The battle
2076 Words
There's a weapon used by all cultures, effective, cheap, practical, and lethal.
The tunnel is narrow, the goblins are many. They run, with insane eyes towards them. Sam and Luke are shooting non-stopping. Many of the shots go through the target and kill the goblin behind as well. They are good at their jobs.
"Nice shot!" the men repeat, many times. The bowmen shoot and keep shooting until they run out of arrows. More than fifty goblins have died. The formation is solid. Goblins and shields clash.
In perfect synchronization, the first line pushes them back and opens the path for their spears, and these penetrate the unprotected flesh of the little demons, reaching the ones behind, instantaneously killing them in the process. Then, without wasting a second they pull out their spears while putting their shields in the way of our countless enemies. The goblins hit the wall like water against the shores as Sam said.
"Again!" León commands.
The warriors push the enemies back, and thrust once more, this time the second line joins. They thrust and pull out, thrust and pull out. Forty green corpses end up laying on the ground, and the wall of shields raises again. The red rose knight and his men advance, slowly, but constantly and firmly.
Once they learn that their enemies are lethal the goblins try to retreat, but they end up stuck, pushed by their comrades who don't know why their first lines want to escape.
The knights keep thrusting and pulling. The range of the spears is extremely effective here. The goblins try to surround them, but they are fast using the light spears. They kill them and any of their attempts don't work.
Leon listens to his warriors gasping for breath, he smells their bodies sweating, tired as they keep killing. If any of them falls the whole unit could be compromised. He doesn't pretend to die here.
"Sir Dominic, it's time," he declares.
The wizard takes one of the three sixteen inches rods hanging from his belt. They are special torches, and their fuel is extremely volatile. One could say that they are as powerful as dynamite.
The wizard kneels and lits one on fire. Only a wizard of his caliber can control the energy of such an item. The fire lasts only ten seconds and gets extinguished as its energy is redirected towards the bodies of the knights. It's a powerful spell cast in the perfect moment. It allows the warriors to kill the remaining goblins and reach their nest in the center of the cave. They split and secure the two entrances to the nest and kill the rest of the goblins.
There aren't any survivors. Their corpses have been used and even eaten. Leon can't imagine the pain they suffered and his warriors' morale is down. They got there too late.
They burn the corpses of goblins while the wizard takes care of the human corpses, then he replenishes his powers with that fire so he could be ready for the following battle. It's not the most respectful thing to the fallen, but they need him at his full strength.
"We will need more men, sir," he says.
"What do you mean?" I answer.
"We have killed three hundred and fifty goblins, none of them was a patriarch," he informs. Goblins are like a virus, to reproduce they hunt males of any species and drain their seed using any method at hand, the seed changes while in contact with the patriarch and grows up in two weeks as adult goblins. That's how armies of goblins appear from nowhere.
"If we find the patriarch and we kill it our mission is done," Leon tells him. "But we won't stop there."
"What?" says Sam.
"If we leave them alive, another patriarch will surge with time, then another small army, then more men will be kidn*pped, tortured, and killed horrendously," he remarks, some of them turn pale, some others are about to return the contents of their stomachs, some of them did it twice already.
"Even if we try we can't kill them all," says Dominic. "Do you understand that?"
"But the more we kill, the more time we earn," Leon replies. "Are you with me?"
"I am!" Luke answers. Leon sees the rage in his eyes, the same rage that gave him power and saved his life many times in another place.
"We are with you, lord Leon. We will kill until the last of them," Sam adds. "Those bastards deserve it!"
"Well then," adds Dominic. "It seems that they came from this tunnel." His spells end.
The tunnel leads to the other side of the mountain, to the borders of the dark forest. The goblins didn't come from that forest. Did they?
"I don't think they came from the forest," Leon states.
"No, they didn't," Dominic says, pointing at the smoke that is rising from a small town two kilometers on his left, it's built at a prudent distance from the forest, right on the mountain's east side.
"It's…" Sam begins.
"A fortress," Luke completes.
With a wall, archers, and towers, it's a well-defended place with only two entrances, one in the north and one in the south. They could defend the north and escape towards the south or do the opposite.
"What now?" asks Dominic.
"How many are they?" I ask.
"Around five hundred, also it seems that they have two trolls in their stalls," Dominic replies.
"There," Leon points at the big rudimentary house in the center of the pseudo fortress. "Make it burn."
Dominic chuckles.
"Do you have any idea of what you are asking?" Dominic replies.
"Can you do it?" Leon asks.
"I can do it… in theory," he answers, tapping the two remaining rods on his waist. Leon grins.
"In theory, what do you need?" he asks.
"A good distraction and protection so I could concentrate," he says.
"That's our job," Sam declares. "We will protect you with our lives if necessary."
"Hey!" someone protests. Leon is sure it's Paul. Then Paul adds: "You'll have to kill them all no matter what, Dominic."
