Bryald's Journal - Part 22 - Survival

[Kane]

We could see our doom marching toward us but there was little we could.  Our archers fired on the beasts, but their thick hides and crude armor deflected most of the arrows and those few that hit seemed to have no effect. The Captain screamed for the archers to fire on the orcs and I braced for the next wave of assaults. The orcs raced ahead of the chained beasts and once again ladders and grapples were thrown against the wall.

The battle raged along the wall with the orcs unable to gain a permanent foothold. Then we felt the ram hit for the first time.  The whole wall shook, toppling some ladders and throwing some of my men off the wall and back into the yard. I couldn’t see where the ram hit, but I knew it wouldn’t take long for the first breach. I didn’t have time to worry about the ram as orcs kept coming. I could hear the Dorns screaming for something and I hoped that the orcs hadn’t broken into the yard.

For a moment, I was able to clear my section of the wall and could look to my left toward the ram.  The Wall was fracturing and several of the supports had already snapped.  The Dorns were hauling up barrels of pitch and hurled them onto the beasts.  As the viscous fluid spread over their bodies, torches were thrown, igniting the pitch.  The beasts screamed a chilling, high wail that cut through the noise of the battle.  The beasts went wild straining at their chains and crushing anyone near them. As they lashed out the orcs turned on them, eventually bringing them down.

We cheered that the beasts were dead, but the damage was done, a breach was formed and the orcs surged forward.  I took a handful of men and joined the Dorns holding the gap in the wall. A vardatch crushed the top of my shield and jerked it off my arm, but a Dorn sword severed the orc’s arm.  Wielding my sword with both hands, I hacked madly at the oncoming orcs.  Men fell all around me, with fresh soldiers taking their place. The fighting continued until the Dorn towers burned low and the orcs called a retreat.

As the sun rose, there were over a thousand dead, orc and humans. Already the carrion eaters were gathering and there were movements in the mounds of dead.  Whether they were wounded or fell didn’t matter, they were still a threat. Once we were sure that the fort was clear of orcs and fell, we’d have to wade into the dead and ensure they would not rise. We had won, turning back the orcs but at a terrible cost.  Of my forty man platoon, seven were still standing. Between the Dorns and my company, we had barely fifty men still able to fight. Of the wounded, less then half would survive the day. If the orcs came again we would be brushed aside. Looking at the vast number of orc bodies, I don’t think they will.  We had gutted their tribe and the fort was not worth the cost they paid.