The Gate - A New Breed of Orc (The Gate Series Book 1)

by B. N. Crandell

  "As you wish," said Koren.

  After cleaning the wound with a wet cloth, and rubbing some infection salve into it, Decker held his hand over the wound and let some of his healing magic transfer into it. The infection salve would fight any infection already present, saving his magic a little as he concentrated on just healing the opened wound. Using just enough magic to speed the recovery of the wound, Decker removed his hand and helped the soldier to his feet. The man looked a lot more at ease and began to hobble out of the infirmary. Decker knew that within an hour or two, the soldier would be walking normally.

  By the time he looked back to the table where the injured soldier had been, another wounded man had been brought across. With a sigh, Decker set about healing him and the two next in line before his magic failed and he felt quite exhausted. It was mid-morning before he left the infirmary, intent on getting a few hours rest before making his appearance on the wall.

  * * *

  Cressida noticed the man she had treated a couple of days earlier. She watched from the corner of her eye as he healed a soldier lying on the table in front of him. She remembered mockingly calling him cleric as she tended to his wounds. Now, from what she observed, he appeared to have at least some clerical power. She suddenly felt embarrassed by her behaviour with him. She had taken him as just another stubborn male, ignorant of their own health. Now she saw that he wasn't like that at all, but a man with a gentle touch and possessing the power of healing.

  She had certainly noticed his good looks the first time she had met him, but Cressida was not impressed merely by looks. Perhaps she should take some time to get to know this man a little better, or at the least, ask her brother about him. Pilk seemed to know everyone in Arthea, so she held little doubt that he would know this man. Feeling foolish for even contemplating love in her present situation, Cressida set about healing the next wounded soldier. Minor wounds were the only injuries left in the infirmary, but she knew that would soon change.

  * * *

  "I sure would like to know what you're doing up here, my lord duke," said General Kehar as he noticed the duke approach wearing his magnificent armour; thick black leather with Lertia's crossed sword emblem embossed in gold in the centre of the chest.

  "You suggested that we needed more swords to defend the city. You now have mine," replied Duke Angus.

  "And what do I tell your cousin, the king, should you fall?" asked the general.

  "Tell him I died as all dukes should, in defence of the kingdom," he replied with a sly smile, "and with a great deal of enemies at his side."

  "Should I even bother trying to argue with you, my lord?"

  "No, you shouldn't. I am your equal with the sword, general, so I will not easily be killed, and I am no stranger to a battlefield as you know. Against a more skilful enemy too, I should add."

  General Kehar had heard of the duke's heroics defending the northern border from an invading Raziyan army. It wasn't long after a peace was agreed upon between the two nations that Duke Angus had been sent south to Arthea to defend it from the orcs. Without Duke Angus, Arthea would likely have been destroyed sixteen years ago.

  "So, what have our enemies been up to?" asked the duke.

  "More of the same, my lord. They have tried no more sneak attacks; I believe they'll only attempt that in the night. They are still constructing more of their towers and ladders. They have sent reinforcements to the north of the city, and so we have had to send more men around for defence, along with an extra wizard capable of freezing the towers. I estimate that they will attack again within the hour."

  "I sure hope Master Pilk's plan for the towers work. We can't afford to let too many orcs on top of the wall. What of the gate?"

  "We have reinforced the gate as much as possible, and have three squads of pole infantry behind it, should they break through. We are as prepared as we can be, my lord. Master Pilk has been with General Ludko all morning and they both refuse to tell me what they are up to, saying I'll just have to wait and see."

  "If those two are working together then it won't be good," said Duke Angus. "For the orcs that is," he quickly added. "Would you like me to go and force it out of them, general?"

  "No. Let them surprise me. As long as it kills lots of orcs, I don't care what they are scheming."

  * * *

  The sound of a horn awoke Decker from his slumber. He must have been more exhausted than he thought. Looking outside he noticed the sun high in the sky. It was a little after noon. He threw on his sword belt, strapped on his quivers and grabbed his bow, before running toward the city's western wall. By the time he had arrived, the orcs charge was on in full.