"I will," the wizard says.
"When we are back the drinks will be on Dominic," Leon declares.
"What?" Dominic responds, but nobody hears his protest.
"Is that true?" Luke says, smiling. "You are the best, Dom!"
"And we thought you didn't like us," Paul says, embracing Dominic. The wizard mutters a curse but concedes. He probably hates Leon.
"Tomorrow we will approach through the dark forest, covered by the rocks on the mountain. Then we will approach through the black forest," Leon explains. "Today we will spend the night here. Take their positions."
They don't set a fire and eat bread and dry meat while protected from the cold weather by thick capes. Nothing important happens in the night, only that the goblins go hunting, but it doesn't matter to Leon, not even his armor slowly becoming uncomfortable matters. To Leon, all that matters is the full moon.
He spends the night hypnotized by her light, and his soldiers notice it, but they don't say a word, they remain vigilant and silent. The moon turns his evolution into nothing more than a memory. She is gorgeous all night and Leon doesn't want that instant to end. It ends.
When Leon least expects it, the sun is there, and its light reminds him that he's a child of the eternal night and that the night is in his heart. He raises his hand towards the moon, slowly disappearing from the sky, he tries to reach her, to touch her… it's not her reflection in the pond anymore, not a dream. He knows it's impossible, he will never get her, and still, he tries. He will try.
"Titania…" Leon whispers. The cold breeze of the dawn hits his face, breaking the spell, he has chills, the low temperature banishes his slumber, and he's back to the realm of the living.
"Good morning, gentlemen," he tells them.
"Good morning, my lord," they answer, one by one.
"It's time. Let's go," he orders and they move. Death is waiting ahead or is she with them, are they her heralds?
They doubt a second entering the dark forest because nobody enters the dark forest, but Leon does not hesitate, nor does Dominic. The knights follow them.
They enter the forest but far enough not to get lost, or be detected by the goblin guards. They advance as quietly as they can, ready to engage in battle. For one second they think they hear horses and a carriage. They stop and pay more attention. Their hearts nervously pumping blood fast are the only thing they hear. What they heard, the carriage was probably their imagination and nothing more.
There's a reason why everybody avoids this forest. It's dead and cursed and not even animals live there. The soldiers get relaxed, but Leon knows it was a carriage. He is sure about it.
"What do you know of this forest?" he asks Dominic.
"The god of the forest rules these lands from the bottom of the western mountains to the shores in the east. He forbade any life here says the myth," Dominic says. "Be careful and don't touch the trees. If you get wounded you'll get the curse of decay and you'll die horribly."
Leon grins. He feels no god in these lands, but he senses something more in the forest, and under the depths of the ground, something very bad. The trees didn't die because of magic or a curse. Something horrendous has twisted their existences and the curse that lays on the land is the only thing holding that illness from spreading to the rest of the world.
Burn the forest… burn it all, Leon thinks.
The trees are not dead, but they aren't undead either. They are something horrible beyond that.
What happened here? Leon thinks.
Now that he has changed he can use magic and some of his old memories have helped him understand his change. It all began when he made love with Maria, awakening his succubi nature and his real powers.
Maria… he thinks of his pretty little doll, his woman. His chest feels warm and good. He wants to have her between his arms as soon as possible.
"You've heard him, men," he says. "Do as Dom says."
"Yes, sir," they respond. They walk for three hours more until they get to their destination.
"Sir, there are just four guards, they move slower than they should. We have a perfect window of opportunity for us to approach," Sam informs.
"It seems they are gathering supplies, food, and weapons. They will move soon I think," adds Luke.
"Well done. Now come. This is the plan," Leon begins.
They attack at noon.
They approach the walls of the small fort covered under their hoods and by rock formations, always keeping a low stance, perfectly timing the position of the guards. Sam and Paul tie ropes and they climb the wall from different sides, the others follow them. Once they are up they kill all the sentries and set them in reasonable stances.
They move to the only tower in the south. Three more goblins die there. They don't detect the knights either. Then the breeze changes its direction and Dominic turns pale. Luck has ended.
"Paul, Luke, support our wizard," Leon commands.
"But sir," Paul protests, holding his stare, but Leon's eyes are too much, he looks away. Leon leaves Dominic accompanied by six men and takes four with him. The others stay on the wall with bows ready. The trolls start growling, and the goblins roar, finally detecting them. But they haven't detected how many knights there are. The battle begins on the stars of the walls.
The goblins attack, showing no mercy, and neither Leon and his eight men do.
Arrows bounce from their shields, their spears can't penetrate the armor. The only advantage of the goblins is their numbers but those don't matter with the nights there on the stairs. They can't stand a chance against the shields and the perfect formation and their possibilities go down, even more, when the other three knights join the formation. Dozens of goblins fall. The knights are winning until the green demons understand that and decide to play their last card.
The trolls are set free.
- Writer
