פּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּ
Chapter Seven: Rock and a Hard Place
The ground shook with the powerful hammering of the Trolloc wardrums, and debris cascaded down the canyon wall in sheets, kicking up veils of dust. Stef Reimos licked his lips, sword at ready. His squad was on the northern perimeter facing the spawns streaming into the canyon from that end. The river of shadowspawn did not seem to have an end, a black unstoppable torrent.
"It's a bloody stampede!" Tayren shouted, his sword poised beside Stef. Stef crouched for balance as the earth trembled and shook. He could now make out the blood-red eyes of the first line of Trollocs. Stef could smell sweat and heat pulsing from the spawns, and hunger of bloodlust.
Stef quashed the voice telling him to run. There was no way to run anyway. And no time as well- the Trollocs smashed into their lines, their momentum carrying many of them through. Stef ignored them. Those were for the reserve line. His attention was focused on the five hundred Trollocs in front attempting to remove his head.
Stef threw himself aside as a goat-faced Trolloc bore down on him. The shadowspawn went past, his wicked blade whistling over Stef's head. Stef rolled away, crouching up and forced his blade up the unprotected side of a different Trolloc. He immediately wrenched it out and ducked as the thrashing four-hundred pound Trolloc slammed into the earth. It was immediately trampled by the next two Trollocs leaping into the foray.
"FALL BACK!" Stef shouted. He ducked a heavy blow from an unseen Trolloc, and forced the beast back with a wild swing. "FALL BACK!"
The soldiers near him retreated while Stef and Tayren covered. Stef hacked off a massive hand that had gotten careless and ducked back. Cordin and another covered his retreat, their blades warding off assaults. The squad fell back orderly, half the soldiers covering for the other.
The Trollocs became careless, blinded by bloodlust. Stef recognized this, shouting off a quick order to attack. His squad surged forward, taking out five Trollocs within seconds before they were forced back once again. Through his peripheral vision, he saw other squads doing the same. That was the only way to fight creatures larger and stronger. A rigid line would break and splinter, but a fluid line allows the smaller, more agile humans to use their speed and flexibility to their best advantage.
Flights of arrows whistled above Stef's heads and hit their targets by the sound of pained howls. All of them found targets in the massive sea of bodies, for it was impossible to miss, but did no visible damage. The sound of horns announced the arrival of a heavy cavalry squad. Stef took a quick glance back and moved aside for the solidly armored horsemen to gallop past. They slammed into the Trollocs lines, forcing them back for mere seconds. Then the flood of Trollocs swarmed them. The horsemen went under, and the perimeter was on the retreat again.
Stef glanced at the endless body of Trollocs and knew that there was no way to win. More and more Trollocs forced their way into the canyon, pushing those in front. There was no way for the spawns to retreat with thousands of their kin at their backs driving them forward with unyielding force.
"BACK!" Stef shouted at the top of his lungs. The perimeter started to break with the unrelenting pressure. Tiny rings of men began to appear, as Trollocs smashed through the lines, cutting up the perimeter. Stef was in such a ring, his squad crowded around, backs to each other.
A Trolloc slammed into a soldier besides Stef. The man brought his sword up and solidly impaled the beast, but still went down under the weight and continued momentum of the massive corpse. Stef swore and moved over to cover that hole in the circle. It was just a matter of time before the same happened to him.
A huge rock smashed down a meter from Stef, causing him to glance up. The Trollocs on top of the canyon walls were now hurling rocks and debris upon the battered Band. The height made accuracy difficult, but it created just another bloody thing to worry about.
"Fade!" A cry came up. Stef hamstrung a Trolloc and glanced up to see the black-cloaked figure of terror riding in the midst of the Trollocs. Its head turned toward Stef and it came, riding the waves of Trollocs, a silent assassin among the howling masses.
"You've got to be kidding me." Stef growled. His sword came up as the Halfman arrived. The eyeless horseman slashed out with inhuman speed and strength, sending Stef's sword flying. Its unarmed limb slashed back, backhanding a soldier attempting to attack him from the side. The man went down. And stayed down. The Fade thrust forth once more, but Stef was already moving away. The gleaming sword still found the edge of the jerkin, and even that glancing blow upon the chainmail sent Stef slamming into the ground. Stef instinctively rolled, and the sword came down only on his cloak. The red fabric caught for a second, then tore, freeing Stef.
Stef looked up, momentarily stunned and saw a dark shadow loom over him. The Halfman's black stallion rearing up, its hooves poised to slam down into and through Stef.
A blur slammed into the shadow stallion's neck, and dark red blood exploded into the dazed sergeant's face, sobering him. He rolled away to a crouch, as the horse and Fade collapsed to the ground. Stef leapt back just in time to dodge a lunge from the black sword. The Fade began to rise from the corpse of his horse when a howling, warlusted Trolloc slammed into the Fade from behind. The Fade killed his own soldier immediately with one blow, but was crushed into the ground by the hooves of another. And another. And another. Bloodlust knew little difference between friend and foe.
Stef was already retreating when the Trolloc charging him howled in pain and crashed to the ground. Scores of other Trollocs collapsed as well, thrashing. Even with blood dripping into his eyes and his arms screaming in pain, Stef could barely stifle a grin at the irony. From their special link, the Trollocs were killed by the death of the Fade they trampled.
There was a brief respite with no Trollocs near him, to which Stef caught his breath. He could see the mangled and crushed bodies of the still-thrashing Fade and his horse alongside piles of Trollocs and occasional snatches of red cloak.
"At least the Dark One's luck doesn't apply to their bloody horses." A soldier remarked. Reimos glanced over, when a falling boulder took the speaker to the ground. The sergeant swore, and tried to pull the soldier to his feet, but gave up when he saw the broken neck. Instead, he picked up the man's sword, and brought it to position as the thousands of remaining Trollocs bridged the gap of corpses.
The company fell back in the face of sheer power. The ground filled with the bodies of the dead and wounded. The Trollocs rushed on, unrelenting. The floor of Getty's Tomb ran slick with blood.
פּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּפּצּ