The king slammed his fist on the table, its contents jumping at the impact. Mumblings ceased and all looked at the king. “Remember gentlemen, the orcs will be fighting for their survival behind enemy lines. They will expect no mercy. Both sides will be fighting fiercely to the bitter end. Tomorrow morning, just before the attack, I’ll issue fresh orders to be sure our plan isn’t compromised during the night. That is all.”
After the generals returned to prepare their troops for the coming battle, Calamidese stood in front of his tent observing the lights of Sengenwhapolis down below. The moonlight gave the city’s polished granite walls a silvery glow. Beyond them, the city’s lights burned bright in many windows. An occasional fire would flare up from either resistance or clumsy defensive preparations. That would throw light on scrambling orcs. Once a cloud floated over the moon and the resulting shadow slid across the city. It brought back the memory of the wraith in the king’s audience hall, hovering over Dreaddrac’s ambassador. The king shuddered. The chilled night breeze flapped the tent walls behind him.
General Tarquak must be moving from commander to commander, reviewing the preparations for the city’s defense. Why haven’t I heard from the grand duke and his army northwest of the city?
*
In the morning chill, King Calamidese rose early and looked over his troop encampments on the misty slopes. Wisps of smoke rose over the city below from preparing breakfast and fire the night before.
The king summoned his commanders to review his overall plan of attack and issue final disposition orders. “The orcs have a secure hold on the city,” the king said. “They won’t leave the safety of the walls to risk a pitched battle. We shall have to go over the walls or batter down our ancient city gates.”
They all agreed a direct attack on the city was the only option. Each general received his contingent’s orders for the campaign under the king’s personal seal.
“General Meclor, you’ll lead the attack on the Emerald Gate from the south,” Calamidese ordered. “You'll command the largest battering ram, there. Have your troops protect it. Be sure it’s soaked with water so that the orcs can’t set it on fire. We’ve no time to rebuild it.”
“Colonel Keklak, you’ll lead your forces attacking the north Diamond Gate. Draw the orcs attention and forces away from the attack on the Emerald Gate. You must make a complete diversion. If you fight well, General Tarquak may think our uncle has arrived from the north to reinforce the battle for the city.”
Calamidese turned and put his hand on General Binwan’s shoulder. “General Binwan, you’ll command the largest force. Your men will attack the city’s entire southern wall using ladders. By extending your attack along the wall’s length, we’ll force General Tarquak to spread his defenses thinly, creating a weakness we can exploit.”
“Your Majesty, will my own troops be spread too thin for the attack to succeed?” General Binwan asked.
“We’ll have to take that risk. We must find a weakness in their defenses. As we know, the city walls have never been breached before. The rest of you will spread your attacks on the northern and eastern walls to draw attention. Hopefully you can draw the defenders away from the gates. There are specific responsibilities for each of you as contained in the written orders you’ve received. Are there any questions?” King Calamidese asked.
“Where will your majesty deploy the wizard?” General Meclor asked.
“Wizard Artrek will accompany Colonel Keklak initially to draw attention to the north wall. He’ll then quietly move to join you, General Meclor, in the attack on the Emerald Gate, but he is only to use his power once the gate is broken. If we use magic too soon at the Emerald Gate, the defenders will know our main objective,” Calamidese replied. “If there are no more questions, proceed to your positions and begin your attack when the signalman shoots the red arrow in one hour.”
*
The attack began as planned and went well. The orcs were used to fighting hand-to-hand in open country; defending walls wasn’t an orc’s strength. True to the plan, when Wizard Artrek shot wizard-fire at the defenders on the north wall, the orcs stood back from the battlements. The Sengenwhan attackers were able to get their ladders on the walls and break through a section of the ramparts. Rumors that the king’s uncle was approaching the city with another army sent panic through the orcs. The ogre commanders had to whip the orcs back to the walls.
