64

  Rufi hurled himself the mud.

  The bolt whizzed past his cheek, slicing it open and burying straight into the forehead of the Goblin behind him. Rufi hit the mud and rolled to his left, the stampeding Goblins behind him charging straight into a hail of arrows.

  “Stop! It’s trap! It’s a trap!” Rufi roared at the top of his lungs.

  He turned and saw a frozen snapshot of the entire scene. A dozen Gnomes had appeared, lined up along the windows to the warehouse facing out into the courtyard, with heavy crossbows in their hands. On the mud in front of him were two black clad Triad Gnomes, their throats slit open by the two watchmen that he had seen disappeared.

  “Form up!” Chuch shouted at the Goblins, gathering them around his waving sabre.

  “Mikkel!” Rufi yelled over the melee. “Line up those archers! Lay down some cover for us!”

  The Goblins kept pouring into the courtyard as another volley of arrows scythed down into the courtyard. The Goblins scattered, throwing their weapons up to protect their faces, trusting their armour to turn aside the bolts. The Goblins in the rear rallied around Mikkel and were returning fire. It was much easier to hit the static Gnomes, and two dropped from the window as the Goblin’s arrows found their marks. As the final Goblin came into the courtyard, the gate slammed shut behind them and the door to the warehouse opened. There were at least two dozen armed Gnomes in black cloaks waiting for them. The Goblins recoiled for a moment, bolts raining down on them. But Goblins hadn’t become the scourge of the world by being so easily scattered.

  “Kill them all!” Graco screamed upon seeing the line of Gnomes.

  “Charge!” Chuch snarled, pointing his blade at the Gnomes.

  The Goblins faced their enemy and charged without hesitation. They thundered straight into the Gnomes and all hell broke loose. The Gnomes were taken off guard by the reckless charge. They seemed to have planned on hemming the Goblins in, trapping them in the courtyard, and cutting them down with their crossbows. The last thing they expected was a full blooded charge while they were outnumbered at least three to one with arrows raining down on them.

  It was so dark the Goblins could barely see their black cloaked enemies. Graco's Kith were undisciplined in their assault. Their line broke almost immediately as they clashed into the Gnomes. They threw themselves at the Gnomes and were impaled on rapiers and short spears. Rufi watched a spear explode out of the back of a Goblin as six rapiers all at once buried into his twitching body.

  “Regroup!” Rufi roared as he took to his feet and ran towards the melee.

  An arrow bolt hit him on his shoulder plate and bounced off. The Goblins rallied trying to get together but the constant hail of arrows stopped them from forming any sort of unit.

  “Get those fucking archers!” Rufi snarled over his shoulder at Mikkel.

  Mikkel nodded grimly and raised his crossbow and fired. His arrow took a Gnome through the forehead, sending him tumbling backwards and down onto his own warriors. Rufi looked back and saw Mikkel chuck his crossbow to Pug for him to reload while picking up a loaded one. But Rufi couldn’t see Pauli anywhere. Mikkel raised his bow, then ducked, as a bolt flew past his head, before raising his bow again. Another Gnome fell to the warehouse floor.

  Rufi clenched his jaw and tried to think. They needed to breach the warehouse. They were sitting ducks out here and eventually the Gnomes’ numbers would overwhelm them. The Gnomes knew this as well. They jabbed and poked at the Goblins trying to force them back and keep them out in the open for their archers to pick off.

  Creatures all throughout history had learnt this about Goblins: they were too big, too strong, and too fierce to be held at bay for very long, especially by creatures half their size. Rufi gritted his teeth and drew his hatchet. He roared and threw himself recklessly at the line of Gnomes. He tried to use his raw strength and size to break through them but found his way blocked as the Gnomes used their bodies like a clot in a wound. Rufi cut down a Gnome and felt a rapier scrape across his thigh and another one across his shoulder. He saw another blade coming up straight at his neck. Rufi slapped the rapier aside with his sabre and then lashed out with his hatchet and split the Gnome’s face in half. But everytime he cut one down another would replace him. He felt a strong hand grab him and pull him back. Chuch was next to him covered in blood, a wild glint in his eye, but still steely calm despite the sudden ambush. Without a word Rufi knew what he was doing. Three other Goblins were behind them and Rufi fell into a wedge-shape and together they charged the line of Gnomes aiming for the far left rather than the middle.

  Chuch barreled into the Gnomes, hacking and cleaving but the Gnomes were equally fierce as they jabbed and stabbed at him forcing him back. Rufi leaned over his shoulder and stabbed downwards again and again, hitting flesh sometimes but failing to land a fatal wound in the mass of Gnomes. They were quick, and what they lacked in strength and size they made up for in speed and dexterity. It was too dark for Rufi to get a proper read on the situation now. The Goblins had devolved into small clusters and it was every Goblins for themselves. Rufi tried to roar commands but they fell on deaf ears, the sound of scraping steel and shrieking voices filled the night. The bloodlust was upon the Goblins and fear and adrenaline drove them wild while the Gnomes cut them down one by one. It couldn’t carry on like this, they would all be dead before long.

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  Suddenly a form burst through the ranks behind the Goblins like a barrel tumbling down a hill gaining momentum as it went. Rufi just had time to leap aside as Pauli flew past them, his axe held like a spear, his thick body becoming a battering ram. He smashed into the line of Gnomes recklessly thundering through them. He flattened the Gnomes, pulverizing their line and tumbled straight through into the darkness.

  “Pauli!” Rufi screamed, taking off after his friend, Chuch close behind him.

