CH 4
Eric awoke to someone calling his name frantically. Coming around, he felt himself holding something. On his shoulder was a light brown head, a slim arm lay across his chest. The warmth told him they were naked.
"Eric! Where are you?"
Oh shit! Heart in his throat, Eric slipped out of bed and found his pants. Hastily, he put them on as he glanced at Elanza who was beginning to stir.
Eric ran out in the living area, shutting the door behind him. The constable came striding out from Eric's bedroom. Eric had an excuse on his tongue, but the constable spoke first.
"We got trouble, Hobgoblins are coming this way," the man said, looking justifiably worried.
"What? Where?"
"An elven runner came in to town, they're headed up from the south, trying to get around the elven army. He figures we got maybe two days before they get here."
The Captain of the guard, Ramon, burst in the front door. "Eric!" he called as he came in. Stopping, he said, "We need you now, Hobgoblins have been seen by down by the south pond, just above the beaver dam."
That was a hell of a lot closer than two days. "Get men together down at the crossroads by Miller's place, then go find those Hobgoblins. Pull men from the border if you have to," Eric told Ramon, then to the constable, he said, "Call for militia and any volunteers you can find, meet me out in front of the town warehouse."
The men ran out, and Eric ran onto his room to scoop up some clothes and his sword. Thinking as he moved, he next opened the door to Eldarin's room. "Eldarin, I need you now, get out here!" Eric barked, then quickly got himself dressed.
"What's going on?" Elanza asked, wearing a sheet as she peeked out of her room.
"My boots, get'em for me," Eric said throwing on his shirt. He did manage to get some socks on his feet, then buckled on his sword belt. Thinking about keeping his two guests safe, he grabbed the crossbow from above the fireplace and pulled the quiver of bolts out from behind the wood bin.
Eldarin appeared, bleary eyed. "What's all the yelling?" he asked.
Eric grabbed him and sat him down. "Watch," Eric said as he loaded the crossbow. "Put the end on the floor, put your foot on the support, pull the string back like this. When you hear the click, it's cocked." Eric then loaded on a bolt and handed the crossbow to him. "Think you can do that?"
"Yeah, but why?" Eldarin asked, confused.
"I have your boots, Eric," Elanza said in a small voice.
Eric retrieved his boots and put them on as he explained to Eldarin, "We got Hobgoblins coming. Could be a whole army of them. Until I know for sure, after I leave, you shut the door and drop all three bars across it. Shutter all the windows except the one closest to the door there. If something tries to get in and it ain't human or elf, kill it, then get Elanza down in the root cellar."
"Hobgoblins?" They both asked in fear.
"Eldarin! Did you hear me?" Eric snapped.
"Yes, bar the door, shoot if I have to, then get Lady Elanza into the root cellar," Eldarin said. "Shouldn't we run?" he asked weakly.
Eric shook his head. "That'll only make you targets for their hunt. The root cellar had a good, solid oak door that can be double-barred, and even if they burn the place down, you'll be safe. IF they get this far, there won't be anyone left outside to help you," he said, stomping on his second boot. "There's enough supplies down there to last a few days. Food, water, and a bellows to stick in a pipe hidden in the yard so you can get air. If it gets that far, stay down there at least two days. When you are sure it's safe, come out very cautiously."
"Where are you going?" Elanza asked as she stared at Eric.
"I'm gonna go try to keep the Hobgoblins out of town," Eric said as he checked himself. Clothes, sword, and he could get a shield and spear at the armory.
"No! You can't go out there! Stay here with us!" Elanza cried.
Letting out a huff, Eric said, "I got a job to do."
"Then I'm going too!" Elanza stated and ducked back into her room.
Eric glared at Eldarin. "Keep her here if you have to sit on her! If she gets hurt, I'll be coming for your ass to hang. Bar the door shut right after I leave."
Holding Eric's crossbow, Eldarin nodded.
.
Eric strode quickly down to the warehouse where the winter stores and the town's armory was located. He arrived to find a small group of men had gathered. The men looked confused.
"Eric, what's going on?" one man asked.
"Hobgoblins are about. One of you fellows stay out here, the rest come with me. We're breaking out all the weapons," Eric told them, then went into the barn doors.
