My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 74: The Gate Under Threat

Grand Marshal Rakhar Veyr remained at the forward command position while the fighting on Eastwatch’s eastern battlement settled into an uneasy stalemate.

Two Viridian banners still flew above the wall, each marking a foothold created by one of the siege towers, but neither position had expanded far enough to threaten the entire defense.

The first foothold had survived the strongest Caldris counterattack and now held a respectable stretch of battlement around its bridge. The second remained narrower and more fragile, although fresh goblins continued crossing into it whenever space opened.

Between them stood the fortified wall tower that had frustrated every attempt to unite the positions. Caldris crossbowmen still fired from its protected openings while professional infantry formed beneath it, ready to strike whichever goblin foothold became too aggressive.

Rakhar watched the wall through his viewing tube and quickly reached the conclusion he had been approaching for some time. More soldiers would not solve the problem.

The siege towers could continue delivering infantry, but the battlements were too narrow to deploy them efficiently. If he packed hundreds more goblins into the captured sections, they would merely stand behind one another waiting for enough space to fight.

Eastwatch had committed large numbers to stopping the footholds, and that concentration represented an opportunity.

He lowered the viewing tube and turned his attention toward the eastern gatehouse.

Varek noticed immediately. "You want to take the gate?"

"I want them to pull some troops to defend the gate."

The chief engineering officer stood nearby and followed Rakhar’s gaze toward the gate. The structure was broader and heavier than anything the Viridian expedition had attacked so far.

Two stone towers guarded the entrance, while the massive wooden doors sat recessed beneath the gatehouse. Caldris soldiers crowded the battlements above, but many of the defenders who would normally have reinforced that position were currently fighting around the siege towers.

Rakhar pointed toward the covered structures waiting behind the infantry staging lines. "Bring the rams forward."

The order spread quickly.

Goblin crews who had waited beside the covered battering rams since dawn rose and moved into position. Each machine consisted of a massive timber suspended inside a reinforced wooden frame.

Thick roofs covered with treated hides protected the crews from arrows and most falling debris, while rows of wheels allowed teams of goblins to push the heavy structures toward the walls.

Water crews formed nearby, each carrying buckets and soaked hides because nobody expected Eastwatch to ignore the obvious weakness of any wooden siege machine.

As the first ram began moving, the reaction from the Viridian ranks was immediate. Soldiers who had spent the morning staring at the struggle on the battlements turned toward the new advance.

A cheer spread through the infantry lines when they understood where the machine was going. Rakhar did not suppress it. The defenders already knew they were under siege, and there was no strategic advantage in pretending the ram was intended for anything other than their gate.

Eastwatch noticed the movement almost as quickly.

Human horns sounded above the eastern gatehouse.

From the field, Rakhar saw soldiers running along the battlements toward the entrance.

Crossbowmen occupied the towers overlooking the approach, and militia carried baskets of stones, bundles of arrows, and clay containers toward the upper platforms. The defenders who had spent the morning focusing on the siege towers now faced another problem developing directly beneath them.

"Catapults to the gatehouse towers," Rakhar ordered. "Do not waste stones on the doors."

Several Viridian catapult crews began changing their aim. The first stone landed short and smashed into the earth before the gate approach. The second struck the stone face beneath one of the towers and shattered without meaningful effect. A third reached the upper defensive structure and crashed through a wooden screen, scattering human soldiers away from the battlement.

Viridian ballistas joined them.

Heavy bolts streaked toward crossbow positions above the gate. One buried itself uselessly in stone. Another punched through a wooden barrier and forced several Caldris defenders to abandon their firing position. The ballistas could not clear the towers completely, but every defender forced to crouch behind cover was one less soldier shooting into the ram crews.

The battering ram continued forward.

Goblin infantry moved beside it with shields raised, while engineers walked close to the wheels and shouted corrections whenever the machine drifted from the prepared path. The roof protected most of the crew operating beneath it, but the escorts remained exposed.

The first Caldris volley fell before the ram had crossed half the distance.

Arrows struck the roof in rapid succession. Most bounced away or lodged harmlessly in the reinforced covering, but others found the goblins walking alongside.

One engineer collapsed with an arrow through the neck. Another staggered after a crossbow bolt pierced his upper arm. Two shield-bearers dragged the wounded aside while replacements immediately moved into their positions.

The machine never stopped.

Rakhar kept his gaze on the wall rather than the casualties. He had assigned reserve crews precisely because the defenders would attempt to kill the exposed pushers and engineers.

Every pause in open ground allowed Eastwatch more time to concentrate fire. The safest direction for the ram was forward.

A human ballista fired from one of the gatehouse towers.

The heavy bolt struck the ram’s roof at an angle and punched through several outer planks before stopping inside the reinforced frame. The structure shuddered, and several goblins beneath it ducked instinctively, but the roof held.

The Viridian soldiers farther back roared in approval.

A second ballista shot landed beside the machine and buried itself deeply in the earth.

Rakhar pointed toward the firing tower. "Ballistas, that position."