  The three Goblins with them pounced on the gap and attacked the Gnommish line from the side, forcing the gap open and letting the rest of the Goblins pour into the warehouse. Pauli had skittered across the floor, his axe flying away as he scraped across the ground. Gnomes leapt upon him from the darkness, their blades raised and ready to strike. Somehow Rufi covered the distance in three bounds and he took the head from one Gnome while burying his hatchet deep into the skull of another. Lashing out with his foot, he caught a third in the chest and sent him flying. Chuch dispatch the fourth with a double thrust to the back, his blades bursting from the Gnome’s chest in shower of gristle and ichor. The rebel Gnomes were suddenly in disarray as the archers hurried to turn and shoot down on the intruding Goblins in the warehouse and took the pressure off the attackers at the door. Several of the archers were shot in the back from the Goblin archers in the courtyard. The Gnome archers scurried back and forth trying to take potshots down into the warehouse and pick off Mikkel’s archers. This reprieve allowed the Goblins a chance to regroup and press into the warehouse. A similar problem occurred down on the warehouse floor as the Gnomes suddenly found themselves spread thin as they turned to fight Rufi and Chuch inside the warehouse while simultaneously trying to repel the Goblins on the outside.

  Rufi watched the disarray and realised that these Gnomes might be vicious and organised fighters but their leadership was suddenly falling apart. It was moments like this in pitched battles where those who can keep their head both figuratively and literally could win the day. Rufi spun and faced the oncoming Gnomes, Chuch to his left and Pauli, who had managed to pull himself to his feet and recover his axe, on his right. The two Goblins they had burst in with were laying on the floor in puddles of blood, their bodies littered with dozens of rapier wounds. It was just the three of them in the warehouse. A group of Gnomes had detached from the main group at the door and were advancing on them slowly. The warehouse was slightly more well lit than outside as there were candles burning low and throwing shadows everywhere. Another arrow whizzed by Rufi and clattered near his foot.

  “We need to get rid of those archers!” Rufi snapped at Chuch.

  The blood stained Goblin shook his head.

  “I ain’t going anywhere,” he said.

  “Dammit Chuch! That’s an order! We don't get rid of those archers, we'll all be dead!”

  “Go,” Pauli said to him. “I got Rufi's back.”

  Chuch snarled and looked at Pauli then at Rufi. He muttered a curse under his breath before turning and sprinting for the stairs.

  One of the Gnomes shouted something at the others and the archers trained their bows on Chuch trying to cut him down before he could make it to the stairs. Rufi roared and threw his hatchet up into the second-tier, hitting a Gnome square in the chest so hard it flung him out the window. His shot flew wide and skewered through the neck of the Gnome next to him. That caused enough distraction among the archers to give Chuch just enough space to hit the stairs.

  Rufi didn't have time to see what happened next as the Gnomes were on him now. He and Pauli fought back to back using their longer range to keep the Gnomes back. The Gnomes tried to surround but every time they tried to close the circle, the two Goblins hacked and slashed at them, forcing them apart again. A Gnome had managed to sneak into Pauli’s blindspot and reared back with his short spear. Rufi lashed out with his sabre. It was a wild swing and the Gnome managed to skip back just in time to avoid the curved blade. The Gnome behind him wasn’t so lucky. Rufi’s sabre bit into his neck and took his head clean off. But the swing overbalanced the big Goblin and left his flank open. He felt the razor blade pinpoint of a rapier dig into his side, another one scraped across his back plate, and third across his leg guard. Rufi spun and thrust his sword through the Gnome’s stomach, opening him up and spilling his guts. Pauli swept his axe in a wide arc, forcing the Gnomes back from Rufi. In the same motion he completed the arc and brought the heavy axe down on a Gnome, near splitting him in half vertically. Rufi pulled the blade out his side, grimaced, and then chopped at another rapier blade coming for his throat.

  They managed to break through the circle of Gnomes and started backing away trying to keep the Gnomes in front of them. Rufi swung his sabre wildly in front of him just trying to keep the Gnomes at bay and figure out what was happening. The one thing he did realise was that the twanging of the crossbows had fallen silent. Rufi chanced a glance up and saw there were no more archers on the walkway. The ones that were left alive had drawn their blades and were locked in a desperate battle with Chuch. Lambs fighting against a fully grown tiger would have had more of a chance than those Gnomes did against Chuch. He whirled with his twin blades hacking and slashing at them, any wound inflicted on him was completely ignored and meaningless. Rufi saw him run through two Gnomes at the same time as they backed against the wall and then kicked another one full in the face sending him over the balcony to the outside. Rufi looked down just in time to see a Gnome skirting under his blade trying to stab his legs. He hopped back and slashed at the Gnome.

  Pauli was struggling even more. His bulk meant that he was an easy target for the searching points of those rapiers. They stabbed and slashed at him in the darkness hitting meat, hitting armour, hitting battleaxe, and he couldn’t stop the frenzied whirlwind of blades thrusting and stabbing at him. Pauli panted and tried to keep the Gnomes back with sweeps of his long handled battle axe but the Gnomes were too nimble. Rufi pulled a dagger from his belt and flung it at one of the Gnomes that was trying to get round the back of Pauli, catching him in the side and sending him down in a screaming pool of blood. He looked up trying to gain his bearings in the darkness and saw that the Goblins were beginning to win their way into the warehouse without the constant rain of arrows on them. Goblins snarled and roared, breaking through the line of Gnomes. Chuch cut down the last archer and then stood with one foot on the railing, waving his gore covered bladed and roaring to their imminent victory.

  That was when the explosion went off.