“They rode wolves into battle, wolves!”

‘Surviving Legionnaire’s account’: Investigation into the Goblin raids of Norbury, 598 IC

Chapter 14

“What the hell is this Hale!” Wil whispered, furious. The group had hidden behind one of the nearby ruins as soon as they had spotted the Goblin and Orc army.

The Cavern was shaped like an amphitheater, with the buildings in circular rows in successively higher levels. They had entered though a crack in the cave wall, higher above the city, allowing them to look down. Tucked far away, the group was out of sight from their enemies for the moment.

“I don’t know, there should only be a few dozen down here, a hundred at the most! They only raided a few farms and traders, and we didn’t spot any Orcs with the raiders.” Hale exclaimed, trying to make sense of the situation.

“That’s more than a few dozen!” Anise said, pointing at the main city.

“Did Weller lie to everyone? They didn’t say anything about an underground city or an army!” Erinn asked the others.

“Maybe they didn’t know? There are tunnels leading everywhere, maybe they only saw the prisoners and the shrine.” Victor reasoned.

“But where did they come from? There’s no way they were here the whole time, and they don’t breed that quickly.” Gunther said, looking from one face to the other.

“No, they don’t. If it was a small group migrating to a new home, they would need years to reproduce this many. And the Orcs didn’t get here from above ground, Goblins can travel in small groups unnoticed, but someone would have spotted that many Orcs moving.” Wil said, thinking about the situation.

“There must be a passageway, connected the ruins that one of their tribes. Maybe the Orcs only recently discovered it?” Wil finished.

“Then the goblins we fought in the other raids were scouts for this Orc army?” Erinn asked, looking from Wil to Hale.

“Probably sent to scout and prepare the tunnels to the surface. Now that they’re here, they won’t leave willingly. It’s too good of a place for them to settle Its easily defended, with the trade routes and nearby farms to raid for food.” Wil reasoned, turning to Hale for her thoughts.

“They would have had to travel a fair distance, the nearest Orc tribes are over fifty miles away, in the hills to the east.” Hale shook her head, not readily agreeing with Wil.

“Doesn’t matter, we need to leave, now!” Anise whispered, before creeping back towards the exit.

“She’s right, nothing we can do about that.” Wil said, pointing at the city. “If we stir up trouble, we won’t make it out, let alone rescue the prisoners.” He turned and began to follow Anise.

“What about the prisoners, are we just going to leave them?” Victor asked, horrified at the thought of leaving people down here.

“We’ll report back, maybe the Legion will send a bigger rescue party.” Hale lied, before sighing deeply. She knew that there was no way the Commander would approve that. She turned and followed her companions.

She had hoped that they could follow through, distract the Goblins for a time, while the other teams rescued the prisoners. They couldn’t do that now, not with an army ahead of them. She only prayed that the others weren’t overwhelmed before they could leave the tunnels.

As they made their way from the ruined city, back to the narrow passageway they arrived through, they were startled by loud horns sounding from the city.

Turning, Wil saw that the Orcs were now pushing and shoving the Goblins to form ordered groups, before leading them from the ruins at a run. Wil saw them entering nearby buildings, dragging stragglers from their hiding places before leaving the city through cracks in the cavern wall.

Wil also spotted Goblins riding wolves through the city, screaming and hollering as the made towards the tunnels. A loud, thrumming sound erupted from the ruins around them, the loud horns causing the disorderly groups to begin marching.

Thinking that the Orcs and Goblins were heading after one of the other groups, Wil and his companions were surprised when a large force split from the others and started moving quickly in their direction.

“Goblin Horns, they spotted us!” Hale whispered, before rushing towards the passage, the others following swiftly. Squeezing through the crack, the group quickly moved through the narrow passage, emerging from the other side by the ruined building they had passed earlier.

Before they could make it pass the building, Wil saw a large shadowy figure tackle into Gunther from the side.

Rushing forward to help, Wil was stopped by a group of goblins blocking the way to the ledge. Running towards the group, Wil was forced to dive to the side as a knife was thrust at him from a small Goblin.

“Ambush!” Hale shouted, drawing her sword and facing the group of Goblins.

In the confusion of the fight, Wil was not aware of how many enemies they were facing, he could only concentrate on the opponent in front of him. The small goblin, frustrated that he had missed, and seeing that Wil did not draw his sword, leapt at him.

