Scur's First Siege Chapter

Another wave of Goblin Pirates came after them as they arrived at the bay of the Blade of Angeris near the tip of the large island. They had another group of Pirates chasing them from the reefs. Ilkabad spotted three vessels remaining of the last group that attacked them along the southern route closer to the coldest part of the world. Leothrad ordered his ships to turn around and face the pirates three times before continuing onward.

He looked to Leothrad who stood next to Clovis as he drove the Delkyr towards the tip of Angeris’ Bay. Ilkabad felt that they needed to do something about the last of the pirates behind them then something emerged from the ocean. A claw rose from beneath one of the Pirate vessels as its pincers closed in around the ship. The claw crushed the ship, cutting it in half. Ilkabad smiled as he watched the Goblin crews drown in the water. Some Goblins swam for their lives as the creature’s head emerged from the depths. A shelled head with a mouth full of tentacles rose up and swallowed the Goblins. Three of its tentacles grabbed the nearest ship forcing the last one to sail northward to evade the creature.

“One of our problems is solved Champion.” Ilkabad said approaching Clovis and Leothrad from behind. He grabbed Leothrad by the shoulders and squeezed them three times before releasing them. Ilkabad then slapped him on the chest before descending down to the deck where Scur and other warriors stood watching the second wave of pirates heading towards their larger fleet. However these Goblins had acquired larger vessels somehow or more likely spent more time constructing their craft.

“It is a shame they believe they can overtake us with larger ships and greater numbers. Too bad they don’t have more ships than we do. Ah the towers and lighthouses are visible as well as a single fort.” Ilkabad exclaimed as several towers appeared into view as well as a single fortress on an island. Along both sides of the Blade of Angeris are fortresses, guard towers and lighthouses on the mainland or on an island. Some towers were constructed on headlands sticking out of the ocean.

The fortress Ilkabad saw lay close to the very tip of the Blade of Angeris. It had three towers and two keeps plus four barracks to garrison thirty warriors each. Three towers could be seen on its left flank. As they drew closer with the Pirates closing in from their right and left another light house became more visible on the very end of the Blade of Angeris with its beacon out. Two of the towers seemed deserted as one tower had one flame still going. Ilkabad took notice to how the island fortress seemed abandoned until he thought he saw movement on the battlements and rooftops.

“You don’t suppose the Goblins may have taken everything near that fort?” he asked Scur turning to him with his eyebrows raised and head inclined.

Scur knitted his eyebrows at him. “Not without losing more than they bargained for. Besides that lighthouse to the far right looks to be working fine and it’s still some distance away from here.” Scur pointed out as an arrow hit the water in front of their vessel.

Ilkabad grabbed his arm and turned to Leothrad. “Hey Champion we have someone who wants to besiege the fortress!” he shouted smiling despite the arrows flying towards them and missing the ship. A berserker yelled for archers to fire back as other vessels split formations.

“SCUR you will lead forty of my raiders as Ilkabad’s Lieutenant. Can you do that before you fight more of these goblins?” Leothrad barked leaping from the quarter deck when thirteen Goblins jumped aboard. Scur killed one of the pirates before answering that he would. Ilkabad cut down two pirates as the rest were butchered before more of them foolishly jumped aboard.

The fighting aboard the Delkyr brought everyone on the deck as the massive galleon of a Goblin vessel towered over them. It turned attempting crush them. It had run its hull into a hidden reef when it came to a sudden halt. Another ship sank as it came towards them forcing Clovis to swerve to the right. He brought them between the ship that tried to crush them and another vessel overflowing with pirates. Ilkabad used his Kopis and an axe he took from a Cren warrior. He found it suitable for battle whereas the Cren liked the way looked on his belt as a decoration. The Angoth warrior buried his axe into the skull of one pirate and gutted another as the battle became frenzy slaughter of pirates.

As Ilkabad fought his way to the main mast to ensure the Goblins wouldn’t ruin the rigging or any lines he saw Scur take out four Goblins with ease. He did not care to count how many he killed this time as long as the Goblins were forced back as they always were. His arm was cut by an armored Goblin who barely put a scratch on Leothrad.