Most of the interior was taken up by bins and lofts for the winter storage of food stuffs. Near the middle, a single door opened into a long thin room filled with weapons racks on one side. Most of the spare weapons were eight foot spears topped with steel heads and plain, straight, double edged
broadswords. Along the bare wall, a couple dozen round brass shields hung. Pointing to them, he told the closest man, "Spears and shields first, then swords, then anything else we got in here. It all comes out.
Going back outside, Eric showed a few men who trickled in how he wanted the weapons emerging from the armory to be stacked.
Looking over the growing crowd of nervous men, Eric selected a few younger men to go scouting. Pulling them to the side, he said, "Head south and keep your wits about you. Know what's around you at all times. At the first sight of a Hobgoblin, get your asses back here and tell me. If it gets around noon and you still haven't found anything, come back anyway. You don't want to be in the woods at night with Hobgoblins about."
"Eric ...Sir? What's a Hobgoblin?" a light haired young man asked.
"Two legs, greenish with scraggly hair, ugly and bad tempered," Eric said. "Trust me, as soon as you see one, you'll know it. Get going."
Eric had a bad feeling about these Hobgoblins coming. Except for skirmishes with elves, they had no experienced fighters who did not have gray hair growing on their heads. Going up against an elf who was dodging around and shooting arrows from behind trees was completely different that the
stampede like charge of a strong Hobgoblin that was coming to crush your skull. All the guards,
and quite a few young men in the town were nimble, and used to going after their enemy. Most of them had learned to fight elves. None of them had ever faced anything else.
The only good thing about a Hobgoblin's charge was that if you could stop the charge, then you had the advantage. Hobgoblins were strong and tough creatures, but not the brightest bunch. He had to devise an appropriate defense, and hope there were not that many.
Eric noted one man who was giving a line of men who'd taken up spears and shields a 'refresher' on combat spearing and covering yourself with the shield.
"Excuse me!" Eric said loudly as he went over to the guard who was doing his best. Eric motioned for the spear and the shield. The guard handed them over.
"All right, gather round and listen up!" Eric said loudly so everyone could hear. He waited until there was a large circle of men around him before he continued. "Hobgoblins are NOT elves! They don't try to avoid direct combat and keep their distance. They come at you straight on, fast and hard, and they will not stop unless you kill them. They weight roughly twice as much as any of you do, and if they hit you, you WILL go down! If you run, they will catch and kill you. There is only one sure way to take down a Hobgoblin before he takes you down. Observe."
Eric put his shield up in front of him and laid his spear on the ground as he dropped to one knee. "As I said, Hobgoblins are strong and tough, but they are about as smart as the rocks in the stream down there. Keep your spear down like so, step on the end of it. Then when that ugly, snarling beast gets close," he pulled up on the spear, the tip rose up about stomach height. "You pull your spear up. Keep the end grounded, and let the weight of his own attack impale him. Chances are, you're going to loose that spear, or won't be able to recover it before another Hobgoblin is coming after you. The more spears you have, the better. If you can get a back attack on one, that's good too. Sword fighting against a Hobgoblin is a last ditch effort to save your own ass, and your family's lives. Don't do it unless you have no other choice."
Eric stood up and handed the guard's weapons back to him. "Remember that, and you'll have a chance. Let others reach out to attack with rocks and arrows, spear men are defense in this fight. Spread the word, I don't want anyone charging out there with visions of glory. You'll only end up as a bloody corpse. Make them come to you."
Seeing the Constable, Eric had him round up six more men for scouting. Ramon had scouts to the east towards elven territory so he sent three west, and another trio to the south, more east of where he'd sent the original three.
"Why groups of three?" the constable asked.
"One to walk up to the hobgoblin and get killed, a second to keep it occupied with his screaming as the third man to runs back to tells us what happened," Eric said dryly.
"You expect people are going to die," the Constable noted.
"If those Hobgoblins come at us, many people are going to die," Eric stated. Casting a look at the men arming themselves with spears, swords and shields, he added, "And if we can't find some heavier weapons to hit them with, chances are it will be flee or die."
.
Between men's personal bows and the armory, Eric ended up with a whole hundred and ten bowmen who had around fifteen to twenty arrows each. They desperately needed more ranged weapons. The simplest was a sling and stones. Some boys came up with a three person sling. Two boys held a long cloth loose while a third boy loaded in a fist sized rock.
