She moved several paces up the slope and Yvette and Jason stood on either side of her, Jason picked up his javelins in one huge fist and said quietly. “Let them come.”
Jennifer said, “I can see trolls.”
Jason said, “The more the merrier.”
Chapter fourteen.
The battle of the lake.
A dozen young, male goblins appeared out of the inlet with their shields strapped to their backs carrying clubs and axes, javelins and spears. The first three flew backwards one after the other in rapid succession, pierce by a javelin, knocking the trio behind them on their backs. Another three ran past them and skidded to a stop at the sight, and then fell as javelins struck them down too. The remaining half-dozen cowered behind the cadavers and one, a youngster named Gribb asked, “What was that?”
“Javelins,” came the muffled reply.
Gribb’s ugly head popped up, and down again. “I can’t see anything.”
“Neither did they,” came another muffled reply.
Gribb glanced about him fearfully and then he realized his comrade had meant the fallen. His bladder weakened slightly at a rumbling clattering sound behind him, he turned startled as a horde of screaming goblins rushed past, no longer in threes, separating as the fastest took the lead. Gribb and his companions stood up, their fear gone and he growled and said to them, “Let’s get’em, boys,” and they ran off to join the stragglers.
After hurling the javelins across the lake to the compliments of the others, Jason picked up Yvette’s knife and handed it to Jennifer. “Here, take it, it’s too small, I’ll use this.” Jennifer took the long-bladed knife and Jason picked up the spear, smeared with goblin blood.
They watched as over a hundred goblins charged across the lake, they hurled their javelins as they came nearer, some flew past the defenders and others, easy to dodge, landed between them. Jason plucked one, shouldered it and hurled it back. It pierced the chest of one of the leaders, the force knocked him back and the head of the javelin buried itself in the belly of the goblin behind him. Jason busied himself by gathering up javelins and throwing them one by one, without seeming to aim, but skewering several goblins each time.
A group, headed by a huge male, waving a battle axe, charged up the slope. Jennifer and Jason watched as Yvette kicked him in the belly, sending him flying backwards, felling the others like skittles. Yvette lunged forward, grabbed one female goblin by the arm and pulled her to her feet. “Need a hand?” she asked. The goblin nodded feebly and Yvette bit her head off. She spat the head out, removed the shield from the body and picked up the battle axe - double-bladed with a spike on the end - then waited for her foes to reach her.
The Goblins hesitated, until two male trolls arrived, ambling slowly across the ice. Yvette threw the axe at the leading one. Several goblins shouted a warning, knowing who its intended target was, the troll stopped and its jaw dropped just before the axe buried itself in his chest. The blow sent him tottering backwards into the second one’s arms. A loud mewing escaped its lips just before blood fountained out of its mouth. Its companion laid him down gently and proceeded to comfort him.
Angered by this act, the goblins charged once more up the slope. Yvette, now in her element, waded into them; she slashed with her claws, sending heads and limbs flying, while blocking spear thrusts with the goblin shield. Jennifer and Jason watched, slightly mesmerised as she killed two dozen goblins in half as many seconds before he could step forward to imitate her actions. He was suddenly forced to move aside as Jennifer pushed at him, she cleaved one club-wielding goblin through the breast bone with her sword and stabbed his colleague, who was hiding partly behind him, in the throat with her knife.
Jason couldn’t hear anything anymore, everything going on around was happening in slow motion, blood fountained upwards outwards, Jennifer’s sword flashed and Yvette’s arms flailed, spreading gore everywhere, and he found it strange, as if he were trapped inside this huge frame.
He heard a voice from far off, then nearer as Jennifer screamed, “Jason, watch out,” he turned and lunged with his spear as a huge goblin came at him from the side, wielding a huge club, the spear went in easily and the goblin’s momentum carried him forward. Jason released his hold on the spear and grabbed the club from the goblin’s hand. He stepped forward and pounded one female goblin into the ground then crushed the skull of another. He threw the club at a goblin who had raised his spear and prepared to throw it, and it smashed his face to a bloody pulp.
He watched Yvette once more, using her hands, jaws and feet to maim and kill and he copied her actions. He soon found out his size and reach was an advantage, and killing came easy to him, slash, grab, bite, rip and tear. The dead piled up around them, and Jason seized a female goblin, armed with a spear, by the foot as she slipped on the red snow. He climbed over the mound of bodies and spun her above him, using her as a flail, sending her comrades tumbling down the slope, and when her leg broke off at the knee he picked up a fallen spear and reverted to stabbing as the goblins tried to reach him.
“Another troll,” said Jennifer, her arms drenched with blood. The troll, having left his dead companion approached them at a run, wielding the bloodied axe.
Jason transfixed two more goblins, huge fellows and as he struggled to free the spear from the second one’s belly, he peered over the wall of dead and sure enough a huge grey monster made its way quickly up the slope, glaring balefully at Jennifer. In its haste to reach her, it trampled a number of live goblins, crushing their bodies, snapping their bones with his feet, which became tangled in the bloody mass of corpses and he stumbled and fell to his knees. Jennifer stepped back as the giant crawled over the bodies and stood up before her. He reached out with his free hand and raised the axe as if to throw it and faltered as Jason ran to him and stabbed him in the side of the neck with his spear. He grinned and said, “The neck you said, Jennifer, a weak spot I see.”
