by Dean Henegar
“Break them, men. Push them back into the dark!”
Your troops have been inspired. For the duration of the battle, they will have a bonus of +5 to morale, attack, and defense.
The system confirmed what I could feel; the men had new steel in their pines, new aggression against their foes. All worry about the imps that had broken through was gone. They were focused on breaking the enemy, destroying the army that had dared to breach its way into their home. The killing machine that was the legion got to work. In unison, the men lashed out, taking down the front rank of troggs and imps. Stepping forward, with our shields we blocked attempts to strike back. Solid wood and Imperium steel deflected all but the luckiest of blows. Another thrust and another rank of the enemy fell.
The troggs in front of us were shaken, but they didn’t falter. From what I knew of them, they were steadfast in battle. We put their courage to the test, slaying with skilled precision. Thrust, step, block, thrust—our pattern continued. We crossed over the mound of dead, pushing the enemy before us. They were too pressed by our attack to try any fancy leaps from the top of the piled dead. The imps’ cowardly nature began to show itself as they backed away from the fight. Their passage to the rear broke up the solid mass of enemies and made our job easier.
A few more steps and we were nearing the entrance to the tunnel. Pushing them this far had steadily depleted their morale bars as more of their force fell and the tide of battle turned completely against them. First, a trickle of troggs reached their breaking point, pushing their way back through the mass of their kin to the beckoning safety of the tunnel. Then the trickle became a flood. Fear was as infectious as bravery. I kept the men at it, killing our way to the tunnel’s mouth. The enemy fled down the passage, leaving behind the broken and trampled bodies of those that had stumbled in the mad rush to the rear.
“The first twenty soldiers, follow me!” I shouted, grabbing the nearest men while ordering the others to form up outside the tunnel in case the troggs reformed for another attack. We rushed toward the headquarters. The door to the building was battered in, though I wasn’t sure how the diminutive imps had managed it. Sounds of fighting came from inside the building. To the best of my knowledge, there was only a section of troops holding the place. I had been counting on the stout doors to hold off the imps until we won our fight.
The clash of steel continued, and a pair of imps backed out of the entrance, looking at the line of troops heading toward them and then back toward the entrance in fear. Another three imps emerged from the doorway as a soldier pushed his way into the courtyard, a pair of Imperium gladii in his hands. The soldier handled the blades better than any I had seen; the weapons were a blur of steel as the man assaulted the five imps in front of him. A pair of the imps rushed to take the soldier from the rear. Without stopping his attack on the trio in front of him, the soldier casually thrust back with his left-hand blade, skewering one of the aspiring backstabbers. The other met a similar fate. The soldier finished cutting down the three in front. While the impressive legionnaire tried to catch his breath, I reviewed the man’s information, the system finally unveiling what had been hidden from me.
Captain Blevins, Imperium Blade Master, Level 25 Elite.
“Sir, we have some wounded soldiers inside if you could spare a medic,” Blevins said.
I stood there with my jaw hanging open in surprise, hardly having enough presence of mind to wave forward a medic into the building. “How? Why didn’t—” I began before Blevins interrupted me.
“Sorry for the deception, sir. I was placed on the staff here back when you were framed. Captain Leighton was being investigated for corruption, and I was tasked with documenting the evidence against him. The emperor was impressed with your actions and asked that I stay on for a while to act as a bodyguard for you. It seems he wants to keep you around for a while longer, though I suppose after my latest report, he will agree that you are perfectly capable of handling things on your own,” Blevins said with a sly grin. The man’s attitude, speech pattern, and demeanor were completely different. I was shocked that the most annoying soldier in my unit was an Imperium agent and a very competent one at that.
“Captain Blevins, it’s a pleasure to meet the real you,” I said, offering my hand to the man for the first time.
“Thank you, Colonel Raytak, and I must apologize for my prior behavior. I had created the persona to blend into the role I was placed in and couldn’t break character without potentially giving away who I was,” Blevins added. I now understood the vague system classification of the man and why I could never determine if he was part of my legion or the defensive garrison. As it turned out, he was part of neither.
