened. Kostas broke formation alone and rushed forward to help them.
It was too late.
Goblins surged around the flanks, overwhelming Michayla and her squad in mere moments. One second there were a dozen people standing side by side against the goblins, and the next there was a chorus of screams as goblins poured over them. Everyone disappeared under the tide at almost the same moment, marked by terrified wails and desperate cries for help.
Kostas was behind them, thrusting his halberd into the horde of goblins that swarmed over his fellow squad leader and his team, but it was like trying to beat back the tide. Goblins fell with every movement, making no difference to the numbers that hacked away at the bodies of the fallen squad. The blood-curdling screams had already fallen silent, but still the goblins cut and stabbed at the broken bodies, while Kostas impotently hacked away at the unending horde.
A reverberating ping echoed across the field as a stone projectile struck Kostas’s iron helmet, knocking him senseless and sending him sprawling. More goblins advanced on his prone form, stone axes raised to hack the dwarf into smaller pieces.
Yaric hadn’t even seen Li Na break away from the flank, but she must have done so the moment the squad had been cut off, because she was already leaping over the heads of the center in a flat arc when he first caught sight of her.
A heavy mace swung down in an almost horizontal trajectory, taking the axe wielding goblin in the shoulder just as he raised it for another strike. One moment it was standing over Kostas, the next it was several meters away, skipping across the ground with its body twisting at unnatural angles.
Li Na’s mace blurred as she augmented herself, striking goblins and sending them soaring through the air, many already split open by the sheer force of the impact. One goblin took a blow to the side of the skull, sending the head flying even further than the rest of the body. Stones impacted against Li Na’s armor, as did more than one spearhead, while Li Na stood over Kostas with her mace whipping around her so fast that the militia couldn’t see. A red shield flashed over her on two separate occasions.
“On Lina!” Yaric screamed, virtually in time with both Lauren and Sven. They raced across the back of the line, leaped over the militia, and unleashed their spells in midair.
Yaric’s incendiary splashed in front of Li Na, creating a temporary no-go zone, while Sven’s array of molten rock tore through the goblins on Li Na’s right, just as she leaned back from a spear thrust to her face that instead left a gash across her cheek. Lauren’s blast of wind sent the goblins to her left careening through the air.
Kostas had lifted himself to his elbows and was watching Li Na in a daze, but Sven grabbed him roughly by the collar and dragged him back, followed closely by Li Na and Lauren.
The axe had cut deeply into the dwarf’s thigh, but the injury didn’t look life-threatening. His head injury was worse, if only because it would limit his effectiveness in the fight, possibly even preventing him from taking part.
‘Goblins always attack those closest!’
Yaric noticed that even more goblins had drifted toward the center while the cut-off squad had stood their ground, and he knew that the sudden surge would break the weakened center.
The line swallowed Lauren, Li Na, and Sven as they pulled Kostas to the injured in the rear.
Yaric raced forward into the oncoming horde.
Even more goblins began angling toward the middle when they saw Yaric racing for the palanquins holding their chiefs, pulling much of the closest creatures away from attacking the line. Yaric slashed furiously with his sword as he ran, deliberately taking blows on his armor so he could cut his way toward the leaders of the horde.
He didn’t make it.
There were just too many goblins, and after a second stone whistled past his ear, Yaric knew he wouldn’t be able to make it any further. He released his spell, bringing down a torrent of air that soon ignited, the flammable gases striking the ground around him and billowing out in a cataclysmic wall of flames.
Goblins screamed all around him. He didn’t keep it up for long, as he still needed to be able to retreat over the now super-heated ground, and most of the screams had already come to a stop.
The horde of goblins were bunched up around him, watching nervously but not advancing any further. None of them had been stupid enough to charge into the flames, so Yaric had only killed off those that were caught in the initial moments, but he did have their attention, and they weren’t happy.
Yaric turned on his heel and raced back, leaping over the wall of goblins and throwing an explosive fireball where he expected to land. The blast blew several goblins back, clearing his landing site and opening a line of retreat. More stone projectiles began striking the shield on his back like before, making him dodge and weave as he ran with his head stopped down.
Wind blades cut down the goblins between him and the militia, and Yaric didn’t even slow when he reached the militia. He got behind the lines the same way he got in front, by leaping over the line of halberds.
