Delver Magic: Book 06 - Pure Choice (8 page)

Several people within the Spruce
View Tavern screamed and ran to the back exit. They didn't wish to be caught
outside in the middle of a goblin raid, but their shelter had been compromised
and remaining within the inn seemed an unhealthy alternative.

That consideration came to
fruition for two muscular men that pressed their bodies against the locked
front door. They had withstood Okyiq's initial assault, but they were unarmed
and unprepared to face four snarling goblins with short swords drawn.

Rushing the men like hunting
spiders leaping at prey, the four goblins within the tavern dove upon their
targets in a tumbled mass of aggression. Their small but razor sharp swords
jabbed and sliced with maniacal glee, dropping both men in an instant.

Covered in the blood of their
victims, the twisted monsters shoved and pulled the corpses away from the door.
The instant they called out to their leader, they were knocked backward by
splinters and shards of wood.

Okyiq roared as he kicked at the
locked door. Without the men supporting it, the wood burst into pieces as the burly
goblin's foot crashed through its center. Okyiq pushed the broken pieces that
hung on the hinges aside as he pounced into the Spruce View Tavern.

He saw several people racing out
the back, or running up stairs hoping to barricade themselves in the rooms
above, but they were not his concern. He looked to the assorted tables spread
across the large tavern. He saw several plates of food, but the amount didn't
match what he could smell. He knew there was more in the back of the building,
and it was there he marched. He demanded all twelve goblins follow him into the
kitchen to collect the ultimate source of his desires.

He pressed through two swinging
doors and the aim of the raid waited for him like treasure piled before a
conquering warrior. For the large goblin, it was like finding a city of gold.
Heaps of food seemed to wait on every table and in every corner. Meats, grains,
fruits and vegetables appeared in every direction. There were shelves and
cabinets filled with delicacies, and he wanted them all.

"Fill your sacks!" Okyiq
demanded.

The goblins did so without
hesitation, save for one, the one that Okyiq threw through the wide front
window. The goblin was leaving a trail of blood wherever it stepped, even sent
waves of thick red liquid across the floor as it pulled its large cloth bag
from over its shoulder. While it moved through the stash of food with nearly
the same vicious glee as its brethren, its vision quickly dimmed and the room
began to swirl around it. It fainted with its sack only half full.

Okyiq stepped up to the fallen
goblin with fury.

"Get up!"

But the goblin had drifted off
into unconsciousness from loss of blood.

Okyiq kicked at the creature.
Unfortunately for them both, the fallen monster failed to respond. It died at
that very moment. The larger goblin cursed, pulled the half filled sack from
the dead goblin's grasp, and threw it to another creature nearby.

"Fill that one as well!"
Okyiq demanded. He wanted a dozen sacks filled with food, and he would have it,
even if one of his minions had to carry a double load.

With the looting complete, Okyiq
led his goblin party back out onto the streets. He surveyed the scene with
impatience. The rain continued to fall in great sheets and pound the ground all
around them. The conditions were near ideal for his minions to prowl through
shadows and create chaos.

The goblins had followed his
commands. Many of them were hiding under the cover of porches or in small
alleys, not allowing for archers to pick them off. Some were involved in small
skirmishes with human guards that had moved in from the north, but the combat
was limited, not what Okyiq had expected. He would have thought Burbon's soldiers
would have rushed down from their elevated positions to meet the raiders
head-on. He would have lost several goblins, but the threat of archers would
have been eliminated.

To Okyiq's growing annoyance, the
majority of human soldiers were not actively engaging his minions. They showed
great patience and resolve, qualities he always believed the humans had in
sparse supply. They remained at their posts on the walls and in the towers.
Very few guards moved in from street level, and those that did advanced
cautiously and avoided full engagement. The small conflicts that erupted were
controlled and quickly fell to the guards' advantage. Rather than allow the
goblins to goad them into one furious encounter after another, the soldiers
were forming lines to cut his minions off from the center of the town.

