Chapter 27 Chapter 23 The Siege

Cadineva's fleet was trolling the southernmost waters of Lake Dinesha, trying to gain some advantage on the lake while the East exiles were all running to Bryn Shander. Kekkoney boats fished in familiar spots on the north shore of the lake.They were the first to see their impending destiny. Like a swarm of angry bees, Kessell's disgusting army swept the detour north of Lake Denisia, roaring into the Icewind Pass. "Anchor!" shouted Shameng and the captains of many other ships, waking up from the shock.But they knew they couldn't make it back in time. The first goblin army stormed into Kekkoni.

The men on board saw flames rising from the house as it was set on fire.They heard the blood-mad cries of the hideous invaders. They heard the screams of their own people dying. The old and weak women and children who stayed in Kekkoni had no intention of resisting.They start to run, start to run for their own lives.The goblins followed, cutting them down. Giants and ogres rush to the docks!Smash those who helplessly beg for the convoy to return, or force them to drown in freezing lakes. The giants all carried huge bags, and when the brave fishermen rushed into the harbor, their boats were immobilized by the large stones thrown.

The goblins continued to pour into the doomed town, but the leading edge of the army had passed here and continued on to the second town of Cadineva.At this time, the residents of Kedi Neva had seen the smoke and heard the screams, and began to flee frantically to Bryn Shander, or ran to the docks to pray for the sailors to return quickly. Although Kaidineva's fleet quickly crossed the lake with the help of the east wind, there was still a long way to go.The fishermen saw many plumes of smoke rising from Kekkoney, and many guessed what had happened, and realized that it would be useless to sail with full sail and full speed.Moans of surprise and disbelief were heard from every deck as the black army loomed ominously at the northern end of Cadineva.

Then Shameng made a heroic decision.Accepting that his town had been destroyed, he reached out to his neighbors. "We can't go back!" he shouted to the captain of a nearby ship. "Send the order: Go south! The pier in Kedi Neva Town should not be occupied by the enemy yet!"    On the walls of Bryn Shander, Regis, Cassius, Argovar, and Glenn Sather watched in horror as evil armies poured out of the two sacked cities, capturing the Refugees escaping from Kedineva. "Open the door! Cassius!" Agowa yelled. "We have to go out of town to pick them up! They have no chance of getting this city unless we're too slow!"

"No!" said Cassius sullenly, painfully mindful of his duty. "Everyone is needed to defend this city. It is useless to face overwhelming numbers of enemies on the plains. The towns by Lake Dinesha are doomed!" "They are alone and helpless!" Agowa scolded angrily. "If we don't defend our people, then what are we? What right do we have to stand behind this wall and watch them being slaughtered?" Cassios shook his head, but decided to defend Bryn Shander. But then other refugees started to take the second road, the Bremen Trail, and when they saw the town on the other side of the road being burned, they fled the unguarded town of Tamarin in hysteria.Over a thousand refugees can now be seen from Bryn Shander.Calculating their speed and remaining distance, Cassius estimated that they would be gathered in the open field outside the north gate.

Goblins will catch them there. "Go!" he said to Agova.Bryn Shander's warriors cannot be sacrificed, but soon the blood of women and children will turn the fields red. Agowa led his valiant men on the road to the northeast, to find a point they could defend.They chose a small ridge, in fact, a small slope on the road.They took their positions behind the slope, ready to fight and die, and waited for the last refugees to pass.The refugees were terrified, screaming because they thought they had no chance of reaching the safety of the city before the goblin horde fell upon them.

Smelling human blood, the faster of the invading army had already advanced right behind the trailing fugitives, almost all of whom were mothers with children.Focusing on their prey, they failed to spot the warriors until Agwa's team attacked them. It was too late to find out. Tamaran's warriors shot many of the goblins with crossed arrows from both directions, and they rushed out following Agavati's sword.They fought without fear, like people who have accepted their destiny.Already dozens of goblins lay dead in their path, and as the minutes ticked, more fell as the angry warriors forced their way into their ranks.

Yet their ranks seem never-ending.For every goblin felled, two more immediately took its place.These Tamaranian warriors were quickly swallowed by the goblin tide. Agowa took a high point and turned his head to look in the direction of the city.The fleeing women were far away, but moving slowly.If his men abandoned their ranks and fled, they would overtake the refugees before Bryn Shander's slope.And monsters will follow. "We have to go out and support Agwa!" Glenn Sather yelled at Cassius.But this time Bryn Shander's spokesperson was unwavering. "Agova has done his work," Cassius replied. "The refugees will reach the wall. I will not send anyone out to die! Even if all the strength of Ten-Towns were assembled on the fields, they would not be able to defeat the enemy before us!" Maybe fight Kessell on fair terms.