*
General Meclor pushed his men to support and defend the battering ram on the Emerald Gate. His subordinates manned the catapults, hurling massive stones at the towers that guarded the gate and surrounding walls. The fighting went on for most of the day. Wizard Artrek moved around south of the city to the Emerald Gate unobserved. He shot wizard-fire at the defenders there. The wizard and General Meclor conferred on the approaching sunset, knowing the wraith commanding the city defenders would soon rise and inspire the defenses through terror.
The orcs were convinced two wizards were attacking. They kept a major contingent on the north wall. Fighting had continued all day around the city walls. By sunset, the Sengenwhan army had broken through the southern Emerald Gate.
* * *
In the gathering darkness, General Tarquak rose from his resting place in the cool darkness of the Sekcmet Palace dungeon. Rested and now cloaked in a new orc body, he reveled in the fighting as he rushed from post to post. He discovered incredible new powers as a wraith. He left his command post to personally attack this group or that, leaving his host bodies from time to time, spreading death with his vapor.
The wraith became enraged when he saw the Sengenwhan army pouring over the north wall. Again in a host body, he rushed to the wall, hacked off the commanding ogre’s head, and threw his body over the wall. Then he took command of the orcs personally. His viscous attack on their commander terrified the orcs. They fought back the Sengenwhan attackers. Tarquak was able to close the breach in the north wall, but he lost critical focus on the Emerald Gate.
General Meclor’s army poured through the Emerald Gate, fighting hand to hand against the orcs and ogres with much loss of life on both sides. General Tarquak realized his mistake and rushed to the crumbling southern defenses.
The north wall defenders panicked again when they heard the Sengenwhan army controlled the Emerald Gate. General Tarquak raced back to the north wall to reassure his troops, there was only one wizard, and that one was at the Emerald Gate.
*
“What’s the meaning of this cowardice?” Tarquak yelled at the new ogre commander just left in charge at the north Diamond Gate.
“Them orcs is out of control, General,” the ogre said.
“They are, are they,” the general said. He turned and shot wizard-fire at several of the panicky orcs, vaporizing them on the spot.
The orcs instantly realized their own overlord wouldn’t hesitate to kill any deserters or cowards in their midst. That made them more afraid of General Tarquak than Sengenwhan troops attacking the north wall, and they turned back on the invading troops spilling over the wall beside the gate.
“See to it this doesn’t happen again, or you will be ash as well,” Tarquak told the ogre.
The commander was shaking, but nodded his head. With control restored there, the general returned to the city’s southern walls. The Sengenwhan troops were fighting in the city streets on his return.
A western gate tower caught fire. Flames bathed the city battles in an eerie light. It looked like the Sengenwhan forces might break through the western wall as well. General Tarquak raced there to bolster his troops resolve.
Without the general, the troops fighting in the southern section of Sengenwhapolis weakened, and the Sengenwhan army pushed forward nearly to Sekcmet Palace.
* * *
King Calamidese was excited with the campaign’s success. He felt his troops would breach the Diamond Gate in the north wall, splitting the city in two
In the night, confusion reigned and only the flickering, deep golden firelight
in the city gave any indication, who was winning the battle. The Dark Lord’s forces had the advantage in the darkness, but still they weren’t used to defensive warfare. General Tarquak rushed around all night, battling with the enemy personally, here, then threatening his troops with death if they failed, there. Ground was gained then lost and the city itself seemed to crumble in the horrific battle. All night long the struggle raged, but in the darkness, a stalemate developed.
King Calamidese had committed all his troops by midafternoon; he had no reserves. His men needed rest, but if they stopped fighting, they would be expelled from the city and lose their hard won positions. There were no fresh reserves.
The defenders seemed to draw strength, when the king’s uncle hadn’t arrived with reinforcements from the north to support Calamidese’s attacks. Colonel Keklak wasn’t able to break through the Diamond Gate and the battle for the north wall settled into a stalemate.
*
Early in the morning, about an hour before sunrise, there was a swooshing in the air that few heard due to the noise of clashing swords and shields in battle. Crackling fires throughout the city added to the noise. One of Colonel Keklak’s men looked up and saw the golden light from burning buildings reflecting off dragon Hakbar’s glossy-bronze scales, circling overhead. Suddenly, the dragon’s deafening scream pierced the predawn sky and stopped the combatants below. For a moment, there was silence in the city; then panic ensued.
