As the goblins began to pour out of the forest, the humans moved into action as well. While they waited, standing around in the open field, the men set aside their weapons and spaced themselves out trying to cover as much ground as possible. Now their spears were raised high, glistening in the air and pointing straight at the approaching enemies.

  The halberdiers would bear the brunt of the assault, stretching their formation to reach the stream. Their lines still needed to be a few men deep, so with the spacious fields all around they were forced to abandon some of their former positions.

  The space was filled in with the levies. These men weren’t nearly as disciplined or as armed as Varre’s pet project, but their spears and other makeshift weapons hurt almost as much.

  It was easy to tell that these men weren’t professional soldiers. They lacked uniforms, with everyone wearing whatever clothes they happened to bring along for the campaign. Reds, yellows, greens, and blues were all represented, with most people wearing either burlap or wool. The darker colors of leather were generally reserved for boots alone, with only a few of the footmen using leather jerkins or caps.

  While the halberdiers were armored, the levies were forced to make do. The wealthier ones, like those who worked as their nobles’ household guards or those who happened to own something they inherited from an ancestors wore helmets, or in a few rare instances even chainmail. Most though had to deal with thick woolen shirts and gambesons at best.

  Their main protection would be shields, though not every man managed to arrange for one of those either. They simply had to fight harder, hoping that their sharp sticks would keep the enemy at bay.

  The entire formation moved quickly to better receive the enemy. Now that they knew the exact direction the goblins were coming from, the men could readjust. The ranks flowed like water, pouring into the correct place, as ordered by the senior commanders among them.

  In order to have any semblance of cohesion during the battle, individual knights and nobles were assigned to watch over the peasantry. They yelled out their orders, telling the men exactly where to stand and which direction to turn to.

  While the infantry rushed to finalize their preparations, the archers tried to assist as best they could. They released volleys of arrows into the goblin lines, sending thousands of projectiles with each salvo.

  The barrage wasn’t very lethal. The marching spearmen simply raised their shields overhead. The arrows harmlessly bounced off the wood, only killing a few unfortunates who didn’t manage to hold their boards properly.

  Despite that, the archers continued to fire. The maneuver forced the goblins to slow down and tighten their formation even more, buying the rest of the army more time to get ready.

  The mages though could finally get to work. They threw out dozens of explosions, sprays of deadly mists and occasionally even lightning bolts that flew out of their fingers. Each attack tore holes in the enemy formation. Occasionally, a few arrows found their mark by hitting squarely into these newly open areas and sticking into goblin stomachs while their shields were still high in the air.

  The enemy could have quickened their march to try and begin the combat sooner, but then they’d be left at the mercy of the archers. They had to pick the lesser of the two evils and considered mages less lethal in the long term.

  Meanwhile, the human commanders had to choose how to support the forces out in the field. While the generals deliberated, the rest of the officers hurried to get the men ready to march.

  “They’re heading from the North,” Varre said peering across the valley, “can you see how many there are?”

  “Looks to me like about thirty thousand spearmen and another twenty thousand slingers heading straight for us, your majesty,” Gregory replied.

  The king frowned. “Think there’ll be any more?”

  “I sure hope not,” Jan smiled nervously.

  “It’s all infantry,” the count noticed, “where are the wolf riders?”

  “Maybe they’re all being used for patrols? Or travelling with those flanking attacks?” Varre suggested.

  “Maybe…” the duke said softly, unwilling to make any guesses himself.

  “Alright. Do we send somebody out there?” the king turned back to look at the forming ranks of men behind him, “we don’t have a lot left.”

  “The levies won’t hold on their own,” Gregory grimaced, “the halberdiers might. But their sides will collapse eventually.”

  Varre looked to the field of battle again. The heavily armored troops were now pushed against the stream, forming a thin line about four men deep. It wouldn’t take much damage to pierce through it, but it was still far more resilient than the peasants to their sides.

  The levies arranged themselves into thicker ranks with six rows of soldiers. There were four thousand footmen in total, double the amount of professional soldiers, but they had much more territory to cover too.

  Most flowed towards the front of the U-shape, supporting the halberdier’s flanks. That was the direction of the goblin’s assault. The rest, those forming the extended walls of the formation were much less resilient, thinning out into pairs of spearmen anxiously staring at the combat in front of them.

  “We only have three thousand infantry left,” the king announced, “do we send them into the thick of it?”

