The day had gone just as bad at Frontier Fortress. Three hundred Skull Crusher archers attacked Hogarth Hall at dawn. Arrows flew back and forth, killing men and goblins.

The goblins were now engaging the men on the inner wall platforms, drawing their fire while twenty goblin warriors charged the main gate into the inner courtyard. They began ramming the gate with a large cedar log.

King Quaid launched arrow after arrow into the sea of green in front of his platform, bringing down many goblin archers with the Bow of Togra. The defenders appeared to be getting the upper hand, having killed over half of the attacking archers, until Ladicrum the Brown attacked.

The dragon had been watching the battle from atop his perch on the former Catapult Tower. He decided to target the man with the mighty bow, not because he was killing so many of the pesky goblins, but because the magical bow was the only weapon left in the wooden city of men that could harm him.

The beast swooped in fast, intent on slaying the man. The brown dragon’s first claw struck the Bow of Togra, knocking it from King Quaid’s hands and sent it tumbling off the wall towards the goblins in the main courtyard below.

The second mighty claw tore across the king’s chest, shredding his chainmail and knocking him from the platform into the smaller courtyard behind the interior wall. He fell to the ground with his chest bleeding heavily from five deep cuts.

Ladicrum circled about, and seeing that the man was not moving, turned his attention to another platform. He unleashed a hiss of death needles, killing all seven of the men caught in the blast. Ladicrum left the devastated platform behind and returned to his perch upon the Catapult Tower.

Lord Prince Jayden wasn’t sure what had happened to his father, but he had seen the Bow of Togra fall over the inner wall. He looked at Lord Morris, who nodded yes. The man knew what he was thinking. Without that magic bow, they didn’t stand a chance.

“To the Bow of Togra!” the young prince shouted, and with raised sword, rushed down the stairs and out of the tower.

Lord Morris and a handful of men mounted the horses on the first floor and rushed out, followed by two lords, five captains, and about a hundred men on foot. They caught the goblins, who were focused on Hogarth Hall, completely by surprise attacking them from behind.

Lord Prince Jayden quickly struck down two foes, and then stabbed a third who had turned to face him. A burly yorg charged him, thrusting his spear forward. Jayden blocked the spear with his shield and shoved his sword deep into the yorg’s fat green belly, where it became lodged.

Lord Prince Jayden pulled hard, but could not dislodge his weapon. At that moment, a warrior fell dead at his feet. He grabbed the dead man’s sword and removed the head of the goblin leader stuck at the end of his own sword. Then he continued towards the Bow of Togra which lay in the dust a quarter of a field away.

Lord Morris thundered by, winking at Jayden while he trampled two goblins that were running up behind the prince, only to have a goblin archer shoot his horse in the neck. The animal fell, throwing the lord into the dirt.

A captain, his name lost to Jayden, rushed past the prince and cut down a goblin archer, just before he took a spear through the stomach. The captain threw his sword at the yorg that had speared him, sending his blade through the creature’s chest, killing it. The captain then fell over, not moving.

Lord Prince Jayden killed another pair of goblins and rushed towards the Bow of Togra, which was now in the green hands of a puny goblin archer. The Skull Crusher was trying to string an arrow, but could not pull it back. Its skinny arms lacked the strength. Still, four goblins were between the prince and the magical bow.

Archers on the inner wall began to fire at the goblins near the prince, dropping all four of them. Lord Prince Jayden continued forward, just as Lord Morris struck down the goblin struggling with the Bow of Togra. Lord Morris grabbed the magical bow and slung it at Jayden, who caught the weapon!

The Skull Crushers began to flee from the area, apparently not liking the way that the battle was going. The men from his tower who were still alive, around twenty or so, began to rally around Lord Prince Jayden. He could not see any of his captains nor the other two lords. They must have fallen.

Lord Morris gave a loud battle cry and smiled at the young prince, obviously elated with their hard-fought victory. The man was covered in green goblin blood, and had three goblin arrows sticking out of his shield.

“Let’s make for the Hall of Hogarth!”, Lord Morris hollered, and then died. He had not seen the large brown dragon swooping in. Ladicrum dropped on the ground directly behind the lord and bit him in half, killing the man instantly.

The goblins saw the dragon land, so they regrouped and counter-attacked the remaining men. Lord Prince Jayden strung the mighty Bow of Togra, with some effort, and let one of his own arrows fly. The shaft buried itself deep into the underbelly of the beast, drawing blood.

