Rise of the Horde

"Forward! Forward! Just a little more!" Galum'nor shouted as he peeked behind the Yurakks who were in their umbrella like formation. He was crouching behind their formation and making himself smaller as the goblin archers resumed their volley of arrows after retreating behind their melee fighters.

"Just a bit more!"

"Keep moving forward!"

"I can see them!"

"Maintain formation!"

"Move!"

"Hey! Don't move so fast!"

"Keep it together!"

Shouts of excitement and caution sounded among the Yurakks as the ones on the forefront peek between the tiny gaps to see where they were going and where their foes were at. They had their hands on the handle of their weapons as they prepared themselves to break apart from their formation and charge forward at the right moment.

Xiao Chen observed the Yurakks steadily moving forward while in their Torhterra Formation. While in that formation, no missile could penetrate through it unless it was fired by a siege engine like the scorpions and ballistas or it was hurled by a giant or thrown with aid of magic.

"Watch it! Keep it together!" Galum'nor bellowed as their movement of the Yurakks that he was taking refuge under stalled as one of them moved forward too fast, which opened a momentary gap in their formation. The short arrows from the goblins made it inside their formation, but lucky for those who were hit that they were wearing armor, which deflected the arrows.

The goblin archers kept on pestering the Yurakks with their arrows despite their attacks, doing no damage at all. It was a test of endurance between them. How long can the archers endure in firing their weapons continuously and how long can the Yurakks maintain their formation.

Inching closer and closer, the Yurakks were finally only a few meters away from the ranks of the goblin who were shrieking at them, probably cursing at them or just shouting their battle-cries.

"Prepare to charge!" Galum'nor gave the order as his grip on his weapon's handle tightened. The chieftain had a weapon created for him, which he said to be the best weapon for him to use in order to utilize his strength. A heavy sledgehammer made of pure iron steel whose heads was adorned with spikes to inflict more pain upon his opponents.

The huge orc cautiously peek behind the cover of the shields to take a look at the position of their foes since the usual sound of the arrows bouncing off the shields halted. He stared in disbelief at what he was seeing; the goblins turned tail and ran away without giving them a proper battle.

"Break formation! Javelins! Fire at will!" he angrily ordered as he snorted and dropped the head of his weapon on the ground. The Yurakks broke their formation and distanced themselves from each other. Grabbing their first javelin, which was attached to their shields, they raised their throwing arms and hurled their missiles in a scattered volley. Without taking a look at the effect of their attacks, they grabbed their second javelin and hurled them forward. The scattered volley of javelins took down some of the retreating goblins, but most of them managed to escape and headed towards the forest that was further ahead.

Galum'nor turned his head towards their chieftain to seek approval if they should pursue after the fleeing goblins, to which their chieftain shook his head. "Halt! Maintain the line!" the huge orc bellowed as the Yurakks stared at the goblins who were on the ground, shrieking and rolling around in pain while the others remained still and their bodies quickly gone cold.

Xiao Chen glance behind him and saw the trolls busy removing the arrows that were sticking on their armors and bodies. Some of them were spouting curses at the goblin archers as they removed the short arrows that hit their mark.

"Round them up! Any further hostilities from them will result in death!" Galum'nor ordered as slung his sledgehammer on his shoulders while moving forward towards the suffering goblins. Looking around the battlefield, he saw some of the goblins who had no injuries caused by their weapons, but they lay there dead among their fallen kin and their bodies was covered by footprints, they were trampled to death by their own allies in their retreat. They probably shoved each other out of the way, causing some of them to stumble and fall down before being trampled to death by their comrades. Galum'nor clicked his tongue and pitied the poor goblins who died a useless death.

*****

A few hours later, the Yurakks were busy cleaning the battlefield as they tossed the surviving goblins to the Rakshas to watch over. They piled the corpses of their fallen foes in huge mounds as they salvaged the weapons that they could still use.