Wil concentrated, forming a wall shaped spell matrix in front of him. As he pushed his mana into it, he shouted the incantation, causing the matrix to fold and collapse around him, forming a barrier between him and the goblin. The goblin was forced away from Wil, deflected by the barrier, knocking the creature to the side.

Wil channeled him Mana to create a mote of fire, gripping the small flame in his hand and hurling it at the goblin at his feet. It struck the goblin in the chest, engulfing it in flame briefly, before the goblin rolled on the ground, extinguishing the fire.

Wil readied more fire, but his concentration was broken as something heavy slammed into him from behind, knocking him from his feet and disrupting the spell.

The barrier held, protecting Wil from harm, but as he tried orientating himself where he lay on the ground, the small Goblin jumped on top of him. It stabbed downwards, shattering the Mana barrier and its knife slammed into Wil’s chest.

Wil’s armor held briefly under the attack, before buckling under the sharp blade. Wil managed to shift slightly, the knife missing his heart, but burying itself into his shoulder.

Wil knocked the Goblin off him with his knee, leaving its knife buried in his shoulder. Exhausted, low on mana and in agony from the knife wound, Wil climbed to his feet, drawing his sword with his uninjured right arm, his left hanging useless at his side.

The Goblin quickly climbed back on its feet, but it was unarmed. It eyed Wil’s injury, then the sword in his hand, before dashing towards him again.

Wil lifted the sword and swung it wildly downwards at the approaching goblin, leaving a long gash on its chest. It continued running towards Wil, screaming as it did so.

Barreling into Wil, the pair fell to the ground again, rolling from the Goblin’s momentum. The movement was agony to Wil, as the knife in his chest twisted and was ripped away. Coming to a halt, with Wil on top, he slammed the hilt of his sword into the Goblin’s head. Again and again he hit the creature, until it finally stopped moving.

Rolling of the goblin and falling on his back, Wil lay without moving. His deep, harsh breaths the only indication he was still alive.

The wound on his chest was like liquid fire, and he could barely move from the exhaustion he felt. His fight with the Goblin had only last half a minute or so, but he could hear the fighting around him end.

Turning his head slightly, he looked towards his companions. He could see a yellow robed figure making its way to him.

“Hold still.” Victor said, holding a bandage against the wound on his chest, near the shoulder. Wil waited, expecting to feel the Sun God’s warmth enter his body, healing his wounds. When it didn’t happen, Wil looked at Victor confused.

“No healing left, had to use it on Hale.” He said simply, bandaging Wil’s wound and helping him to his feet. Wil leaned heavily on Victor, a result of the injury and the exhaustion sapping the strength from him limbs.

Wil could see that his companions were all alive, but in rough shape. Gunther was covered in dust and blood, leaning on his sword wearily. Hale had lost her helm, and her quilted armor hung in tatters off of her.

Anise was sporting another scar on her cheek, and Erinn was walking with a limp. As he assessed Victor, he could see that the priest was doing better than his companions. “I was in the back.” Seeing Wil’s gaze at his unharmed appearance, Victor guessed Wil’s thoughts.

Wil saw that their enemies were a half dozen goblins and a large Orc. It was a miracle that they had made it through alive. Walking over to the others, they could clearly hear the approaching Goblins and Orcs. The enraged creatures had nearly made it to their location, they would be on them in moments.

“The ledge, now!” Hale said, seeing that Wil was on his feet.

The group rushed to the ledge, Victor holding on to Wil as he grabbed the rope and began to shuffle across the narrow ledge. Erinn was the in the lead, she would cover the others when she made it to the far opening, Hale was in the rear, protecting the others as the crossed.

They had made it halfway and were in the process of crossing the broken ledge the Goblin trap had destroyed, when the Goblins reached the ledge as well. They were led by a heavily scarred Orc warrior with a massive, spiked hammer.

Seeing that they would escape, the Orc grabbed a Goblin’s knife and cut the rope hanging on the wall, giving it a pull with all its strength. The strength of the Orc pulled the hooks from the stone wall with a loud series of pops and snaps.

Wil, who was focusing on crossing the gap, had been gripping the rope tightly as the Orc pulled. With a lurch, Wil fell sideways, twisting and throwing out his arm to brace his fall.

In dismay, Wil watched as his injured arm collapsed and he struck the ledge heavily. Unable to stay on the ledge, he started to slip over the side.

Grasping at anything nearby, Wil tried to halt his fall, while Victor struggled to grab a hold of him. But it was too late, and the group watched in horror as Wil fell into the darkness below.