by Logan Jacobs
“We won’t,” I promised. “That’s exactly why we came as quickly as we could.”
“I’ll start on an archery unit,” Ava said. “I’ll go by as many bowyers and fletchers as it takes until I have enough bows to work with, and if they don’t have enough, then we’ll make our own.”
“Good,” I said. “You can start training the human guards and get them ready as fast as you can, and in the meantime, the Elite archers can go ahead and set up on the walls so they’re prepared in case the elves attack before the human guards here are ready.”
“While Ava works with the archers,” Leif said, “I can start to set up boiling water and oil stations all along the walls, so when the elves do attack, we’ll have another line of defense against them.”
“That sounds like a plan,” I replied. “While you work with Sten to set that up, Penny and I will organize the Elite to get them into the best position to defend the city, whether that’s on the walls themselves or in different formations and strategic locations inside the city.”
“I’ll show you what we have set up so far,” Sten said, “so then you can just build on top of that.”
“Perfect,” I said with a nod. “In that case, I want you to go ahead and split off with the archers, Ava.”
“Yes, my king,” the blonde assassin said, and instantly, she disappeared somewhere into the formation of Elite soldiers behind us.
“And Leif, you should go ahead and get to the walls,” I continued, “so you can start to set up defense stations.”
“Right away, my king,” Leif said and pounded his fist against his chest.
After Ava and Leif both disappeared to carry out their tasks, Penny and I marched through the streets with Sten and the Elite right behind us. The small gladiator took us to the lake first, so he could show us all the defenses that our troops had started to erect there.
The lake was the only part of the city without a wall around it, but it was so wide that it would have been ridiculous for the elves to try to cross it. Even if they had wanted to cross the lake, they would have had to use boats, and we would have seen them coming before they got close enough to do any damage against us. Then it would have been easy enough to sink their boats with a few volleys of fiery arrows, and the elves would be right back to square one.
But just in case the elves were somehow able to swim their way across the deep lake and make it past through the strong undercurrents, Sten had already made preparations to hold them off. There was a low barrier of wood all along the edge of the lake, and while they mostly looked like scraps from torn-down houses, there was enough wood that it should burn like a bonfire in the shape of a half-circle.
“We have some of the temple wine on hand,” Sten explained, “and we’ve got it ready to douse the wood and light this all on fire in case the elves somehow make it across the river.”
“I wonder if the fumes of the wine would still be poisonous,” Penny said. “I know the smell of the nightshade flower can kill you if you inhale it long enough, so the same thing might be true of the poisoned wine, too.”
“That’s a good point,” I said. “If it comes to that, make sure your men light the barrier and then retreat far enough away that they won’t inhale the fumes.”
“I will, my king,” Sten said, and then he took us to another part of the Gold City’s defenses.
Since the walls themselves were thick enough to withstand some real firepower, the small gladiator hadn’t done anything to reinforce them, but he had set up battle stations inside the city itself. The main gate was the only real weak spot in the Gold City, so Sten had organized a second barrier a few dozen yards behind the main gate.
If the elves broke through the gate, they would immediately be faced with another barrier with plenty of human soldiers to fight against them. There were also other barriers along a few key streets around the main gate into the city, so if the first barrier didn’t stop them, one of the others should.
I kept my focus on our battle plans and formations, but it wasn’t easy to concentrate. It was so strange to be in a city where there were no elves around at all, and it felt both bizarre and perfectly natural that we could all stride down the street with our weapons in hand like we owned the place… because really, we did.
I noticed that a number of other races had joined forces with the humans now that the revolution was underway, and even the halflings and dwarves who weren’t at the front lines all seemed more than happy to see me. Some of them waved from their windows, some brought food and drink to offer me, and others just shook my hand with tears in their eyes.
I guessed that they felt the same way I did.
All the surviving elves in the Gold City were locked away in the jails or in the holding cells at some of the casinos around town, so there was no one to stop us or make us feel like we were less than nothing. We could finally walk with our heads held up high, with pride in our steps, and without any fear that we might be arrested or killed just because we were humans.
The only obstacle now was the big-ass elven army just outside the walls.
“Let me take a look at the elves,” I said. “I think you’ve done a fantastic job, Sten, and we’ll make the Gold City impossible to conquer before this is all over, but right now, I’d like to see exactly what we’re up against.”
“Of course,” the small gladiator said with a nod. “If you’ll both please follow me to the walls, I’ll show you the enemy.”
“We can check in with Leif, too,” Penny added, “and see if he’s been able to set up boiling oil and water stations all along the walls.”
“And maybe we’ll be able to see some kind of clue about when the elves are going to attack,” I said as the three of us moved toward the stairs and started to climb up to the top of the city walls.
“It would be nice to know what they’re waiting for,” Sten said, “but I doubt they’ll just volunteer that little piece of information to us.”
“Maybe they’re just waiting for the right light,” Penny said with a shrug.