  “We have to,” Jan replied, “we have six thousand footmen standing against thirty thousand goblins. They won’t last.”

  “Where?” Varre gestured towards the battlefield, “do we reinforce the sides or send them towards the front?”

  “The front,” the duke advised, “if they break through the levy, they’ll surround the halberds. Can’t let that happen. There’s no fighting on the sides yet. If anything, we should thin those ranks even more. Or have them circle around and try to flank the goblins ourselves.”

  “And if thousands of wolf riders come charging out of the woods?” the king asked.

  “Then we send in the cavalry to deal with them,” Jan said.

  “We could send them now,” Gregory suggested, “the men are anxious for battle. They’ll cut through the goblins like butter, before they even reach our lines.”

  “No. Keep them back,” the duke protested, “they’ll do more damage once the goblins are tied down in combat. We can hit them from behind instead.”

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  It seemed sensible enough, so Varre decided to follow through the plan. His last reserves of infantry moved out, quickly marching out to support their allies where the fighting was fiercest.

  The peasants at the front had just enough time to notice the reinforcements before the goblins arrived. They released a resounding cheer, both to scare the enemy and to galvanize their own feelings. They weren’t going to be left alone. Help was on the way.

  Then, on the last hundred feet before the ranks met, the spearmen lowered their shields and charged straight at the humans.

  The halberdiers were ready to receive them. The goblins held their boards steady and crashed the tools into enemy weapons, but the trained humans were stronger. They stood still, holding the enemy back. They received another push when the second row crashed into the first, but with each successive push, the effect was lowered.

  Then they got into the real fighting. Even if this was their first real combat, the halberdiers were well practiced. They used their weapons efficiently, keeping the enemy at a safe distance and occasionally stepping out to deal damage.

  This wasn’t quite like their training. Back in Westbridge they had to make do with stationary targets alone. If they wanted to fight a moving enemy, their opponent would have to be human sized. It took a bit of time to adjust to the goblins’ short stature, but with every minute of fighting they got better, even as their muscles got tired.

  The soldiers used the hooks of their halberds to try and pry the shields from the enemy hands. The formation rippled as the enemy tried to either hold onto or recover their only method of defense. Once they were open, the humans would stab out, sticking their sharpened pokers straight into green flesh.

  The goblins were fighting just as hard. They tried to move their shields around, making the defenses that much harder to grab. Their small stature was an advantage too. While a single warrior struggled against a human, the halberdier would be locked in place during a duel. A second spearmen could use this opening to charge forward and attempt to stab the defender.

  Sometimes other soldiers in the rank would assist. Sometimes, the halberdier could pull his weapon back and either kill or at least repel the attacker. Sometimes, the chainmail would work, stopping the spear from hitting anything vital. And sometimes, none of these things were enough. Fortunately, each soldier had three allies standing behind him, ready to replace the dead and wounded if something happened.

  The levies fared much more poorly. A few of the peasants panicked at the sight of thousands of goblins and attempted to flee or take a step back. Their allies had to push them back and force them back into the combat.

  Rather than offering up a dense line of spears, the human line wavered. Then the goblins hit.

  Now, lances fought against lances. Unlike halberds, these weapons didn’t have a massive head that occupied the empty space between the two warriors. It was much harder to try and parry the enemy or keep him from getting too close. The peasants were forced to use shields.

  Every one had to rely on instinct or limited experience alone. Unfortunately, goblins had much more reliable training. They knew how to exploit the humans’ openings. They’d faint a stab from one direction, and when the footmen turned his shield to repel it, a second warrior would hit him in the exposed upper body.

  The goblins were relentless. The levies took far heavier casualties than the halberdiers. But in the end, human strength was a major advantage. The peasants had the power to force their way through their enemies. Axes, could break down shields, or at least force them down. And in a pure display of might, as both sides pushed the other, it was typically the levies who came ahead.

  Ultimately, even if they died the humans could do some damage. If a peasant happened to fall over onto a goblin, the creature would struggle to lift the dead body up. The soldier could be effectively disabled, only to be trampled by the ranks behind him.

  While the infantry fought, pushing back and forth, the ranged troops were engaged in their own battle. It was difficult to aim at the front rows. With combat as fierce as it was, archers were just as liable to hit an ally as the enemy.

