Elvenshore: 03 - Elf's Bane (15 page)

When Sarchise arose
, it was time for the nightly war counsel. He liked having the counsel because they could exchange ideas and come up with new strategies. It was a good way to adapt to the enemy’s tactics. He had already decided to implement the meetings into the Dwarf armies when they made their way back to Elvenshore.

Verian was the first to speak, "It looks like we have lost one of our Dwarf commanders
. How is Roalig?"

Sarchise answered, "He has a broken leg, but your healers are
doing a good job with him."

"Are you going to replace him with someone else?" Verian asked.

"Azram, his Under Commander, will take over for him."

"Very well," Verian said.
"The things that went well were the attack on the feet by the Dwarves, none of the Trolls made it very far past the wall without being in a lot of pain. I think it is best to continue with that strategy."

Verian continued, "What didn't go well is that the beast
s used trees to get over the moat. I had not expected that. The rock throwing was also very devastating for our men and caused a lot of casualties."

"I have an answer for the trees being used as bridges. We can have the Elf archers in the middle change to only flaming arrows. If their bridge was on fire, this would present a very big problem for the monsters," Istuin volunteered.

"That is a very good idea," Verain replied. "Does anyone have a solution to stop or counter the rock throwing?"

Verian looked around th
e room, but there simply wasn't an answer for that except for the obvious of getting behind something big and unmovable when the rocks started to be thrown.

"Very
, we will hide and cover the best we can," Verian said.

"
There were eleven monsters that attacked us tonight, so they are doing the same tactic of replacing any dead ones with two more. My men and I will fight along with you tonight. My people didn't want us to because they thought that the monsters would attack our villages if we did, but I cannot sit here and watch the beasts kill all of the refugees." Darnic had a determined look on his face as he spoke. "There is no more retreating that can be done from here."

"Your help will be
much appreciated.  I think I speak for all of us when I say that," Verian gave him a slight bow as he said it. The others in the room nodded their approval.

After the meeting broke up, the commanders went to their different commands and positioned their troops in expectations of that night
’s attack. Each warrior was left to his own thoughts and fears as the night approached. They knew that the battle was soon to begin.

The Trolls came at them in the night dragging trees behind them as they had the night before. Then they started throwing rocks again over the moat. Those on the other side got to cover the best they could, but there were still casualties. Then the monsters threw the trees over the moat and rushed across. Hails of flaming arrows were sent into the bridge of trees.

This time the Trolls
didn't step over the wall but bent over it swinging their clubs at the Dwarves waiting on the other side. When Sarchise saw what was happening he ordered the Dwarves over the wall. He and his warriors crossed over and started attacking the feet of the beasts.

The Trolls stepped over the wall to avoid the onslaught. Darnic and his men charged the monsters that had come over to their side. A Troll swung at the men, but most of them managed to duck
under the clubs. Then they charged his feet. Right as Darnic stood up, he didn't notice that another Troll had come over the wall and was swinging his club. The blow hit Darnic in the chest and he flew back about fifteen feet and hit the ground hard.

Sarchise and his warriors had crossed back over the wall and were going after the Trolls, when he saw Darnic go down. Sarchise rushed over to him. Darnic was still alive, but was having trouble breathing. Sarchise cut Darnic's Tunic open to see if he could help him. Darnic's chest was crushed
; there was no external bleeding but his whole chest was already a massive black bruise. Darnic's rib cage had been pushed in and he started coughing up blood. "The feet," Darnic said, "Go after the feet."

Suddenly Sarchise's mind remember
ed an Inn at the crossroads and how he had dreamed this exact moment in time. He looked around and saw dead Elves and Dwarves lying side by side, their blood intermingling on the field of battle.

Aron came up and cried, "Father." It was too late for Darnic; he died a few moments later in his son's arms.

Sarchise got up, and with renewed vigor, rallied his Dwarves to attack again. The Trolls had retreated back over the wall and were trying to get back across the burning trees. All of the beasts made their way across but the last one. When he tried, the burning trees gave way and he and the bridge went plunging down into the moat.

The Troll didn't panic
. He just went over to where the Troll that had turned to stone was and climbed up the back of the dead one. Two other Trolls were waiting for him and when he climbed up upon the outstretched arms of the stone one, it was easy for the other two to pull the stranded one up. They hurried off after they pulled him up the bank.

Sarchise thought, 'That is why the Troll that knew he was going to die put himself into that position
, to help any of the others that might also fall into the moat later on." He was impressed at the enemies tactics.

While he was standing there, Azram
came up to him with a something large and bloody in his arms. Azram then dropped the thing at Sarchise's feet. It was then that Sarchise noticed that the thing had a toenail on it. Sarchise laughed, "Congratulations, you get to spend a night in the Vil Loree, the Golden City. “

Azram had a big smile on his face.

This night's death toll was nothing to smile at. There were many more dead and wounded Dwarves. The Humans and the Elves also had a high number of dead and wounded.

The warriors of all three races were exhausted after the most intens
e fighting yet. The Trolls were finding a way around every one of the tactics that was being used against them.

Exhaustion was the major motivation; however, the toll of the nightly battle was taking hold on the troops. Sarchise made sure that the dead were moved and the wounded were taken care of, then he headed to bed.

Sarchise was awakened early afternoon by Azram. "Sir, five ships have arrived from Elvenshore and they are disembarking Hemlot and a Dwarf army. “

Sarchise ran down to the dock to greet the new arrivals and to see his friend Hemlot. They were all little pale after they journey and looked as if they hadn't made it over the ocean any better than the other Dwarves had.