The two boy yanked hard at the same time, and the cloth snapped taunt, fireing the rock a good 80 yards. Eric praised them for their idea, and recruited teenage boys to make a 'sling squad'. The damage they would do was questionable, but Eric was willing to use anything to down a few Hobgoblins before they hit the line of spear men.
In a couple hours, Eric found he had three hundred spear men, the same number of slings, not counting the nearly hundred boys with their slings, and another few bowmen joined to make a hundred twenty bow men.
Scouts came running back into town. The out of breath southern scouts had found 'A whole bunch' of Hobgoblins headed right for them. Luckily, only one young man was killed.
The best place Eric could find to make their initial stand was at the edge of a wheat field square in the path of the oncoming Hobgoblins. Placing the spear men in front of a line of brush at the edge of the road, Eric had logs put down just in front of the bushed. He had long sharpened wood, from implement handles to sharpened ten foot long sticks, laid on the logs so a foot pushing down would raise the sharpened stick up to about belly height. They spearmen made a long single line. Crouched behind the brush by th road ten feet behind them, were the bowmen and slings.
Standing toward the middle of the field, Eric sent his runners out again to be sure they were in front of the Hobgoblins. Another older teen was lost from getting too close to them. The wide eyes as the last ones emerged from the woods to ran back told Eric the Hobgoblins were right behind them.
"Get ready!" Eric called back to his men. "Remember what you have to do!"
"They're coming," a young man gasped as he ran by.
Standing alone with his spear, a bronze shield and his sword at his side, Eric waited until he saw Hobgoblins appear in the woods before him. The first few slowed, then stopped as they gathered. Mimicking the single line of humans before them, the Hobgoblins formed up in a single rank with only one in front of the line. The one large Hobgoblin Eric guessed was the leader, took a step forward eyeing him. Raising his jagged sword, the leader roared and pointed his sword at Eric.
The line of Hobgoblins ran forward, belting out rough battle cries.
Eric turned and ran. As he ran, he did his best to note how fast they were gaining on him, and where the leader was. He only had one shot at this. A bowshot in front of him, a couple men moved to the side to let him pass as the Hobgoblins were closing quickly. "Back in rank!" Eric shouted, then quickly stopped, turned, knelt and planted his spear.
The leader who was charging, raised his sword high as Eric lifted the point of his spear, aiming for the leaders' ribs. With a look of shock, the leader ran right onto Eric's spear, driving over half of it into his body before he collapsed.
Eric didn't hesitate. A soon as the leader impaled himself, Eric crouched behind his shield and thrust forward with all his weight. The Hobgoblin beside the leader deflected off Eric's shield and knocked Eric to the other side, right where he wanted to be. Eric used the momentum to get to his feet, turn, and chase the line of Hobgoblins. Drawing his sword, he screamed, "BOWS!"
The line of men crouched down. Behind them, bowmen and sling wielders stood up, took aim and shot.
Hobgoblins fell, and few hit by stones stumbled. The line broke up, but kept charging toward the humans. Eric caught a Hobgoblin that had stumbled from a stone impact, and swung to slice deep across the back of his neck. That one fell dead. Another noticed him, and came at him with a roar.
At the line, the bowmen fired another round of arrows, and a few dozen stones were slung, then the second line ran to the other side of the road. The younger boys with their long 'three person' slings, kept running. As planned.
The Hobgoblins hit the line at a run, and got impaled by the grounded weapons. A few men lifted their sharpened poles too late, and a few too early. The Hobgoblins had time to knock aside the one's who'd lifted their weapons too early, and the men who's timing had been off, paid for it with their lives as misshapen swords crashed down on them.
The Hobgoblin charging Eric swung, Eric put up his shield to catch the sword, and spun to the side as he swung, ripping into the Hobgoblin's leg. It stumbled, but with a roar came at Eric again. Eric sidestepped. As it pushed his shield and him aside, he drove his sword into it's neck. A fast twist of the blade, and Eric backed off. Seeing the creature grab it's throat that was pumping out blood, he ran to the now confused fight on the road.
