Chapter 25

The scene at the city gates was ten times worse than at the grand hall. Ash felt guilty for feeling glad for a moment he wasn't here. After the adrenaline of the fight had slowed down his body had started showing the side effects of using that much mana for the first time. Every cell of his body felt tired and ached with pains from time to time. But still, he had to find out what had happened to the rest of them. The walls were in bad condition, in some places it was completely broken apart with large gaping holes and blackened rocks, but the worst part was where they were colored red with blood. The deaths were in the hundreds, they were treating the injured and recovering the dead when they arrived, and they quickly proceeded to help them out. Ash didn't see any familiar places.

"Where is the captain?" asked Maya to one of the men.

"They went with the others who could still fight to check the goblin retreat and make sure they don't try anything in the night," he answered. 

After a few minutes when the last rays of the sun finally vanished and lamps and fires were lit in the yard, they returned. Silv, Farin, Aria, and Ben were fine, although they looked too tired to talk. 

"They went back in their caves, there are too many bodies for any side to fight, so they retreated, thank god," said Silv as the other soldiers took a sigh of relief. 

"What happened?" asked Maya.

"How are we alive you mean?" said Ben.

"I think the difference in numbers kind of helped us," said Farin.

"What do you mean?" asked Sarah.

"They attacked us with full force, hobgoblins, and shamans too, when we saw their numbers it was clear that this was most probably our last fight, so we gave it our all, some were too scared to fight but most were in a fight and flight mode from the start giving their all, the goblins were too relaxed and didn't expect such offense from us from the start, I think we kind of surprised them, but still it was very close, if they had kept coming even ten more minutes we would have been defeated," said Farin.

"Why do you look like you have been in a fight?" asked Aria and they explained what had happened at the great hall.

"So that must have been their plan all along, they were expecting us to fall from the inside but when nothing happened they realized their plan had failed," said Farin.

"A hobgoblin, twice that size," said Hailey pointing to one's body lying near a broken part of the wall with arrows in its back. 

"And he just pierced it right between its eyes with his sword, it was crazy," she said.

"It wasn't anything special, I just got lucky," said Ash.

"Looks like, you played an important part in saving the lives of my people today, human, I am grateful," said Silv bowing.

"And now he needs to play his other part, the next attack, whenever it will happen, most likely within the next two days, we won't survive, and as we have already seen the goblins also like playing tricks, we won't survive what's coming next, so we need to move either north or south," said Farin.

"In South? With the humans, we will be refugees there, that will dishonor us, we should head north where we will be welcomed," said Silv.

"Won't we will be vulnerable if we move with this number, we are bound to be slow, and too easy to spot, there are other dangers than goblins in the forest too," said Sarah.

"Doesn't matter, staying here is just as dangerous, and we are forest people, we are not scared of trees and wildlife, we have lived our whole life in these forests we can take care of ourselves," said Farin.

Just then an elf came running towards them, carrying a scroll in hand.

"Captain, we got a message from the north," said the elf and handed the scroll to Silv, who opened and read it readily. 

"It's good news, they are sending reinforcements, two orders, Captain Akash and Captain Gurg, both have left with their forces for the city," said Silv in joy and everyone looked relieved. 

"Akash is fine, but why is Gurg coming?" asked Aria to Farin.

"Why do you think? Gurg has one of the largest and best orders of soldiers under him, and he is thrice his age and much experienced, he is a brutal commander who has seen dozens of wars," said Farin.

"He might be a little bit strict, but we need someone like that in these times," said Silv.

"You are too young, there is much more politics involved in this message than we can see, we need to contact Rorin, he'll know what to do, we need to discuss with him before they arrive," said Farin looking at Sarah and Hailey in particular who nodded back. 

It was not the first time Fiona had held a sword, both of her brothers used to play with them for hours in their backyard when they were young. But this sword was much heavier and the blade much sharper and she had an audience watching her. 

"Now step forwards like this, and just thrust it straight forward, with full force," instructed Isanna not aware of the eyes on them. Isanna was a beauty and the commander so whatever she did there were always some eyes staring, so she had learned to not even pay attention. But because of this now when she was giving Fiona her first lesson, they had an audience. 

Fiona was wearing Ron's old training clothes, they were a bit tight, especially from the chest area. It was her first time wearing something so fitting and thought it didn't show any particular skin, she was a bit embarrassed. Ron wasn't watching he was training too with the others towards the side, they had camped down in a nice clearing they had found yesterday, and it seemed like regular practice was a rule in the battalion. Isanna had bought her best as instructed, but like usual she had also brought the younger and inexperienced ones so that they could learn from others. 

"Yes, good, your hands are firm and not shaking, you must have good wrists, good now keep on doing that, while I check on the others, Vanessa check on her form," said Isanna and went to check on the others. Vanessa was a quiet girl just a little older than her and Ron. Fiona repeated the movements, it was getting harder now to keep the heavy sword straight. 

Vanessa held her by the waist when she lost her balance and corrected her. Fiona looked up and found she was too close to Vanessa looking into her eyes. Some of the guys who were watching whistled at the scene. Fiona moved back blushing.

"Don't mind them," said Vanessa.