My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 88: The Heart of Eastwatch

The western Viridian columns crossed into the central district without slowing, and the change in the city around them became obvious almost immediately.

The narrow residential streets of the outer western quarter gave way to broad stone avenues, administrative halls, military offices, storehouses, and walled compounds whose architecture was far more substantial than anything the goblins had passed since entering Eastwatch.

Caldris banners still hung from balconies and government buildings, but many of those structures were already being abandoned.

Clerks carrying bundles of documents hurried across courtyards. Messengers ran between buildings with sealed orders in their hands.

Wounded soldiers leaned against walls or were carried toward whatever routes remained open.

The entire district looked less like a prepared final defense and more like a command center that had only just realized the enemy was already standing at its doorstep.

The western commander raised a hand and slowed the leading formations. He had expected resistance to become heavier as they approached the heart of Eastwatch, yet the roads ahead remained almost clear. Scouts returned from parallel streets with the same report they had delivered throughout the advance.

There were armed men ahead, but no major formation had been assembled to stop them.

Most of the soldiers they encountered were guards, wounded troops, messengers, or remnants from units that had retreated from other sectors.

One of his officers glanced toward the large stone buildings farther ahead. "This has to be where they have been running the city from."

The commander studied the roads and the number of official banners. "Then we stop treating this like another district."

He turned toward the officers around him. "Secure every major intersection. Surround important compounds instead of wasting time clearing every building. I want their command isolated before their soldiers arrive."

The order spread rapidly through the column.

Several companies split away from the main formation and moved along side streets. Crossbowmen occupied upper floors overlooking intersections while shield-bearing infantry blocked roads leading back toward the west. The main body continued toward the largest concentration of administrative buildings.

Caldris finally attempted to stop them at a broad avenue lined with government offices. A hastily assembled force formed behind stone planters, overturned wagons, and low decorative walls. Perhaps two hundred soldiers and city guards stood across the road, reinforced by crossbowmen occupying windows on both sides.

Their formation was small compared with the thousands of goblins advancing toward them, but the officers commanding them clearly understood that every minute mattered.

Crossbow bolts began flying before the Viridian front entered the center of the avenue.

Goblin shields rose.

The western commander did not send everything directly forward. He ordered one formation to maintain pressure while two others turned into parallel roads.

The Caldris defenders noticed the movement almost immediately. They know what will happen when Viridians attacked from more than one direction.

The main human line held long enough to fire several more volleys. Then a runner came from the northern side street and shouted something to the officer commanding the barricade.

The human officer looked left.

Then right.

Viridian banners had already appeared between buildings on both sides.

He ordered withdrawal.

The western commander allowed them to go.

"Do not chase them. Take the avenue."

The goblins dismantled enough of the barricade to pass and continued forward. The brief resistance had accomplished almost nothing beyond confirming what the commander already suspected. Caldris did not have a proper central army ready to meet them.

Whatever surviving forces remained were still fighting or retreating elsewhere.

A scout arrived soon afterward and pointed toward a large fortified complex ahead. "Heavy walls. Multiple buildings inside. Many soldiers entering. Messengers too. More banners than anywhere else."

The western commander immediately changed direction toward the reported position. As the buildings around them opened into a large plaza, the compound became visible.

A thick stone wall surrounded several administrative structures, guard barracks, courtyards, and what appeared to be a central hall. Caldris banners flew above the main gate and several towers.

Soldiers were already gathering behind the wall, and workers were dragging timber and wagons toward entrances.

One officer beside the commander narrowed his eyes. "That is not an ordinary government building."

"No."

"You think their leaders are inside?"

The western commander watched messengers disappearing through the gate. "There must be someone important inside."

He pointed toward the roads surrounding the compound. "Send a report to the Grand Marshal. Tell him we found their central command and are beginning encirclement."

Inside the compound, Lord Governor Marcellan Rusk was still demanding clear information when the first reliable report from the western district arrived.

The command hall was crowded with officers, messengers, scribes, and wounded men waiting to be reassigned. Maps covered a long table, but many of the markers had already become meaningless.

The northern gate was lost. The southern gate had fallen shortly afterward. The eastern sector had collapsed after being attacked from several directions. The western sector had withdrawn inward, but its exact position was increasingly uncertain.

General Cedric Halvern stood over the map while another messenger finished speaking.

"The western goblins are already in the central district, General."

Halvern looked up sharply. "How many?"

"Thousands, from what the scouts report."

"That is impossible. The western defenders were withdrawing toward us."

The messenger lowered his head. "Some were redirected south and east. Others retreated through different streets. The western road was left mostly open."