Jennifer watched as the troll dropped the axe and clawed at the spear, she jumped back as blood fountained out. Jason sawed the spear back and forth until it rasped against the dying troll’s spine, then he yanked it out and the monster sank to his knees, gave one last bubbling sigh and toppled over onto his side.
At the sight of this, the remaining three dozen attackers faltered, Gribb and his comrades included, and fled dropping their weapons in their haste.
Yvette howled and pounded down the slope after the fleeing goblins. Jason and Jennifer followed her, but were unable to join in the kill as Yvette decapitated each and every one of them, taking her time as she loped across the ice.
Gribb, being the youngest and the fastest, his legs pumping madly, almost made it to the inlet, the last thing he saw as he turned his head was Yvette’s claws as they swung down on him.
The three arrived at the inlet and Yvette examined the six bodies, she pulled out the javelins and handed them one by one to Jason. She shook her head and said, “That was some throw, I mean all six of them. I saw you let fly, but I never believed you would hit them. Jennifer with her elven eyes confirmed it.” She came closer and said, “You’ll have to teach me how to throw.”
He recalled her one hundred yard throw with a goblin battle-axe with which she downed the troll and said, “Teach you, the way you threw that…” he paused and sniffed, his ears erect, then said, “They’re coming.”
Jennifer said, “Yes and there will be more this time.”
They returned, picking up axes, spears and Javelins as they went.
They arranged the fallen into a makeshift, crescent-shaped barrier. They stood well apart and each held a shield to defend themselves against a javelin attack.
Jennifer and Yvette watched as the far lake turned black with goblin armour, forming in line of battle standing shoulder to shoulder waiting for the command to attack. And then they watched Jason as he, without hesitation, reached out to the javelins, arranged in rows and in a continuous fluid motion, cast the javelins on by one towards the enemy. His movem
ents a blur as he hurled the metal tipped shafts across the ice.
Jennifer, with her high-resolution eyesight, watched open-mouthed as eight goblins fell one after the other in such a rapid succession that even the last one to fall at the end of the front rank didn’t know what hit him. There were several goblins, javelin throwers themselves, lightly armoured for agility, who flew backwards with the force of the blow, injuring or killing the goblin behind as the projectile exited the first victim’s body and passed through into the next. The goblins broke ranks, but were goaded back into line by their superiors.
Jennifer shook her head and gazed at the eleven foot tall, killing machine, a person who told her he always cried when one of the chickens was killed for food. She looked at his eyes and saw no tears - so it was with the werewolves, no mercy.
She remembered the stories of the many elves that had been ambushed in the forests and woods by goblins, and of the hundreds that had died in battles against a suicidal, maniacal foe, and swung her arms around to keep the muscles warm with one thought in mind.
The enemy mass moved forward, leaving a row of dead behind them. More fell as Jason, now joined by Yvette, carried on throwing until their supply of javelins ran out. As the front line reached the centre of the lake Jennifer said, “I count over a thousand,” and she asked unnecessarily, “Are you two ready?”
The two growled in reply, and then Yvette howled, long and loud.
Jason howled, even louder, and longer.
Jennifer screamed, “To war, to war we go, no surrender, no quarter, death to our enemies.”
The goblins charged. Jennifer leaped onto the dead troll lying behind the barrier, bringing her head to the same height as the others. The trio flinched involuntarily as scores of arrows zipped by and between them from behind. They dropped down behind the barrier and saw the front goblin rank fall, and then the second, shot at close range, each goblin with an elvin arrow in its breast. They turned as one and saw a line of four score elves, with Jennifer’s parents, Seawan and Silvern, in the middle.
Jennifer picked up her bow, ducked down and called out as the elves moved nearer, “I have no more shafts.”
Seawan paused and unslung an extra quiver from his shoulder, packed with arrows and threw it to her. “We thought as much, so we came prepared.”
She shouldered the quiver and joined the line, shooting rapidly. The goblin dead piled up at the bottom of the slope, growing higher all the time. Goblins fell to the elven shafts as soon as they showed themselves above the gory mound. And as is in most battles, the elves ran out of arrows and they drew their long swords, unslung their shields, spaced themselves out with the others and awaited the onslaught.
Silence reigned behind the new mound of goblin cadavers and the defenders waited as the goblins reformed. Jennifer mounted her dead troll and watched as the goblins spread out in ranks, javelins at the ready. She shouted out a warning as they ran forward as one and threw their javelins over their dead. Most of them embedded themselves in the ground before the defenders; those which managed to fly further were easily avoided.
Before Jennifer could stop them, Jason and Yvette gathered the javelins, dodging other projectiles easily. They returned and distributed their prizes amongst the elves. Yvette weighed one in her hand and waited.
The goblins regrouped for another javelin attack, they came in one great surge, this time they waited until they were closer and javelins flew in both directions. A female elf fell, pierced through her thigh, another through his shoulder.