That night at the war council, Sarchise had all three of his commanders there.

Verian started out the meeting again
. "Aron is here in the place of his father." He looked at Aron, "We are sorry for your loss. He was a true friend of the Elf. We will miss his counsel and spirit.” Darnic's loss had been a hard blow to all of them.

Aron replied, "Thank
you, he was a wise and noble father and clan leader. It is a great loss to all of us."

Verian continued, "We took a beating last night
, but we also hurt a lot of the Trolls. They adapt well to the changing tactics, so those things that work one day, will not work the next."

"
One of the Trolls is missing a toe. I want to see if they heal very quickly or other Trolls are taking their place, so be on the lookout for one with a missing toe." Sarchise said.

"It is good that you have additional troops," Verian commented
.
We can desperately use their help.

"My new strength barely replaces my losses over the past two days," Sarchise replied.
"We now have ladders to get over the wall quickly and will not be stuck on one side of it when the Trolls just lean over it and knock us down by the scores."

"A very good idea," Verian replied.

That afternoon the Dwarves contented themselves with sharpening their battleaxes and preparing for the upcoming battle. The new arrivals could only imagine the horror that they soon would face, the veterans knew all too well what the night would bring and feared it.

When darkness came at last, the three races were prepared for it. The Dwarves manned the wall. The Elves had flaming arrows at the ready. The Humans were manning the center of the line.

Sarchise could see the fear in the eyes of Hemlot and the other new arrivals when they saw the monsters for the first time. It was a feeling of helplessness that Sarchise had also felt that first night. "Steady men, steady. Remember to go after the feet, nothing else matters, only the feet."

To everyone's surprise the beasts did not have trees with them, but carried a lot of large rocks.  They began throwing rocks across the moat. 

Everyone took cover the best they could. With two hours of constant bombardment, there were casualties, but not nearly in the numbers they had seen the night before.
When the Trolls were over the moat and clubbing the armies.

It was a matter of hiding from the onslaught until the enemy ran out of time and had to head back to the safety of the mountain. After taking care of the wounded the troops went to rest.

After sleeping a few hours, Sarchise and the rest of the leaders went to meet together. This time it was Sarchise who spoke first. ""I can no longer sit idly by and watch my men get killed without taking at least some of the enemy with me. This night I will hide my warriors in the tree line on the other side of the moat. When the enemy arrives, we will wait until the night is nearly up and then we will come out of hiding. I think that being between him and the mountain may just slow him down enough so he does not make it back."

Aron spoke next
. "I will be there also, with my men. One of the Elves from the Calvary told me that Fannor was able to take down one of the monsters by using a rope between two horses and tripping the beast. It is worth a try. I wait until the enemy is distracted by the Dwarves and then ride forward with my men and ropes and down all of the beasts. That will also slow them down and make them more vulnerable."

Verian
pondered and stood there for a long moment. It was a daring plan, but it just might work. "We will either win a great victory, or we will have a disaster on our hands. Doing something is better than just sitting back and having the rocks kill the rest of us, little by little. I will keep my warriors on this side of the moat, just in case they do come across. I do not want them slaughtering the refugees."

Sarchise observed, "There w
ere only nine of them there last night and none of them had a missing toe. These are different Trolls than the ones we met the other day, and they are starting to run out of unwounded ones. We are having an effect."

With the plan worked out, the ramp was lowered and the Humans and Dwarves crossed, then hid themselves up in the forest.
That night the Trolls took no notice of them as they passed. It was another night of the Trolls throwing large rocks over the moat.

When the Trolls were done they turned to go back
to the mountain, but the Dwarves had come out of hiding. Their ranks now stood at the ready and were between the monsters and their mountain. The beasts had learned not to take these newcomers lightly, because the small warriors had inflicted a lot of wounds on the Trolls.

After a small
pause, tha
t
seemed to take forever,
t
he Trolls charged full ahead with clubs swinging. They were hoping to get through the line of Dwarves as fast as possible. The Dwarves countercharged. The clubs cut a swath through the ranks of warriors but very quickly the Dwarves were in and around the feet of the Trolls and were hacking away.

Howls of pain could be heard as far as Vil Mawe, but the Trolls pressed on. Just when they had gotten through the Dwarves, the Human horsemen and their ropes were upon them. All nine of the Trolls went down
, tripped up by the ropes.

This allowed time for the Dwarves to catch back up and the Trolls were getting hit with sharp battleaxes again. T
wo of the Trolls managed to struggle to their feet and were soon on their way. The other seven were trying to fight off the Dwarves. Swinging their arms, much like someone swatting at swarming mosquitoes. Dwarves were being tossing in every direction. Most were only momentarily dazed and were soon back on the attack.

A battleaxe hit one of the Trolls who
was sprawled out on the ground. It cut the neck of the monster. Sarchise saw that the battleaxe had cut through the thick skin of the neck, so he buried his sword into the wound. Soon a river of blood was coming out of the Troll's throat, and the beast's eyes rolled back into his head. The Troll died and immediately turned to stone where he lay.

The rest of the Troll
s had regained their feet and were on the way back to the mountain. Some were limping badly and their feet were bleeding. Sarchise wanted to follow the blood trail to see where the monsters went, but he had many wounded Dwarves that needing care, so he just let the enemy go.