Thirty Eight: Tides of War

Quest Completed: prerequisites met 2/2 Quests Completed

New Skill unlocked: Bastion - When Iron Blooded is active, you can absorb a percentage of the damage being dealt to you. When the meter is full, you can release the stored damage in a blast of AOE energy

Interesting. I read through the text again, considering my options.

Skills were invaluable, and if they could stack, or at least compliment each other, then I would see a steady increase of power of time.

That coupled with the fact that each had several upgrade slots made me think that my skills would scale with me as I leveled.

I closed the window and leaned against the parapet wall. I was chewing on a strip of dried meat from my inventory, ignoring the leathery taste. It was better than nothing, and all I had on me.

Hours had passed since the Khan’s son had pulled his bloody stunt. The corpses of the fallen slaves still lay uncontested on the ground.

Every once In a while I would scan the faraway war camp, looking for any signs of movement. The war beasts prowled the perimeter of the camp, red scales flashing in the flicker of flames.

One look at their fangs told me that a Sand Drake was more than capable of shredding a man.

Whether armor would be enough to stop these beasts if they made it through the wall, I didn't like to guess.

I pulled my canteen from my belt and drank sparingly. My men and I would be on the wall indefinitely, and I was uncertain when there would be time to refill them.

Glancing up at the tower to my right I could see the group of soldiers now manning the ballista. It was one of four such weapons and our greatest edge against the Host.

They were also, I suspect at least, the main reason the Host had yet to advance. Each ballista boasted a long wooden shaft the length of a man, with a barbed steel head.

It was made to shred through beasts and Orks like wet paper, and I was glad of the reassurance.

Runners had been set up from the Garrison building in the center city, all the way to the wall itself. For now, well-rested soldiers were our greatest strength. The Orks had the numbers and their strategy would be to tire us out, wear down our men, and let the fear fester.

To that end, we kept the watches on the wall brief. I was fresh off my third hour-long rotation of the night. Draxus stood nearby, leaning on his spear as he gazed across the plains.

“It’s always the calm before the storm that puts me on edge." he confessed. "Once battle starts it’s chaos, but it’s measured chaos. Only you and the man beside you trying not to fucking die. But this… this uncertainty..."

He opened his canteen and lifted it to his lips.

“It’s torture. Wish I had something stronger to drink."

“Yeah, I know that feeling.”

I stood, trying not to look at the corpses as I grabbed my shield from where it leaned.

“I’m going to do the rounds. Someone has to make sure Kato doesn’t fall asleep.”

Draxus nodded, but his eyes were far away. He was lost in that place he always went before a battle.

A cool breeze whistled through the eye slits of my helmet, stinging my eyes. I strode from point to point on the wall, checking on my men and making sure each was alert.

It helped them to see my presence, to see the lack of fear in me. Or at least the confidence I showed them. Morale, I'd come to learn, can be the deciding factor in a battle.

"To follow you, men have to trust you," Blackthorne had told me. "They need to believe you're worth dying for. Then, it's your responsibility to try and keep them alive. You'll fail, it's inevitable in battle. But you never stop trying, Blackbriar. That is the burden of a leader."

First Sergeant Locklan stood between two ensconced torches. At my approach, he turned his head and nodded.

“Ser William.”

His face was half shrouded in shadow, and the light of the dancing flames gave him an eerie cast. I stepped up beside him and gazed out towards the distant enemy.

The smell of smoke was faint but ever-present. Locklan rubbed at his bloodshot eyes.

“It’s too quiet,” he said.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

He was frowning. “I don’t like it. Orks can see well in the dark, far better than us, It doesn’t make sense for them to wait until morning to launch their attack. With the daylight, they'll be at a disadvantage. And our archers and ballista will make them pay for it."

He sighed. "I guess it just doesn't make sense to my mind."

“Maybe they aren’t in a hurry,” I said. “It’s not like we have anywhere to go. We’re trapped here, and they know it.”

Locklan grimaced.

“Not a cheery thought, that.”

We stood in companionable silence, two men facing down a storm. I thought of a dozen things I could have said, all of them more hollow than the last.

The truth was that we knew what we'd be facing. We also knew our odds.

There was a whistling sound form somewhere below followed by a soft thunk.

"Did you hear that?" I asked, reaching for my sword. Locklan didn't reply.

