#61: Demon Attack

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The Demons pour out of the forest onto the yellow brick road and advance toward the SkyFort. Here and there steam cars advance along with the infantry. There were damn few steam cars..thankfully. The guerillas had taken most of them out in the previous decades long hike cross continent.

The horde reaches the curve in the road and hesitates...the yellow brick road curves and parallels the escarpment as far into the distance as they can see. Ahead, out past a little skinny strip of land, lies a veritable cornucopia of riches…..FOOD! The horde is starving. They advance on the SkyFort. Thus sealing their doom.

The horde must breach a succession of fortifications to reach the riches so openly displayed in the distance. They can see cattle grazing in the fields. There’s the BEEF! The thought of food spurred them into a frenzy. They advanced...into withering fire.

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There weren’t very many humans but many of them were army. Humans had one huge advantage over the elves. In fact they had an advantage over the Trolls. The human members of the Army that had fallen down the “rabbit hole” were trained. They were good at what they did. Most of them were Civil War vets.

Lamar was never one to waste resources. This was going to be a quick and dirty fight. There would be NO second chance. Either they won or they died. The Trolls were experts at dirty. Lamar combined resources. After a blood transfusion language upload and a quick and dirty boot camp, with Berg as the Drill Instructor.….he separated the Troll into squads and appointed a as squad leader.

The new squads managed to shoehorn in a few days of training as well as learning to work together. Mainly they built fortifications. They had incentive to build fast and build strong. They would be manning those very same defensive works.

As it happened Berg was in Sgt. Hobbs Platoon. The platoon was Lamar’s idea, he’d stole it from Gustavus Adolphus who had invented the system. It seemed the thing to do.

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“Here they come” Said Hobbs.
Berg didn’t say anything. He was terrified. For all his ferocity and prowess in battle Berg was fundamentally a gentle soul. He was also very brave. Bravery is defined as doing what needs to be done regardless. Regardless of the fact that you want to run away...regardless of the fact that you are so scared you want to puke...regardless.

Berg was a very brave Troll.

He just nodded.

Hobbs was equally scared and equally brave. He handled it differently than Berg. Hobbs chatted before battle. “How do you like that there Pintel Gun?”

Berg shrugged.

“It just seems appropriate that we should return it to it’s rightful owners don’t you think?” Hobbs continued.

Berg shrugged. He had no idea what Hobbs was talking about but the little man had a calming effect. Let him talk.

“How bout your start returning it about now?” asked Hobbs “one bullet at a time. I think they’re in range”.

That suited Berg. He raised the modified weapon to his shoulder and began to fire. Berg just happened to be a natural marksman. Somehow shooting a rifle just “clicked” with him. Oddly enough many of the Trolls were. They were deadly with their modified weapons at over a mile.

The Demons were over a mile away..and the aimed fire of the Trolls began to remove high value targets.

Officers.

Lamar had also developed a field expedient Air Cavalry. Barrage balloons towed by Dragons took up station over the advancing horde.

“I’d say they’ve come just about far enough”....Hobbs pushed a button. More of that magical Ark tech. About a half mile away the Orcs (Demons) had walked into a mine field. They had no idea what a mine field was. Hobbs educated them.
Thousands of ‘bouncing betties”...did. Neither Hobbs nor Lamar had ever heard of such things..but something similar was in the “upload” that Lamar received from the Iron Dwarf. Lamar latched onto it like a lamprey and ordered about a zillion of them.

He didn’t get a zillion or have time to emplace all that he did get..but he got a LOT..and a big percentage were sitting there...waiting to greet the Orcs.

The remainder were in those balloons. The crew begin dropping they. The mines made pretty good bombs.
It was carnage. Orcs were shredded. They died by the thousands. Yet they continued to advance. Those that didn’t stop to munch on their fallen comrades. (they really WERE hungry).

“Ok...that’s close enough” Hobbs said. “Fire at will”

The Demons that survived the minefield and the bombs, and all the thousands behind them..continued to advance. They were met by machine gun fire.

The Trolls LOVED Gatling guns. A pair of Trolls could emplace and fire a caisson mounted Gatling Gun quicker than would seem possible. Their squad leader, a human, directed fire.

The oncoming Demons went down like wheat before the scythe...and yet they kept coming….and coming….and coming. It was worse than They died in their myriads. The carnage, death and destruction...visited upon the Orcs was worse than the Battle of Thermopylae, and worse than Rorkes Drift. It made the Battle of the Somme, fought in a different time and place, seem like a scraped knee by comparison. The Orcs, a.k.a. the Demons, suffered grievously. Yet it was as nothing compared to the battle of their arrival on Mesa those many years ago.

And it got worse.

“Time to leave boys...Fall back”...shouted Hobbs.

And they did. Before the Demons got close enough to prevent or impede them the Troll Squads closed up shop and withdrew thru tunnels to the next prepared position...then they blew the tunnels. No one would be following them. Then they set up shop and killed rats again. Rinse, Lather and Repeat...again..and again. Finally they were at the main wall.

No field expedient fortification this. This wall was a significant line of defense. The Troll gatling guns were hub to hub in their firing locations.

And fire they did. Gatling guns have multiple barrels for a reason. Cooling. The design helps prevent the barrels form overheating.

Helps.

Not prevents. Not totally. The Troll gunners were had became so good at their trade that lamar had noticed and taken steps. A water tower had been erected and pipes had been laid to the gun locations. The rotating barrels were sprayed with water to keep them cool.

The advancing horde continued to advance across the narrow land bridge. Many were force over the edge and fell screaming into the abyss. Far, far below in the ocean..predators gathered to feast.
……...and so it went...throughout most of the day.

Lamar was beginning to be concerned. He didn’t look forward to fighting in the dark. He much preferred the light.

Next Episode
#62: .....And Then There Was LIGHT
Previous Episode
#60: Fire or Water?
First Episode
# 1 : In the beginning…

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