Rise of the Horde

244 Chapter 24“Tell the soldiers on the walls to keep themselves well behind the battlements of the walls, the siege has officially began… Our foes will continue to barrage our walls with everything that they’ve got and will surely attempt to create a point where they can breakthrough with their siege engines.” Garrison Commander Lars issued his orders as he sat behind his table which had plenty of reports that he had to go through.

“How is the southern gate, Ekhans?” he questioned without shifting his gaze as he continued to sort things out with all the reports that he had in front of him.

“It has been silent the past few days sir, those mounted orcs have built a camp for themselves a safe distance away where our weapons on the walls can’t reach them. They are ignoring survivors who are passing by them but they would start getting rowdy and attack anyone that comes from within the city after getting out of the range of our defensive weapons.” Ekhans the one in charge of organizing the defenses in the southern walls reported. He was the youngest of all the students of Lars but his age didn’t held him back as he could stood on equal grounds with the other students of his teacher in combat.

“Overall, we have been surrounded in all sides. Three sides manned by mobile units that can come and go as they please which would prove to be a headache if a fight turns into a chase.” Lars muttered as he massaged his temples which were throbbing in pain after he received letters from the nobles in the city that he had no authority over the people that they have recruited. They have stated that since they have answered their recruitment, they are no longer soldiers under his command but personal soldiers of the nobles.

“Why those imbeciles…” he gritted his teeth in frustration as he crumpled the letter that he was reading a few moments ago. He would very much like to teach those prideful bastards some good lesson but he had no time to do it as their foes started to intensify the offensive. Magic would be useless against the towering walls of Alsenna but traditional siege warfare would still work and they were caught unprepared to be siege. Only a few days went by after those mobile units of their enemies started to create chaos in the surrounding areas which resulted in some supplies that should have been added to the warehouses to be abandoned.

“Sir, urgent report. Baron Manakk, Baron Aster requests for the eastern gate to be opened.” A soldier came to make a report about the situation at the eastern gate. A few moments ago, the two barons with their merchant friends came to the eastern gate along with the people that they have recruited and demanded that the eastern gate be opened for them.

“Captain Rakhassi quickly departed and is in a standoff against them along with his soldiers under his command.” The panting soldier continued and finished his report before recollecting his breathing.

Without a word, the old commander stood up from his seat and headed out towards the eastern gate. There was no outburst but the rage filled eyes of his says it all as every step of his seemed to be punishing the ground that he was stepping on as his aura surge around his body.

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“Halt in firing for the meantime and concentrate on erecting the camp. That should be enough of an announcement for us.” Khao’khen commanded as he turned around and headed towards where the camp was at.

All around the camp, defenses such as barricades and ditches were being created in order to make sure that their camp won’t be easily broken through by raiding parties from their enemies. Since there was a lack of wood from the surroundings, the orcs had to make do with whatever they can get their hands from their supplies.

“Send out runners to inform Haguk, Skorno and Dhug’mhar that we have already arrive and while the messengers are at it, asked them if there is a woodland nearby where we can get some timber to build additional siege engines.” He ordered as he headed towards where Adhalia were at and the Drakhars.

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At the western side of Alsenna, out in the wilds, the Troll Hunters were scattered about in their messy camp as they play around with the new toys or friends that they have discovered. The Troll Hunters were shouting in excitement as they chased creatures around the endless sand, these creatures had legs and tail of a lizard, the body of a horse and the neck and head of a rooster but their beaks had row of razor-sharp teeth in them which signifies that they are predators but the trolls didn’t mind it as they merrily chased them around like they were hunting.

“Got ya!” Skorno proudly shouted while his chest heaved up and down as he brought down the creature crashing to the ground after grabbing its thin long neck and dragged it down to the ground. With a happy smile, Skorno jumped on the back of the creature that he caught and rode onto its back and as he had expected, the creature broke into a mad sprint in an attempt to get rid of the stranger that was on his back.

The flock of unknown creatures were freely roaming around their territory in search for some prey but they never expected that the rowdy strangers would take interest in them and chase them around the endless sand. They tried to drove away the noisy outsiders with their sharp teeth but their trolls seemed to have taken their actions as a challenge as they dragged them down to the ground one by one before mounting them.

When boredom strikes them and they have nothing else better to do, trolls would be trolls as they would find anything that they can find where they can have some fun, be it tasting some weird stuff that induces hallucinations or drowsiness and others things that would catch their attention even if they would be in some sort of danger as long as they had their fun.