My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 68: Before the Storm

General Cedric Halvern was summoned to the eastern wall shortly after sunrise, before he had finished reviewing the night’s ration reports.

The officer who came for him did not explain much beyond saying that the watch had sighted a large formation approaching along the northern road.

By the time Halvern reached the wall, Lord Governor Marcellan Rusk was already there, standing between two crenellations while several officers passed a spyglass between them.

Beyond the fields, a long line of Viridian soldiers was emerging from the morning haze. Infantry marched in ordered ranks beneath unfamiliar banners, followed by wagons, ranged troops, and support units.

The column was large enough to draw attention, but Eastwatch had already spent weeks watching thousands of goblins camp outside its approaches. Another reinforcement alone would not have been enough to alarm Halvern.

Then a runner arrived from the southern wall.

"General, another force has been sighted on the southern road."

Halvern lowered the spyglass.

"Size?"

"Several hundred visible already. More behind them."

Marcellan looked toward the south even though the city’s buildings blocked his view. "Two at once."

Before Halvern answered, a signal flag rose from one of the western towers. Another officer leaned over the parapet, studied the message, and turned toward them.

"Movement reported west of the city as well."

Halvern looked back toward the northern road. The first column continued approaching without any attempt to conceal itself. The goblins marched as though the roads belonged to them, which, after the past month, was increasingly true.

"They are concentrating their forces" Halvern said.

Marcellan’s jaw tightened. "So the countryside operation is finished."

"Or they no longer need those soldiers spread across the countryside."

The realization spread through the officers standing nearby. For one month, Viridian troops had flowed away from Eastwatch and into the province.

They had occupied villages, seized bridges, surrounded fortified cities, and taken control of the roads. Now those same roads were carrying goblin soldiers back toward the capital.

The northern column reached the existing Viridian positions by midmorning. Halvern watched its officers direct units toward areas that had already been cleared and marked.

Infantry moved into one section, ranged troops into another, while wagons continued farther back toward organized storage areas. Nobody wandered aimlessly. There was no confusion over where the arriving soldiers belonged.

"They prepared the camps before the troops came," Halvern said.

Marcellan followed the movement with the spyglass. "Meaning this was planned before we ever saw the first column today."

"It likely that is the case."

Another formation arrived before noon.

Then another.

News moved through Eastwatch fast. Civilians began gathering on rooftops and climbing the upper floors of buildings that offered a view beyond the walls.

Guards had to push crowds away from stairways leading to military sections of the defenses. Refugees who had spent the last month hearing that goblins occupied their home districts now saw banners arriving from those same directions.

One old farmer standing below the wall pointed toward a distant column and shouted that it was coming from the direction of his village.

A woman beside him began crying before city guards ordered the crowd away from the gatehouse.

Marcellan watched them go.

"The roads," Marcellan continued. "The bridges. The grain. The wagons. We built everything they are using to march here."

"That is what losing the countryside entails. They can make use of our leftover resources."

Marcellan’s expression hardened, but he did not argue.

By midday, the fields surrounding Eastwatch had changed visibly. Viridian encampments that had once seemed like separate positions were expanding toward one another. New rows of tents appeared. Supply wagons formed ordered lines.

Engineers moved between the camps with tools and timber while groups of laborers began clearing ground.

Halvern had seen army camps before.

The goblins established several major camps rather than one enormous mass. Roads connected them. Patrols moved between the positions. Supply areas were kept behind infantry lines.

Healers and wagons were separated from the forward formations. Observation posts appeared on nearby rises.

A young captain standing beside Halvern watched the work with growing irritation.

"We should hit them before they finish."

"With what?" Halvern asked.

"Cavalry. Five hundred riders could strike one of those columns while it is still moving."

"And then?"

The captain hesitated.

"We withdraw before their main force responds."

Halvern pointed toward the northern fields. "Look at the distance between that road and the nearest goblin camp. Now look south. Then look at the patrols between them. How many riders do you think return once three formations begin closing behind them?"

"We cannot simply watch."

"Yes, we can only watch, we have no other options."

The captain looked almost offended.

Halvern continued, "These walls are the strongest military advantage we possess. We will not abandon them because watching the enemy prepare makes us angry."

Marcellan glanced toward him. "You know how humiliating that sounds."

"I know exactly how humiliating it is."

The answer ended the argument. All they can do is reign in their urges.

Professional soldiers were ordered into permanent wall sectors while militia companies remained behind them as reserves.

Crossbow bolts were distributed from guarded stores. Barrels of water and sand were moved onto towers in case of fire. Piles of stones were prepared near likely assault points.

Engineers inspected the gates again, reinforcing internal barricades and checking every hinge, chain, and locking beam.

Halvern refused to place every available man on the wall. Thousands of nervous defenders staring into fields for hours would exhaust themselves before a single attack began.

Rotations were organized. Half the reserve slept or ate while the other half remained prepared to move.

"If they attack tonight, I want men who can still hold a shield tomorrow," Halvern told his officers.

"If they attack tomorrow, I want men who did not spend all night sleepless being paranoid."

The numbers outside continued increasing.