Governor Rusk stared at Halvern. "You said the center forces would give us time."

"I said the center was where we could gather the remaining army."

"They are here before the army is assembled."

Halvern did not answer immediately. He looked around the hall instead. Most of the soldiers inside the compound were guards, messengers, clerks pressed into emergency service, wounded veterans still capable of holding weapons, and fragments of professional units that had arrived from different directions.

"Every soldier inside this district reports to the compound," he ordered. "Crossbowmen to the walls and upper floors. Block the main gates. Prepare the side entrances. Any wounded man who can stand gets a weapon."

Rusk stepped closer. "And evacuation?"

Halvern looked toward one of the windows.

Viridian horns sounded somewhere beyond the compound.

"We do not know which roads are still safe and open."

Outside, the western commander was already ensuring that fewer roads would remain open for long. He refused to attack the main gate immediately.

Goblin companies moved north and south around the compound.

Crossbowmen entered nearby government buildings and took positions overlooking the walls. Infantry blocked the western avenue. Scouts searched alleys and smaller roads for additional exits.

Several human messengers tried to leave during the confusion.

Two escaped through an eastern road before the encirclement tightened.

Others found goblin shield lines already blocking the streets.

One group attempted to break through with an escort of mounted soldiers. They struck the Viridian position hard enough to drive the first rank backward, but goblin troops appeared from a neighboring intersection and forced the riders to turn. Only a few escaped.

The western commander watched the failed breakout from farther down the avenue.

"They know what we are doing now."

An officer beside him nodded. "Then they will attack before we finish."

"They should."

The counterattack came soon afterward.

A formation of professional Caldris infantry emerged from the southern gate of the compound and drove directly toward a Viridian company securing one of the roads. Human shields struck with enough force to push the first goblin rank backward several steps.

Spearmen stabbed over the line while crossbowmen fired from the wall behind them.

For a moment, the road opened.

Then Viridian troops arrived from two adjacent streets.

The humans had committed several hundred men, but they were advancing into a district already filling with goblins. The counterattack slowed as more Viridian soldiers formed on both sides.

The Caldris officer commanding the sortie saw the danger and ordered withdrawal before his formation was cut off.

The humans returned to the compound.

The road closed again behind them.

By the time the messenger sent west reached Rakhar, the encirclement was already more than half complete. The Grand Marshal listened without interrupting as the runner explained that the western force had reached the central administrative district and found what appeared to be Eastwatch’s main government and military compound.

"They are surrounding it now," the messenger finished. "Large numbers of officers and soldiers are inside."

Varek looked toward Rakhar. "The governor?"

"Possibly."

"And their commanding general?"

"Probably."

Rakhar studied the city for several seconds. "Tell the western commander to hold the compound. No reckless assault. No one important leaves. Our other formations are still moving inward."

The messenger saluted.

Rakhar added, "And tell him he reached the heart before the rest of us. He should make sure noone escapes."

The western commander received the order while another road on the northern side of the compound was being secured. Viridian banners now stood at several intersections around the government complex.

Goblin crossbowmen occupied buildings overlooking three sides. The eastern approaches remained the weakest part of the encirclement, but scouts were already moving through the surrounding streets.

Inside the walls, Caldris soldiers could see the situation worsening with every passing minute.

Governor Rusk stood beside Halvern on an upper balcony overlooking the western avenue. Goblin formations filled the road below. More banners were appearing beyond nearby buildings.

"How many of them are there?" Rusk asked.

"Too many to count."

Rusk looked toward the east. "Can we leave?"

Halvern followed his gaze. The eastern route was not yet completely blocked, but distant movement between the buildings suggested that would not remain true for long.

"If we leave now, we may run directly into another formation. If we stay, surviving troops may still reach us."

"May?"

Halvern did not respond.

Outside, the western commander stood at the intersection directly facing the compound’s western gate. He did not know exactly which Caldris leaders were behind those walls, but everything around him made their importance obvious.

Messengers had died trying to escape. Professional soldiers had launched a counterattack just to reopen one road. Guards were crowding the walls while officials disappeared deeper into the compound.

He raised his hand toward the eastern side.

"Close the remaining streets. No road goes unwatched."

More Viridian troops moved.

One intersection after another disappeared from Caldris control.

The government compound that had directed Eastwatch’s defense throughout the siege was becoming an island surrounded by the army it had spent the day trying to keep outside the city.

Viridian banners rose around the central district while the western force tightened the cordon, trapping Governor Rusk, General Halvern, and the remnants of Eastwatch’s command before the rest of Viridian’s armies had even reached the heart of the fortress.

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