The large Angoth grabbed the armored Goblin and tossed him into the sea. Its body slammed into the sinking vessel and fell into the ocean. The Goblin sank from the weight of the armor. Ilkabad did not bother with the cut and simply fought the remaining pirates on board as Clovis steered his ship to a clear spot. He turned around and saw Leothrad’s fleet moving around the larger ships as their archers fired arrows at the Goblins. Three Irkan vessels came rushing towards them with ballistae ready to fire on the galleons.

Each vessel fired its load at the closest galleon striking at its hull. Four of Leothrad’s new ships loaded with freed warriors surrounded one of the ships as the last few sailed towards the reefs’ direction. One of them was attacked by the shell-tentacle monster he saw earlier. The others split up. One went northward and the rest took a southern course. Those ships were allowed to leaver the battlefield as Leothrad’s ships encircled the remaining galleons and board them.

Ilkabad watched the ships going south come under attack by more of the shell monsters. Each one was dragged into the ocean by tentacles that ripped their hulls apart. He turned back to Leothrad who had Clovis steer their ship to the fortress, which held Goblin banners from the windows and battlements. The Champion joined Ilkabad and rested his sword down with his hands resting on the hilt. It stood on its point with his hands over the hilt. Leothrad turned to Ilkabad as warriors gathered around them.

“We will surround this fortress while you and forty others will take it. I will signal the Irkan clansmen to reclaim the towers once we’ve surrounded the fortress. You and Scur should go on ahead with forty raiders.” Leothrad told Ilkabad.

“Your orders are clear Champion. WARRIORS gather around, come with me and reclaim this fortress for the glory of the Triangle Brotherhood!” Ilkabad cried to the forty warriors gathered. Each warrior raised his weapon in the air and roared with approval. Scur found himself next to Ilkabad who leaped on to the first boat bound for the fortress. Six other warriors joined them as the boat was about to be lowered into the water. Leothrad raised his sword arm and ordered the other ships in his fleet to fire on the fortress with arrows and catapults. The projectiles struck within the fortress as five small boats rowed up to the secret entrance to the fortress.

Ilkabad rode at the bow of the landing craft with Scur by his side. The sun was dipping down in the west hovering above the fortress. Everyone was blinded by the setting sun, but rowed towards the fortress anyways. Killing Goblins was a past time no Angoth wanted to turn down if it benefited them in the far future. Other peoples never took advantage of the opportunity until they were attacked. Of course these Goblins never ventured past the Fist of Lothi. His Angoth brethren would never allow the Goblins to get past this point.

Yet somehow they managed to take over a fortress and a few towers along with a lighthouse at the tip of the Blade of Angeris. As they came within a hundred yards length of the fortress he was surprised no arrows rained down from the battlements or three towers. He turned and ordered for the oarsmen to row towards a part of the fortress where a secret passage lay hidden by a natural structure within the foundation of the fort. A third of the island remained uncovered by the fortress that covered the other two thirds of the island. One would believe this to be the docks, which was where one Goblin vessel moored itself with its hull carelessly scraping against the rocks. A century and half ago this fortress was built with no docks just a piece of flat rock for enemies to land on exposing themselves as clean targets. Loading boats of the Angoths were lifted up on ropes through a pulley or levy system to lift them up to the battlements or lower balconies.

“Scur come here!” he ordered as their boats came to the edge of the exposed flat rock of the island. Ilkabad pointed at some rock in the shape of a small peak jammed against the walls of the fortress. It was in the corner next to a tower where archers should’ve been shooting down at them at this moment. “There is a hidden door behind that rock! It’s one of the three secret ways of getting inside the fortress undetected.”

“And the Goblins didn’t use that entrance?” Scur asked the warriors around him.

Frustrated with the youth he grabbed Scur by the neck and turned it to look at the walls of the fortress. “They came by rope ladders lad.” He told Scur in his ear. Dangling from the battlements were long ladders made from ropes and seaweed. The bastards must have fired those over the walls using ballistae. Ilkabad thought to himself as he turned to the single Goblin vessel that had ballistae at its bow and another at its starboard side.