Jennifer and two other female elves gathered the enemy shafts and passed them around. Yvette and Jason threw with such force that their javelins passed through the bodies of their victims, sometimes skewering one or two more. The goblins answered by throwing their clubs, striking the defenders, bruising or injuring them.
The mound of goblin dead below grew like a gory step-way, allowing the attackers easier access to the top of the defenders wall. Some of them attacked with their bare hands in a wild frenzy, having lost their weapons after slipping on their comrade’s blood.
One huge goblin snatched a sword from an elf, dazed by a flying club, head-butted him, stabbed him in the chest and slashed at Seawan. Jason parried the blow with his spear blade and drove the shaft into the goblins throat. He dropped the spear and dragged the wounded elf from the skirmish. He pulled others out of harms way, dodging flailing blades as the other elves carved gaps in the goblin ranks. Suddenly the cadaver wall gave way and goblins poured through the gap. Seawan, blood spattered and bleeding from several wounds like the others, called out, “Pull back, pull back, we need more room.” The remaining elves, over four dozen, jumped down from the wall and ran up the slope, dragging or carrying the wounded with them, past Jason and his sister.
Yvette called out, after throwing a headless corpse at the surging mass in front of them, “Don’t worry, we’ll make room,” and charged with Jason into the goblin ranks. The elves stood back, ready to defend the wounded, of which were many. They watched astounded as Yvette, together with Jason, tore goblins limb from limb as they poured through the hole in the wall. The goblins fell in pairs, they died in trios. Jason swiped a group of four and they fell as one, their throats spewing blood. But despite the pair’s ferocity and the carnage they caused they were forced back due to the endless flow of wild-eyed, screaming goblins, their mouths flecked with foam.
Jennifer called out to them, “Silvermoon, Swiftfoot, pull back quickly.”
Jason and Yvette, covered from head to foot in goblin blood, moved slowly backwards, and Jason shouted, “What now, we’re busy?”
“We have visitors.”
A familiar voice called out, “Do you mind if we join in, or is this a private party?”
They hurried back to the others and watched as a dozen humans and a huge werewolf came hurrying down the slope, it was the farmer and a dozen strange-looking men and women. Seawan, his eyes wide said, “Halflings, half human, half werewolf. I thought it was just a myth.”
The farmer stopped before them, he and the others were armed with shotguns and wicked-looking axes. The werewolf, a female, brown-furred and about the same size as Yvette, called out, “They’re coming, get ready, and let them get in closer.”
The goblins, full of confidence at the scattered and wounded elves and the battle-weary werewolves, charged them.
The men and women opened up with their shotguns, the goblins fell back as shotgun pellets, fired at close range, blew pieces out of their armour, wounding them. The men and women fired again and again, and the goblin dead mounted. Some managed to force their way forward only to fall victim to a deftly wielded axe. Others tried to retreat through the gap, but found their way blocked as wave after wave pushed through the breach, trampling them.
Then the guns fell silent and the female werewolf said, “Axes, my children, and no quarter.” Jason and Yvette joined them as they charged the goblins, a dozen against hundreds.
They never reached their target, not first anyway. They, Yvette and Jason included were surprised as a brown wave of snarling carnivores overtook them. The goblins disappeared under an immense horde of werewolves. Blood flowed as axes hacked and teeth and claw ripped. It was over inside minutes, hundred of goblins died in that furious onslaught. The remainder of the goblin force fled futilely across the lake, each fugitive brought down with a vicious slash or a cleaving blow with an axe.
Jennifer watched as the female werewolf and her offspring returned. They were well-built humans at first glance, but their features were faintly canine, their eyes were yellow, the incisors were long and tufts of fur sprouted from their sleeves and collars. The victors assembled on the slope. Jason said to the farmer, “You arrived just in time.”
He smiled and said, “My wife heard your call,” he pointed to the approaching werewolves, “Just as they did.” He called out, “Greetings, Lengowyn. We meet once more, dear brother-in-law.”
The werewolf Lengowyn bowed his furry grey head then looked
up, “Greetings, Derek, my brother,” He turned to Jason and the others, “You all fought well,” he looked at the wounded elves, “You have many casualties, they can rest at my village, we will carry those who cannot walk.” He moved closer to Jason, “I fear I have bad news concerning the rune stone.” He dropped his gaze, “A person whom we regarded highly has betrayed his own kind and the elves.”
Seawan asked, “Who is this person?”
“Lucas.”
Silvern gasped. “You mean Lord Lucas?”
“Yes. He has fed us lies over the years, spreading discontentment amongst my people, telling untruths about our heritage, he said the rune stone is a myth.” He paused and beckoned to one of his people, a female werewolf came to his side. “I became suspicious of Lucas. He told me in one of his wild moments once that goblins could mate with werewolves and become stronger and wiser than the elves. I just ignored it as one of his flights of fancy, just like the one about the curse, so I sent Seerwith here to follow him everywhere he went. She saw him attack a female goblin just a day ago. He didn’t kill her, but took something she was carrying and where he is now I do not know.”
Silvermoon. A Tale of a Young Werewolf. A YA Novel. 12-18 Page 12
