Chronicles of Ilandri - Volume 1

A Futile Endeavour (Pt.1)

Suddenly the pressure of the goblins eased slightly, as if the ones further away were not rushing through anymore. It then became apparent what this lull had been caused by. In the mouth of the tunnel was one of the armoured mountain trolls. Its armour was made from thick plates of steel for the breast, thigh, shin and arm plates, with a steel helm bent into shape for its bulbous head. In the mouth of the gate it tipped its head to the sky and let out a harrowing roar. Nathaniel was scared that in that moment his men would falter, but whilst they were visibly shaken by the sight, they held their ground. Stomping forward at speed the troll made the ground quake. In its hands it was carrying a large chain, dragging at its end a huge flail, with twin sharpened flanges, like a crescent moon.

The flail ground sparks off the cobbles as it was pulled along by the monstrous troll. In the next moment the troll began to spin the flail round, low at first, knocking into a couple of unfortunate goblins who didn't manage to get out of the way. The flail was sharp and sliced the goblins it struck easily. As the troll swung the flail higher it began to build momentum, causing a whir as it flew round in the air. The troll then brought the flail down into the front of the line with tremendous force. Shields were broken and the men holding them were thrown backwards, some of them gashed open by the sharp flanges.

Men scrambled to fill the place of their fallen comrades' places in the front line. They eased the line back some more but the troll had already raised his flail in the air once more. As the end of the flail began to build up speed the guard commander grabbed a discarded spear from the ground and charged at the troll. He sunk the head of the spear into the troll at the armpit where there was a gap in its armour. The troll roared out in pain as he smashed the flail down straight onto the commander from above. His body instantly went limp as the flanges had cleaved through his armour and split his body down the middle, almost into separate halves.

Nathaniel could feel a burning anger inside him as he looked and saw the fear sinking into the men around him. With a brief touch to his medallion he dashed forward to reclaim the spear, which the troll had now removed and cast aside. He ducked below the swinging flail, rolling across the ground to grab the spear. He then darted back round the troll and over to the line of guardsmen. By the time the dimwitted troll had caught sight of him again and was facing Nathaniel, he hurled the spear. The spear blade struck the troll right in its mouth and exited through the back of its head. The troll dropped to the ground with a tremendous thud. This small victory roused a cheer from all the men, but Nathaniel knew outside the walls were other trolls. They needed to begin their retreat and fall back to tunnels, to join the escaping citizens.

Nathaniel grabbed the nearest tower captain firmly by the arm. "We need to retreat to the tower," he barked, pointing back to the tower where he had opened the tunnel. Looking around at the scene of death, the tower captain could see the sense in Nathaniel's words. At the very least the tower would be easier to defend. It would not be a simple or easy task to pull back though, they would have to take their time to minimise the loss of men. "Go and lead the retreat back to the tower," commanded the tower captain. Nathaniel wasted no time heading to the back of the assembled force. He then started directing men to peel off and head back to the tower. The first group of twenty or so men left the back of the force and headed to the first of a line of barricades along the street. Nathaniel then directed the next batch of men to retreat back, to the barricade further along the street toward the tower.

After the first two groups had retreated, the assembled force began to ease back away from the gate. The archers provided volleys of arrows to cover their retreat as more men filed off the back towards the tower, to man the defensive positions along the street. The front line slowly eased its way backwards, holding off the goblin attackers, as it made its way to the first barricade. As the line reached the barricade men swapped out and those on the front line retreated back to the rearmost barricade. This process repeated at each barricade as the front line slowly eased back toward the tower. Nathaniel kept directing men from the back, leading them toward the relative safety of the tower. Finally the first men set foot through the doors and Nathaniel shepherded them to the great hall, where the tunnel still stood open.

Slowly as more men made it back safely into the tunnel, they began to mass in the great hall. Nathaniel knew they had to get as many as possible into the tunnels to protect the escaping citizens. "Get word to all the men still guarding the walls. Instruct them to fall back to this tower," he ordered a group of guardsmen standing nearby. As he looked around him everyone seemed scared and exhausted. They had never faced an army of this scale before and they all seemed to fear the worst, that death had come for them all. Nathaniel found a fellow captain and taking control of the situation instructed him to begin leading men into the tunnels. "There is a passage that leads to the port. The citizens are escaping, you must protect them," he explained. The captain regained his composure and did as he was bid.

Guardsmen were still filing in through the main doors of the tower. "How many are left out there?" He called out to those most recently entering.
"Not many now, this is nearly all of us. Though we have lost many in retreat," answered one of the men. Nathaniel thanked him and directed him toward the tunnel to join the others. "We must close the doors when the last come through. Do not let any of the goblins in this tower," he bellowed. The last few men came in and the guards gathered at the doors heaved them shut with what strength they had remaining. One or two goblins attempted to enter as the doors shut, but were cut down immediately by arrow fire.

Nathaniel looked around him and started to panic when he could not see his friend Martyn stood anywhere around him. He called out for him as he pushed his way through the crowds. "I am here Nathaniel," came the reply and he felt the panic fizzle away. "I am glad you made it friend," he said hugging him, "What of the tower captains?" he asked further. Martyn hung his head."They did not make it." he said, his voice full of sorrow."We must look to ourselves for leadership now. We must exit the city.""How can we when we are stuck in here?" asked Martyn with despair. Nathaniel took him to the tunnel where the men were streaming in. "What? How?" Martyn pondered, utterly bemused. Nathaniel briefly explained about the keys and how the people were escaping. "That was where you went, when you left earlier," Martyn said with sudden realisation.