Yggdrasil
Chapter 50: The final...FINAL...battle
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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?”
Berg shrugged. He had no idea what Hobbs was talking about but the little man had a calming effect. Let him talk
.
“How bout you 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 NOT 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 Demon had walked into a mine field. They had no idea what a mine field was. Hobbs educated them.
Thousands of ‘bouncing betties”...did too. 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 'em.
He didn’t get a zillion or have time to emplace all that he did get, but he got a LOT A big percentage were sitting there, waiting to greet the Demons.
The remainder were in those balloons. The crew begin dropping them. The mines made pretty good bombs.
It was carnage. Demons 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. They died in their myriads. The carnage, death and destruction visited upon the Demons 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 Demons, suffered grievously.
It got worse.
“Time to leave boys...Fall back” Shouted Hobbs.
So 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 Demons 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.
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 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 forced over the edge and fell screaming into the abyss. Far, far below in the ocean predators gathered to feast.
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.
Then, there WAS light, just as he had hoped.
“YES!” Lamar, and others of the command group, were directing the battle from atop a look out tower. The only thing higher than they were was the ballon far overhead.
“It’s about time” Lamar said. “I was hoping for that to happen. Now the question is, what’s coming through?”
He received his answer shortly. The sky watch called.
“Flood time”.
“YES!! " Lamar repeated.
"Alert the Kindred Guerrillas”he commanded the communications officer.
The raging torrent swept down the road. It covered the road to a depth of several feet, but mostly was contained by the ditches and levees on either side. Oddly enough the yellow brick road, or at least this portion, must have been designed for this contingency. The sound was like that of a raging river which in fact it was. A very, very, angry river. Most of the water fell over the sides of the escarpment however a not inconsiderable quantity from the center of the torrent struck the wall, and divided.
This wasn’t their first rodeo. The FIRST time it had happened the wall had almost been blasted flat. Bastions were good for some purposes, for others they were a liability they hadn’t helped. That wall had held, but just barely. Most of it. The command group had taken ‘steps’. The wall had been, rebuilt and strengthened. All bastions had been removed. Any portions that would catch water had been redesigned,smoothed and streamlined. Now the wall, what they had taken to calling the ‘river wall’ somewhat resembled a ships prow.
The raging torrent crashed into the ‘ SkyFort’s prow’ and split to each side. The flow was diverted to ...over the escarpment. For a time the fort was an island in a magnificent waterfall.
After a time the raging torrent subsided. Shortly thereafter the road merely had full ditches on either side. The narrow peninsula connecting the sky fort to the mainland was dry. The ditches drained dry quickly and the only indication that anything unusual had happened were the flopping fish and other sea life, stranded on land. That and the thousands and thousands of Orc bodies.
Then the carrion eaters began to appear…
It was a fine time to be within the walls of the SkyFort. The road and it’s immediate area would be rather unsafe for a while. Inside the SkyFort everyone was rejoicing. It was party time!.
Mobile barrage balloons had snatched the Kindred Guerrillas to safety before the flood got them. The children were in awe. These were the adults of their legend. The heros who had gone off to war.
A few of them.
A very, very few.