Breaking into knots of combat, the remaining Hobgoblins fought humans. The bad part was that with each strike, a Hobgoblin took a man down. The good part was that each Hobgoblin was surrounded, and taking jabs from spears from every angle. In the screaming chaos, Hobgoblins fell until the last one sank down with three spears and two arrows in it.
After the sickish looking green creatures were all dead, there was silence for a moment, except for the moaning cries of the wounded. Then a cheer of victory rose up from the defenders.
Eric scanned the woods. He was sure any Hobgoblin that was here, had committed themselves to the battle, not wanting to be seen as weak but his clan mates. Still, it was always best to make sure.
.
Coming up to Eric, the Constable who now was holding his bleeding arm, asked, "I thought you said using a sword against a Hobgoblin was an act of desperation."
"I did," Eric agreed. "I was desperate to kill their leader so none of them could rally another attack if any of them survived." Looking over the scene of carnage, he said, "We got lucky, they didn't take us seriously this time. Get our wounded back to town, and the dead. Pick up every weapon and piece of metal we can find. They aren't anywhere close to being done yet."
.
A body count showed they had killed two hundred sixty three Hobgoblins to the cost of sixteen dead, and twenty seven wounded townsmen. It was a start.
Meeting Ramon and the Constable in the middle of the street with their squad leaders, Eric shrugged off the suggestion to defend the place where they had been victorious.
"We'll be easily outflanked if we stood out there," Eric told them. "Every family who isn't in town, get them within the walls. Livestock too. Tip wagons up on their sides so shooters can shoot down on the Hobgoblins, and hang the brightest lamps you can find down the outside of the walls tonight."
"Why the outside?" The Constable asked.
"Hobgoblins see better after dark, but if we shine lights in their eyes, they can't see much else beside the light," Eric explained. "Check with Charlie to see if he has any strong liqueur. Poured in clay pots and lit, we can toss fire at them too. Hobgoblins don't like fire. Brush piles near, not AT the wall will also help discourage them."
The constable and Ramon turned to their men to fulfill Eric's requests.
"What can I do?" a familiar female voice asked from behind Eric. Eric turned to see Elanza standing there in leathers, with Eldarin behind her. Eric glared at Eldarin.
"I couldn't stop her!" Eldarin cried as he took a step back.
Eric shifted his glare to Elanza, and asked in a hard tone, "WHAT are you doing here?"
"Same as you. Helping to defend this town," she stated.
"NO!" Eric barked. "You're too damn important to go risking your life! Lord Ketherlan will be highly pissed, and maybe HE will order an attack on us if anything happens to you. Do I have to tie you up to get you to stay in the house?"
Hands on her hips and casting Eric a smirk, Elanza said in a musical tone, "If you tie me up, I hope it isn't just to keep me from defending this town."
Eric's jaw dropped. A snicker sounded behind him. Eric's glare caused the man to fall silent.
"I'm helping," Elanza stated.
Thinking of how to keep her from getting herself killed, Eric pointed to the highest spot he could see. "That watch tower there, you can see at night, right?"
"Yes, and I can warn you when Hobgoblins approach," Elanza said firmly.
"Good. You and Eldarin take shifts. I'll post guards at the base so they can pass messages. And unless that tower is about to fall, stay up there," Eric growled.
"Yes, M'Lord," Elanza said a bit too happily, and left with Eldarin in tow.
Eric grumbled again as she left. WHY did women have to be so difficult?
.
The walls around the town of Gateway were meant to keep out wild animals, and offer a place to duck down behind to avoid elven arrows. The roughly eight foot walls made of upright logs were not
designed to hold back a major assault. In some places, the walls were propped up by supports, not even dug very deep into the ground.
Eric had to conceded at least they had something to keep the Hobgoblins from running straight into town. Not very tall, or sturdy, the town wall would be breached fairly easily by attacking Hobgoblins. On the shorter sections of wall that Eric could see over (and Hobgoblins could jump over) Eric had small pits dug just inside the walls. Like post holes, these pits were only a foot around and a couple feet deep. He had the area inside the wall covered with them, then a secondary wall made behind that with boards, barrels and tables.
Upon being questioned why he was having all these small pits dug, Eric said, "See that wall? Hobgoblins will come and jump over it. When they do, good chance they will step in one of these holes when they land. What happens when a horse hits a gopher hole?"
