Lord Of Goblins

'Why now?'

Gelmar soon got his answer after the torch had been thrown. At the time a few of his men reached the barricade and when they tried to climb over it, unintentionally covering themselves with the dark sap, the torch fell on the liquid covered wood instantly setting it aflame and burning the men along with it. Their cries of shock and pain filled the air as they tried their best to extinguish the flames as it sizzled their skin filling their surroundings with the smell of roasted flesh. Another three men have fallen.

'What the f.u.c.k?' Gelmar thought as he and his men stopped their advance. No way in hell they'd walk through a literal wall of fire, yet they can't let Lev retreat.

He tried to keep track of Lev, but heavy smoke from the burning barricade blocked their site.

"We can't let them get away!" he growled, furious at such a blunder.

"Boss! Vyrga's here!" Yelled a man in the back.

Gelmar looked behind and were he once stood at the eve of the battle now stood Vyrga accompanied by Os, Ludger, and a hundred of his most loyal men. Their glares directed at Gelmar as they were ready to take him down in case of failure.

"F.u.c.k!" he cursed loudly.

Panic swept his men as they couldn't figure out what to do. If they retreat they would get killed by Vyrga, if they were to wait for the fire to die out Lev would escape leading to failure and failure also meant death, and if they forced themselves across the barricade many of them could burn to death. They were trapped.

'There has to be a way past this damn thing!' He thought to himself as he looked at his surroundings for a solution, and when his gaze locked on the nearby shacks he found one.

"Men, raid the houses! Get as much water as you can!" He yelled.

Water! That way they could extinguish the flames. They immediately set to do their task.

Screams erupted from the houses once the thugs forced their way inside. Some of shock, some of fear, but most of pain as they either tried to stop the thugs or beg them to not raid their homes which ended horribly.

The men dragged barrels of water and threw their content on the burning wood, quelling the flames.

After doing so, Gelmar raised his axe high and roared "Don't let them escape! Kill those sons of bitches!".

The men roared in acknowledgement and fury. To them, this wasn't a battle, it was a farce. They were injured, tricked, and humiliated by a mere twenty-one weaklings who never stepped on a battlefield before. Even if they won, they won't be able to avoid the humiliation that'll come afterwards. Thirteen of them have died and they couldn't score a single kill! Against miners!

They raised their shields once more to protect themselves from the slingers, which left them confused, as they just realized that there were no more projectiles coming their way. Once they thought about it, they realized that the projectiles stopped coming once the enemy had burned the barricade.

"They did retreat!"

"The cowards!".

"What do you expect from miners!?".

"I SAID ATTACK!" Gelmar yelled catching his men off-guard.

They finally recommenced their charge as they climbed past the still hot wood and onto the other side.

There they saw their enemy once more behind the second barricade, but this time in formation. The shield wall blocked the path barely allowing any openings in their line, the spears were extended over the shields ready to dig holes into the bodies of all those who approach and the slingers stood in the back with their loaded slings, ready to rain death on their enemies once more. It was the exact formation as before, except there were no barrels beside the barricade.

The thugs' expressions changed from shock, to confusion, to dear, then to glee. For a distance, behind Lev's men, were Rak's. But from their looks and the way they blocked the path of retreat, it was obvious what happened. Their enemy is in the same boat; if they fail they're forced to die.

"Hehe... Hahahaha!" laughed Gelmar, as he believed that he understood the situation.

"Umm... Couldn't be a trap, boss?" asked one of the more cautious thugs.

"Hah! You don't know Rak as much as I do. The thing he hates the most in this world is spineless weaklings. He's testing Lev to see if he's worth as much as he makes himself to be or if he's just a sly opportunist making use of a fluke." replied Gelmar, truly believing every word he said. He accompanied Vyrga many times and had a chance to meet many nobles. Many of them could act threatening but failed to live up to their display once put into a precarious situation.

"Lev?" asked the thug, confused.

"That's what Gherm is calling himself. More importantly, now that we know the truth, what do you say we do!?"

"Rip'em!".

