My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 82: The Southern Front Moves

Grand Marshal Rakhar Veyr did not need another report to understand what was happening inside Eastwatch. The city’s movements had become visible even from the eastern command position.

Caldris soldiers were leaving the walls in groups, disappearing down stairways, reappearing elsewhere, then being pulled away again before they could settle.

The northern gate had fallen, and the goblins who entered through it had already divided toward the center, west, and east. The effect was spreading through the fortress exactly as Rakhar had hoped.

Eastwatch still has walls, towers, professional soldiers, militia, and officers capable of fighting to defend it, but it no longer possessed the freedom to concentrate into a one cohesivefighting force.

Every direction demanded men, and every group sent to answer one crisis weakened another. Rakhar watched the southern wall through his viewing tube for several breaths before lowering it and turning toward one of the runners waiting behind him.

"Send the order south. The waiting is over. Move the towers, increase the bombardment, and advance the assault companies."

The messenger saluted and departed at once. Varek, standing nearby, looked toward the distant southern side of the city even though the wall itself was mostly hidden behind Eastwatch’s buildings. "You are committing them now."

"They have done enough by waiting," Rakhar replied. "For hours, the humans have kept soldiers there because they were afraid we might attack. I don’t like to keep them waiting."

The southern camp changed within minutes of receiving the order. Until then, much of the force had remained deliberately restrained. Catapults and ballistas had fired often enough to keep the defenders alert, but the siege towers had stayed behind the main infantry formations, their crews checking ropes, wheels, bridges, and wet-hide coverings without being ordered forward.

Shield-bearing assault companies had spent most of the battle standing beneath banners, watching smoke rise from the eastern and northern walls while they waited for their own turn.

When the order finally arrived, the entire southern front seemed to awaken at once.

Officers moved along the ranks, engineers removed wheel blocks from the siege towers, water crews filled buckets and barrels, and crossbowmen formed behind mantlets prepared to advance under covering fire.

The first heavy catapult volley announced the change to Eastwatch.

Stones rose from the southern batteries and crashed into the battlements with far greater frequency than before.

One struck the upper section of a defensive tower and shattered part of the stone parapet, sending fragments across the wall walk.

Another struck a wooden firing screen and broke it apart. Viridian ballistas joined almost immediately, sending heavy bolts toward exposed crossbow positions and defensive crews. The bombardment was not intended to demolish the southern wall. Rakhar had no need to waste hours trying to batter down stone when siege towers were already prepared.

The purpose was simpler: keep the humans ducking while the towers approached.

The Caldris defenders understood the change quickly. Horns sounded from the southern wall, first in one sector and then another.

Messengers ran toward the stairways leading into the city. Soldiers who had spent hours watching the distant Viridian formations suddenly saw the first siege tower begin rolling toward them, followed by a second farther to the west. Behind both machines came long lines of goblin infantry carrying shields, spears, axes, and crossbows. What had been a threat was now a full assault.

The southern Caldris commander immediately ordered his best remaining professional soldiers toward the likely contact points. Militia filled the gaps between them. Crossbowmen were told to remain behind cover until targets came within useful range, while the crews of the defensive ballistas began turning their weapons toward the leading siege tower.

He then sent another request for reinforcements toward the central command.

The answer returned before the first tower had crossed half the distance to the wall.

There were almost none to send.

The northern gate was lost. Goblins were already inside the city. Western reserves were being attacked from behind. Eastern troops were being pulled inward to face another internal goblin formation. The central roads were under pressure. Every available formation was either fighting, moving toward a fight, or holding some position that could not be abandoned without creating another breach. The southern wall would receive no meaningful reinforcement.

The commander read the message once, then folded it and returned it to the messenger. "Tell them we will hold."

He knew the statement was less confident than it sounded.

The leading siege tower continued forward.

Arrows began striking its wet-hide coverings. Crossbow bolts punched into the wooden frame. A defensive ballista released with a deep snap, and the heavy bolt struck the tower near the upper level hard enough to crack part of the outer structure.

The machine shuddered but did not stop. Goblin engineers underneath shouted corrections to the crews pushing from below, and the wheels continued turning over the prepared ground.

The second ballista shot missed the tower and struck the infantry advancing beside it.

Several goblins fell.

The formation closed around them and continued.

The southern commander watched both towers and realized he faced the same choice the other sectors.

If he concentrated enough soldiers to crush the first assault, the second tower would reach a thinner wall. If he spread his forces evenly, neither defensive group would be strong enough to guarantee victory.

He chose concentration.

"Move another company to the eastern tower approach. I want that first bridge stopped the moment it falls."

Soldiers began shifting along the battlement.

Some Viridian officers noticed this approach.

The southern goblin commander saw the movement from below and immediately pointed toward a quieter stretch of wall. "Second tower shifts thirty paces west. Keep it moving. They are stripping that section."

The order traveled down the line. Engineers adjusted the route, and the second siege tower slowly changed direction toward a section of battlement that had just lost part of its defense.