"Busted legs," a man said, understanding.
"And that will make killing them easier."
Late in the afternoon, Eric was racking his brains for anything else they could to do prepare for an attack. On the walls were every able bodied man they had. On the next parallel street back from the wall, were the teenage boys, girls and older men were ready to block off the alleys between houses and fight the best they could with makeshift slings, spears, axes, and anything else they could scrape up. The women had made an inner defense ring surrounding center of town and the watch tower.
As the sun was setting, Eric knew they were as ready as possible. Women made meals for men who stayed near their assigned areas, expecting a Hobgoblin attack at any time.
Front the watch tower a call came down of someone approaching through the northern woods. The walls were manned, Eric took a place near the north western gate, where a 'sizable' group was approaching. In the growling darkness, Eric saw tall thin shapes.
"Get ready!" a group leader yelled, and bows raised up.
"Stay your hand!" Eric yelled right after him. "Those are elves coming. Open the gate."
.
Lord Ketherlan brought in thirty odd tired looking elves who bore empty quivers, or only had a few arrows left. A couple elves bore light wounds. Eric called for food and water for the elves.
His body sagging as if carrying a great weight, Lord Ketherlan asked, "Lady Elanza, is she well?"
"She's well, but stubborn," Eric replied. "She won't stay in a safe cabin. She insisted on helping so I put her up in the watch tower where she'll be far from the battle."
"Thank you," Lord Ketherlan said with a tired nod.
"You're going to take her back to Qualinenost?" Eric asked, hoping that was the case.
Ketherlan shook his head. "We tried to draw the Hobgoblins away to the west. We were partially successful. Many did go west chasing us. When we tried to head east towards home, we found ourselves surrounded."
"At least you got away," Eric said sympathetically.
"You don't understand, we ARE surrounded," Lord Ketherlan said. "Hobgoblins have taken over the whole area outside of this town. They are everywhere."
"Damn," Eric grumbled. They were under siege. It was only a matter of time before the Hobgoblins attacked in force.
A man came running, calling, "Hey, Eric! Eldarin says we got Hobgoblins outside town to the east and south!"
"Here we go," Eric said, then shouted orders to get ready to meet the threat.
.
On the southeast corner of the wall, Eric listened as one of Ketherlan's elves pointed out where the Hobgoblins were out in the darkness. He couldn't see past the soft glow of the lanterns shining their light outside the walls, lighting a mere half a bow shot around the town. The Hobgoblins were massing, but staying well back out of bow range. Slowly, the line of Hobgoblins grew longer, until they extended from the south wall, around the west wall and most of the way down the weaker north wall.
"So where's your army?" Eric asked Ketherlan, thinking that if they could get a band out during the chaos of the first attack, someone could run for help.
"I brought what is left with me," Ketherlan said in a grave tone.
Eric got was he was saying, Lord Ketherlan's army had gotten slaughtered. "So much for that plan," he mussed. "Tell me that wasn't the only army the elves have."
"Far from it, but no one else will come to assist us. That was understood when we left," Lord Ketherlan stated.
Turning his thoughts to the battle to come, Eric said to Ramon, "When they come, they will want to get those lanterns put out so they can see us. Get the alcohol pots ready, and Ketherlan, if you could get your men up on the roofs behind us to shoot down on them, I'd greatly appreciate it."
Ketherlan's nose flared at the fact Eric had not used his title, but did as Eric asked. Borrowing arrows from some humans, the elves got in position to shoot.
"Attack on the southern wall!" came a cry, followed by the battle cry of Hobgoblins.
.
The area of the southern wall that the Hobgoblins charged was the low wall. They came on and got pummeled under arrows and stones as they came close. Many fell, but the mass raced on. The first Hobgoblins to jump the low wall landed screaming as they tripped on the holes in the ground. More fell to large stones thrown with a rope attached to it some men had made. The head sized stones were twirled like slings, but with both hands. The big rocks hit Hobgovlins hard enough to knock
them backwards off their feet.
The pile of screaming and confused Hobgoblins grew as more jumped over the wall into the chaos. Tripping over their own wounded, Hobgoblins wanting to attack only stumbled forward, and were killed with arrows and spears from a solid line of humans. A couple men threw burning clay pots into the mass, followed by a few more. The pots broke open, spilling fire among the Hobgoblins. Frantic creatures wailed out in pain and tried to flee. Some crawled back over the wall, others fled right into a line of spears. A few at a time, burning Hobgoblins got back over the wall to go running and screaming back into the night.
