Rise of the Horde

258 Chapter 25Khao’khen finally could be at ease as the thing that has been bothering him has been finally answered by Adhalia. He shifted his gaze from the voracious female human by his side and directed his eyes towards the mighty walls of the city that they have been sieging. It has already been almost a week since they started attacking the city but there was still no signs of its walls collapsing but that just proves that the Ereians royals paid a lot of attention to the defensive capabilities of their most wealth producing city.

“Chief” Sakh’arran greeted as he joined them and sat down on a log across their chieftain and proceeded to join them in devouring the food that Grogus had cook.

“How is the attack on the walls going?” Khao’khen questioned while his gaze was still on the towering walls in the distance.

“There are no problems with the First Kanikarr Corps but the walls are like a mountain as it won’t budge, not even the slightest.” The voice of Sakh’arran carried a hint of frustration as they already had tried everything already against those massive walls.

“Why don’t we just burn the city to the ground and be done with it… We can make use of that abundant sticky stuff that are present among the Burning Fields and turn the city into a blazing inferno. I could watch them all day as they burn to a crisp…” Sakh’aaran’s mood seemed to be bad as he proposed such a wicked idea to the chieftain.

Adhalia had her brows scrunched together when she heard the proposal, she was about to give her thoughts about it but then she remembered that it was the chieftain who put forward the idea of taking the city with less bloodshed as possible.

“And what is the use of the dead and a city turned to ashes to us then?” Khao’khen threw a question to Sakh’arran as he wanted to wanted the Horde Chief to think things through.

The Horde Chief went mum as soon as he heard the question that the chieftain gave. He started thinking but came up with nothing, there is no use of a dead city to them.

“No matter how long nor how hard you are going to think, there is no use of such thing. The city has more than ten thousand people residing in it and would have gone above twenty thousand or close to it with the survivors flocking inside it after the chaos that Skorno, Dhug’mhar and Haguk caused before we arrived.” Khao’khen’s tone as he spoke was full of seriousness as he spoke which made Sakh’arran flinch a little as he realized that he might have displeased their chieftain with what he just said.

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“That’s a lot of workforce if you think about it and possibly the wealth of the city might also be turned to ashes if we follow what you just have suggested. The idea of you making of the oil to burn the entire city is admirable as I can understand that you want to conquer the city with the least number of casualties possible on our side. Remember that wars and battles don’t happen for just the sake of winning but of the gains that we will receive after winning.” Khao’khen continued as he educated the poor Sakh’arran who had no rebuttal to the words of the chieftain.

“Very well said…” Adhalia applauded as she listened to the words of Khao’khen. She was impress by his words and her doubt of him being a real orc just became even stronger.

Sakh’arran apologized for his words as he mulled over the words of the chieftain.

“I almost forgot. Inform the Skallsers and select half a hundred ogres to gather by the central tent.” He turned his head towards Adhalia “And also, I need you, that baron or something and a hundred of your Drakhars.” Khao’khen had a smile on his face as he spoke.

“Where are we going chieftain?” Adhalia asked as she was curious where they would be headed to. Sakh’arran himself wanted to ask the same question but he didn’t know how he should ask after what just happened, luckily Adhalia was there to ask the question for him.

“We are going to the south and take control of it. That’s where the territory of that noble that we captured is at, right?” Khao’khen said as he savored the taste of the food that he just chewed on.

“Take control of the things here. Just follow the plans that I have given and it won’t be long until the city will be force to surrender to us.” He patted the shoulder of Sakh’arran as he went pass by him as he headed towards where their siege engines were at.

Sakh’arran heaved a sigh of relief and his tensed nerves finally relaxed after realizing that the chieftain wasn’t displeased by what he had just suggested earlier.

“Work hard, you still have a lot to learn.” Adhalia uttered as he went pass by the Horde Chief which did nothing but just give him confusion on what she means by what she had just said.

The next morning, the rain of rocks came once again which forced the Ereian defenders to hide themselves well along the walls less they be unfortunate enough to squashed by those rocks.

The earlier stages of Khao’khen’s plan to conquer Ereia doesn’t solely rely on them taking control of the City of Alsenna but on denying the Ereians from turning the city into a forward base that they can use to repel their invasion. With the city being laid siege upon, there is no way for the Ereians to use it as a gathering point and repel them.

The next priority of his plan would then be to take control of the lands to the south of the city which would then allow him and his orcs to have a stable footing in this foreign land. They could then deny the rest of the kingdom the resources of the south which would be a win for them.