  He wasted no time in setting arrow to bow and picking off targets that were already within range. The orcs had been busy. They had constructed another twenty or so towers, that looked more solidly built and stable than the previous ones. The drop down doors now continued high above the tower. It was obvious, that once dropped, this door would be used as a ramp so that the tower wouldn't need to be as close to the wall. As they got closer, Decker also noticed a number of small holes around the top of the tower, allowing the orcs inside to fire arrows at them as they approached. Decker could only hope that General Kehar had come up with a way to bring those towers down.

  The towers weren't their only problem though. Many, many ladders were being carried forward, along with ropes attached to grappling hooks, which would be fired over the wall from large crossbows. Once again they were wheeling forward a large battering ram, but one that didn't rely on ropes. This one would simply be pushed into the gate by as many orcs and ogres as could get around it, and they would be shielded by arrow fire from above with a solid timber roof. These orcs were certainly determined.

  As he fired off another arrow, hitting its mark as usual, he felt a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see Master Pilk behind him. "Don't fire off all your arrows yet, Decker. I will soon have a need for your accuracy with a bow."

  "Care to enlighten me, Master Pilk," replied Decker.

  Master Pilk told him of his plan for destroying the towers. Decker acknowledged the wizard as he fired off another arrow.

  Master Pilk looked at him curiously, to which Decker replied, "I still have ample arrows and plenty of time before those towers are within range. A man needs to keep himself entertained in the meantime."

  Master Pilk just shrugged and watched the ranger fire off a few more shots.

  * * *

  Ladders were being thrown up against the wall with an orc or two already near the tops, and ropes were being secured, but as soon as an orc set foot on the wall, they were being cut down by the defenders. Particularly near the duke and general. But for every rope they cut and ladder smashed, or pushed back down, two more were put into place. The defenders were already being kept busy as the towers closed in.

  As they came to within catapult range, General Kehar ordered the catapult crews to take aim at them. Even though the majority of rocks were missing their targets, they were still landing on and killing many orcs around them. But a couple of towers were smashed apart from the catapults as they closed in. General Kehar didn't have any time to relish that, though, as a group of orcs made the top of the wall, some ten paces from him. Some of his men were already down and the others were being pressed as more orcs filed onto the wall behind the group.

  General Kehar and Duke Angus followed by a group of soldiers ran to the breach and engaged the enemy. General Kehar engaged the orc on the left as Duke Angus went to the right and within seconds those orcs were lying on the ground dead. Most of the orcs were wielding battle axes and so General Kehar found himself dodging more often than parrying, which was tiring work, but he was still easily disposing of any orc before him, as was Duke Angus, he noticed. It wasn't too long before all the orcs lay dead and the ladder was pushed back down to smash on the ground, but long enough, the general noticed, for the towers to have greatly reduced the distance to the wall. A moment later General Kehar saw the pink
flaring arrow launch high into the afternoon sky.

  * * *

  Not a second after he launched the flaring arrow, Decker had another loaded and aimed at the tower Master Pilk had earlier pointed out to him. Master Pilk also wasted little time before sending his finger of frost spell hurtling toward the closest tower. Decker saw it hit low down on the tower and quickly begin freezing it. Before it had frozen enough for Decker to take his shot, Master Pilk sent another finger toward the next tower in line.

  As soon as he thought it frozen enough to suitably weaken it, Decker fired his arrow, followed quickly after by a second before the first had even hit its mark. The second arrow was hardly needed as the first shattered one of the support beams of the tower, making it topple awkwardly to one side. The second arrow, taking out another support on the same side, proved to speed up the towers destructive decent.

  Not wasting any time enjoying the display, Decker began firing arrows at the next tower. He noticed that this scene was being played out all along the length of the wall, and before long every last tower was lying shattered on the ground, followed by a loud cheer from all the defenders.

  All, that is, except one. Master Pilk looked more worried than happy. Decker asked him what concerned him, the explanation was simply, "Some-thing's not right, I have to go see the general," as the little wizard scampered off.