With the light of the burning Hobgoblins, townsmen could now see another mass of Hobgoblins watching the murderous slaughter of their fellows. Arrows and stones came down into this group. Taking losses, they backed off into the darkness.
The screeching howl of mortally wounded Hobgoblins was hard on the ears, bur Eric insisted they not be put out of their misery. Hobgoblins were more than willing to fight to the death. They also expected to die. The only thing a Hobgoblin feared, was being wounded and not being able to fight. Eric knew that although men were cringing from the unearthly cries, the Hobgoblins were cringing also. letting the Hobgoblins wail out their agony was Eric's message to the others out there in the darkness: Fear us, we will wound you and leave you in pain.
From the tower, and from Ketherlan's men on the roofs, Eric found out the Hobgoblins were backing off a bit farther. The groups outside the southern wall had moved to the east, as if escaping the wailing cries coming from that low wall.
Excited growls, barks and the coarse unintelligible language of the Hobgoblins drifted into town. Eric had no idea what was being argued about, but it was obvious they were not happy. Then a voice roared out, and hundreds of other voices answered.
"Here they come, right at the corner of the south wall and east wall," an elf called out. Arrows raced off into the night.
Eric was at the corner with his crossbow as the Hobgoblins appeared."Throw pots!" he yelled, then shot a Hobgoblin high on his leg. He grabbed the rope dangling over the side, as did men to either side of him.
"lift?" a man asked.
"Not yet ... Now!" Eric barked. They pulled, and picket a fence of sharpened poles lifted up to impale the rushing Hobgoblins. Eric cocked his crossbow and shot as fast as he could, and it seemed way too slow. Hobgoblins ran over their impaled fellows and tried jumping at the walls. They either fell back, or got their fingers or hands chopped to make them fall. Pots of alcohol flew over the wall to spill fire into the attackers as stones and arrows rained on them.
Eric abandoned his crossbow and drew his sword to chop away at Hobgoblins who desperately tried to top the wall. They were jumping higher as the bodies below built up. The battle wasn't completely one-sided. A few men were grabbed by Hobgoblin attempts to gain the top of the wall and were pulled over the wall with them to be hacked to death. A few others were killed by Hobgoblins that figured out to they should wield their weapon as they jumped.
The fires grew, feeding on the hairy bodies. The attack broke up under the punishing rain of arrows, stones and fire. Again, the Hobgoblins retreated as many of their fellows wailed out in agony. A burning Hobgoblin that tried to run was beaten down and killed by his own fellows.
Eric was relieved their tactic worked. He also noted that with the growing fires, added to by a couple lanterns that had fallen, the town wall was also on fire. Calling for water, the men who had fought the Hobgoblins now fought to keep their only form of defense from burning up. Bucket after bucket was poured down the outside of the wall, causing a steam to rise from the hot wood.
Rough screams sounded from the darkness. Hobgoblins angry at not being able to get past the wall threw rocks. Although there was no accuracy to their throws, the massive amount of stones that came flying out of the darkness forced shields up, and men to take cover. The firefighting effort
severely hampered, the wall caught flame once again.
Although he hated to, Eric had this section of wall abandoned. They were taking more losses they couldn't afford, and trying to save the wall was hopeless. A length of almost a hundred yards of wall was lost. While the fires burned brightly, Eric got the secondary defense firmed up, blocking the space between buildings, and ensuring all windows and doors were heavily blocked and jammed shut.
"Attack on the east gate!"
Eric ran to the new threat. Here, the Hobgoblins had brought a tree trunk to batter the gate down. The few bowmen kept up their fire on Hobgoblins carrying the ram as men on the walls fought off the Hobgoblin attempts to climb. The mass of creatures then tried to climb the gate, which diverted
the bow men's attention from the ram. More Hobgoblin picked up the ram and rushed forward, creatures thick on both sides. With the interference in front of them, their charge was slow, but the ram hit to splatter one of their own against the gate. The gate shuddered, the crossbar cracked.