Renzxin Glenn Sather looked downcast. "Take some troops down the hill," Cassius promised. "Helping exhausted refugees climb the last hill." Agowa's men are now under strong pressure.The spokesman for Tamaran looked back again, satisfied that the women and children were safe.He scanned the high walls, knowing that Regis, Cassius, and the others could see him, the lone figure on the knoll, though he couldn't make out the line of watchers standing on Bryn Shander's wall. who the hell is. More goblins poured into the fray, even ogres and subgiants.Agowa saluted the people in the city.He smiled contentedly as he turned and walked down the slope to join his brave warriors.

Then Regis and Cassius watched as the black tide swept over every one of Tamaran's warriors. Below them, the heavy door slammed shut.The last batch of refugees also entered the city.    Although Agowa's men won the final honor, in fact, only the dwarves actually survived the battle against Kessell's army that day.The people from Mithril Hall had spent many days industriously preparing for this defense, but they were almost completely ignored by Kessell's horde.Kessell's armies are manipulated by the wizard's will, and thus have a discipline unheard of among goblins (especially among scattered and hostile tribes): their first wave of attack has a clear and straightforward plan.Dwarves are not included in this plan.

But Bruno's people had other plans.They were unwilling to bury themselves in the mines without beheading a few goblins or smashing a few giants' knees. Several of this bearded race ascended the summits of the south of their valley.When the last of the evil host had passed, the dwarves laughed at them, shouting words of challenge and insult to their mother.These insults are unnecessary.The goblins and goblins despised the dwarves more than any other living creature, and when they saw Bruenor and his people, Kessell's plans for them to go straight were forgotten.Hungry for the blood of the dwarves, a mighty band broke away from the main army. The dwarf kept them close, prodding with jeers until the monster was almost within reach.Then Bruno and his men slid down the ledge and reached a steep slope. "Come play, stupid dog," Bruno said with a mischievous chuckle as he disappeared from view.He pulled a rope from his back.It was a prank that he was eager to try as soon as he thought it up. The goblins rushed into the rocky valley, outnumbering the dwarves by four to one.Twenty raging ogres followed. These monsters didn't even stand a chance.The dwarves lured them on, past the steepest part of the vale, to a narrow and sloping ledge at right angles to the cliff face where innumerable dwarven pit entrances were.It's a good spot to raid, but foolish goblins, driven almost mad at the sight of their most hated foes, don't notice the danger here. The first trap was activated when most of the monsters had reached the rocks and the rest had just started descending into the valley.Catti-brie, heavily armed, hid in the inner tunnel, and pulled a lever, which caused a post at the top of the valley to fall.Several tons of rocks and gravel collapsed at the end of the monster team. The monsters who fled the landslide in a hurry found that their partners behind had been buried, and their escape route had been blocked. Crossbows twitched from hidden corners, and a group of dwarves rushed out to meet the leading goblins. Bruno was not with them.He hid further back in the path to watch while the goblins, focused on the challenge at hand, ran past him.He could have shot then, but he was eyeing bigger prey, waiting for the ogre to come within range of him.The rope has been carefully measured and tied.He tied one of the loops around his waist and the other securely to the rock, and took the two throwing axes from his belt. It was a risky venture, perhaps the most dangerous thing a dwarf had ever done, but Bruenor's extreme excitement turned into a smile as he heard the ogre lumbering along.He had a hard time suppressing his laughter as the two monsters walked across the narrow path in front of him. Bruenor jumped out of hiding, charged at the two startled ogres, and hurled throwing axes at their heads.The ogre twisted, trying to avoid the poorly aimed throwing axe.But these two weapons are just tools to distract them. In this attack, Bruno's body is the real weapon. The two ogres are startled and want to dodge the ax again, so they lose their balance.Everything went perfectly according to Bruno's plan, and the orcs had a hard time finding a foothold.Bruenor shortened the strong muscles of his stubby legs and leaped into the air, bumping into the monster that was closer to him.The monster ran into another monster with him. All three of them fell off the cliff. One of the ogres tried to grab the dwarf's face with its huge hand, but Bruenor struck it nimbly, and the monster flinched.At one point they turned into a flailing mass of limbs, but Bruno's rope came to an end in an instant, and only two monsters remained to fall. "Hope you have a good landing, boys," Bruno yelled in the air. "Help me kiss those rocks down there!" The rope swung back, allowing Bruno to land on the entrance of the shaft on the second lowest ledge as the helpless victim fell to his death.A few goblins behind the ogre watched in blank-headed