Our conversation was interrupted by a messenger arriving with news of the rest of the battle.
The enemy has failed to gain a foothold at the main gate. Our forces are heavily engaged, but I believe we can beat back the attack with the troops at my disposal. The sounds of fighting could be heard near the town hall, and there was some disturbance over in the marketplace. I must assume the enemy has found some way to assault the key locations in the city.
Captain Landry of the Fighting 14th
Captain Landry was doing as well as I had figured. His warnings indicated that Zipp had tried the tunnel wurm tactic at the other critical locations in the city. It was a bold move and could end the fight quickly in his favor if it succeeded. I was going to make sure it didn’t.
“Captain Blevins, how many troops do you need to hold the tunnel if another attack occurs?”
“I think two full-strength platoons should do it. The tunnel isn’t very wide. Leave me the militia outside to warn of an attack from another direction and I can hold this spot as long as you like,” Blevins replied. I was still shocked at who the annoying private turned out to be, but the confident captain in front of me seemed to be the right man for the job here. I needed to gather some forces and move to relieve the other locations.
The Bugtug tribe has joined the conflict as an allied force. It will retain control over its own forces and will refuse to move outside of the mining complex, where its homes and livelihood are located. Chief Bugtug commands the following forces:
Chief Bugtug, Level 15 Boss (1).
Bugtug’s Brawlers, Level 15 Elite Warriors (10/10).
Goblin Warriors, Level 15 (100/100).
Goblin Miners, Level 12 (250/250).
That pretty much confirmed that Zipp was attacking the mines as well; Bugtug wouldn’t join the fight unless he was personally threatened. With the goblins and the formidable dwarves defending the mines and dungeon, they should be well protected or at least hold out longer than the town hall or marketplace. I would send what help I could, but the plan, for now, was to move my reserve force from one critical point to another, defeating the enemy in detail and gathering up more forces as each point was cleared.
“Very well, I’ll take the remaining troops from here and try to relieve the town hall first,” I said, but the rest of my orders were interrupted by Yendys and Crunchy riding over the rubble of the northern wall and making a beeline toward me. The strange unicorn beetle had no trouble navigating the broken ground; the insect mount was made for this kind of thing.
“Grandpa! We got attacked at the market by, well, one of those things,” Yendys said, pointing at the dead tunnel wurm.
“What happened? Do you need help over there?”
“Nah, believe it or not, Phineas took care of them. He opened up some portal thingy and everyone but me got sucked up by tentacles and claws and hooks and big hands and other gross things. Everyone is gone but me, and I don’t think the enemy will try to attack there anytime soon. It’s boring with just me and Crunchy. Can I join up to help you?” Yendys asked. I knew that Phineas was a mage since he identified things for me, but if he had done what Yendys said he did, there was more to the shady merchant than I had thought. Still, if the attack there had been pushed back, Yendys and her skills would be of better use at my side.<
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“Sure, kid. I need to send some reinforcements over to the dungeon. Then we’ll get moving,” I told her.
Leaving Blevins with the militia and a hundred regulars to hold the tunnel mouth, I was left with 144 soldiers, a mix of my legionnaires and the garrison troops. Time was of the essense, but I wasn’t sure my force would be enough to make a difference at the town hall if the attackers concentrated their forces. After thinking about it, I sent messengers to pull the 1st Legion company occupying the northern wall of the city and ordered it to meet me at the town hall. I also ordered the company assisting the eastern wall, which hadn’t even been attacked, to join me here on the double. The company on the southern wall was to move out and support the forces holding the mine. I didn’t know if a single company would make a difference there, but I had to send the dwarves and goblins some relief.
The northern and southern walls were likely to get spillover attacks from the forces trying to breach the main gate. The defensive garrison, town guard, reserves, and Drebix I had assigned to the walls there would be sufficient for the time being. I would also leave word that if those walls were hard-pressed, the Drebix at the untouched eastern wall could be summoned to help. We couldn’t be strong everywhere, and stopping attacks on the critical locations took priority.
