WW Chapter 101: Starting Defense (Patreon)

“I’m pretty sure he’ll live,” the herbalist said with a shrug and an uneasy look on his face. “It’s a miracle that he’s still alive. He’s lost a lot of blood, and I have no idea if he’ll regain consciousness without someone healing him with a spell or a week of rest. However, whatever spell you said that you all still have managed to staunch the bleeding. He still wouldn’t have made it long without being treated, but I think he’s stable.”

That was better news than Ezra had expected, but Dirk lay on a table with a thick poultice spread across his chest as the herbalist wrapped him up as well as he could. Ezra had been present to see the experienced man picking shreds of metal out of the wounds in Dirk’s chest. It was, at best, a gory sight. In certain places, Divine Vigor had caused the edges of the skin to start pulling over the wounds already, so the shards had needed to be cut free once again.

“He’s out of the fight. There’s no way he’s going to be able to join us,” Ezra said. He turned to Darius and nodded. “All three of us need to meditate as much as we can, refill our inner worlds. You set up the defenses. We’ll do whatever you choose once the army’s close. Until then, we need to recover as much as possible.”

Darius didn’t say anything back, just nodding and stepping out of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Ezra said to nobody in particular as he and his friends were left alone in the room. “I shouldn’t have…”

“Just buy me some drinks when we through this all,” Telemachus grunted as he fell into a comfortable sitting position. Then, there were no more words between them as they all lost themselves in meditation. Ezra couldn’t help but feel some measure of gratitude that there was a storm coming in. It would make visibility bad, but the cold storage where they were going to set up their fighting lines meant that there shouldn't be anything to see from far off.

As it was, Ezra had less work to do to convert the ambient aura into something that would better suit his inner world. With so little time, he actually did very little to adjust the aura before pulling it into his inner world. It would slowly leak out as he hadn’t fully converted it, but his inner world’s nature would slowly claim it, and he didn’t have time to spare. Whatever aura he could have at his disposal for this fight would be better than something he’d still have an hour after the fight was over.

Time passed in a blur, and Ezra’s inner world was only half full before somebody shook him. He jumped to his feet, adrenaline surging through his body as he looked forward. Raharr stood there, and his face was twisted in fear.

“They’re close. People can hear them. Darius says it’s time for everybody to get into cold storage.”

Ezra nodded as he stood up and looked around. Telemachus was nearby, next to a roaring fire in the largest room of the building. The sparks from the fire constantly flowed towards him, though he stood and held his spear as Ezra rose. Evidently, he’d received a warning of his own, and his meditation was over for now.

Luna was already in the room, the breastplate she wore buffed to an ostentatious shine. With her inner world’s affinity being reflection, it was a good way for her to carry a source of that ambient aura with her.

“Then let’s go,” Ezra nodded. He strode forward and noted that Divine Vigor had faded. His body was painfully sore, but, as he warmed up, it was obvious that he wasn’t nearly as exhausted as he should have been, considering the insane effort he had put himself through today.

In just a few short seconds, Ezra, Telemachus, and Luna walked with Raharr into the cold storage. Ezra’s breath puffed into mist in front of him, and he walked down maybe two dozen stairs until he reached where the defenses were prepared. Darius stood in the front, along with the three guards from the peddler.

Ezra wasn’t familiar with any of them by name, but all three carried bows and seemed to know how to use them. That would be amazingly valuable, and Ezra nodded as he walked up to the man in charge of the defenses. He nodded and didn’t hesitate to jump into the subject at hand.

“It looks like all three of you are accustomed to being on the front lines. Are you going to continue to be willing to man that position?”

“That’s the plan,” Ezra answered. “How many people are we going to have in here fighting?”

“We’re all hoping that they just pass right through the village,” Darius let out a long, slow breath. “But in the event that they don’t, counting you three, we have seventeen.”

“And we’re just going to post up in here with all  weapons pointed up. If they want to throw themselves three or four at a time at our defenses, we’ll just kill them three or four at a time, right?”

“That’s the plan,” Darius nodded. “Obviously, we have no clue if the monsters will have any way to get around that.”

“Maybe digging,” Ezra thought out loud. “Where’s the nearest place that they would be able to dig in from?”

“I have no idea,” came the pensive answer. “This cellar is pretty deep, but nowhere near deep enough to guarantee that they can’t make their way in. We’ll all keep an ear and eye out to make sure that we aren’t surprised, and have anybody who’s fresh ready to jump in wherever necessary.”

