The following morning, the Bloody Thrasher Tribe greeted the sunrise by banging on their large Boo Gah drums, and then attacked Tuggle City at daybreak. Several groups of goblins rushed to the trench and laid long crude ladders across it. They began to climb across them, their flaming red mohawks blowing in the wind.

A few apes tossed spears from nearby doorways, but the defense was relatively ineffective. Within minutes, Tuggle City was full of goblins. They swiftly overran the outlaying huts, killing the few apes within.

The ten larger huts in the middle of the city were a different matter, because each had several ape warriors defending them. The Bloody Thrashers surrounded the larger huts and attacked three that were somewhat separated to the south, sending about twenty goblin warriors into each one.

The apes managed to hold two of them, with the goblins capturing the third. A second wave of goblins attacked the two remaining southern huts, and after some fierce fighting, another of them fell under goblin control.

Around noon, the goblins set the third southern hut on fire by tossing torches onto the roof, where the thatch quickly ignited. The remaining twelve apes defending from within came charging out, where they were quickly surrounded by a superior number of goblins and were overwhelmed.

After a short respite, three large hordes of goblins attacked the three huts to the north. One of these huts had no experienced warriors within and fell quickly.

The second hut was nearly held by the apes, but was finally captured when goblin reinforcements from the fallen hut rushed in. The third hut was the apes main eating hall and was the site of the most intense fighting of the day.

An old, experienced silverback named Mumbo led the warriors within, and they managed to drive off three separate attacks. Goblin archers changed their tactics and began shooting burning arrows into the hut.

Mumbo, and the handful of bloody gorillas that still lived, frantically tried to put out the fires. Soon, the flames licked up the walls to the ceiling, where they joined a large roof fire already ablaze.

Mumbo ordered his warriors out, but realized that it was too late, when the roof gave way with a loud crack and came crashing down on the gorillas. The unfortunate ones who weren’t crushed, burnt to death. By nightfall, only the four largest huts in the very center of Tuggle City remained under gorilla control.

Gorin the Gorilla King was anxious to fight. He had waited throughout the day for the attack to come, but it never did. At various times, he could hear his apes engaging the enemy in the nearby huts, which was followed by hooting with each victory or the death howls of defeat.

King Gorin’s central lair held about thirty of his best fighters, one of whom scowled, “Apes should attack green mens now!”

“No! Apes defend huts. Too many green mens outside.” King Gorin felt their frustration, but would stick with his plan to defend the huts from within.

He had not heard fighting from the direction of the stable, guard shack, or meeting hut. He believed that his warriors still held those structures, but knew that there would be fresh attacks in the morning.

The stable was defended by another thirty experienced warriors, although all of the horses had left with the Raider Patrols. The stable was the only hut with a second-floor loft in it.

The stable defenders were led by a seasoned silverback named Tintock. He had been a ferocious warrior in his youth, and still had an air of strength about him. Gorin knew that he would defend the stable well.

The large meeting hut, where most of the females and young were, had around forty less experienced gorilla warriors guarding them. The alpha male assigned here had been killed in a spear battle with the goblins earlier that day.

 A dark black gorilla, named Tero, had taken command of the apes in the meeting hut. He was fairly young, but very large, and was well respected amongst the warriors for his incredible strength.

The last structure was the main guard hut, where fifty new warriors were stationed. They were led by a large alpha male named Tock, son of Tintock. Most apes were various shades of black, but he was a rare rich caramel color.

Tock had abnormally large hands and feet, even for a gorilla. He and his warriors had nothing to guard there, so they decided on a risky move and made a break for the king’s lair around midnight.

Goblins did not like to fight at night, but it didn’t mean that they wouldn’t. Tock’s apes attacked with an initial volley of spears, bringing down about twenty Bloody Thrashers, while the apes poured out.

The goblins were caught by surprise and were initially pushed back, with several of them dying quickly, while only three or four apes fell in the first exchange. It was a good start for Tock’s group.

The king’s lair was just about a quarter of a field from the main guard hut. The apes made it half-way, before the goblins were able to regroup and swarmed them from every direction.

A yorg leader with a large sword dropped the two apes nearest Tock, who turned on the goblin leader and speared him down. Several goblin warriors rushed in, stabbing at the alpha male.

Tock swung his massive fists, crushing two of them, before being stabbed in the side by a goblin with a knife. The gorilla leader brought his mighty fists down on the hapless creature, smashing it into a bloody green pulp.

Nearly two hundred goblins now had the shrinking pack of apes surrounded and more began to fall. The last twenty or so remaining gorillas pressed forward, closing the gap to their king’s hut.

