Darkness hid the skirmishers as they broke through the tree line at the Deepflow River. There was a dock for a ferry before them, but it was abandoned, and the city across the river had its gates shut securely. The goblins snarled their hate but returned to the main force as they had been commanded. They knew their deaths would be painful if they disobeyed. They approached their leaders cautiously, ready to flee at the first sign of anger.

  Kromwell sat confidently atop his massive steed, keeping his eye level above the ogre chieftains that surrounded him. They knew better than to ride close to him but instead stood close by as they finished their meal. One of them plucked the boot off the leg it was eating and casually tossed it aside. Kromwell commanded them out of fear, but he knew better than to let his minions get too hungry. The residents of the enclaves between Fellton and Stonekeep had provided the fresh meat his chieftains craved, and because they were sated, they kept the others in line. He gazed down at the wretched goblins that approached.

  “River two hills away, great one,” the goblin said.

  “And the city?” Kromwell asked.

  “Across water, pier abandoned,” it said.

  Kromwell didn’t think he’d actually be able to sneak up on Stonekeep, despite what he was led to believe. The garrison should be smaller and less organized thanks to the traitor within, and that was all he cared about. He would have liked to hear their dismay as they beheld his mighty army, but he’d have to settle for their screams as his army broke through the walls. He smiled as he dreamt of it.

  “Send out more patrols, Ognash,” Kromwell commanded. “Make sure we hold this side of the river uncontested.” Ognash grunted and left.

  “We cross river now?” an ogre asked.

  “Can you swim? In your armor?” Kromwell replied.

  “Um. No.” The ogre scratched his ugly head.

  “Set up camp here, out of sight of the city until the ships arrive,” Kromwell said. “They will bring food and give us a way across the river.”

  “Warriors gonna be hungry soon,” another chieftain said. Kromwell couldn’t remember his name. Not that it mattered to him. The ogres were only a means to an end.

  “The ships will be here tomorrow or the next day, and then they’ll have their fill of slaves and flesh. We need the ships to get here before they see us. The ships will prevent the escape of the city dwellers by river. We keep our strength hidden so they don’t flee. Got it?”

  “Oh. Smart.”

  Kromwell knew then that this incredible stupidity was the reason the ogres hadn’t taken over the world yet, and he shook his head slightly in incredulity. They wouldn’t know how to scratch their backsides without him to tell them how to do it.

  “No campfires tonight,” Kromwell said loudly. “We hide our true numbers. We cut down the trees for ramps, ladders, rams, and towers. Kill anyone you find on this side of the river. Command your warriors.”

  “Yes, great one,” the chieftains said.

  He knew they wouldn’t need nearly the amount of timber this horde could chop up, but he had to keep them occupied. Bored ogres were a very dangerous thing. He turned his mount back to the woods towards his command tent that the Fellton troops were even now erecting. There he would be making some preparations of his own. He grinned maliciously as he thought about all the pleasures he would finally experience in the days ahead. The Smith family, every one of them, would pay dearly. Finally, Stonekeep was at his mercy!

  -----

  Dortham approached the marshalling grounds before Stonekeep Castle. The whole area was a hive of activity. People rushed to make arrows, repair armor, and drill for the coming war. In the center of it all stood Captain Doornail, Captain Holdfast, and a couple other captains. They saw Dortham coming and turned to address him.

  “Councilor,” Captain Holdfast said cordially. He saluted.

  “Captains,” Dortham said, his manner serious. “Have they arrived?”

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  “Aye, sir,” Captain Holdfast said. “Our scouts got out on the ferry last night an hour before their skirmishers arrived. Their force is camped in the forest a short distance from the river, as if they thought they could hide their numbers from us.”

  “Don’t see why they bother,” one of the captains said.

  “Probably just don’t want us all to flee the city,” Captain Doornail said.

  “Any sign of them making boats or rafts or anything?” Dortham asked.

  “They’re making a hell of a racket, and they’re not burning anything,” Captain Holdfast said. “Could be making rafts or even a bridge for all we know.”

  “How go the preparations?” Dortham asked.

  “We’ve stripped the fields of all the little walls for our catapults. They won’t find anything bigger than your thumb to fling over our walls unless they range a long way,” Captain Holdfast said. He was referring to the farmers’ practice of stacking the stones they pull out of their fields. Those stones were generally too small to do any damage to the walls or gates, but that wouldn’t stop attackers from using them against the defenders. “We’re making arrows as fast as we can, we’ve got the keep stocked, the gates braced, and men are making more ladder pushers.” Ladder pushers were polearms used to push ladders away from the city walls. Without them, a defender would have to rely only on arrows or rocks, and they can run out of those.