"Reinforce the gate!" Eric yelled. Several men brought logs to prop against the gate. They got the logs wedged in place, and Hobgoblins atop the gate got over to drop into them.
Eric drew his sword and attacked. Inside, a growing battle formed as more Hobgoblins got over the gate and inside. Eric killed the Hobgoblin he was fighting and saw their defense was folding. Hobgoblins inside were killing men on the walls, allowing more of their fellows to get in over the walls.
"Retreat to the secondary defense!" Eric called out. Eric himself became overcome as three Hobgoblins came at him, forcing him back.
A group of Hobgoblins attacked the gate from the inside, ripped the reinforcing logs loose, working to get the gates open. Eric was completely defensive as he dodged and blocked hard swung attacks that were battering his shield with deep dents. As he struggled to defend himself, rocks came from behind. Intended for Hobgoblins, the rock struck Eric square in the back. Stunned by this, he
lowered his guard and got a Hobgoblin sword down on him, breaking his collarbone, then his shield was hit so hard, it was rammed into his face. Eric went down.
.
Eric awoke lying on his back. The sound of battle raged around him. The east gate was wide open and torn apart. Hobgoblins were attacking the secondary defense between the houses. Everyone around him lay dead. Struggling up, Eric took stock of the situation, and his condition. He was a sore, but healed.
Charging the Hobgoblins from behind, Eric didn't yell a battle cry, but attacked silently. He drove his sword into the lower back on a Hobgoblin, hamstrung another, then swung hard, beheading another before they noticed him. Running behind them, Eric stabbed and chopped intending to wound, and get their attention on him. It worked, a group of Hobgoblin ran after him, seeing someone they didn't have to wait to kill.
Eric ran from them, then stopped and met the Hobgoblins, stabbing deep into one as he blocked the one beside him, forcing his way between them. Luckily, A swing hit the edge of his shield, angling it so Eric got behind the group. In the two steps it took for the Hobgoblins to react, Eric was behind them and chopped the knee of another before he ran a few steps away. Enraged, the Hobogoblins charged Eric again, and again, Eric charged through them low, this time ripping open a belly.
The pair of Hobgoblins left attacked Eric with snarls of rage. Eric met their charge, ducked a sword, and ripped open another stomach. He spun low and chopped a foot, then whipped around high to meet swords with the remaining Hobgoblin. Eric kicked up into the Hobgoblin's arm pit of it's sword arm. The Hobgoblin jerked back, Eric hit him with his shield, then stabbed two time fast into the Hobgoblin's knee and hip.
The wounded Hobgoblins struggled up, ready to finish this battle. Eric saw it couldn't run so he ran back to the ones with their back to him. Once again, he chopped and swung to give disabling wounds until they noticed him, then he ran to lead them to a place he had room to fight.
The second group ended up like the first, wounded and angry that Eric didn't finish their fight. Their cries of anger got the attention of other Hobgoblins and their attack on the secondary defenses wavered.
One thick Hobgoblin pointed his sword at Eric and announced, "We kill you!" in a rough common voice.
"You first!" Eric roared back.
"Attack!" A human voice screamed out.
A thick volley of rock, sharpened lengths of wood, and a few arrows rained down on the Hobgoblins at the secondary line. Then came large rocks thrown from roofs and a couple pots of alcohol. Bearing sharpened farm implements. a long line of men and woman came over the defense wall and drove into the Hobgoblins. Men with nothing but a large rock tied to a sturdy rope, came over the barrier swinging their weapon to smash Hobgoblin skulls. Eric charged back into the Hobgoblin line from behind.
The attack surprised the Hobgoblins. Humans, screaming for blood surged forward, killing and driving Hobgoblins back. Eric attacked from behind and dove into the Hobgoblins to soon find himself facing Charlie, who was holding a large rock on a rope tether.
"Turn around," Charlie barked, "They're behind ya now!"
Eric joined the attack. The hobgoblins tried to regroup and form one of their charges, but the humans pressed their advantage and stabbed, crushed and burned Hobgoblins until the few that were left, fled out the open gate. In a last stand, a group of creatures charged back at the gate to meet an equally fierce charge at them. In this last fight, Eric thrust his sword into a Hobgoblin to get one thrust into him.
For the second time that night, Eric passed out from blood loss and pain.