Gathering up my relief force, with a granddaughter and beetle added to the order of battle, I marched toward the town hall. The company from the eastern wall would arrive before we made it to our destination, and hopefully, the northern company would also be waiting.
Chapter 34
When the company of soldiers from the eastern wall joined up, I had just under four hundred troops. Nothing confronted us on our approach to the town hall, and the sounds of battle grew louder as we closed in on our objective. Just like at the garrison, it appeared that the enemy was completely focused on the critical location. Outside the doors of the town hall, there was an open square with a fountain that gave me enough room to form up in ranks one hundred wide.
As we double-timed it into the courtyard, not only was the enemy trying to force their way into the town hall, but their leader was as well. Sitting atop a giant rat, the imp Zipp cast a spell, firing off some unknown destructive blast toward the breached gates of the building. The hacked-apart remains of a tunnel wurm were wedged into the entryway, telling me how the reinforced gates had fallen. Town guardsmen occasionally fired crossbows through narrow windows on the second floor as a solid wall of ogre legionnaires held the doorway against all attackers.
My forces had just finished forming up when Zipp noticed us. With frantic arm-waving and a few nips from the giant rat, Zipp turned his force to face us. Bodies of both defenders and attackers were strewn around the courtyard. Delling didn’t have the strongest of troops to defend this location, but they had gone down hard, dragging more powerful foes with them. Even with the losses from their initial attack, Zipp’s forces greatly outnumbered my own. Over a thousand troggs were gathered, along with groups of lurkers and a handful of trolls. Dotted among the invaders were swarms of small imp warriors using the larger and more expendable troops as cover.
“Ready javelins!” I shouted. We had replenished our supply from the barracks stores before setting out, and each man had a pair of the weapons. The first wave of javelins launched, and the tightly packed groups of troggs took a terrible beating as they landed. I marched forward another fifteen steps, putting us around thirty yards from the foe. Then we launched our final volley, the enemy responding by charging our shield wall. The volley broke up the attackers and gave us an advantage as the lines met.
Killing troggs was old hat to us at this point, but the lurkers proved to be a problem. Their deadly claws were effective at occasionally snatching a shield away from a soldier, leaving my men open to attack. Even without shields, the men fought back, never faltering in the defense of their home. My granddaughter helped out immensely, summoning multiple giant insects to assist any trouble spots. I lost track of how many troggs Crunchy impaled on his horn. Chunks of his victims remained and hung just close enough for a quick nibble when the mood struck him.
Despite our ferocity, our losses were mounting, and I had to thin our lines to refuse the flank as the imp’s forces threatened to encircle us. I was out of tricks and out of summons, and I could only rely on cold steel, not some magic item, to win the day. I rotated into the front ranks, relieving a panting soldier. After I skewered a trogg, my leg burned in pain when an imp warrior shot under the legs of the trogg and stabbed my thigh. I gave the imp a boot to the face as the men let out a ragged cheer. Shield bashing my next opponent gave me a momentary view of what was going on.
A wave of javelins landed among the enemy as the company from the northern wall attacked from the opposite side of the courtyard, sandwiching the imp’s force between our two formations. Even with the 250 men of the other company, the enemy still outnumbered us and wasn’t giving up the fight just yet. I killed the pesky imp that had stabbed me when it came in for another strike. Its body began to violently shake and bulge. The enemy stepped back from the horrifying sight as the corpse burst open and the hooded figure of the necromancer Darkfallow stepped from it and into my lines. He was showing as a friendly combatant, so my soldiers let him pass. I signaled a rotation, and the soldier behind me took my place while I kept my eye on Darkfallow. Yendys, atop Crunchy, closed in on the former enemy turned reluctant ally.
“There he is. I want a crack at him, Raytak,” Darkfallow said, pointing across the courtyard in the direction of Zipp.
“Nobody’s stopping you, save for the horde of enemies between the two of you,” I replied.