  "There's no pleasing some people," muttered Decker to himself as he started to fire off more arrows into the orc ranks.

  * * *

  General Kehar stood next to Duke Angus, both men with open mouthed amazement at the effectiveness of Master Pilk's plan. Every last tower destroyed, and even the battering ram approaching the gate had been frozen and shattered. The other thing to grab the men's attention was the dwarves 'squish ramps'. The rocks they were rolling off the tops of the walls continued to roll once they hit the ground, and even picked up pace as though they were rolling down a big hill. Any orc not quick enough to jump out of the way was squashed where they stood. The rolling boulders were causing chaos to the invading army, and General Kehar could hear the laugh of the dwarven general where he stood, some three or four hundred paces away. The laugh could be described as nothing less than pure evil. General Kehar was expecting the orcs to sound the retreat at any moment. Just then, a flustered little wizard approached and started talking too quickly for the general to understand. "Slow down, Master Pilk," said the general forcefully.

  "Something is amiss, general. The orc shamans should have quickly blocked our spells and even been able to reverse some, but instead nothing. In fact, I haven't seen one spell cast from the orcs today. Where are their shamans?"

  General Kehar quickly caught on to Master Pilk's concern. The previous day the human wizards had been kept so busy defending against the orc shamans that they were scarcely able to attack with their own magic. Where were all the shamans today and why were the orcs still assaulting the walls despite the pounding they were getting? As if in answer, a loud horn sounded to the north.

  "That's no orc horn," said General Kehar to the surrounding men. "That's a signal for help from the northern wall. My lord duke, if you will, stay here and direct the wall's defence. I need three companies with me."

  The duke nodded, and General Kehar quickly called for three captains and their companies to follow him to the northern wall. On the way to the north wall it sunk in that he had practically given the Duke of Arthea an order and had it obeyed. The ensuing smile was wiped from his face though as the north gate came into view, or at least what was remaining of the northern gate. It had been smashed off its hinges and lay in hundreds of pieces upon the ground, barely visible under the feet of hundreds of orcs within the walls, and very few remaining defenders. General Kehar didn't hesitate and spurred his troops into a charge.

  * * *

  Standing on top of the northern wall not far from the city gates, Kade had a feeling that something wasn't right. The battering ram approaching the gate was of a design he had never seen or heard of before. On top of the protective roof was constructed a large compartment which housed orcs, Kade noticed through the cracks. The flaring arrow was then seen in the west and the wizard that was sent to the northern wall earlier in the day began to freeze the few towers that were rolling toward them. Kade had the feeling that they should be destroying that battering ram first. He ran off to find the captain to voice his concerns. By the time he had found him, all towers except one had been destroyed, and that was in the process of being frozen.

  "Captain, I have a bad feeling about that ram. Something is not right with it. I think we should focus our efforts on destroying it," said Kade as quickly as he could.

  "In due time, private Kade. The towers are our priority, and then we'll freeze and destroy that ram. Now get back in position, soldier." As Kade turned to run back to his position, he noticed the last tower topple to the ground. He also noticed the ice finger from Master Tayer heading toward the battering ram. Only, instead of hitting and freezing the war machine, it seemed to hit some invisible barrier and dissipate. He watched Master Tayer try again, and a third time, with the same result.

  A moment later, the entire front wall of the compartment dropped down revealing the orcs inside. Instantly Kade knew them for what they were. They wore no armour or wielded no weapon, but the danger was apparent. Kade barely had time to shout a warning as a great deal of lightning bolts, fireballs, sonic blasts and all other sorts of magical energy shot forth from the shamans to hit the large wooden gates with a deafening sound. The gates were blasted off their hinges and shattered to bits. The captain quickly ordered every soldier except the archers to abandon the wall and aid the few soldiers behind the gates, who were just now picking themselves back up and preparing a defensive line for the now charging orcs. On his way down from the wall, Kade heard the horn blow requesting support from the western wall. He only hoped that it came quick enough.

