Chapter 57

Like a slowly advancing tide did Jormag's troops march towards Hoelbrak while the Champion Drakkar stood at the back of their line and with a slow nod signal for the troops to hold position while the huge being made its way over towards the front of the army.

Once he arrived there he observed the Norn up on the wall for a few moments and couldn't help but admit that their spirit was shining brightly, even though they knew they would die.

"Children of the north! My master, Jormag, offers you the choice to join his side! He has no wish for needless bloodshed! You, just like all the other Norn, are his children! After all, was it not the north that provided you with a home to shelter and food to nurture you? All that has kept you alive all these years WAS Jormag! Thus, it is only right and just for you to repay his kindness and generousness for all these years! Come, join us in our ranks and you will not be amiss of anything!" Drakkar spoke in a loud and clear voice as he had been tasked by his master in the hopes to sway some of the Norn still.

At first only silence was his answer but soon the silence turned into laughter. Mocking laughter to be exact, originating from one man that stood at the front of the defenders causing rage to bubble inside of Drakkar's mind at the disrespect shown towards his lord and master!

"HA! He provided us? Did your 'master' cause your brain to rot to such a degree that you actually believe the shit that comes out of your mouth? Jormag gave us nothing! Instead he took and took without ever getting satisfied! Our homes, our hunting grounds, our sacred lands, our PEOPLE did he take! And you expect us to be grateful to that giant cunt in the form of a dragon? Go return to your 'master' and tell him to come himself so I can personally cave his skull in!" The voice spoke, growing louder and louder while clear anger was prominent in it at the end of the man's words after which Drakkar grit his teeth and simply turned around without another word.

'So be it! You'll regret your words soon enough little Norn! I'll make sure of that…' Drakkar thought all the while and once he passed by one of the leaders of his master's army nodded shortly which caused the crystalized Norn to yell a few orders to his subordinates.

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After Sjorn had let out some of his anger he swiftly turned around to his subordinates that were in charge of the different divisions and nodded shortly which caused them to return the nod and swiftly rushed of to carry out the first part of their defence strategy.

"SIEGE WEAPONS!" Sjorn roared into the cold winter night, all the while observing how the enemy's army formed itself into different divisions.

The divisions consisted of one main army, which was most certainly meant to attack them head on. The other divisions though were very small and after some time left into different directions, causing Sjorn to hum in thought, contemplating what they may be up to.

Calling over one small group of hunters Sjorn shortly gave them the order to split up and follow these small groups that had left the main battlefield to make sure they wouldn't do something that would breach a hole in their defence too fast. With determined nods the men and women left in a hurry after which Sjorn turned around to observed the progress of his siege weapons and soon discovered that most were loaded already.

Grinning to himself with excitement Sjorn turned back around towards the enemy as he was really looking forwards to see the new siege weapons in action in his last great battle that he commandeered.

Below Sjorn, inside the by now frozen Valley, partly hidden behind the howling veil of the snow storm that was raging through the freezing night sky, the enemy had finally begun their march towards Hoelbrak, each step under the hundreds of feet sounding dull and foreboding in the darkness of the night.

"Siege weapons ready sir!" The commander of the engineers called over which interrupted Sjorn's contemplation abruptly but instead of annoyance only felt glee. It was a good night to die!

"ARCHERS! ON YOUR MARKS! SIEGE WEAPONS! FIRE ONCE THE ENEMY IS IN REACH!" Sjorn roared into the rising volume the howling wind and the metallic feet on icy ground provided and soon received the repeated sounds of his men and women passing on his orders all over the wall, thus telling him that all knew what to do.

"MAGES! DOUBLE AND HARDEN!" Sjorn roared another order once again and after the troops at his back had heard his words began to shift around their formations.

Now at the front stood the mages while right behind them stood the archers. Warriors and Guardians had retreated to the back of the wall for now as they would be needed soon enough once the enemy broke through their defences.

A few seconds only filled with the dull sound of metal on ice and howling winds passed by until it was finally time. With deep sounding horns the enemy received their signal and began their attack in full.

Under war cries the enemy soldiers rushed towards the walls of Hoelbrak, shields in the air while the mages of their troops began to shimmer light blue like ice in the darkness, their mana illuminating their positions.

Once Sjorn had seen their position a vicious grin formed on his face. These morons did exactly what he had wanted!

"Oumund! You got their position! Now take these fuckers out! Afterwards focus on the foot soldiers!" Sjorn called over to the man walking up and down the archer regiment as he was their commander and with a grim nod began to relay the instructions to his troops to shoot down their prey.

"Nock your arrows! Bows four fingers into the air! Lose!" The commander yelled and with one whistle a black wall of arrows pierced through the night. Though before they were very far away the mages had finished their incantations and caused the arrows to glow ominously in the night sky while their numbers seemed to have increased somehow.

Like a rain of death the arrows descended upon the enemy casters who only now realised their doom. Some groups had just finished their incantations and had let loose mighty frozen hailstorms that battered troops and wall alike on the defender's side but exactly those were the ones that had no time to dodge and were thus skewered into undecipherability.

The ones in the middle of their incantations though managed to stop their doings and promptly dove into security or hid behind beings made of hard ice that would protect them from a few arrows.

Turning away from the archers that had let loose another volley of arrows Sjorn switched over to the siege weapons that had begun their fire as well and soon let burning rocks or grenades filled with metal projectiles rain down upon the enemy who took heavy casualties from the defenders attacks.

Unfortunately, their numbers were too huge to cause a turn in the battle but Sjorn let his engineers continue to fire as the damage they caused satisfied him enough.

After handing over the command of archers, engineers and mages to Oumund, Sjorn let his hands roam over his axes while stalking down the stairs that lead to the main gate where his troops had already taken position in rows spiked with spears and shields, all pointing towards the gate where the enemy could already be heard as they tried to breach them.

Joining his comrades in arms, Sjorn prepared himself while a savage grin took place under his helmet. Now they only needed to wait a little longer and it would be time…