The Caldris commander saw the change too late.

"Send those men back."

An officer hesitated. "Then the first tower will have fewer defenders."

"I know."

There was no good answer.

The first siege tower entered close range.

Flaming arrows began striking the coverings. A clay fire container shattered against one side and sent fire crawling across the wet hide before Viridian water crews extinguished it. Stones fell from the battlement.

One crushed a goblin beneath the tower’s front edge. Another struck the ground beside a pushing crew and knocked two soldiers down.

The tower kept moving.

Inside its upper level, Viridian assault troops tightened their grips on shields and weapons.

They could hear impacts against the walls around them and the creaking of the structure as it rolled forward. Nobody spoke much. The soldiers at the front knew what waited when the bridge dropped.

The eastern assault had already taught the entire army how dangerous a human wall could be.

The tower struck the battlement.

The bridge began lowering.

Caldris soldiers gathered opposite it in a compact shield line. Professional spearmen stood behind the front rank, while militia filled the spaces farther back. Crossbowmen fired over them at the opening in the tower.

The bridge crashed down.

The first Viridian shield-bearers charged.

A human spear struck one before he completed three steps. Another goblin made it onto the wall only to be knocked sideways by a shield and cut down. The third raised his shield over his head and forced himself into the Caldris line long enough for two more soldiers to reach him.

Then more crossed.

The humans pushed hard.

The goblins pushed back.

For several moments, the bridge became a compressed knot of bodies, shields, spears, and short blades. Human strength and reach made the first contact brutal. Goblins fell from the bridge or collapsed beneath the feet of those behind them.

Yet the defenders were not as numerous as those who had met the eastern siege towers earlier. When one Caldris soldier fell, there was not always another professional fighter standing directly behind him.

Viridian began gaining momentum.

A shield-bearer reached the battlement and survived long enough for three spearmen to gather behind him. An axe hooked the lower edge of a human shield and pulled it aside. Another goblin struck at the exposed knee.

The Caldris line bent.

The southern commander ordered a counterpush.

Militia and professional infantry surged together and drove the goblins several steps back toward the bridge. Viridian soldiers nearly lost the first foothold before another group crossed from the tower and reinforced the front. Fresh shields appeared. Wounded soldiers were dragged backward into the tower. The goblins stabilized.

Farther west, the second siege tower continued advancing toward the weaker section.

The Caldris commander received the report and turned toward the approaching machine. "Move half the reserve there."

One of his officers stared at him. "Half?"

"If we do not, they will put another bridge on the wall."

The reserve split.

The first foothold became harder to crush immediately.

Below, the southern goblin commander watched the movement and understood that the humans were beginning to lose the ability to create a decisive counterattack anywhere.

He ordered his crossbowmen closer behind the mantlets and directed ballista crews toward the sections where Caldris soldiers were shifting between the two threatened points.

The bombardment intensified.

A Viridian ballista bolt struck a group of soldiers moving along the battlement and forced the survivors behind cover. Catapult stones hit nearby towers and made every transfer more dangerous. The defenders were still moving, but they could no longer do so freely.

Rakhar received the first report shortly afterward.

"The first southern tower has reached the wall. Foothold established. Small section but they’re holding."

"Reinforcements from the city?" he asked.

"None confirmed."

Rakhar looked back toward Eastwatch. "Second tower?"

"Still advancing."

Varek gave a low laugh without humor. "They truly have no one left."

At the southern wall, the first foothold widened by several yards. Caldris defenders launched another counterattack and pushed the goblins back, but not far enough to reach the bridge.

Fresh Viridian troops continued crossing. Crossbowmen began appearing on the battlement behind the shield line.

Then the second siege tower reached its final approach.

The defenders at that section fired everything they had. Arrows struck the tower. A defensive ballista bolt tore through part of the upper frame. Stones crashed against the wood. Still, the tower rolled closer.

The Caldris commander looked from one battle to the next and understood the shape of the disaster. If he sent more men west, the first foothold would expand.

If he kept them where they were, the second tower would establish another one. No reinforcement was coming. No neighboring wall could safely spare troops. The city behind him was already fighting goblins who had entered from the north.

The second tower struck the wall.

Its bridge began to lower.

Across Eastwatch, battle horns sounded from north, east, west, and south almost at once.

Viridian troops were fighting on the battlements, through the streets, around the western defenses, behind the eastern line, and now across the southern wall as well.

For the first time since the siege began, Caldris possessed no quiet sector from which it could draw strength.

Rakhar stood at the eastern command position and listened to the distant horns while reports continued arriving. He did not need to order another grand maneuver. The fortress was already being forced to fight everywhere at once, and every new Viridian attack made the next one easier.

On the southern battlement, goblins continued pouring across the first siege tower while the bridge of the second crashed down toward another weakened section. The southern front, held in reserve for most of the siege, had finally entered the battle, and Eastwatch no longer had anywhere left to breathe.

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