* * *
“Hakbar!” General Tarquak’s ogre aide exclaimed. He pointed to the predawn sky.
“Hakbar!” General Tarquak yelled from his vantage point high up on the city walls. Tarquak turned to the aide and asked, “Is this a really viscous creature, I mean one of the worst?”
“Hakbar be a ferocious beast that don’t know nothing but rage and hatred since he were a little lizard in the Munattahensenhov dragon stables. I thinks his tortured life after birth in dark fires and blood done left Hakbar wanting to kill everything that moves. He don’t care ‘bout who’s who down here.”
“The dragon is looking for the greatest concentration of movement, I think,” Tarquak said. “See there, he’s picked his target.”
The bronze dragon flapped his enormous wings and flew higher in the sky.
“Well, he ain’t leaving the battle afore joining it, that's sure,” the ogre said.
“Look there,” Tarquak said, pointing off at an angle down on the south wall. He pointed it out to the ogre, who stepped forward to join the general in watching the dragon’s next move. For an instant, the troops below milled about watching the dragon’s every turn.
“They don’t knows what to do,” the ogre said, staring at the frozen battle below. The ogre looked up and saw the huge winged beast turn and shoot down on the city like an arrow.
Hakbar aimed his snout at the struggling hordes between the Emerald Gate and Sekcmet Palace. Even from a distance, his fiery red eyes seemed more brilliant as flames snorted in a wide streak through the streets. The flames incinerated hundreds of combatants, both orc and man. The roaring fire blasts drowned the screams of those burning but the ogre saw the screams on the burning faces.
Hakbar turned again and swooped down on the fighting as both sides turned and fled for the safety of anything that could withstand the raining fire. The city’s southern section now burned. Everyone in Sengenwhapolis stopped fighting each other and bolted for shelter. Where the flames shot, anything exposed, burned.
When the dragon cleared the streets of movement, he turned north. The battle on the walls stopped as both sides watched Hakbar torch the area around the Diamond Gate.
The troops on both sides panicked, seeing Hakbar turn and swoop over the Diamond Gate. He surveyed the movement there for his next attack. Both orc and Sengenwhan soldier took shelter in the same buildings, knowing in the next moment flames would sear anything mortal still out in the open.
The dragon soared for a moment above the towers and then he dove on the Diamond Gate, engulfing it in flames. The granite gate was black rubble in his wake. The older limestone and marble walls nearby glowed and crumbled into lime. Had the dragon not been there, it would have been a great opportunity for the attackers to rush through, but as long as Hakbar was showering the city with flames, no one approached the gate’s ruins.
General Tarquak rushed back to Sekcmet Palace to its highest tower. “It’s the best vantage point from which to view the carnage and destruction,” the general told his aide. He thrust both arms into the air, two fingers on each hand a V, feeling total victory.
It be the safest place, the aide thought.
* * *
“Sound retreat,” King Calamidese said as the light of dawn lit up the horizon.
“But, Your Majesty, General Tarquak has to retreat from sunlight with the dawn,” his aide protested. “He won’t be able to lead the city’s defense.”
King Calamidese turned to the youth, “But Hakbar can, and will, fight on through the day. Does anyone have any suggestions?”
A silence ensued.
“Look there, northeast of the city,” the king said. “Our Sengenwhan forces still outside the city are suffering terrible losses under the dragon’s attacks. It demoralizes the troops, seeing Hakbar return after flaming the field to snap up and swallow their comrades.”
The dragon swooped down over the smoldering arena, here and there dipping his head to devour a roasted soldier. He’d toss the body whole to the back of his mouth and swallow then look for his next morsel. As the dragon flew closer, the ominous swishing of its wings grew louder. Combatants knew flames would follow. They’d scramble for cover.
“The dragon has endless hunger; he eats both orc and man,” the aide said. “He eats constantly.”