A barrage of goblin arrows, from a line of freshly woke Bloody Thrasher archers, brought down Tock and five apes near him. The rich caramel colored alpha male was on his knees, with three arrows protruding from his chest, yet he still managed to crush two more goblins before he fell to the ground with blood tricking from his snarled dead lips.

The last of Tock’s apes chopped a path to the entrance to Gorin’s hut, with the front gorilla falling dead to more arrows when he reached the doorway. Eight gorilla warriors did manage to enter the lair, with the last taking two arrows and a spear in the back, killing him in the entrance hall.

A handful of goblins, caught up in the fervor of the battle, charged into the dark entrance after the apes. The gorillas within quickly killed them, ending the night’s battle. It had been costly for the apes.

                                                       *     *     *

The men residing in the Upper Glen weren’t having much better luck the following morning. Lord Prince Talban pulled the Spear of Tutog from the custom sling on his back.

It was a ferocious looking weapon with black razor teeth lining the edges of the spear head. Small black metal skulls were etched into the handle. It gave off an aura of magic and could easily pierce most armors. It had been a fitting weapon for the pirate king.

Tronin had awarded Talban the weapon after the Battle of Rowan Bay. The high king had given it to the prince on the deck of Tutog’s ship, the Scorpion, just after he had saved Tronin.

A pirate had jumped out of a rum barrel and nearly stabbed the high king in the back before Talban had speared him. Tronin always had a special affection, and a strong trust, for Talban after he had saved him that day.

The spear felt good in Lord Prince Talban’s hand, familiar and comfortable, almost as if his fingers had missed holding it. It was a great weapon, perfectly balanced, and he rarely missed with it.

Prince Talban brought his arm back, preparing to throw it. The Spear of Tutog sailed through the air, piercing a big yorg through its muscular upper chest, pinning the beast to the wooden door that it had been standing in front of.

Prince Talban’s two archers also fired, killing a goblin archer that had been standing next to its now dead leader. They were the only two goblins that the men could see, and they were from the Bone Breaker Tribe.

While the patrol looked about the abandoned village of Sev, an archer said, “There could be more of the green enemy lurked in the early dawn shadows.”

Prince Talban looked at the many wooden structures that had been burnt down and were still smoldering, saying, “Spread out and stay alert. Clear the rest of the village.”

Several of the village guards lay strewn about, taking on the appearance that they were sleeping, if not for the large pool of blood around them. Lord Prince Talban ran his hand through his long black hair, and scratched his head.

Where are the villagers? The nearly three hundred people who lived here are missing.

“Look,” Lord Hark spoke as he rode up with Lord Maylay, pointing at a nearby trail that eventually wound its way up into Timber Lake Mountains. “The trail is marked with a large line of both human and goblin footprints, heading up the path.”

Hark had answered his unspoken question. Their people had been captured and needed to be saved.

“Follow me,” Lord Prince Talban ordered, and began following the prints, hoping to rescue some of the villages before they got too high into the mountains.

The yule riders reached a low plateau, about a field’s length up, when they heard it. Boogah, Boogah, boogah! Talban and his men could not place the sound. The prince scanned the trail rising above him and could make out what looked like large columns of black dots in the distance.

Boogah, Boogah, boogah! The rhythmic sound reverberated across the walls of the nearby canyons and was followed by the shouts of many goblins sounding off in unison.

“Ride men! We must retreat!”, Talban shouted as soon as he realized that the black dots were a large goblin army of Bone Breakers, marching in rank after rank to the beat of drums, coming down the trail above them.

There must be several thousand of them.

Lord Maylay rode up to the prince, his face twisted in anger, “Are we to run from this foul ilk? These creatures were spawned from the darkest pit and must be killed. I say we ride into them and make them pay a hefty fee to enter our Glen!”

“No!” Prince Talban shouted, knowing what the older warrior felt; men did not run from goblins. “My father needs us; besides, would you have him suffer the loss of another son so soon? The Glen needs us! We shall live to fight another day. You know me well Lord Maylay. I am no coward, but wise enough to know not to throw our lives away. Now follow me and I promise you that we will make them pay when the odds are in our favor. I swear it under the sun of my ancestors!”

The yule riders turned and raced back down the trail at top speed. Boogah, boogah, boogah! The relentless goblin Boo Gah drums followed them, guiding the massive green army that was dropping into the Upper Glen, unopposed.

A short while later, the Bone Breaker columns swung southeast, heading for the merchant city of men called Trader Town.