Ladicrum the Brown let out an angry snort and charged the prince. The creature grabbed Jayden in one mighty claw, and then snatched another nearby warrior with his other claw.

The forty-foot dragon leapt skyward, hanging onto the two helpless men. When the brown dragon passed over the north side of the heavily damaged outer wall, he slung the warrior towards it, piercing the man on top of one of the few remaining pointed cedar logs.

Lord Prince Jayden could see the rest of his men down below, being killed by the goblins that now had them surrounded and outnumbered. The enemy looked like a sea of green surrounding the last remaining men inside of the Hogarth Hall stronghold.

Lord Prince Jayden strained to free himself, but the massive dragon’s grip was tight. He could feel the mighty Bow of Togra pinned against his side, even as he struggled to catch his breath. This is the end, he thought, while the dragon took him higher. I’m going to be dragon lunch.

The brown dragon continued north, flying over Frontier Pass. Ladicrum was going to make sure the nasty stinging bow did not fall back into the hands of men again.

Once he reached the bottom of the pass, the dragon circled about, and then tossed the young prince towards the rocky landscape below. While he fell, Jayden could see even more goblins, in several large formations, climbing up Frontier Pass towards his doomed kingdom. Then the ground came.

                                           *     *     *

Dawn broke over Gilead, where Commander Teak Tumbler had been having a rough time. After the initial attack on the Stable Hall, it had taken over an hour for his head to stop bleeding.

Once his dwarves pulled the goblin dagger from his shoulder, he had discovered that he had lost the use of his right arm. The blade had probably caused nerve damage. No worries, he thought, I only needed one arm to swing a weapon.

The filthy goblin assault on the Stable Hall had been brutal. Commander Teak Tumbler only had nine dwarves left, and most of those were wounded. He had expected to be attacked again the following day, but the enemy hadn’t come. No matter, if it is today, then we are ready. Well, as ready as we can be.

The tubby dwarf leader looked about the stone room. The pens were empty, with the animals having long ago been hoisted up onto the walls, for the upcoming siege. There were still a couple of chickens in a crate, minus the one that they had eaten last night. No sense dying on an empty stomach.

Teak Tumbler knew that he would not be able to hold the Stable Hall against any large force of goblins. I only want to kill as many of the Black Eye enemy as we can before we surrendered the building.

He decided to make a stand right at the front entrance, hopefully managing to fool the goblins into thinking that they had a much larger force, if they could still defend the bottom floor.

The dwarves would fire crossbows at the first wave of attackers and then engage them with their axes. Hopefully, they could do a lot of damage at the narrow entrance to the building. Movement in the flickering torchlight caught his eye.

A goblin with dark rings around his eyes poked his head through the entrance. One of the dwarves shot him through the left eye with a crossbow bolt, dropping him. They can’t be coming yet, it’s still a good hour before sunrise, Teak Tumbler mused.  

Several goblins rushed through the entrance, as if in answer to his question. The first four fell to crossbow fire, and then two more went down from dwarf axes.

A muscle strewn yorg rushed in, smashing one of the dwarves with a huge iron headed mallet. It had a wooden handle that was as long as the dwarf that it had just bashed.

The big yorg swung the mallet over its head in a large circle, pushing the defenders back, which allowed more goblins to scamper through the entrance way and attack the dwarves. The yorg brought the mallet down on the head of another unfortunate dwarf, killing him.

Commander Teak Tumbler took steady aim with his crossbow, holding it extended with his one good arm, and fired. The bolt struck the yorg right between the eyes. The creature stood for a moment, as if wondering what had happened, and then fell to the floor dead.

Commander Teak Tumbler and his last two warriors began to fall back towards the stone stairway. Goblins poured into the room, spreading out to the sides of the three remaining stable defenders. A goblin arrow dropped one of the dwarves.

Teak Tumbler slashed two of the goblins with the sharp axe that was now in his good hand. When they reached the stairway, the portly commander climbed up a few stairs to a waiting crossbow, while his last warrior put up a stout defense at the foot of the stairs.

Teak Tumbler heard the dwarf grunt, and then could see the shadows of the goblins dancing on the walls in the torchlight as they began to climb the spiral stairway. I have a little surprise waiting for you, he chuckled at the thought.

When the first goblin rounded the bend, the dwarf commander shot him with the weapon, causing the creature to burst into flames as he sprawled backwards down the steps.

“Get a taste of dwarf magic you filthy gobs!” Teak Tumbler shouted while he climbed a few more steps to the next bend and grabbed another crossbow.