  “What about on your end, councilor?” a captain asked.

  “The townsfolk are setting up places for the wounded. Temporary ones in the lower city and more in the upper city. We’ve gleaned everything possible from the fields, and all the livestock are in the upper city, mostly on the eastern side. The people in the upper city have taken in the elderly from the lower, and the children, too. My boys are working on repairing the older arms now, as are the other Smiths.”

  “Have you moved everything from the warehouses by the docks?” the captain asked.

  “Sure have,” Dortham said. “All of it’s in the upper city.”

  “Good. The docks will be the first thing to burn.”

  “Any word from Mithram?” Dortham asked.

  Captain Holdfast shook his head in the negative. “We sent word to the king as soon as we had a good idea what we were facing, but there hasn’t been a single boat to come up the Deepflow since. Looks like we’re on our own here.”

  Dortham crossed his arms. Captain Doornail caught Dortham’s eye and raised an eyebrow in a secret question, and Dortham shook his head ever so slightly. “Not like the king to leave his subjects with their cheese hanging in the wind. Makes me wonder if he’s having troubles of his own.”

  “Must be,” Captain Holdfast said. “We can hold for a few weeks, long as there are no surprises. The king will send an army. You’ll see.”

  “I trust that we’ll make it through this, captain,” Dortham said gravely. “One way or another.”

  -----

  Three days later, lookouts spotted the sails at dusk. A cheer went up from the walls at the sight of the galleys approaching Stonekeep as the sun slipped below the horizon. Captain Holdfast went to the walls overlooking the docks to see for himself. When the ships got closer, the soldiers got quiet. Dozens of ships were traveling upriver from the north, and none of them were flying the king’s colors.

  “They aren’t from Mithram!” a soldier shouted.

  When the ships got even closer, they saw the truth. “Ogres! There’s ogres on them ships!” a soldier shouted.

  “Battle stations!” the captain yelled. “To the walls!” At his shouting, a soldier blew a trumpet blast signaling the alarm to the rest of the city.

  Soldiers scrambled to obey. The ships kept appearing around the bend in the river, and the captain knew right then that they’d never hold the docks. The city was now cut off from Mithram except by a perilous journey overland on the east side of the river, if such a journey was even possible now. The west side was already lost. There were very few boats at the docks now, and the captains of those vessels immediately set sail when they heard the alarm, but Captain Holdfast knew those boats probably weren’t fully manned. Their sailors would be in the city somewhere. The ogres rowed rapidly up the river, and the captain could see it was hopeless. They’d never outpace the ogres upriver.

  “Abandon the docks!” Captain Holdfast shouted. “Everyone inside the walls!”

  There were a lot of goblins on the decks of those galleys, and they fired a great many arrows at the fleeing ships. The ogres could row very powerfully, and they were able to easily catch the merchant vessels trying to escape. Captain Holdfast watched in growing horror as the scene unfolded before him. The first galleys had overtaken the human vessels, but quite a few galleys had not pursued the fleeing ships but instead came straight at the undefended docks. The force on the western bank was finally seen as they came out of the woods to greet the ships. The sheer numbers arrayed against Stonekeep were overwhelming. Soon, the entire district outside the outer walls was aflame. The ogres pulled back to the water, which was something very unlike them to do. Ogres didn’t usually execute plans or follow orders.

  Even more disturbing, the galleys began lining up and lashing their ships together, side by side, from the western bank of the river towards the city. Other ships travelled past those vessels and unloaded their howling occupants on the banks of the river by the fields, quickly surrounding the city, trying to find an easy way in. As he watched, the captain began to understand what they were doing. In the dying of the light, the ogres and goblins emerged from the dark forest in mass and began boarding the closest vessel on large ramps they carried with them. Then they began crossing each ship in turn using more and more makeshift bridges formed from rough cut logs. The men on the walls looked at each other in disbelief at what their enemy was doing. Within an hour there was a bridge across the Deepflow River, and an impossibly large army crossed it freely, completely surrounding the city.

  Captain Holdfast thought it through, and his face said it all. Even with all their preparation and advanced notice, Stonekeep’s fate was sealed. They were doomed.