I glanced over at him in time to see an arrow protruding from his eye.

His body swayed forward, and I lurched to catch it. I was far too late. He tumbled forward, his hip striking the wall - and then he went over.

I was already shouting an alarm as I tugged my sword from its sheath.

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There was a soldier, one of Locklans men, several paces down the wall. He turned towards me, mouth open in surprise.

The grappling hook caught him full in the chest. Barbed hooks ripped through armor and with a gurgling scream, he was slammed backward into the side of the parapet.

I swore, darting forward and bringing my sword down on the rope.

The rope itself was thick and the angle of my swing took away much of my sword's power.

I had to hack at it for a good thirty seconds as arrows whizzed by my helmet to bounce against stone. Finally, the rope came away, and I heard the roar of an Ork warrior as he plummeted fifty feet toward the ground. Sᴇaʀᴄh the N0vᴇlFire(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

The siege had begun, and it shouldn't have been possible. Dozens of men had stood watch, myself included. And yet there had been no sign of the host approach.

Now, we we caught off guard and in the open.

I checked the pulse of the soldier impaled by the grappling hook. He was already a corpse, the red of his blood leaking over stone.

Moments later the alarm went up.

Lifting my shield to cover my body I risked sticking out my head to glance straight down.

Shadowy figures of Orks hugged the wall.

There were many of them, far too many to count. But how? Was the city already breached?

I sprinted back towards my men, waving my sword to Hade.

The soldier turned, and I could see the fear in his eyes.

“They're at the walls!” I shouted. “Send word. Send a messenger to the garrison. We need reinforcements now.”

Another grappling hook whistled through the air, catching on the lip of the wall.

Draxus tried to hack at the rope but a volley of arrows made him duck behind the battlement wall.

“How the fuck?” he asked between panting breaths. “We’ve been on watch all night. Dozens of men all looking out for any sign of a threat. This… shouldn’t be possible.”

I shook my head.

“It isn’t. Even under the cover of darkness, there is no way we wouldn't have seen them, not when…”

I trailed off. Draxus stared at me.

“What?”

“It was when they killed the prisoners," I said slowly. "That whole display was a fucking distraction. They wanted us to let our guard down. Every eye was on the Khan’s son."

Draxus swore viciously.

"It will take the garrison ten minutes to get here, maybe more. We thought we'd have advanced warning. Will, it's your call but we need to decide what to do."

I met his gaze and held it.

"The only thing we can do. We fucking hold the line until reinforcements arrive."

I rose, lifting my shield up to catch an arrow whizzing towards my face. It stuck in the wood, quivering. I could hear the shouts of city archers as they tried to fire back.

The angle was too steep and every time an archer would lean out far enough to get a shot, an Ork arrow would catch him in the chest or neck.

More grappling hooks crashed against stone all around us. The ropes went taught as the Orks began to ascend.

“No time!” I shouted to Draxus as he lifted his sword to try to cut at the rope.

We were already on borrowed time. There was only one way this fight was going to go. I turned to my men.

“Form up on me!”

Hade shouted commands and all around me my men pressed in. I could smell the oiled leather, and sweat. Feel the fear leaching off of them. Right now they needed me to be their leader - and so I became him.

“We hold here,” I called, grateful for the steadiness of my voice even as my heart hammered in my chest. “We hold here until the garrison arrives. We give no quarter. Show no mercy. If we die, we die among the bodies of our enemies."

I turned my helmet, catching sight of the pale faces of the city guard. There were less than a dozen of them, and without their First Sergeant to guide them, they were terrified.

Still, they hefted their swords and shields and prepared to face off against whatever came over those walls.

I caught the eye of a wide-eyed boy, no older than sixteen or seventeen. I nodded to him, and he nodded back.

“You’re a man today,” I told him. “Stand with me, soldier. For your mothers and your brothers. Can you do that?”

His lips trembled but he squared his shoulders and gripped his spear. “Yes, Ser William.”

And then the time for talk was over. From the flickering light of the ensconced torches, the hulking shadows of Orks climbed out of the darkness.

“Ready!” shouted Draxus. The line of men around me tightened. When the first head appeared, A spear thrust caught the Ork under the chin. He gurgled, releasing the rope and tumbling back downwards.

The second learned from the mistakes of his predecessor. He raised a buckler, deflecting the spear blade, and made a grab for it.