The Black Eyes hesitated, which gave him a moment to rest. The goblins were wary of the dwarf and his fire bolts. Soon, one grew bold and began to creep up the stairs. A moment later, he was a flaming green corpse, rolling back down the stairway.

“Toasty enough for ya?” the dwarf commander shouted.

Teak Tumbler climbed a few more steps and grabbed the next crossbow. This continued to the top of the stairs, costing the Black Eye Tribe three more goblins. Once he reached the second floor, the portly dwarf grabbed one of the three crossbows he had placed there earlier, and sat down on the top step.

He dropped two goblins, one right after the other, when they rushed around the last bend in the stairway. They fell over face first, and slid back down the staircase, their burning flesh creating a stink that nearly caused the dwarf to vomit. He tossed the spent weapons aside. They are useless now. I can’t reload them with only one good arm.

“Hey gobs! Do you smell your roasting friends?” Teak Tumbler shouted down the stairs. “Come on! Come on! This barbecue has just started!”

Teak Tumbler sat on the top step with his last crossbow. At first, he could hear a yorg trying to get his subordinates to move, then it grew quiet. After about twenty minutes, the burning corpses flamed out, and the torch at the last bend was extinguished.

The commander sat in the darkness, straining to hear if the goblins were approaching, but he could not make out anything. Teak Tumbler decided to take a chance. He aimed his last fire bolt and shot it into the darkness directly in front of him.

A goblin, just three feet away, burst into flames. The creature turned and fled down the stairs while the fire consumed him. The chittering screeches ended abruptly when it finally died.

Five minutes passed before another goblin peeked around the corner, backlight by the still burning corpse of his comrade behind him. When nothing happened, it chittered at the Black Eyes behind him and a group of them began to climb towards the dwarf. Guess it’s time, he thought.

“Filthy gobs!” Teak Tumbler shouted and flung his large body at the mass of advancing attackers, swinging his hand axe back and forth.

Two goblins fell before the rest of them dragged the dwarf commander down the stairs and killed him. He had taken many of the enemy with him that day, before the Stable Hall had fallen to the Black Eye Tribe, just before the sun rose.

                                              *     *     *                                                          

Later that evening, King Haven and his men entered a large hole in the rear of Barracks Two. They killed twenty goblins they found sleeping in the main room. Things were going better than he expected.

They had also killed eight to ten goblins sleeping around a small fire on their way over from the palace. Now, the large group of men moved further into the building, looking for any survivors from Lord Flint’s raid.

Haven had left Lords Zobo and Qan in charge of the palace forces on the roof. He left Zobo behind because of his obesity, and Qan because of his age. He had also left a new captain and twenty warriors on the first floor, just in case the goblins tried to enter during the night.

The brave king was not one to sit around and wait to be attacked, so he took two captains, including Weser, and nearly a hundred men with him. Haven knew the palace would most likely be smashed to the ground in the morning, so he decided on an offensive maneuver, to kill as many of the Bone Breakers as they could before the sun rose.

He really didn’t expect to find anyone still alive in Barracks Two, but thought it was as good as any place to start. When he did find Lord Flint, he wished he hadn’t. 

The man was stuck to a post in the center of the main sleeping room, with a spear through his shoulder, pinning him to the timber. The room was the largest on the first floor, about two hundred feet in width and length.

There were lit oil lamps hanging on the four center columns, lighting the middle of the room, but not the far ends. Next to Flint was a burn barrel with glowing embers in it, as well as a couple of red-hot knives and pokers.

King Haven approached the center of the room, and was barely able to recognize the man as Lord Flint. He was dead, or worse. He had clearly been tortured, visible by the various patches of skin that had been burnt off him, and he had been cut in several places on his face and was missing his ears.

Still, that wasn’t the worst of it. Something had . . . sucked . . . the life out of him. He had been no more than thirty years-old, but his body was crumpled up and wrinkled, almost hollowed out like an empty husk of flesh.

King Haven shook his head, wondering what manner of beast could have done such a thing. Then the hair on the back of his neck stood up. They were not alone.

“Good. Now I don’t need to seek you out,” a low neutral voice sounded from the far dark end of the room, causing the king’s men to spread out on his sides and draw their weapons.

“I thought this city would crumble quickly after I killed that old fool King Wilsom. Then you, a scarred faced stable boy, came along and mounted a very respectable defense,” the neutral voice continued. “Now it’s over. Trader Town will be mine before noon today. I offer you one chance to surrender now with no conditions.”