"Tear'em apart!".

"Kill them all!".

His men replied causing him to display a wicked smile.

"GOOD! KILL THEM ALL!" He roared before rushing towards his adversaries.

"KILL THEM!" His men replied as they followed suit. Some of them went ahead to protect him for if anything happened to him, all their efforts would be for waste.

Once again, the slingers hurled their lead bullets. In response, Gelmar and his band raised their shields as they charged through. Missile after missile slamming into their shields to seemingly no avail as they marched forth, only managing to bring down two men. One whose worn shield couldn't handle anymore strain as the upper half cracked to a large round shot, allowing another oblong one to claim his life as it smashed against his throat, choking him to death; while the other reached an acorn-shaped one to his knee, shattering it and causing him to fall and smash his face on a jagged rock.

Gelmar grinned as it seemed as nothing would stop them, it looked like they'd finally get to slaughter their target and preserve not only their lives but also preserve their men. The loses would be a setback but his dream wouldn't end here.

"Aaaahhhh!".

"Owww!".

"What the- Aaakk!".

And the grin was gone as the air was filled with screams of pain, including his own. His feet burned as something punctured the sole of his right foot, almost causing him to drop his shield.

"What's happening!?" He yelled before looking down to find a small lead ball covered with four spikes, a caltrop.

"What the heck are these!?" He furiously yelled. Caltrops were never, as far as he knew, used in either goblin or bogey warfare. They were an alien contraption to his eyes.

As he momentarily pondered on the nature of these fiendish spikes, a lead ball slammed into the base of his shield causing him to step back from the force, stepping on another spiked ball leading to another howl of pain.

The battlefield was filled with the wails of his men, as they suffered from both the rain of lead and the spikes on the ground. Desperately raising their shields above their heads to avoid an inevitable death. Another five men already failed to do so and now their corpses litter the ground.

Gelmar gritted his teeth as he removed the caltrops from his feet. Then in a display of his resilience, he continued moving forward and called out to his men "Don't let some petty trick stop you! We're halfway there! They can't keep this forever!" he said as he pointed ahead.

As the men looked forward, they concurred that he was right, for the field of caltrops ended a short distance ahead. A mere 20 meters.

This bolstered their courage as they continued forward, albeit at a slower pace as they tried to avoid stepping on the damned torture devices.

Just as before, they marched forward against all odds. Their bodies were covered in sweat, bruises, and still bleeding lacerations and their minds were tired and weary from all the loses and surprises that happened in this joke of a battle. But they didn't stop as they had one thought on their minds, as there was one force driving them forward.

Revenge...

Gone were the thoughts of an easy victory just as were gone the souls of their companions whose bodies now litter the entire living quarters from start to end. They wanted to crush the defenders more than anything in the world. They wanted to tear those who are now jeering them and mocking them limb from limb. They want to make them suffer as they have suffered and nothing more.

Step by step, they growled and cursed as they navigated through the dreadful terrain.

Step by step, their hatred for Lev and his men increased as more lead bullets managed to claimed the lives of their comrades. Another five men have been lost.

Finally, they passed through the field of caltrops, yet they didn't let down their guard as even a fool would understand that every time they do so, they suffer.

Though they moved faster than before, they didn't go into a full sprint to avoid any tricks that laid ahead.

As the distance between the two forces closed with less than a hundred meters between them, Gelmar could see the panic on the faces of his enemies. Along with the smells of blood, sweat and piss, he could smell their fear. This confused him as to why until the rain of lead dwindled till it eventually stopping entirely.

"They ran out of lead..." A man muttered.

And he was right, as the slingers launched their missiles once more, but this time it was stones.

They still retained the same pace as before, moving unperturbed. Their enemy finally near enough that they could hear their cries and curses.

They sped up hoping to break the shield wall and slaughter the men behind them. Hoping to end it all and finally finish this accursed bloody play once and for all.

"Voooohhh!" A horn was blown and following it a shrill sound pervaded the men's ears before loud bangs and shrieks of pain were heard.