The captured goblins kept shrieking at the Rakshas, who had their weapons pointed at them as they surrounded them in a circle. A few of them attempted to assault the Rakshas, which earned them lethal strikes from the spears of their captors.

"We should just execute them directly, chief. They dared to raise their weapons against us." Draegh'ana muttered as she stared at the noisy goblins who were being kept in check by the Rakshas.

"I don't think that's a good idea. If we were to execute all prisoners of war that we capture, it would send a terrible message to others and our reputation will take a hit. We will be deemed as merciless slaughterers who will kill anyone and everyone, which will force those who we will encounter later on to fight to the bitter end since death will be their only end even if they surrender. Which in turn will slow down our progress in achieving our objective, which is to bring them all into our fold. Am I right, chief?" Adhalia explained as she glanced at Xiao Chen to seek approval if she was right.

"You're right. If it can be solved peacefully, why not? I don't want unnecessary bloodshed to occur." Xiao Chen replied as he headed towards where Grogus was at. Adhalia turned her head towards Draegh'ana with a triumphant smile plastered on her lips, to which the female orc just snorted in response.

"Grogus, can you tell us what they are saying?" Xiao Chen looked down and stared at the little goblin asking for him to translate the words of their prisoners since he can't understand their native tongue, which was compromised of shrieks and sounds that were natural by them.

"Uhm... They say... We are doomed... Great leader will come for revenge... We should wash...our necks and wait for the blade to fall... They say... Tribe will come for us... Kill us and turn as to food... The women be used for making more warriors... For the tribe... They say... they will spare none of us..... Uhh... chief, they are just laughing... threatening and mocking us...." Grogus finally had enough and just gave Xiao Chen the gist of what they were uttering.

*****

A few moments later, after cleaning up the battlefield, Xiao Chen and his warriors continued on their way heading east, but they stayed close by the foot of the mountains and not daring to go inside the forest where their goblin foes retreated to. It was common knowledge that goblins are masters of setting up ambushes and he could still remember falling into one of them, despite knowing that an ambush was up ahead. His encounter with the fallen goblins under King Jaadul inside the forest to the south was still fresh in his memory.

The piled up corpses of their fallen foes were set ablaze by Draegh'ana. Xiao Chen had his troops march into twelve long lines, the first four was the Rakshas to the rightmost while at the leftmost were the trolls who were hugging the foot of the mountains and in the center just behind the Yurakks were their prisoners who finally clammed up after witnessing Draegh'ana's display of power.

Xiao Chen glanced towards the forest to their right from time to time as he was wary of the goblins coming back for vengeance as their prisoners said. They are still many of them that managed to escape unscathed which could overpower him and his troops given that their goblin foes make use of the right moment, right terrain and right tactics to engage them.

"Have you found their tracks? Or the location of their tribe?" Xiao Chen glanced at Draegh'ana, who had her eyes turned completely blue as she maintained a spell. She had her summon the Eagle, up high in the air and scouring the surroundings in search of their goblin foes.

"No, chief, they must be using the cover of the trees while moving around. And I see no tribe around in the open. They must have set it up deep in the forest, hidden well by the trees. Akwilah have been flying around the forest until its edges but I see no goblins nor their tribe." Draegh'ana answered as she dispersed the spell and her eyes returned to normal.

"Let's just hope that their Great Leader is nothing like King Jaadul or we will in for a tough fight." Xiao Chen muttered as he remembered how hard it was to bring down that enormous goblin.

"Uhm...chief... Goblins won't return so fast... They should gather all their warriors first... Or report back to their great leader... That's how we goblins... Usually do things." Grogus informed Xiao Chen as their captives shrieked, baring their teeth and pointing their sharp nails at him. They were all shouting insults at the poor Grogus.

Draegh'ana was annoyed by their noisy shrieks. She created a ball of flame in her right palm and stared menacingly at the noisy goblins, threatening them with her spell. Fearing that the female orc would burn them also like their fallen kin, the goblins shut their mouths and stared at the ground while moving forward. Draegh'ana snorted and dispersed the ball of flames.