“Then we just need to have something to deal with the Dragonkin’s fire breath. When it comes to that, Telemachus, you’ll be less useful than the rest of us. Darius, what’s the affinity of your inner world?”

“Steel. It lets me be tougher and cut deeper with my blade.”

“Nothing to counter the flames, then. Do we have any water down here? Something to throw on anything that’s burning?”

“Buckets with a good amount of water, then the ice,” Darius said. “As much as we could get once I thought of it. Fuck, it’s been a long time since I had to deal with any real fights.”

“Well, now’s not the time to be thinking about it, just to do it. Is it all right for me to assume that you and I will assume the front lines together?” Ezra asked.

“It’d be better,” Darius countered, “if I was on the front line first, along with one of my more promising but inexperienced trainees. The beginning of the fight should be easier, with just goblins coming down at first. This will get them more used to the fight, if I’m right.”

“I’ll stay nearby, then. When needed, I’ll step in with Luna.”

There was no time for further conversation as, echoing in from up the stairs, it was obvious the goblinoid army had arrived. The defenders all went silent and hunched back into the doorway they were going to fight to maintain. All of them together started to pray that the army wouldn’t discover them. The screeching cries of the goblins and hoarse shouts of the orcs filled the air, and they could only hope that there would be no further combat.

Sounds of footsteps, growled commands, and the clattering of chains got closer and closer. A child inside the cold storage started to whine in fear, and their mother tried to shush their fears. The silence that fell on the people hiding belowground was painful, but every adult worked to improve their chances of escaping the army without fighting. Aboveground, the sound of crunching wood and angry squeals continued to echo out as the goblins tore through the town. The sounds approached until the details of each individual’s voice could be heard, echoing down the passage to the waiting civilians. Finally, a command echoed down the path.

At that, it was obvious that wasn’t to be. An orc’s snuffling approached, and its piggy face looked into the stairway that led to the cellar. It started to squeal, but the nearest guard reacted quickly. The bow he’d held in his hand drew tight and loosed, the arrow flying true. It slammed into the monster’s eye and it fell down, dead before its warning could be completed.

“That’s our sign,” Darius said as he stepped forward. He pulled the annoying guard whose name Ezra never learned next to him, both of them holding up shields as the sounds of the monsters up above, went from curious and wandering to enraged. Roars gave commands, and, to Ezra's surprise, nothing appeared immediately. Instead, there was the sound of shuffling on the surface for maybe a minute before the defenders saw in stark detail that their strong defensive line wasn’t going to be able to hold up as well as they hoped. 

Three chained ones lined up together, and behind them peeked a line of bugbears. Bowstrings twanged, and half a dozen arrows flew down the passage. Darius had been prepared, three arrows smacking uselessly into his shield, but the other guard wasn’t. One arrow caught him in the chest and the other in the eye and he went down.

“Pull back!“ Darius called out first. Nobody argued as the defenders stepped away from the doorway. Ezra grabbed the corpse by its shirt and tossed him back. Screams of terror came up from the tightly pressed hiding refugees, and Ezra gritted his teeth as he tried to think of just how different this battle would be, with even a little bit of thought from the attacking enemies. The goblinoids were definitely getting smarter.

“The bottleneck isn’t going to be nearly as good if they have archers up there,” Darius snapped.

“And those things are damn tough,” Ezra added. “I don’t know how many they have, but they’re going to use them to try to establish a foothold down here. If the Dragonkin can get in here without issue, then we’re all dead. We have to keep it pinned down and ideally get a few hits in on it before we allow it within reach.”

“We’ll be able to get that if we’re lucky. At the very least, when they have some of their own down here, the archers won’t have open shots at us. And we’re not putting rookies on the front anymore.” As Darius said it, his face twisted with grief as he glanced at the body behind them. The boy's family stroked his face, his mother hyperventilating as she tried to understand what had just happened. Ezra’s dislike for him disappeared, but faced forward as the sound of the chained ones grew closer.

“You might be the best one to deal with these,” Ezra said as two chained ones stepped down in lock step. Both held a simple spear down as Ezra explained, “If your aura can cut through their defenses, that’ll be better than mine.”

Darius didn’t say anything as he stepped for just long enough to peek up the stairs. No arrows immediately shot towards him, but he dodged back. “They’re still up there. A few goblins are behind these chained ones. There isn’t a direct view just yet. Archers! Get ready!”

Then, the battle to preserve a village Ezra’d never learned the name of began.