shock.Now they recognize that they can use this hanging rope as a shortcut to the mine, so they climb down the rope one by one. But Bruno had predicted even this.Those goblins who climbed down did not know why the rope was shiny. They guessed why when Bruenor appeared on the rocks below, holding the bottom of the rope in one hand and the torch in the other. The flames spread upwards along the rope.The goblins at the top scrambled back to the top of the cliff, but the rest followed in the footsteps of the previous ogres.One nearly escaped death when it fell hard on the rocks below.Before it could even stand, Bruno kicked it down. The dwarf nodded with satisfaction as he appreciated the success of his plan.It was a ruse he wanted to remember.He clapped his hands and rushed back to the shaft.This tunnel leads upwards to other, higher tunnels. On the high rocks, the dwarves were trying to retreat.Their plan was not to fight to the death outside the pit, but to lure the monsters into the tunnel.With lust for the kill overriding all reason, the foolish invaders went in, assuming their far greater numbers could corner the dwarves. The sound of swords hitting swords sounded in several tunnels.The dwarves continued to fall back, leading the monsters into the final trap.Then, farther down in the pit, a blast of horns sounded.Receiving this reminder, the dwarves all escaped from the melee and fled to the tunnel further below. Both goblins and ogres, thinking they had cornered their foes, paused to give a triumphant cry, and rushed in after the dwarves. But further down the tunnel several levers were pulled.The final trap was activated and all tunnel entrances collapsed.The ground shook violently under the weight of the falling rocks, and the entire cliff outside shattered. Only some monsters at the forefront survived.And these monsters, disoriented, shaken by the force of the falling rocks, dazed by the spouts of dust, were soon felled by the waiting dwarves. Even those as far away as Bryn Shander were shaken by the colossal collapse.They flocked to the north wall to see the rising smoke, and panicked as they thought the Dwarves were destroyed. Regis knew better.The halflings envied the dwarves, who were safely sealed away in the long tunnels.The moment he saw the fire in Kekkoni Town, he realized that his friends who were stranded in the city waiting for Lonely Town to come had deprived him of the chance to escape. Now he watched helplessly and desperately as the black army marched towards Bryn Shander.    As soon as the boats on Lake Dürden and Redwater saw what was happening, they hurried back to their ports.With the exception of a Tamaran fisherman who returns to a deserted town, they all find their families safe up to this point.When all the men of Tamaran reluctantly returned to the middle of the lake, all they could do was pray for their people to reach Bryn Shander or other refuges safely, because they saw the northern flank of Kessell's army were swarming across the fields towards their doomed town. Targos, the second mightiest of the Ten-Towns, and the only town other than Bryn Shander that had any hope of holding off the army for a while, invited Tamaran's ships to anchor at its docks.And the men of Tamaran, who were almost homeless, accepted the kindness of their old enemies and went south.Their quarrel with Kemp's men was nothing compared to the devastation that befell Ten-Towns.    On the main battlefield, the goblin generals who lead Kessell's army are confident they can take Bryn Shander before nightfall.They strictly follow the leader's plan.The main part of the army turned from Bryn Shander, onto the high road between the city and Targos, cutting off any possibility of combining the forces of these two mighty towns. Several goblin tribes had left the main force before and marched toward Tamaran, hoping to plunder the third town of the day.But when they find that the place is deserted, they restrain themselves from burning the buildings.Part of Kessell's army now has barracks built, allowing them to comfortably await the impending siege. Just like the other two armies, thousands of monsters separated from the main force and ran south.Kessell's army was too numerous to fill the fields between Bryn Shander and Tamaran, and there were enough monsters left to circle the city on the hill for several great circles. Everything happened so quickly.But the goblin actually stopped in the end. When there was no mad siege, everyone was suspicious of this dramatic change.After a few minutes of relieved calm, Regis felt the tension rising again. "Why don't they just call in?" he asked the two speakers standing beside him. Both Cassius and Glenn Sather were more familiar with the ways of war, and they knew exactly what happened. "There's no need for them, my boy," Cassius explained. "Time is on their side." Then Regis understood.In his long years in the rich South he had heard vivid stories of the horrors of the siege. Then the scene of Agova's last salute in the distance came to his mind again, and the satisfied expression on the speaker's face showed his willingness to sacrifice heroically.Regis didn't want to die by any means yet, but he could imagine what would happen to him and the denizens of Bryn Shander who had no escape. He found himself envious of Agwa.