“How many Goblins do you suppose there are inside that fortress, Scur?” Ilkabad asked as their landing craft reached the island’s stony flat shore. He could tell almost anyone would mistake this for the landing, and loading docks of the fortress if is didn’t appear so slick. He noticed Scur hadn’t answered him when he stepped off the boat with two other warriors. “The same question Scur how many-“

“Three hundred I guess. Would it depend on the size of the garrison we had here?” Scur asked him. He knew the youth had full knowledge of how many warriors were garrisoned inside a guard tower and a fortress. Ilkabad nodded to Scur before walking over to the spot he pointed out to the young Angoth. His raiding party of forty Angoths was behind him as he marched towards the secret door. Instinct told him there should’ve been arrows firing down them by now, he looked up at the towers and saw no movement. Pausing for a minute he looked around and saw decaying corpses of Goblins with arrows in their bowels.

When he came to the door that looked more like jagged stones resting against the forecastle of the tower’s base an arrow hit the tower. Ilkabad watched it bounce off and snap in half on impact with the stone slabs. He turned to the door and fondled the stones in search of the doorway and came across the circular key to open the door. His fingers ran over the crevice and cracks of the doorway before finding the way to open the secret door.

His fingers fit in the holes of the circular key that turned unlocking the door. He turned it to the right and the door sunk into the ground as it opened for the forty two Angoths waiting to reclaim the fortress. A single Goblin stood in the way with its back to the door arguing with another. The argument was interrupted with a dagger in the back of the nearest Goblin. The second Goblin fell to Scur’s blade and sickle as the youth charged over the first corpse. “Take this fort in the name of Lohne!” Ilkabad bellowed and all forty of his raiders charged forth to the spiral steps to commence the siege. He stepped over the two corpses as Scur rushed forth to join the other warriors. Sounds of shields and blades clashing emerged from the halls and chambers above them along with screams and grunts. War raged on in the halls as Ilkabad made his way up to join his raiders.

By now Leothrad and the other Angoths were assaulting the towers and lighthouse with the Irkan clansmen. A rather large looking Goblin rushed down the steps and bumped into Ilkabad who shoved his Kopis into the brute’s bowels as a dozen Goblins raced in behind the brute. Most of the Goblins didn’t seem to have much of a chance until the bigger, meaner ones entered the furray cutting a few raiders down before dying immediately. Four Angoths hacked at one of the brutes then moved to another to even the odds. If the Goblins tried to win by outnumbering them here then the Angoths would gang up on their brutes.

With everything under control Ilkabad ventured up the steps to another chamber where he found five Goblins waiting at a table. Each one must’ve assumed their brothers would deal with the Angoths until one came up to their chamber. He didn’t see Scur anywhere and assumed he was in good hands, giving Ilkabad more fun in the chamber. Three of the Goblins lunged from their seats and attacked him. He turned to the side and cut the first attacker down then killed the one in the center. Ilkabad grabbed one of the deceased Goblins’ weapons and killed the third Goblin. As he turned to the last two one of them rushed over to the side of the chamber with a pair of keys.

“I shall open these cells and set them all free yes-“, the Goblin spoke but the rest of his sentence was cut off and was replaced with choking and struggling. Ignoring the struggle Ilkabad flung the second weapon at the last one nailing him in the head. When the last corpse fell Ilkabad went to the other portion of the chamber that was blocked from his view by cabinets and weapons racks. Against the wall sat a large cage with four Angoths one stood gripping the corpse of the dying Goblin, a second sitting down, one lay dead, and fourth lay in the far corner dying. Each one looked like they were starving for some time.

“Those beasts stopped feeding us ten days ago. We should all be dead by now.” The Angoth with the Goblin corpse informed Ilkabad as he grabbed the keys from the corpse. Ilkabad turned to the other side and saw plenty of food for the three of them.

