Rise of the Horde

“It’s my fault, sir. I am too weak to stop them. I am willing to accept my punishment for failing to uphold the order that you have given which was to keep the gates close until an order directly from you says so otherwise.” The kneeling person clutched his abdomen while speaking and by the tone of his voice, he was enduring pain as he talked.

“I have no intention of punishing you nor the soldiers here. Tend to your wounds and the wounds of those under your command and keep the gates close.” Commander Lars sighed as he helped his student up from kneeling on the ground. He was mad but not at his student or the soldiers but at those selfish bastards who escaped to save themselves and bringing along with them some of the most powerful warriors that could have helped in the defense of the city.

“If I survive this ordeal, pray that I don’t meet you…” the commander mumbled to himself as he turned around and headed towards his office after giving some further instructions to the soldiers defending the eastern gate.

*****

Outside the walls, those who have just gotten out of the city through the eastern gate were moving cautiously as they sent scouts ahead. The nobles and merchants feared that they are going to be ambush by their enemies but after seeing that group of strong warriors that they have recruited were walking alongside them, they were somewhat relieved. There were almost a thousand of them moving together in the open and they are a hundred precent sure that their enemies have already spotted them since there is no place to hide in the open desert but they haven’t seen even a shadow of their foes yet which gave rise to some worry among the merchants specially those who didn’t possess a sliver of battle energy in their body.

Somewhere in the distance, Haguk and his Warghen Clan were observing the group that went out of the city. He had some reservations about attacking the group since they might be just luring them out and most of all they are still too close to the city gates and could easily turn back and ran back inside the city for safety and the weapons on the walls aren’t their just for display. He had no plans on needlessly engaging in fights that he wasn’t confident in as the auras being emitted by some of those in the group that they are observing are way more fatal than most of those that they had faced against before.

“Send out a runner and inform the chief that there is a strong group that came out of the city and I am not confident in fighting them with just the Warg Cavalry.” Haguk ordered. Two of their fastest riders split of from the group that was tailing the enemy formation that was slowly moving away from the walls.

.....

At the northern side, rocks were being sent towards the city at a slow pace, most of the rocks were concentrated on the part where the gates were at in hopes of damaging it or even outright destroy it. At first, Khao’khen deployed a battering ram along with half of the horde to make an attempt at the gates but they faced heavy resistance after they were within the range of the enemy weapons on the walls. A concentrated rain of flaming arrows set the battering ram ablaze which caused burns on those who were pushing it, the first battering ram didn’t even make it within two hundred meters of the gates before turning into a blazing inferno.

A few more attempts were made with the battering rams but after seeing the fourth of the battering rams being sent ablaze just a few meters in front of the enemy gates, Khao’khen gave up in using battering rams. The defenders clearly made use of oil against the fourth battering ram as he heard the reports of the warriors who accompanied the rams that jars containing a black thick liquid were thrown at the rams before being set ablaze easily by flaming arrows despite the efforts of the Yurakks in protecting it.

Some of the Yurakks even have to discard their shields as their trusty shield became too hot after catching fire and they had no other choice but to abandon it or their hands would surely be baked. Those who only had their shields set aflame were lucky but the truly unfortunate ones were those who were nearly baked to death in their amors after they took a bath of that slimy black liquid then caught fire. The enemy gates also caught fire which somehow made Khao’khen smile at first but then a huge amount of sand came pouring down from the walls which snuffed the flames out. He had no idea who thought of such ways to defend the city but it sure was effective, there is only one thing that the desert doesn’t lack and it’s the grains of sand that is everywhere.

Water might be the best to put out fires in such an era but with a scarce supply of it, no one would be stupid enough to waste it and since sand can do just the same then why not make use of it. The failure of the battering rams served as a reminder to Khao’khen that even though he was a good or maybe even great commander in his era but in such a period that nuclear bombs and automatic rifles didn’t exist and a world where fantasy creatures and magic existed, he still had a lot to learn.

A few hundred warriors of the horde suffered varying degrees of injuries while more than twenty died after the failed attempts on the gates. Khao’khen was livid but he can’t do anything about it, he wanted to blow up that annoying wall and be done with conquering the city but he had no way to do it except do it bit by bit with the onagers. After his consecutive victories with his warriors, he became a bit proud of himself but after being taught a lesson by the Ereian defenders, it was a bitter pill which was hard for him to swallow.

After calming his mind, he was about to order the Yurakks to return to camp and rest as he didn’t want them to be standing around for nothing but Warg riders appeared in the distance. Listening to the report of the messengers, his hunch that the Yurakks might be needed somewhere else is correct. Khao’khen knew that the morale of the horde dipped down a bit after their failed attempts with the rams and now he had an opportunity to restore it. In a siege battle, the orcs might be rookies since they never fought in such battles before but in a pitch battle out in the open, that’s where they are at their best.

Orders soon came one after the other, and the entire camp became lively after the warriors of the horde learned that there is a battle that is to be fought. Those who lost some of their equipment during the attempts with the rams sprinted towards the logistics and equipped themselves with their missing gears. Khao’khen gave priority to the Yurakks who participated in the previous assault in the walls as he was sure that all of them or many of them needed to vent out their frustrations after being attacked and wounded without a way to retaliate and had to retreat after accomplishing nothing. After looking at the expression of the gathered warriors in front of him, he was absolutely correct as even those who suffered some burns that would put any normal person out of the battlefield for a long time were among those who were standing in front of him.

Khao’khen almost feels sorry for his enemies as he was sure that it’s going to be one crazy battle. Four warbands marched out of the camp while the warbands who remained were put to guard duty as they watch their peers marched out with jealousy, they also wanted to participate in the upcoming battle but they were ordered to guard their siege engines. And their chief said that with them mobilizing such a huge part of their force, there is a possibility that their enemies who are turtling behind the walls might come out and make an attempt on their camp which they should be prepared for.