A BATTLEFIELD

Chu followed the shout in the encroaching darkness to find Bon lying on the ground, next to a Multishot. He did not know when the man had left the watchtower to return by the equipment.

"Have someone take him to the medical station. Lucy, check if we have targets for the Multishots."

Chu shouted.

The Multishots worked fine for long distances, but like artillery, the effectiveness ceased in close range combat. Chu realized that he had too few means of suppressing the close range archers.

"Only one Multishot can be used. The string broke on one while a piece of the wooden bow broke off from the other. The spare parts are out in the smithy. Holy crap... nooo!"

Halter cried out in the middle of his report.

Chu looked on as the man carrying Bon, received an arrow on his back, thus causing the two to topple to the ground.

"Lucy! Point out those attacking goblins for Doug to suppress them, Miki, help snipe those little bastards. Halter, arm the Multishot and take cover under the tower. Get someone to carry the injured to the Medic. Hurry!"

Chu shouted. He climbed the rampart while holding his crossbow. Peeping over the wooden fence, he soon understood the problem.

The goblin archers who made it up the hill, would have turned into cannon fodder under his crossbow defenders. This time, however, the empty lodges at the front created a tacticians nightmare.

The goblins hid and climbed onto the roofs, sneak attacking from behind the safety of the buildings. In the darkness, by the time Doug and the others found them, the arrows had already been shot and they fled behind the safety of structures.

"Jim shoot the fire arrows and light up the bonfires. We need light."

Chu hid and carefully aimed at a goblin climbing onto the roof of a lodge. Just when it had drawn its bow, he nailed the little sucker in the chest. The goblin screeched before rolling down the roof and with a thump, fell on the ground.

"Chu the goblins have all scattered, there are only a few escaping across the grassland."

Lucy shouted.

"Halter, remain on standby, make a head count of the group."

Chu instructed. He looked over and fire another bolt at a goblin peeping from behind a building. The goblin scampered and reappeared on the other side, only to collect a bolt from Miki's crossbow. Before he could compliment her, another goblin appeared, aiming and firing.

"Argghh!"

"Doug!"

Chu turned to see Doug slumping down inside the nearby watchtower. The goblin archers did not earn their bows by luck. Given time to aim in the short distance, they could easily find and wound their target.

"Lucy, can you estimate how many more archers are around? These pests are too dangerous."

Chu asked. The casualties came not only from the active participants but also from the unlucky ones caught in the crossfire.

Arrows are like bullets, they really leave the bow without a name.

Chu fired at a goblin trying to aim at the watchtower, causing the creature to skittle away. Jim had shot the fire arrows out into the prepared bonfires, causing them to slowly blaze. The additional light that began to spring up on the immediate surroundings around the farm helped to find and subdue the hiding archers.

"What's the report from Ming?"

"They suppressed the raiders. Right now I think they are still fighting some who came over the walls."

Someone answered.

Chu nodded. He turned to Miki.

"Signal Toll. Have them sweep in and join us."

Miki rushed out and delivered the message to a boy near the barn. In a short space of time, Sue stood on the watchtower on top of the barn, while waving two lighted torches. A little while later, a similar signal mirrored back from the top window of the windmill.

"Dammit! What the hell!"

Chu cursed, as he soon found another problem. A goblin had decided that the arrows seemed ineffective in attacking the barn. In its bid to escape, it grabbed a small piece of wine-soaked wood from the burning bonfire and tossed it on the wall. It snickered and squealed before running away.

"Lucy, give Halter directions! Nail that sucker!"

Chu ordered as he lost his reasoning to the provocative act.

Lucy shouted out directions as Halter once again launched a stream of deadly arrows. The little goblin laughing down the incline soon became shrouded in a rain of arrows, one of which pinned him to the earth.

"Chu there are only about two or three archers around."

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"Take them out."

He ordered. Chu learned another thing about these goblins tonight. Not all of them followed the path of cowards. Some had a mindset as if they wanted to see the world burn. Take for instance the two or three goblins who still put up a fight.

These little tykes seem to revel in the chaos they sowed. Unfortunately his patience tonight was limited. Under the counterattack of Lucy, they soon dropped dead. Her night vision surpassed theirs, and her speed left them unable to react. Only wails and dying sighs came from the battlefield.

Lucy jumped down to the outside of the wall and ran towards the lodge. In a short time, she had slashed the throats of the archers who remained helpless in the wake of her speed. Within a few minutes, the last of the goblin archers toppled from a roof, with a crossbolt sticking out from its back.

The northern skirmish had also reached its end.

Rose faced a goblin raider, who was decked out in a stiff leather vest, and a dirty looking kilt. Unaware of the overall situation, the goblin leered at the teenager, licking its lips with a black tongue. It lunged towards her without a care, looking to subdue the ripe girl through surprise and direct assault.

The agile move negated any chance of counterattacking since, by the time she raised her sword, the goblin would have arrived inside her defenses. Unfortunately, the goblin had not been aware that the girl had neither fear nor surprise at his stellar attack.

The goblin screamed as it found itself impaled onto a horizontal sword. Halfway through its grief the girl raised a foot and blasted a kick on its chest, forcing it off the skewer as it tumbled to the ground. She rushed past the spraying blood, stepping across another green corpse towards another battle.

"Ahh!"

Rose screamed in pain while stumbling. She regained her footing and chopped down on the attacker ambushing from the ground, severing its arm. The teen steadied herself before piercing her sword into the chest of the crawling goblin. Only when she confirmed its death did Rose lean against a building and remove the dagger buried in her leg.

Out in the north grassland, the goblin raiders lay lifeless or gasping for breath. The few who managed to climb the walls had been subdued by the defenders. Some who witnessed the slaughter decided to escape.

While all this happened, a crying goblin streaked across the grassland returning to the safety of the forest.

Pug had crashed into Gorl when the stupid leader seemed to enter into a daze. Together they stumbled forward, only to be caught in a terrible trap.

Pug had escaped the iron teeth by a nose because of this lull in leadership. His kilt had been caught along with Gorl's leg, tangled and seized between the iron maws. Pug had wanted to use the dagger to cut it free from the wailing goblin, who kept twisting and turning in pain.

Suddenly a rapid volley of crossbolts scattered over the ground, silencing Gorl and his annoying whimper permanently. Pug escaped the barrage only because the larger goblin served as a meat shield.

Without waiting for the second volley, nor the outcome of the shouting goblins scaling the wall, Pug stripped and for the second time in his life, ran naked under the moon.

In the cornfield, two goblins huddled together chattering in excitement. After running away from the battle, the two raiders decided to leave a parting gift for the farm. One of them heaped all the dry straw and leaves he could find, while the other busied himself with knocking two stones.

Luckily they had found these stones in the field that gave out some little sparks when pounded together. The firebugs grinned and squealed with laughter on imagining the terrible blaze. Before the arsonist could succeed, the giant shadow of a wolf loomed over the two squatters.

Chu stood on the rampart with Miki and Lucy on his side. He surveyed the battlefield, before turning to Lucy. She noticed his eyes, and answered his thoughts.

"I don't see any others, and besides the goblins who escaped, the forest scent has scattered. I don't believe they will attack again."

Chu nodded. He suspected as much, from the number of goblins who participated in the assault. This attack, however, opened his eyes to his shortcomings.

"Send the message to sweep the farm as a precaution, and also place someone on guard. Leave the goblins until the morning, we will clear the grassland at first light."

He said. After tonight, the last thing he wanted was to suffer more casualties from a dying goblin's last attack. The mental exhaustion tired him out, he needed a bath and some rest. They had survived the night, but their performance, himself included barely registered a passing grade.

A large gap existed in commanding a party and commanding a large force on a battlefield.

***

In the morning, Jim drove a wagon through the grassland, while Ming and the others poked at the goblins with spears. On confirming the deaths, they tossed the bodies, ex one ear, onto the wagon. In the distance, the wood had been piled for cremation.

"I would have never believed that wood soaked in wine could burn so quickly. The boss also made me place a bucket soaked with wine in the middle of the bonfires, you should have seen how the fire blazed up when that caught fire."

Jim sighed. He did not expect those fire arrows to be so effective last night. Sometimes he had to make more than one shot but the bonfires eventually lit up. He sighed in admiration for the Boss. The boy simply boggled the mind with his creations.

Chu walked into the large classroom on the ground floor of the dormitory building. The benches and tables had made way for some small beds lined with single rag-filled mattresses. He walked up and seated himself on the chair at the front. Besides the wounded, the decision makers soon filtered in.

"Lucy is out scouting, so we have ample time for any preparations for another raid. From last nights battle, there are certain things we need to work on..."

***

"How long have you been doing this work?"

"Bout a year, it really became permanent since I lost my party while out hunting a boar."

"Have any complaints?"

"The food could be better. Having to lug around a scoop all the time is also a problem. I would like a bucket, but management can be so terrifying sometimes."

"I know the feeling, it's not my fault those bastards lost. Yet here I am shoveling and cleaning up their shit."

Pug complained, wrinkling his nose as he scooped up a load in the empty cavern. He shuffled to the corner as the group of Raid Leaders led the way for Lord Pocong. The large goblin dropped on the bone chair.

"We have ten Bloodwood archers remaining. All killed. We follow Shaman's edict. Wait for the next full moon. All Raiders hit farm. Then we separate and burn the others. This Lord will personally attack."

Lord Pocong commanded. The loss of the Bloodwood archers weighed heavily in his mind since they had been key to overrunning the villages. He could imagine the rage if word got out to the Shaman in the south. He still had his trump card to play, thinking about the fires stoking within the cave depths.

"We will show the humans why our tribe holds a position of fear among the denizens of the Great Forest."

He smirked while muttering softly...

"Goblin Tide."