“I’ll take care of that. I just need some help to keep him from running away. I owe that imp big time, and I’ve been looking for him since the battle started. At least the fighting left me plenty of travel options,” Darkfallow said, pointing to the mass of bodies lying around. Similar corpses must be located all over town, giving him an easy, if gruesome, way to search for his nemesis. “I’ve spent every stupid coin I had in the game to get the gear I need to take the imp down. I don’t want to miss this.”
“Clear a path,” Yendys began, “and I’ll cast an Entangling Roots spell. That should stop or at least slow him down.” She was still giving Darkfallow the stink eye, but I knew she would work together with him if it helped us win the battle.
Darkfallow nodded in agreement, and I watched him begin waving his arms and gathering shadows around his form. A dozen of the dead rose from the ground in front of the battling soldiers. A combination of troggs, my legionnaires, and even a few lurkers stood for a moment. Then, at an unspoken command from Darkfallow, they began to push their way deeper into the mass of Hypogean forces, moving toward where Zipp was commanding his army. It was a good attempt, but I didn’t think that a few undead were going to take out Zipp or even make it through their lines before being hacked down.
Yendys began to say what I assumed was something about his less-than-impressive attack when a series of explosions shook the lines. Each of the corpses blasted apart, showering the enemy forces in shards of bone. Large swaths of our foes were cut down, or at least temporarily incapacitated, giving us a clear view to the center of their army and a very surprised imp. Darkfallow wasn’t done and finished casting another spell. A bolt of black energy shot from his hand, killing an imp standing near Zipp.
“Ha, wrong one, guy,” Yendys taunted.
“Nope, that was just where I wanted it to go. Now do your part, Yendys,” Darkfallow said.
Yendys shrugged and cast her Entangling Roots spell. The ground around Zipp was replaced with grasping vines that dug into the rat-mount’s legs, causing it to squeal and buck before dropping the imp into the reaching mass of vegetation. I had seen Yendys use this spell, but it must have been upgraded since the last time I witnessed it. Darkfallow disappeared and reappeared next to Zipp, emerging from the corpse he had just made. The necromancer held a dagger in one hand and a strange glowing sphe
re in the other. Both his items were showing as epic-level gear. I lost sight of the two as the mass of troops closed in again.
The brief explosions had given my men an opening, and we continued to press the enemy. With their leader under attack, the enemy troops started to waver. From the entrance to the town hall, the heavily armored ogres emerged, led by Corporal Gux, their greatsword-sized gladii cutting down multiple foes with each swing. The ogres were followed by a small group of town guard led by an unarmed Delling. My friend was no military strategist, but he was a smart kid and must have realized that Zipp was the Schwerpunkt, the critical point that would determine the outcome of the battle. I lost sight of Delling and the town guard as the enemy ranks closed in again. The giant ogres stood taller than anyone else on the battlefield, and I could see them making their way steadily toward where Darkfallow had cornered Zipp.
I urged my men on, cutting down foes and adding pressure to the wavering enemy. Yendys, atop the faithful Crunchy, stood next to me as I took my place in the front rank. She wasn’t a legionnaire, but she and her mount were more than a match for the foe. I was proud of her. She was brave and selfless, fighting hard to help her grandpa and her friends. If only Trey could see her now. My son would be so proud of his daughter.
Stepping back from the line, my position quickly taken by another soldier, I stood in shock. It had happened. I remembered Trey. I remembered my wife, Natalie. I remembered . . . everything. Finally, after so long, after so much struggle, my mind was complete.
“Grandpa, are you okay?” Yendys asked with concern etched onto her face.
“They’re back, Lauren. My memories, they’re back. I remember everything,” I said, stunned and trying to process what had just happened. Tiny arms wrapped themselves around me as my granddaughter added her tears of joy to my own. I hardly noticed the flash of light and shouts of triumph when the foe finally broke and ran toward the mouth of the tunnel, trampling their comrades in an attempt to flee the slaughter.