Viridian crews responded with several heavy bolts of their own. One smashed through the wooden railing near the human ballista. Another forced the operators to abandon the machine temporarily when it struck the platform beneath them.

The ram gained another stretch of ground.

Above, the battle around the siege towers continued without pause. The first Viridian foothold had noticed human reinforcements moving toward the gatehouse and immediately increased its pressure. Goblin shield-bearers advanced several yards along the battlement, forcing Caldris troops beneath the central wall tower to remain where they were.

The assault officer on the first foothold could see the movement around the gate below only in fragments, but the sound of Viridian cheering told him enough.

"Forward slowly!" he shouted. "Keep them here!"

His soldiers pressed again.

The humans responded with spears and overlapping shields, preventing any decisive advance, but they could not simply abandon the position. Every defender tied to the wall tower was a defender unavailable above the gate.

The second foothold benefited as well. Fresh Viridian troops crossed its siege tower bridge while the Caldris pressure weakened slightly.

The goblins gained enough room to move wounded soldiers backward without blocking incoming reinforcements, turning a desperate position into something more stable.

Rakhar saw all of it from below.

Eastwatch was beginning to divide its strength exactly as he had intended.

The first burning projectiles came down moments later.

Flaming arrows struck the battering ram’s roof. Most burned weakly against the damp hides before dying. Then a clay container fell from the gatehouse and shattered along the ram’s side, spreading burning liquid across the outer frame.

"Fire!"

The prepared water crew moved immediately.

Buckets emptied across the flames while two goblins pressed soaked hides over the burning timber. Another shield-bearing unit formed around them as arrows fell from above. One water carrier was struck through the shoulder but remained upright long enough to empty his bucket before stumbling away.

The flames shrank.

The ram kept moving.

Caldris defenders began dropping heavier objects as the machine entered closer range. Stones crashed around the wheels. A timber beam fell in front of the ram and forced the crews to stop for several moments.

Rakhar’s expression tightened.

This was the most dangerous point.

Engineers carrying large shields rushed toward the obstruction. Two seized the beam while others cleared smaller debris from the wheels. Crossbow bolts struck the ground around them. One engineer fell, and another simply stepped over him to take his place.

"Move it!" an officer shouted.

The beam was dragged aside.

The ram rolled forward again.

Inside Eastwatch, defenders were already reinforcing the gate itself. Rakhar could not see the work, but General Halvern’s preparations had begun long before the first goblin reached the wall.

Heavy support beams were fitted across the inside of the doors. Wagons and timber were moved into positions behind the entrance.

Additional barricades waited farther into the street so that even a broken outer gate would not immediately create an open passage into the city.

Outside, none of that mattered yet.

The ram still had to reach the doors.

The final approach became brutal. Crossbowmen above the gate fired almost directly downward. Stones hammered against the ram’s roof. Another clay fire vessel burst across the wet hides and produced smoke without taking hold. Goblin escorts fell beside the machine while the crews beneath its roof continued pushing.

Then the structure entered the shadow of the gatehouse.

The firing angle changed.

Defenders farther along the wall could no longer shoot at the ram as effectively. Those directly above remained dangerous, but Viridian ballistas had already forced many of them behind cover.

The crews pushed harder.

The great wooden doors filled the space ahead.

"Straight!" an engineer shouted. "Keep it straight!"

The front wheels rolled over scattered debris.

The ram moved beneath the archway.

From his command position, Rakhar could no longer see most of the machine. Only the rear portion remained visible beneath the gatehouse shadow.

Varek exhaled slowly. "They made it."

"They reached it," Rakhar corrected. "That is different."

On the battlements above, Caldris horns sounded again.

The goblins already fighting on the wall heard them and understood another part of the assault had succeeded. The first foothold erupted into renewed shouting. Viridian soldiers slammed shields against the stones while fresh troops continued crossing from the siege tower behind them.

Beneath the gatehouse, the ram crew positioned the suspended timber.

The enormous beam hung from heavy chains inside the protective frame. Goblins took positions along both sides and gripped the ropes and handles fixed to it. Their commander stood where he could see both the beam and the doors ahead.

Arrows continued striking the roof.

A heavy stone crashed onto the structure, shaking dust and splinters loose from the beams.

Nobody left his position.

"Back!"

The crew pulled.

The suspended timber swung away from the doors.

Goblin boots dug into the ground as dozens of soldiers dragged the massive beam as far backward as the chains allowed.

The commander raised his weapon.

"Forward!"

The crew threw their weight in the opposite direction.

The ram surged.

The metal-reinforced head struck Eastwatch’s eastern gate with a deep impact that echoed beneath the gatehouse and rolled through the stone surrounding it. Dust fell from the archway. The doors shuddered against their internal supports, but they remained closed.

A roar rose from the Viridian army beyond the walls.

Inside the ram, the goblin crews were already reaching for the beam again.

The first strike had not broken Eastwatch’s gate, but for the first time that morning the defenders were fighting Viridian soldiers on top of their wall while another Viridian force hammered directly against the entrance beneath them.

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