“By all means help yourselves I’m just on my way to reclaim your fortress in the name of Lohne.” Two of the Angoths laughed and went over to the table when the cage door was unlocked. Ilkabad left the three Angoths in search of more survivors. He rushed up the steps on the other side and found nothing on the top floors except empty beds and rotting Goblin corpses. Ilkabad returned to the floor where the Angoths were feasting four of his raiders made it up and were waiting for him. He saw the keys laying in one of their hands.

“Well be needing these to free more prisoners.” He said and the Angoth warrior smiled. Ilkabad nodded in return and went down to the other steps that led into the inside of the floor above the other raiders. The four Angoths followed the leader to the hall where more rooms were on the left and nothing by brazers and torches on the right. A dozen goblins rushed out of the rooms and attacked them failing in the futile attack. Seventeen more prisoners were found dead and alive, some starving others looked on the verge of starvation.

He and seven other warriors fought their way to the prison cells where they found a hundred prisoners at once. It was a long fight to the prison cells. Along the way scores of Goblins tried to block their path armed with clubs and rusty blades from the armory. There was nothing new of their fight against group after group until they brought the fight out in the open once the Goblins started to retreat. Ilkabad started to force the Goblins to the other end until they came across an even larger group of Goblins. The larger group was chased by Irkan and Angoth warriors who forced them to the main hall of the fortress. From there the Goblins burst through the large doors to the open courtyard of the island fort.

Scores of warriors butchered the remnants of the Goblin forces in the center of the fortress. An uproar arose among the victorious Angoths. Their victorious outcries were short lived when another three scores of Goblins emerged from ditches, earth works and sheds, forcing the battle to go a little longer. Most of the Goblins were heavily armored with steel shields and armed with a variety of different weapons.

Angoths started to fall, but not as easily as the Goblins wanted. Ilkabad killed one Goblin Skirmisher that was armed with a mace and another armed with an axe. The battle over the fortress known as Arnera lasted a quarter of an hour until all the Goblins lay dead along with fifteen Angoths among the dead. It was a hard won battle with half his raiding party gone, but a victory all the same. He was relieved to have rescued one hundred of the warriors who defended this fortress. Ilkabad looked up and spotted Scur on the battlements dueling an Elite Goblin, who seemed armored from head to toe. He looked closer and noticed some of the Goblin’s armor was coming off from the blows Scur inflicted on the straps that held the armor together. Its shoulder was bare as its shoulder piece dangled from its back.

Scur was armed with a pick and a sickle going on the offensive against the well armored Goblin that lost its shield somehow. He took a stab at the bare shoulder with the pick and struck the Goblin’s exposed skin then cut at its exposed throat shoving neck brace to the side. The young Angoth brushed the Goblin’s blow to the side then jammed his sickle into the thick neck brace that protected the Goblin’s neck. His blow bounced off leaving a dent in the armor. Ilkabad watched the duel go on as did other Angoths who placed bets on how much longer it would take before they had to send someone up there to help Scur.

It lasted longer than they wanted it to be as the Goblin shoved Scur into a barrel and causing it to fall off the ledge. That was when Ilkabad chose a warrior more fit and ready to fight after a long rest. The warrior he chose was Torranen the Horse Rider who would ride out with a steed against the enemy. He often fought alongside the Irkan Clan cavalry and even among the Moose-Men tribes who fought the Ipama, and Goblins every season. His raiding party only lost thirteen as some of the dead started to stir and groan from the pain of their wounds. They watched Toranon climb his way up to Scur’s aid who seemed to be faring poorly until the lad struck at one of the Goblin’s unprotected knees then went for its exposed heel.

By the time Toranon had reached the top of the wall Scur had brought the Goblin to the floor with a displaced knee cap and a severed heel. The goblin elite rested on its elbow holding up its sword like a shield to no avail. Scur struck down with both weapons rendering the armor to uselessness and struck the final blow to the Goblin Elite with a cut to the throat and a knife in its exposed chest. He had ripped it off the Goblin after cutting its throat ending the duel.