Okyiq, however, didn't care about
advancing further into Burbon. He wanted supplies, as much as he could take,
but nothing more. He held no plans of conquering the human town, not with only
two hundred goblins. He would never be able to hold his gains. Again, he was
not an intelligent creature, but his considerations surpassed that of a normal
goblin.

He needed to create more havoc, to
engage the human forces in condensed but bitter street brawls. He wanted mayhem,
chaos that would distract the guards and allow him to send more pillagers into
nearby shops and storehouses. For that, he needed the human archers off the
wall and out of the towers, and all the ground forces occupied.

Snarling with frustration, Okyiq
looked about the streets, desperately searching for an answer, but his mind
grew clouded. He had contemplated more strategy on that one night than he had
done in an entire season. His mind was weary and irritation rattled his nerves.

He almost ordered an immediate
offensive. If the humans would not come off the wall or down from the towers,
he would send his minions after them. It would be a suicide rush, but it would
also create the necessary turmoil.

Before he gave the order, he
realized that his raiding party lacked any ranged weapons. Every short bow and
crossbow had been left to the goblins still in the hills. Okyiq's raiders were
armed only with short swords. They lacked the ability to attack the humans on
higher ground unless they climbed to the higher elevations. If they did, they
would be cut down by arrows and then outflanked by the soldiers in the streets.
It would certainly be suicide, but it wouldn't be mayhem. It would be a quick
slaughter.

Not wishing to give up or to
engage in a futile battle, Okyiq shouted out the only remaining order he could
imagine.

"Forget the soldiers! Take
everything you find!"

The goblins in the streets did not
wish to leave the safety of their cover, but they had no choice. If they did
not move, Okyiq would simply leave them behind to the soldiers. They scurried
out from their hiding places and jumped toward the nearest buildings. Some were
caught outside of locked doors or windows and were quickly brought down by
human archers. Many, however, broke through weak barriers and made their way
into the surrounding shops and storehouses. Nearly fifty goblins shrieked with
glee as they ransacked that small portion of Burbon.

#

Sy read the tower signals before
the first messenger arrived at the barracks to inform him of the raid. He knew
the goblins had broken through the gate, and he was already forming his own
strategy as the messenger revealed the details of the goblin attack. He spoke
out loud as if responding to the messenger, but he was really focusing his plan
in order to ensure he was not making any error in tactics.

"Residents are already in
secure positions. Civilian casualties will be minimal at worse, especially if
we hold the goblins to the southern section of the town. The thrust of the
attack is on the south gate. I don't think this is part of some bigger assault.
I'm going to bet the river rogue incursion and the goblin raid are unrelated,
but I'm going to hedge that bet."

He briefly scanned a map of the
town.

"If there's another wave
waiting to hit us, it's going to come from the west... from the forest, not
from the north or east. Last we heard, Ryson took care of the two rogues in the
north and had headed east."

With a practical plan forming in
his mind, he called to the signal guard on the roof.

"Send a message to be relayed
by all towers. Guards in the western section of the town remain at their posts.
Send the cavalry forces to the western gate as well. Signal all foot patrols in
the north to move immediately toward the south gate. Tell them to cut directly through
the center of town. I'm going to risk that Ryson can handle the third rogue to
the east and that there aren't any more inside the wall."

The signal guard on the roof
relayed some welcome news in response.

"Message from the towers,
sir. Third rogue secure in the east. The delver is about to complete his scout
of the town."

The report slightly altered Sy's
plans.

"Signal back to the eastern
patrols. Tell them to divide in two. Half stay at their posts, half move to the
south."

The captain took one pause to
consider the forces he was deploying. He then issued his tactical decisions for
dealing with the goblins directly.

"Order archers on the
southern walls and towers to remain at their posts. They are not to force
engagement. Foot patrols are to form secure lines. Containing the raiding party
to the south is top priority. Limited engagement and only when necessary to
contain."