I stepped forward, stabbing him through the open face of his helmet. Blood ran thick over my blade. The Ork slumped forward before slowly sliding off the wall.

An arrow dented my helmet, knocking my head to the side.

“Shields up,” I called down the line. No sooner had I said the words than barbed arrows flew out of the darkness to bury themselves in shields. Hade stumbled as one bounced off his chain mail. There was no respite.

Moments later an Ork clambered over the wall and onto the battlements.

Up close the beast was massive. His eyes were red, his horns black and curved into wicked points. He bellowed a war cry lifting his Axe over his head. Three spears caught him in the chest and neck.

“Well, that was dramatic,” said Kato as the dead Ork crumpled.

N sooner had the words left his mouth than another took his place. This time two Orks made it onto the battlements. One managed to stab at me with a sword. I caught the blade on my shield, stumbled and only just managed to dodge the second thrust.

I tried to slash at him, but the Ork had the advantage of the reach. He stepped backward and avoided the slash. More clambered over the walls, a growing tide of enemies.

I caught a glimpse of tusks before an Ork warrior bore down on me. He crashed into me with the force of a speeding train.

The line buckled as I was forced backward, boots scrapping on stone.

I caught the sword blade on the lip of my shield and managed to score a slash along the Ork’s thigh. It bought me the time I needed to right myself.

Kato shoved forward with his own shield and together we pressed the growing tide Orks back toward the edge of the wall. I dug my feet in as we shoved with the rest of the line, grunting and snarling. I could hear the blood rushing in my head from the effort of simply holding ground.

“Push,” I growled as the men around me heaved.

“Spears.”

My men lifted their spears and, as we had drilled many times before, thrust forward and high. Orks grunted as blades bit deep into red flesh. Two of them dropped, but it was far from enough. We were being pressed from the front and sides now, elbows banging into each other.

A sword hacked at my shield, sending splinters flying.

I cut at the Ork’s unprotected neck and had to turn my head aside as blood fountained. A man to my left screamed as an Axe blade slammed into his shoulder, splitting him open from neck to chest. He fell and my men rushed to close the line.

“We’re being pressed back,” Roared Draxus from somewhere to my right. I tried to look, tried to catch a glimpse of my friend but all I could see were horns and red eyes.

Another man fell, his body adding to the pile now growing at our feet.

And they kept coming. I hacked off the sword arm of an Ork, only to nearly lose my head as another stepped in to thrust at me. The blade scrapped my helmet as I leaned aside. Blood trickled into my eye.

I blinked as the salt stung my vision. My soldiers rallied, shifting formation from a line to a defensive grid. I took my place among them, even as I feared the worst. We were being pressed slowly and inevitably backward, and the numbers were overwhelming.

Jorgen stumbled to one knee. I could see blood trickling down his mail, but I couldn't tell how serious the wound was. An Ork warrior stepped forward, looming over him.

Jorgen faced his end with face uplifted, and I saw no fear in his eyes. Had I led him to this? Had I led us all to this? The thoughts tasted bitter on my tongue.

Skill Activated: Iron Blooded

Skill Activated: Bastion

I blinked even as the blood continued to trickle into my eye. I had been given one chance. I stepped forward and in front of Jorgen, lifting my shield and catching the blow meant for him.

It was strong enough to make my arm ache but there was no time for regret. I stabbed and slashed, blade skating of armor as I tried to drive the Ork back.

"Get up soldier," I called over my shoulder. Jorgen was staring at me with wide eyes. I cut down one Ork, and took a brutal blow to the side of my helmet. My ears were ringing from a blow that might have killed me.

Instead, a blue bar had appeared in the corner of my HUD below my vitality. I snarled.

"Come on you fuckers!" I screamed. "Come on then!"

I could barely see from the steady drip of blood in my eyes. Barely hear anything but the sound of Ork bellows and growls as they came for me. I managed to cut down two of them but was quickly overwhelmed.

Battered to my knees, bleeding and panting I checked the status of the blue bar. It was full.

"Will!" called Draxus from behind me. I could hear the urgency of his voice as my friend tried to fight to my side. It was useless. There were too many Orks between us. I spit blood and turned my head.

"Stay back," I told him. "And hold unto something."

Then I raised my shield and, as an Axe swung down for my head, I slammed it against the ground.