“What do you mean?” the small gladiator asked.
“It’s the middle of the day,” the pixie thief replied, “so everybody can see really clearly on both sides, right?”
“That’s true, if the army is made up of mostly day elves,” I said.
“It was mostly night elves the last time I looked, but that was early this morning,” Sten said. “Maybe they’ve got some of both kinds?”
“Maybe,” Penny said, “but my point is that day elves can see really well in the daytime, and so can we, so I doubt they would attack us while the sun is up.”
“What if they’re night elves?” Sten asked when we were halfway up to the top of the wall.
“So night elves can see really well at night, and we can’t,” Penny continued, “so if they’re night elves, they’ll probably want to attack at night.”
“And if they’re a mix of both, like Sten suggested?” I asked.
“Then I still think they’d probably start their attack at night,” Penny said. “The night elves would be able to attack us all night, so then in the morning when we’re exhausted and weak, they could send in the day elves, who would still be totally fresh.”
“Shit,” Sten said. “I just kind of assumed they would all attack at once, but if that’s the case…”
“Let’s just see what we’re up against first,” I said as we finally stepped foot on top of the walls.
The soldiers stationed at the top of the walls parted to make way for us. I glanced at the walls themselves first, just to see what they looked like from up top, and I was pleased to see how strong they looked. The walls surrounded the Gold City on every side except for the side with the huge lake, and they seemed to be made of a mixture of mud, clay, and stone.
They were also just thick enough that two men could stand shoulder-to-shoulder on top of them, so while it wasn’t a huge walkway, there was still plenty of room to move around the soldiers and for them to fight,
if it came down to that. Still, I hoped we would be able to eliminate the elves before they managed to scale the walls and bring the fight into the city, but before I could determine that, I needed to get a better look at the elven forces.
As soon as I moved past the soldiers and looked out over the walls, I took a deep breath, pulled Penny close to my side, and started to study the situation before us.
It wasn’t good, but it also wasn’t impossible.
At least, I sure as shit hoped not.
Sten had said that the soldiers who showed up during the night were night elves, but all the night elves had vanished into tents now, and instead, we were now faced by nothing but day elves. It was hard to estimate their numbers just by looking at them, but if I had to guess, I would say that there were about five hundred elven troops in front of us, and half of them were on foot, while the other half were on horseback.
And if there were five hundred day elf soldiers, then that meant there had to be at least that many night elves inside the tents behind them. Hopefully, there weren’t any more than that, but it was impossible to tell at the moment, so all we could do was make our best estimate and try to plan from there.
Even though shit looked bad, I already saw a few things that made me feel a lot better about our odds. For one thing, only half of the elves were on horses, and that was a lot better than if the whole force was on horseback. For another thing, most of the elves only wore leather armor, except for the commanders, so they would be much easier to cut down, especially from behind the safety of our walls.
But the thing that I noticed most of all was the fact that every single elf was lined up perfectly in formation, so every row and every column looked exactly the same. They were grouped in units of about fifty soldiers each, so the only space in the army in front of me was between each unit. Otherwise, everyone looked like they were scared to step even an inch away from where they were supposed to be.
The elves sure as shit liked their neat little formations, and there was a good chance that their sense of law and order meant they wouldn’t know what to do when the chaos of a real battle started. After all, it had been a long time since the elves actually had to fight as an army instead of just bully people around in the streets. The elves might be fast and strong individually, but there was a very good chance that when they tried to fight as a core unit, they would be a lot weaker.
It was the complete opposite of how I had trained my troops. Humans might not be as fast or as strong as elves, but we had trained to fight as a team, so I thought we just might be able to pull this off.
“What the fuck are they waiting for?” Sten finally growled. “I don’t understand why they didn’t attack us last night, and now they’re just fucking staring us down? Do they think they can stare at us so hard that we’ll just give up?”
“Maybe,” I said. “They haven’t tried to send a messenger out to talk to you yet, have they?”
“No,” the gladiator sighed. “They probably think it’s beneath them to try to make the first move.”
“They also probably think that they can intimidate us into a surrender,” Penny said.
“Do you think they’re waiting for more troops to arrive as reinforcements?” I asked. “I know it’s too soon for any reinforcements to come from another wilderness fort, but do you think there might be more soldiers at the fort itself?”
“You mean, maybe they didn’t all move out at once?” Penny asked. “So there are still more to come?”
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug.
“Actually, it might make sense if this is all the elven troops that are left,” Sten said. “The wild orcs have really taken a toll on the elven soldiers here, so their numbers aren’t really what they used to be.”
“I guess that’s why they called Tevian in to try to fix their orc problem,” Penny said.
“Yeah, but he only beat them back into the mountains,” I said. “He didn’t actually kill all the orcs.”
“And he lost a number of elven soldiers in the process,” Sten pointed out, “so they probably haven’t had time to replenish their numbers yet.”