Much of the cluster of goblins had broken up, but the respite was brief. More goblins hit the steadily retreating line, and more people fell.
Goblins managed to break through the line at one point, where they immediately began pouring through to attack the line from behind. Li Na raced to close the gap, but another eight fell during the breakthrough, with two of them dead.
Bertram, one of the teenagers in the initial group, fell when he got struck in the head by a slinger. A dozen goblins began to pincushion him before anyone could intervene.
Another squad leader from the first group, Lali, the bookkeeper, had already been pulled behind the line after a vicious gash had been opened up across her stomach. There were no more floaters left to help the wounded, however, as they had all moved forward to replace the injured. Now the elf was lying on her back and clutching her wound, watching the retreating line approach while pushing herself back with one leg in a desperate attempt to keep behind the line that was holding back the goblins.
The line began to buckle, its irregular shape opening up too many gaps for the goblins to exploit. Four more fighters were overwhelmed when a dozen goblins happened to attack them at once, bringing them down with stabs to the legs and feet. The goblins clambered over the flailing fighters and silenced their cries for help with axes and clubs.
Yaric and Li Na were sending streams of flames into the horde all the while, with Lauren and Sven blasting torrents of methane into the spell to greatly enhance the power and range, but it only slowed the inevitable.
The smell was horrendous, and the militia began to fall into panic and despair. The sea of goblins seemed endless.
One of the wounded militiamen rejoined the fight, crouching his halberd under his elbow so he could use it with one hand, his other mangled by a flint spearhead. A stone struck him in the face before he could do more than lower his halberd, dropping him where he stood.
BOOM!
A muffled explosion rocked the battlefield, leaving a towering mushroom of fire and smoke billowing up into the air. Six riders raced over a mound to the left, throwing spells as they came.
A second explosion rocked the battlefield, causing half of the horses to shy away and one to almost throw their rider. All six arcanists dismounted, leaving the exhausted and terrified horses to run from the battle as they themselves charged forward.
One mage stopped and kneeled on the ground. He raised his hand and began sending blinding balls of plasma streaking across the ground, their paths not slowed in the slightest as they blasted through goblin after goblin.
Another swung her arm, sending what appeared to be a line of solid flames whipping through the horde, its extreme length retracting at the end of her swing only for her to repeat the motion in the other direction.
The tallest of them threw what appeared to be a stone, but just before it reached the horde it transformed into a twister, picking up dozens of goblins and tossing them high into the air. It only threw those near the center, but the twister was even more effective at controlling the movement of the goblins, as a wide swath of ground was hit by winds gusting hard enough to force every nearby goblin to the ground.
“They got your message,” Lauren whispered. “And they came.”
Caelfall’s resident arcanists fell on the horde, their more powerful and more advanced magic tearing through the lines. Yaric was surprised to see so many, but he was grateful beyond words when they immediately began annihilating the goblins closest to the militia.
Soon there were no more goblins attacking the shattered lines, and almost every member of the militia dropped to the ground where they stood. Many were crying; others were simply rocking back and forth in silence. The stench was overwhelming. Quiet sobs were occasionally drowned out by the explosions rocking the battlefield before them, though they usually weren’t loud enough to hide the screams of the injured.
“Anyone able and willing, there’s still one more job to do!” Sven shouted. “Some of those goblins are injured but not dead! Those arcanists can’t check every body. If you can, pick up your weapon and follow me. We need to make sure every goblin is dead!”
Not many stood up, but those that did spread out with their halberds in hand. Many walked on shaky legs, and most struggled to keep the business end up, but they followed Sven regardless, driving the spikes of their halberds into every goblin they came across. More and more people moved to join them until they had something resembling a skirmish line moving down the length of the battlefield.
Some fell out after a few minutes, too exhausted to go on. Lauren even had to pull Elinor back. Elinor had stopped to stab the body of a goblin, only to stab it again, and then again, and then again, ignoring the line that continued on without her as she stabbed faster and faster, tears streaming down her face.
Still, they weren’t done yet. Yaric took over from Sven so he could go back and help Lauren. The two of them were the best at treating battlefield injuries, and unless one of the arcanists who had just arrived was a trained healer, Sven and Lauren were needed at the back with the wounded.
Sven and Lauren bandaged the wounded while Yaric and Li Na moved across the battlefield, helping to direct the militia. What was left of them.