  Most of the troops were amateurs. Accuracy didn’t usually matter much on the battlefield. If three thousand men released arrows against ten thousand targets, the projectiles were liable to hit something no matter how poor their aim was. And shields would work just as effectively against intentional attacks, as against complete coincidences. The elves were the exception, but even they didn’t want to risk it.

  For their part, the slingers first focused on their human counterparts. A barrage of rocks rained down on the archers, but fortunately the shield mages were ready. The attack was mostly repelled.

  At these short distances, the force contained in each projectile was higher. A few occasionally made it through the energies floating in the air and some struck true. Not all were lethal or even dangerous, but there was some limited effect.

  Still, the slingers already understood that the humans had some way of blocking them, so they sought out other targets. They aimed at the thinner sides of the human formation, where the soldiers were idly standing by defending the flanks just in case.

  These men raised their shields higher, but the protections weren’t quite as efficient as the ones goblins used. The peasants needed far larger shields than what the small creatures did to enjoy full security. Most had to make do with smaller ones.

  The slingers could also risk aiming for the front rows of combat. They’d hit their allies occasionally, but they seemed to be willing to accept such casualties. Humans were far taller than the goblins. As long as one aimed overhead, they’d likely hit a peasant or halberdier instead of one of their own.

  The halberdiers wore helmets and chainmail, but each rock still hurt. Worse, it ended up being a distraction to the front rank shoulders already engaged in a tense duel. The peasants were even worse off.

  A few shield mages rushed over to try and protect their allies, but defending the archers was deemed more important. While the humans couldn’t fire into the melee, there was a single target still available for them. The slingers themselves.

  The bowmen fired a constant barrage on the ranged enemies, thinning their numbers. The goblins had no way to respond, but they seemed to accept the sacrifice. They spread out as widely as they could, limiting the effects of the fire. They focused on many different areas of the battle instead. Some aimed on the human infantry engaged in melee, some on the sides, and a few continued to shoot at the archers, keeping most of the shield mages pinned down in a single area.

  The mages were a little more accurate and the best among them could risk aiming for the back rows of goblin spearmen. Still, if they made a single mistake and an explosion rippled through the ranks of their allies, the effect on morale would be catastrophic.

  Kadmos considered the idea, but after hearing the strong protests from the knights around him, he ordered the wizards to focus on the slingers too. They avoided explosive spells and focused on more aura efficient ways of dealing damage. With the enemy as dispersed as they were, massive areal attacks would only kill a couple targets at a time. It was better to focus on more accurate methods.

  “So now we wait,” Varre remarked as he watched the battle.

  “Anyone up for some bets?” Jan chuckled, the stress beginning to get to him, “I place two golden thalars on the slingers. They’re going to stay there and let themselves be torn to pieces by our bows.”

  Gregory ignored him. “Is it time, your majesty? Do we send the cavalry out? They can tear through the goblin ranks and mop up the enemy ranged troops too.”

  “Hey, you leave those slingers alone!” the duke yelled with a mock anger, “don’t you ruin my bet! Besides, the enemy can still have more surprises. Keep ‘em here.”

  “The men are anxious, your majesty,” the count continued, “everyone else is already fighting, while the flower of the realm is idly sitting by. We should use them.”

  Varre sighed. If he sent these men out now, he’d be completely out of reserves. If anything else happened, if the enemy had any more surprises in store, he’d have nothing left to react with. Then again, his men were already fighting and dying. He couldn’t just sit by and watch them fall. He had to act. The knights would be far more efficient in battle than the peasants and could kill thousands of goblins before they could hurt any peasants. All while suffering light casualties. Maybe he should send half. That would be a good compromise.

  Jan interrupted him before he could make a decision. “Oh, looks like there’s another surprise coming,” he pointed to another scout desperately charging across the empty fields.

  The king tensed up. These moments were the worst. The report was clearly important and had to be reacted to immediately. And yet over this distance, he could only watch as the rider galloped towards the commander. There was nothing Varre could do but sit by, wait and wonder what the hell was going on.

  It took five minutes of stressful staring at the rider, the ongoing battle, and enduring the inappropriate quips from Jan before the scout finally arrived.

  “Well, let’s hear it,” the duke said, while the rider was trying to catch his breath.

  “Sir, your majesty,” the scout forced out, “goblins, west, thousands. Wolf riders. And infantry. Here in minutes.”

  Jan slapped Gregory on the back. “Looks like your boys will finally have some fun. Up and at ‘em!”

  Just how many soldiers did those damn goblins bring?

  Enjoy your weekend!