Both sides recoiled at the dragon’s appetite and total lack of remorse. The Sengenwhan army abandoned the break through soon after the king ordered retreat .
“Until we neutralize the dragon, we’ll only lose men to the beast,” Calamidese said. He turned his horse back into the hills and a safe cave there.
As the Sengenwhan troops turned and fled the city, the orcs and ogres regrouped and reformed on the city wall remnants. With the armies separated, Hakbar focused on destroying the Sengenwhan forces, bolstering the orcs’ and ogres’ confidence. The day was lost with decimation of men and weapons for King Calamidese. Hakbar continued to soar ominously over the silent battlefield.
* * *
A soldier shot an arrow at the dragon in frustration. Hakbar didn’t even notice the bump on his scale, but the sight caught the notice of another soldier on one of the catapults.
“Let’s get a log or timber we can use as an arrow shaft,” the man called to his fellows on the catapult.
As a unit, several men rushed for a replacement shaft on the back of the catapult. They chopped a point on one end as another man nailed strips of leather water bags to sticks at the other end, forming a huge arrow.
“There’s not much time,” the man with original idea said. He looked up to locate the dragon that was incinerating retreating soldiers east of the city. “Harden the tip at the fire over there.”
“How are we going to hold the arrow steady or shoot it?” a comrade asked.
“I don’t know how to shoot the arrow from the catapult with any precision,” the first soldier said. He turned to his comrade. “We have to try something.”
The soldier looked up and saw Hakbar now bearing down on them, his fierce eyes fixed on the activity at the catapult. Dragon wings whipped the air to gain speed.
“Cripes!” the leader said. “The dragon’s seen us.” He dropped the stick hefting up the arrow and raced for cover.
Hakbar swooped down as the remaining catapult crew realized the dragon was coming straight at them. A confident, sinister sneer spread over on the dragon’s snout. His head rose and pulled back like a spear thrower. The stench of burning sulfur stung the man’s nostrils.
“Run!” screamed the second soldier, who ran as hard as he
could.
Hakbar’s head shot forward and snorted flames at the easy targets. The catapult burst into flames and fell as ash. Its attendants were charred roasts.
*
Though General Tarquak had returned to his resting place in the dungeon, his aide, still on the tower balcony, clapped his hands, delighted with the dragon’s success.
*
A soldier on a neighboring catapult watched the scene unfold with horror as the flames burned friends he’d dined with the night before. Through the day, Hakbar burned the attackers and their weapons. When the bewildered leader recovered that night, it was with an idea.
“Quick, help me with these oilskins,” the catapulter called to his comrades on the war machine. Dismayed by the carnage nearby, the soldiers milled about in shock. But with the help of two others, the three men rushed for oilskins, stacked and waiting for them to hurl onto the city’s defending orcs.
“What good are these,” one man said.
With so little time, the first soldier ignored the question but said, “Lash the skins together as one.” It took the whole crew to heft the bulging oilskin cluster into the catapult’s spoon. When Hakbar soared back to the north wall, the catapult crew was ready.
“Hold your positions, men,” the leader said. “Having burned most of the catapults and charred the crews, the dragon won’t expect resistance. If he’s overconfident, he’ll fly low over the field, looking for more bodies.”
The dragon dipped down to gobble up tidbits here and there before renewing his attack on the retreating Sengenwhan army. Apparently sated and feeling renewed, Hakbar turned and passed east along the north wall again.
“Timing is everything, men!” the catapult team leader shouted. The smells of burning flesh, sulfur, and smoke mingled in a constant haze. The potent oil bags rested in the catapult. I hope the weight of the oil won’t be too much for the catapult to sling, he thought. “Help me prime this thing.” The crew turned the groaning ropes, tightening the catapult’s tension. The shaft bent under the strain. “All of you run and get behind that wall over there. Flail your arms, no shake your weapons at him to attract his attention. We only get one chance at this. Be sure you all get behind the wall in case I fail here.”
The Dreaddrac Onslaught (Book 4) Page 7