Chronicles of Ilandri - Volume 1

A Futile Endeavour (Pt.1)

City guardsmen began to mass around Nathaniel. Over one hundred men must have stood shoulder to shoulder around him, armed with shields, swords and spears. Each man was ready to lay down his life to protect the city, but Nathaniel knew they merely had to buy some time for Ogwyn and the others. The outer gates were ripped open and as he had expected, large iron grappling hooks were attached to the bars of the outer portcullis, like huge meathooks. The monstrous mountain trolls then picked up the chains and began to heave, to pull the portcullis down. Four trolls on each chain pulled hard as the iron began to groan under the strain. Suddenly there was a sharp pop, followed by another as the iron began to break at the rivets.

As the brittle metal began to give up the men around him grew more nervous. Nathaniel himself could feel the sweat building on his palms. In a terrifying clang the first portcullis buckled, ripped from its mountings and came crashing to the floor. The guard commander arrived and jumped down from his horse where Nathaniel and Martyn were stood. With him were the seven tower captains and joining the ranks a good many other men from the guard. This was the first of the gates to fall and it was the one facing the bulk of the goblin army. The trolls wasted no time fastening their hooks to the inner portcullis, the last defence keeping the army outside the walls. The iron struggled once more to hold as the trolls heaved at their chains to pull it down. The tension among the guardsmen was palpable as they each watched the portcullis slowly failing under the sheer force with which it was pulled.

The first rivet popped and Nathaniel could see the goblins massed outside the walls were poised ready to flood through the gates, as soon as the portcullis fell. More rivets burst on the iron grid and time seemed to slow as the metal was wrenched out of the gateway. The iron rang as it fell to the ground with a deafening crash, leaving an eerie silence. There was a pause just before the onslaught and onrush of the attack. Before the dust had settled the barrage of goblins swarmed through the gates like ants drawn to a piece of dropped fruit. Nathaniel gripped his acquired glaive with one hand, the other firmly holding his shield. The first wave of goblins charged towards them screaming with their crooked blades held high.

The front of the wave was cut down by a barrage of arrows, each dropping to the floor with force in the mouth of the tunnel. Another torrent of arrows spat out almost immediately after the first, cutting down more of the goblins. The dead were piling up in the tunnel making an obstacle for the goblins behind. This did help to slow them down and allow more arrow volleys to make that obstacle higher. The sheer number of goblins pouring in through the gate was far too much to hold back with arrow fire alone. The mass of goblins scrambled over the heaped corpses of their fallen and pressed on. The guard held the line, their shields interlocked in wall formation, immediately before the goblin forces met them head on.

The first goblins made it to the guard front line and smashed against their shields with immense force as more goblins pushed up from behind. Nathaniel swung the blade of the glaive over his shield to cut down his opposite goblin. Such a light blade was surprisingly powerful. The goblin's head was completely parted from its body, which dropped to the floor lifeless. This must have been some enchanted weapon and the black markings on the blade must have been runes as he suspected. In the next instant a goblin had taken its place but Nathaniel was ready and cut it down too. A heap of bodies had fallen at the foot of the wall of shields, so the guardsmen eased a step backwards. Arrows were still flying and cutting down goblins as they approached the line.

The stream of goblins seemed endless, but although many lay dead in the street in front of the gate, many thousands more were outside the walls waiting to enter. The line could only hold for so long until the guard would start to fall and soon enough the goblins succeeded. One of the tower captains was struck by several blades at once. He fell to his knees, blood spurting out of his neck where they had severed an artery. Seamlessly a man stepped forward from behind to take his place in the line, preventing the goblins from breaking though. More men began to fall and despite having the replacements lined up behind, they did not have the numbers to face the entire goblin army alone. Most of the guards would have gathered at this gate to defend the city.