Sy looked to the messenger. He
explained his decision out loud in order to gauge the reaction of his soldier.
An expression of doubt or confusion would offer him a chance to reassess his
tactics.

"Eastern section is highly
residential. I don't want to leave it totally unprotected, but if we can
contain the raid, it's worth sending more soldiers to the south. The little
cretins are fast and hard to see, especially in this storm. I don't want to be
fighting them all over the place. We hold them to the south and then we push
them back outside the wall."

The messenger showed not the
slightest distress over the plan, and Sy believed he had utilized his forces
without an oversight. He left the northern section of town vulnerable and cut
his eastern forces in half, but he believed the tactic necessary. He could
dispatch his cavalry fairly quickly from the west if a need arose to the north,
and he doubted additional attacks would come from the farmlands to the east.

His priority centered on securing
the town. For the first time in a very long while, goblins had succeeded in
breaking his defenses. He wouldn't hide behind excuses. Yes, the rogues and the
rains played a part, but allowing goblins to breach the wall was a monumental
failure in his mind. If his troops were distracted, then he had not prepared
them properly. He was determined to rectify that mistake, and to see to the
battle personally.

Before he ventured out into the
heavy downpour, he made one last call to the signal guard on the roof.

"Relay to all towers that
command is heading to the south gate. Signal Sergeant Klusac to report to HQ.
Then you can come off that roof, but stay by a window to keep track of all
tower messages. It's getting harder to see the signals in all this rain."

"Yes, sir."

Sy turned to the messenger.

"I'm going to the south gate.
I want you to go directly to headquarters at the town center and wait for
Klusac. Tell him he's in charge of communications until I send a message
differently."

The soldier nodded and headed off.

Sy watched him only for a moment
and then hurried off to the south. He had to shield his eyes with a hand at his
forehead to see through the pouring rain. He frowned at the poor visibility. It
was bad, no doubt about it. He almost forgave the mistakes that allowed goblins
to enter his town.

Almost.

Then he thought about the harm
that goblins could cause. People might die that night because his guards were
careless, because
he
was careless.
Rain, no matter how heavy, was not a significant excuse. He was not happy.

#

Ryson reached the southern edge of
Burbon just as Okyiq had ordered his goblins to loot the town. His delver
vision cut through the darkness and heavy rain and he spied the little fiends
rushing towards every conceivable prize in the area.

He noted the careful movements of
Burbon's soldiers and how they formed defensive lines to keep the goblins
corralled. The archers remained on the walls, staying low to avoid incoming
arrows, but they carefully targeted any careless goblin venturing out into the
open. He was pleased to see he would not have to worry about casualties to the
guard, but the raid remained far from over.

Utilizing the darkness and the
cover of the storm, the goblins scurried through every narrow passage like rats
through sewer pipes. They broke into storehouses and shops, smashed windows and
crashed through doors. They shrieked and squealed as they filled their sacks
with everything and anything they could lay their hands upon.

Disgusted with the sight, Ryson
almost rushed after each and every goblin. His speed would have allowed him to
disarm most of them. He could force them to drop their loot and retreat to the
gate, but upon seeing Okyiq stalking across a narrow alley and leading eleven
goblins heavily laden with plunder, Ryson decided to alter his plans.

The large goblin was the biggest
Ryson had ever seen. Even in the heavy rains, the bulky form stood out against
the other smaller creatures. Ryson was no longer surprised they had succeeded
in unlocking the gate. The colossal goblin looked almost as strong and as
sturdy as a dwarf warrior. The delver realized the monster could probably slide
the locking post from the gate buckles by himself.

With his keen hearing, Ryson had
heard the orders of the massive goblin and watched as the edicts were obeyed
without delay. He realized the goblins were not acting in the fashion of a true
horde. They did not rush forward recklessly like the incoming tide, unable to
curb their instincts. They did not tear through Burbon with a group lust for
violence and chaos. Instead, they had turned over authority to a single goblin
and it was his voice they followed.