Wall officers tried to count banners and estimate formation sizes, but the reports changed every few hours. Ten thousand became twelve. Twelve became perhaps fourteen.

One officer suggested the total might already exceed fifteen thousand when counting the original containment force, but Halvern refused to place too much confidence in guesses made from walls.

"Enough," he said when another estimate arrived.

"Stop telling soldiers whether there are thirteen thousand or sixteen thousand goblins outside. There are enough to threaten the city. Any speculaions doesn’t matter."

Marcellan looked toward him. "And how many more?"

"I do not know."

"That answer is becoming very common. I don’t like it"

"Because it remains true."

The king’s letter remained somewhere inside the command hall, but Marcellan seemed unable to stop thinking about it. Late in the afternoon, as another Viridian column approached from the northwest, he gave a humorless laugh.

"No cause for panic."

Halvern did not need to ask what he meant.

"I would like the men who wrote that sentence to stand here for an hour."

"They would still tell us not to panic."

"Then I would make them count the banners."

Halvern almost smiled. "Anger at the royal court will not strengthen the wall."

"I know."

Marcellan watched another column disappear into the growing camps. "Knowing that has not made me less angry."

By then, very few refugees were arriving at Eastwatch. Halvern noticed it only after a gate officer mentioned that the eastern approach had been almost empty all morning. Weeks earlier, carts and families arrived continuously. Now the roads outside the city were too thoroughly controlled for large civilian groups to move freely.

The gates remained open during daylight under heavy guard, but the countryside beyond them no longer felt connected to the city.

Eastwatch was surrounded by its own province and cut off from it at the same time.

The other fortified cities could offer little assistance. Each was isolated behind its own walls, watched by Viridian troops and separated from Eastwatch by occupied roads. Coordinating even a simple message required riders to avoid patrols and travel through fields or minor tracks.

A noble officer asked whether simultaneous sorties from several cities might divide the goblins.

Halvern shook his head. "We cannot coordinate one. Even if we could, every city would have to risk the troops protecting its walls. They designed this occupation specifically so we cannot support one another."

The officer stared across the fields. "Then every city is an Island."

"For now."

The afternoon passed without an attack.

Every time Viridian troops shifted formation, crossbowmen along the walls raised their weapons. Every distant horn made militia straighten. Every group of engineers moving closer to the city drew the attention of entire towers.

Nothing followed.

The goblins simply kept preparing.

By late afternoon, Viridian engineers began working more visibly. Ditches appeared around portions of their camps. Timber was carried toward several construction areas. Ground between positions was cleared, while wagons moved into protected rows farther from the walls.

Halvern studied the activity with the spyglass but could not yet determine exactly what they intended to build.

"They are not rushing," Marcellan said.

"No."

"Is that good?"

Halvern lowered the glass. "I would prefer an enemy impatient enough to make mistakes."

Marcellan looked toward the walls. "Can Eastwatch hold?"

"It is stronger than anything they have attacked so far. The walls are thick. The gates are reinforced. We have trained soldiers, militia, food, and water."

"That was not an answer."

"It is the only answer I can give before the battle starts."

As sunset approached, the Viridian camps changed again. Fires appeared first in the eastern positions, then spread north and south until hundreds became thousands. From the walls, it looked as though another city had risen outside Eastwatch during the day, one made of tents, wagons, banners, and campfires.

Soldiers who had spent the afternoon joking became quieter.

Some prayed.

Others repeatedly checked sword belts, bowstrings, spearheads, and shield straps.

A veteran sergeant walked behind his militia section and slapped hands away from weapons whenever men began inspecting the same equipment for the fifth time.

"If it worked ten minutes ago, it still works. Sit down and eat."

The darkness did not stop the goblins.

Torches moved between camps. Supply wagons continued arriving. Distant hammering carried across the fields whenever the wind shifted toward the walls. No assault horns sounded, and no ladders emerged from the night.

Halvern ordered half the defenders off duty.

Some protested.

Marcellan remained on the eastern wall long after most senior officials had returned inside. Halvern stayed because he knew the governor would not leave alone.

They stood together beneath the cold night air, watching the arcs of Viridian fires extend across the countryside.

Another distant group of torches appeared along the northern road.

Marcellan noticed them first.

"They are still arriving."

"Yes."

"How many more do you think there are?"

Halvern did not answer.

For several minutes, neither man spoke.

The goblins had spent one month taking the province apart without throwing themselves against Eastwatch’s walls. Now the province was occupied, the surrounding cities were isolated, and the mobile legions had begun gathering around the capital.

Marcellan finally broke the silence.

"When do you think they come?"

Halvern listened to the distant hammering beyond the walls and watched another line of torches enter the Viridian camps.

"They spent a month making sure they could choose how this battle begins."

Marcellan looked toward him.

Halvern kept his eyes on the darkness beyond the wall.

"So when they come, it will be because they are ready."

No attack came that night while they stood there. Eastwatch remained behind its walls, awake and waiting, while thousands of Viridian soldiers continued preparing beyond the firelit fields for the battle everyone inside the city knew could no longer be avoided.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!