10th of Hematite
A hazy mist filled my vision, scenes of a great temple being built only partly obscured by the cloud. I was seeing the grand edifice from above, though in my mind, I knew that was impossible. Drums rang out from the four points of the temple, and a great fire rose to obscure my vision with smoke. The sound continued though, penetrating the haze with an uncanny clarity.
I awoke, covered in a light sweat despite the coolness of the air. I could still hear a throbbing in my ears that I knew to be the pounding of my heart. But there was another throb, lower that sounded through the stone. Sounds of many feet, too small to be human, too loud to be elven or kobold, too light to be dwarven. The goblins had come again. In my minds eye I could see them approaching, half a hill crest away from the fortress. I lay in silence for many minutes wondering if I was beginning to go crazy. Led was breathing rhythmically in the bed across the room and I found myself focusing again on the sounds. I could still hear them, but was unsure now of their reality.
That is, until the watch above us cried out.
"A vile force of darkness has arrived! We are besieged! Raise the gates!"
The sound of heavy iron gates being raised from the ground was clear to any in the neighboring building, but the goblins were not quite there yet.
It was some time before the gates were droppped again, allowing the goblins into our ready-made trap. I wasn't sure who was coordinating the combat until I heard Aardvark barking out commands as he approached the main gates. He was only a wall or two away from me, and with soldiers coming in and out of the building his voice carried on the light wind easily.
Apparently there were five groups that had been spotted. Two from the lower east, and two from the upper west and a fifth from the upper east. When the gates went down a mighty howling and scraping of metal on metal filled the air as the hate-filled goblins began pouring into our home, treading on our silvered road and making their way to our gates where they hoped to overwhelm us. Four of the groups were inside our trap when it sprang shut. The fifth group had made no move to enter, remaining instead on the upper slope prowling about our wall. I heard Aardvark order some archers up there to pick them off as well as possible before the main attack could begin.
Apparently Melonius was the first to make it up there, though Fre wasn't far behind. I heard them arguing as they came back down. Rather I should say, Melonius was arguing with Fre, insisting that she'd taken two of his kills, goblins that he'd injured first. Fre saluted Aardvark and reported that the goblins on the slopes had been driven off. Five had been killed by her hand.
I could see the exchange almost as if I were present. Melonius behind her sulking since he'd only gotten two injuries while she had stolen her kills, assuming, erroneously, in his mind that since she was the cook and he a true marksman he had the greater skill with a bow and that it was her luck that had granted her the feat. Secretly, I think Fre had simply grabbed a larger quiver, not that her skill with a bow was inferior to Mel's. After she reported she gave Aardvark a peck on the cheek and told him she'd have a hot meal for him when he finished up here and went below. Waving his hand in dismissal Aardvark waved Melonius off as well, turning to Kuli and Zuglar, both speardwarves in the army.
The goblins got to stew in the trap for a few days. I could hear them beating on the walls from time to time, checking to make sure that they were sound, and trying to find a way out of the goblin deathtrap that Dorenemal had become.
Several days later as I was meditating during a night I could not sleep, I felt the gates being eased open. Aardvark, Kuli and Zuglar slipped out into the chill night air as silent as possible given the fact that they likely wore full plate and were armed to the teeth. The goblins in their foolishness had separated into groups in our halls and slowly the three crept along, slaying goblins that saw them before a general alarm could be raised. The nearly score goblins on the ramp and near the upper gate perished in a combined assault as Aardvark rapped on the stone, signalling the engineer to fire the newly installed ballistae overlooking the upper gate-hall. They had two shots, but were very effective. A single heavy bolt slew three, passing clean through the surprised first goblin and clipping two others, one in the side and the other in the head. It was not long before they bled to death.
That was the moment the three charged the remaining goblins. Kuli took the lead charging into the pack and stabbing out on his left and right, causing fear and confusion in the ranks of enemy before focusing on a single victim which he stabbed and bore to the ground beneath his spear, twisting it in the wound until the goblin stopped thrashing. Aardvark and Zuglar were approaching from behind, catching up after picking off a straggler lower down on the ramp. Kuli spun, catching a blow meant for him on his weapon, and a second on his shield as he brought his spear in tightly before thrusting out at the goblin's head. It took the goblin in the eye, lodging firmly in the wound, and falling out of Kuli's hands as the goblin fell to the ground unconcious. Being unarmed didn't stop him from beating two goblins to death and finishing off the one that had his spear lodged firmly in it's skull before the battle was over.
The three retreated back to the fort to rearm quickly before heading out again, Kuli grabbing a spare weapon just in case. The final group of goblins was out near the eastern gate, camped on the cliff-side in a group numbering roughly thirty. The three approached stealthily, spotting the group from around the corner of the building before charging. Aardvark led this time, with the other two flanking him paces behind. I was exhilarated just sensing the battle, the clash of steel on iron the cries of goblins as they were thrown, or jumped from the cliff to escape the wrath of the three juggernauts from Dorenemal. Almost the entire group was pinned against the bluff as the three rushed in, and later during clean-up the corpses of four goblins were found at the bottom of the cliffs, one in the lake a good thirty feet from the rock face.
The siege had been swift and brutal, but not dangerous for us. I heard of only a single serious injury, a mason on the upper walls that had been hit by a bolt of crossbowgoblins as they were coming in. His wits and reflexes saved him by jumping behind a section of wall. No other injuries had been reported. Ten goblins had gotten away, the group that hadn't entered the fort proper. Seventy goblins lay dead, staining the silver road red.
((That's Aardvark in blue, Kuli in white and Zuglar in yellow.))
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Topic: Geshud Osod, the Fortress of Bones (Community/Story in Legendary Lands) (Read 101499 times)