“Show yourself so that I may know my enemy!” Haven responded, and after a short silence, continued, “Trader Town will not surrender as long as I am alive.”

“Then die,” the monotone voice never changed tone.

Arrows flew from the darkness, striking down two warriors who had jumped in front of the king to protect him. Goblins began to chitter and rushed forward into the light.

“Let them taste your steel!” King Haven shouted, and chopped off the head of a small goblin underling that ran up on him.

Captain Weser came up beside Haven and struck down another goblin. Swords clashed and men and beasts fell. In very little time, the remaining pocket of men were surrounded by a growing sea of green that blocked any routes of escape.

Men continued to fall, while King Haven and Captain Weser fought back-to-back, creating a pile of dead goblins at their feet. They could see the huge muscular yorg, with the red X carved into its chest, enter the lighted area flanked by two smaller yorgs. All three began slicing through men, advancing towards them.

The fierce trio reached their target quickly, killing the last warriors defending their king. The two smaller yorgs rushed at Haven, but Captain Weser jumped in front of him and cut the front yorg across the stomach. When it fell, King Haven finished it with a sword through the back.

The second yorg shoved his sword into the captain’s upper thigh. Weser responded by sending his blade clear through the yorg’s throat. Captain Weser did not see the oncoming black spear with the red tip, until it ripped through his chainmail and tore through his body, dropping him to his knees.

The captain looked at the yorg with the X cut and wondered how it could throw so hard. It was his last thought before he fell forward and crossed over into darkness.

King Haven raised his blue shield and stepped towards the muscular beast. The yorg with the red X stepped back, receding to the edge of the shadows, and was followed by the remaining goblins. A newer, dark form appeared in the light, followed by black fog swirling around his feet.

“I am Daggart the Dark. You should know the name of your killer,” the bald, ashen wizard said, matter-of-factly.

“You will find me to be a most difficult prey,” King Haven said, showing a bravery that he didn’t feel, as he stared at the man’s black eyes.

The black wizard merely gave a pale creepy smile and pointed his finger at the tall man, mumbling some unintelligible words. At first, nothing happened. Then a black, pencil thin beam, shot forth from the tip of his finger and headed straight for Haven.

The king instinctively ducked down behind his large blue shield. The thin black beam hit the red dragon emblem dead center, stopping at first, then created a small hole and passed through striking King Haven in the chest.

Haven took a step towards the wizard, not even realizing that he had dropped his sword and shield, when the black beam burnt through his armor and into his chest. He managed another step, when a tiny hole appeared that passed all the way through the stunned king and started to expand.

The hole grew from pencil size to fist size and then head size while it continued to enlarge. King Haven let out a gasp and forced another step towards the wizard, before his entire middle was gone, then his arms, followed by his legs, until finally his head began to disappear from chin to forehead.

In less than a minute, the tall, lanky king had completely disintegrated. The only thing that remained where he had been standing was a small pile of black dust.

Dawn came much too quickly for the remnants of men who still defended Trader Town. They knew that the palace was the only target left for the giants. It also had not escaped anyone’s attention that their king had failed to return.

“Look, there’re only sixteen giants coming. Two are missing,” the gray-haired Lord Qan said to Lord Zobo.

“Get to your ballista man!” Lord Zobo yelled, his double chin bouncing with each word. “The moat water has stopped swirling. The king is dead!”

The giants looked at the still water for a few moments, wondering if it was safe to cross. One of the smaller fifteen-foot giants, the only giant with a mohawk, cautiously stepped into the water.

The mohawk giant hesitantly walked across the moat with the water never reaching his chin. When he climbed out on the other side, a ballista arrow struck him in the left shoulder.

Boo gah drums began beating and several thousand Bone Breakers ran to the moat. They laid ladders across the now stagnant water and began to cross over it. The green army swarmed into the city, looking for any surviving men to kill.

The remaining giants abandoned their rocks and advanced across the moat, attacking the palace from all sides. They smashed the catapult and ballista first, killing both Lords Zobo and Qan, and then turned their mighty wooden clubs on the remaining roof defenders. They made short work of them.

A handful of archers escaped off the rooftop back into the palace, only to be confronted by several goblins who had overrun the warriors on the first floor. A brief melee ensued, and the last defenders fell to King Nalop and the Bone Breaker Tribe, just before noon.

It took the goblins the rest of the day to round up the surviving women and children, and after caging them, sent them north towards the mountains. Trader Town was the first kingdom of man to fall into enemy hands, but would not be the last.