  By the time he reached the ground, few of those original defenders were left alive and orcs were flooding in through the gates. His captain, Captain Isra, was doing his best organising the men into an attack formation in order to cut a path through the orcs and join up with those defenders. Kade knew that by the time they got there, those men would likely be already dead, but he knew the captain had to try. So Kade found a place among them and started to hack away at the closest orc. Captain Isra was fighting only about ten paces away from him.

  As the orc in front of him tried to remove his head from his shoulders, Kade jabbed him in the belly, then kicked his limp body back into the mass of orcs behind him. This allowed him a little more space to move, and also put the orcs approaching him off balance. He'd need any advantage he could get, as they were sorely outnumbered and soldiers were dropping all around him. In contrast, it seemed as though there was no end to the orcs pouring into the city. Kade parried a sword thrust trying to gut him, then slashed high with his own sword, which the orc was able to block - just. He then went into a low, high, low, high routine he'd been taught which defeated most orcs.

  After his last high strike, instead of going low again as the orc antici-pated, he struck high, slashing open the orc's throat. Once again kicking the orc's body back into the press, Kade stepped forward and prepared to engage the next in line. It was only then that he realised that he was by himself. The defenders to his side had both been killed, and now he had orcs on both sides of him, and one in front.

  Knowing he had little other choice, he pulled a long dagger from his belt and implanted it into the orc's neck to his left hand side, while he was still side on to him, then ducked low and swung his sword to his right, hamstringing the orc on that side, while the orc in front slashed over his head. Kade then jabbed forward, straight into the orc's groin. Kade quickly retrieved his dagger from the dead orc's neck, swiftly finished off the other two orcs he had wounded and moved left and forward, trying to place himself closer to a defender, for he knew that if was on his own too long, he would not survive.

  After
killing the next orc in line, Kade did catch a glance of one of his own, and it was Captain Isra. He seemed to be in no better position than Kade, also surrounded by orcs, but was fighting bravely. Wanting to join up with the captain, so that they could both at least have one side they didn't need to defend, Kade went into a flurry of motion with short sword and dagger; killing another three orcs in quick succession. But just as he thought to join up with his captain, Kade watched on in horror as an orc got through Captain Isra's defences and jabbed him in the side.

  The captain went down to his knees as the orc in front of him pre-pared for a killing blow. Kade threw his dagger at that orc, which struck him in his exposed chest, and beheaded the orc that had jabbed his captain. Realising the captain was still alive, Kade set his feet firmly on the ground and gritted his teeth, prepared to defend his prone captain for as long as he could. That's when he heard the loud voice of General Kehar heading a charge. Perhaps he could survive this, he thought, as he defended himself against the orc before him.

  * * *

  Master Pilk was charging right beside General Kehar. Normally preferring to stay out of the thick of battle so that he could better direct his spells, Master Pilk did occasionally find himself in this sort of position. Besides his magic, he carried with him a large dagger, which he could wield quite effectively; especially since the dagger held a clever enchantment. With a thought, Master Pilk could send the dagger flying through the air and have it return to his hand at will. With his magical shielding in place, Master Pilk pointed a wand at the approaching orcs and sent out a burst of fire that exploded as it hit its target. That target was an unfortunate orc who was instantly incinerated along with all his comrades within three paces of him.

  "Have I told you before that I'm glad you're on my side, wizard?" he heard General Kehar ask him.

  As he willed his dagger out before him into the neck of an orc, Master Pilk calmly replied, "Not enough, general. Not enough." Then his dagger appeared back in his hand, so he willed it back into its sheathe, and pulled forth another wand. This one sent out a magical wave which became wider and wider the further it progressed. When it hit the front line of the orcs, it knocked the first few ranks off their feet, stunning them temporarily. Then General Kehar and his troops were upon them, killing many of them before they regained their feet. Only then did Master Pilk have time to look at what transpired on top of the wall. Master Tayer and the two other wizards were being bombarded by magic. So far their shields had held, but even Master Tayer had his limits. So Pilk formed a magical gate which exited next to his wizard friends and stepped through.