“That’s also true,” Penny said. “Plus, aren’t the elves in the Gold City all kind of, uh… loose? When it comes to rules about drinking and being on duty, that kind of thing?”
“They are,” Sten replied, “so I imagine the same thing might be true of the elves stationed at the wilderness fort.”
“And if that’s the case, then I bet they probably got some of the poisoned temple wine to celebrate the equinox at their outpost,” I said, “so a lot of them probably died right away, and this is probably all that remains of their forces.”
“Oh, shit!” Penny said. “That’s why they were able to get here so quickly! The other forts are probably led by people like Tevian, who think their soldiers on duty should be all business all the time, so they stayed totally sober during the equinox festival.”
“Fuck, I bet you’re right,” I said. “If the elves all started to drop at the wilderness fort when they started drinking, that would definitely explain why the rest of the soldiers immediately marched toward the city to find out what was going on.”
“And then they found the gates locked against them,” Sten said, “and they saw that there were humans on patrol all along the walls instead of elves.”
“Maybe they’ve just all gone into shock,” Penny snickered, “and that’s why they haven’t sent any kind of message to us.”
“That might be too good to be true,” I laughed, “but if they want to talk, they’ll have to send out a messenger first.”
“You won’t send a messenger yourself?” Sten asked.
“No,” I replied. “I won’t waste my time or possibly one of my men’s lives, just so the elves can tell me that I’ll pay for my insolence and that they’ll kill everyone who sides with me.”
“Fair enough,” the small gladiator said.
“Now, let’s see about the defenses that Leif has been working on,” I said and then began to lead the way along the top of the wall.
I was a little surprised that none of the elves had said anything or made a move yet, but I had a feeling that Penny was right. When they arrived last night, they probably had been so shocked to find the gates locked against them that they hadn’t known how to respond right away, and so instead, they had assembled outside the walls to try to intimidate the city. But now that the sun had risen, they would just wait until night fell again, and then I had no doubt that they would attack.
I thought briefly that we might attack them first to throw them off, but honestly, I wanted to make sure that we were completely ready for a fight against them and their cavalry. As much as I would have liked to attack them right away, we really needed the extra time to prepare, so we would just have to be ready by tonight.
It wasn’t a lot of time to train archers, but we did at least have the Elite archers with us, so that was better than nothing. Plus, it was enough time to set up boiling oil stations all along the walls, and it was also enough time to double-check all the defenses inside the city itself.
As the afternoon wore on, I spent all my time moving around the city to try to be in all places at the same time. There was a lot to coordinate and a bunch of people to check in with, and everywhere I went, I made sure to speak to the human guards or to the members of the Elite that I passed. I could tell they were nervous now that the first initial attack was over, and I wanted to reassure them before the second wave of fighting began.
By late afternoon, things were as well in place as they could be. Ava had started to roughly train a unit of the Gold City’s human guards as archers, but she had also already stationed the Elite archers at strategic points all along the city walls. Leif had the rest of the Elite troops deployed all along the walls, and he had assigned them locations throughout the city to retreat to and defend, if the elves were somehow able to break through the walls during the night.
The sun was still above the horizon, but I
estimated that we only had another hour or hour and a half until it set, and then it would only be a matter of minutes before it was dark enough for the night elves to march out of their tents and attack.
I was on top of the wall beside Ava and Penny when one of the human guards hurried toward us. He looked excited but also like he had just seen a ghost, and as soon as he reached us, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head to me.
“My king, one of our scouts has been spotted in the distance,” the human soldier said. “He is riding back toward the city, but the elven army stands between him and us.”
“I need that scout to stay alive,” I said as I instantly turned my gaze toward the horizon. “I need to know what he knows and what he’s seen.”
“What should we do?” the soldier asked.
The wall was high enough above the ground that I could see much farther than the elves on the ground could, so I could see the faint speck of the human rider in the distance. He rode so fast that it would only be a minute or two before the elves noticed him, so we needed to be prepared to act fast, or he would never make it back inside the walls.
“Ava, I think it’s time to test out some of our new archers,” I said. “I want you to prepare the Elite and the regular guard archers to provide a distraction.”
“I understand,” the blonde assassin replied. “As soon as the elves see the scout, we’ll start firing to keep them focused on the city instead of the scout.”
“Leif!” I shouted.
The big gladiator immediately hustled across the wall to join us.
“I want you to get ready to give the order to open the gates,” I said, “but you’ll need to concentrate all your boiling oil there so none of the elves can get through.”
“I’ll get it done,” Leif said, “and I’ll make sure the troops just inside the gate are ready, just in case any elves make it through at the same time as our scout.”
“Then everyone get into position,” I called and then turned my attention back to the scout far in the distance.
He was close enough now that as his horse’s hooves drummed against the earth, the elves at the back of the army all started to turn around to see the source of the noise. Almost immediately, several of the elves on horseback pulled out of formation and started to ride forward to intercept the scout, so I knew there was no more time to waste.
