The Siege

The chase is on

Alarm bells of the Southern Gate rang almost immediately after Izabella finally managed to stretch her tired and sore feet on the bed and closed her eyes. After three exhausting days on a hunt tracking the herd of deers, spending the last two nights without a minute of sleep, most of the time drenched in water and mud, the young huntress couldn’t think of anything else but her warm sheets. For a while, she ignored the relentless ringing of the bells, hoping that they will stop, but they didn’t, and eventually, she had enough.

“Ah what’s with the noise, for goodness sake!?” Izabella yelled, pushing away the blanket and jumping out of the warmth of her bed. She winced as the jolts of stabbing pain pierced her brain the moment her blistered bare feet touched the cold wooden floor, instantly filling the room with a variety of curses. Fighting the irritation, tiredness but above all the anger brewing inside, the young woman limped towards the door, muttering to herself, “It better be something serious, or else…..”.

As she stepped across the small room, wearing nothing but a long linen robe covering her ankles, other distant sounds forced her to stop and listen. Muffled screams and shouts, mixed with the sounds of battle echoed somewhere nearby but soon faded away in the distance as if the source of the racket moved towards the centre of the city. Izabella instinctively grabbed the handle of her sword resting on the wooden table halfway through the room, before carefully approaching the door where she stopped and listened to the sounds outside. But it was quiet, too quiet for this time of the evening. The young woman took a deep breath and slowly pulled the handle, opening the door just a bit, enough to have a peek outside.

Izabella's house, or rather a tiny shed, was one of the last buildings in the back alley, hidden away from the main road connecting the gates to the town centre and as she glimpsed outside, only the empty street greeted her. Wide-open doors of the neighbouring houses and scattered belongings suggested that their owners left in a hurry.

“That’s odd,” Izabella mumbled to herself examining the empty surroundings when something else caught her attention. It was the smell of the burning wood. And not the kind you sense burning wooden logs in your fireplace, but the building kind of fire. “Just bloody great,” she murmured to herself and tried to close the door when a lean hand suddenly grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it outwards.

Surprised Izabella took a step back and instinctively raised her blade as a scared young woman appeared in front of her in the doorway. She immediately recognised Amelia, the daughter of one of her neighbours living across the street. Her left shoulder was smeared in blood as the red liquid trickled down her arm and onto the pavement. Pressing against the deep cut with her right hand, she locked her eyes full of terror and fear at Izabella.

“Amelia, what happened to you?” Izabella asked instinctively rushing to the wounded girl.

“Please, help me!” Amelia whispered with a shaking voice stepping forward. “They are after me!”

“Who is after you?”Izabella asked, not sure how to react to the situation. The answer to her question came almost immediately as Amelia suddenly froze in the doorway, gasping for air. The blade of the sword slashed through her upper back from behind and pierced her chest, splattering Izabella with the poor soul’s blood. Still, in disbelief and confusion, Izabella jumped back but stumbled over the leg of the chair by the table and fell backwards to the wooden floor. Amelia, shaking from shock, reached out to her with her right hand as the red liquid seeped through the open wound down her nightgown and dripped on the floor beneath young woman’s feet. She tried to say something, but only the gurgling sounds came out as the blood began to fill her pierced lungs. The dark, disfigured hand grabbed the poor girl by the hair, and the frame of the large orc appeared behind her. The beast grinned starring at Izabella, slowly pulled out the blade and tossed Amelia’s still twitching body to the side. She fell to the floor, her fading gaze still locked on Izabella and stopped moving.

Her murderer’s frame filled the doorway, revealing himself in full. Taller than an average man, wearing only torn leather pants and worn out oversized boots he must have taken off one of his previous victims, the orc slowly stepped inside, examining the huntress, quietly growling. His upper body was riddled with multiple scars and covered in streaks of white and dark red paint. The origin of the latter left no doubts to Izabella while she stared back at the beast at the same time searching for the handle of her sword she dropped as she fell earlier. The creature flexed his neck muscles and sniffed the air as if he could sense the fear filling the room. He pointed the bloodied sword in his right hand at Izabella and grinned again slowly nodding his head as an indication of what was about to happen. Izabella finally managed to find the handle of her sword but left it on the floor, keeping her focus on the uninvited guest. Taking on the monster in hand to hand duel would inevitably end up with her quick and painful death. And she wasn’t in her best form anyway.

The monster, staring at the half-naked woman sitting on the floor in front of him, took another step closer and slowly raised his sword ready to finish his next victim off, when Izabella suddenly grabbed the handle of her weapon and slashed the blade against orc’s left knee. The sharp steel sliced straight through the leather trousers and the knee joints. The orc, too slow and too relaxed to react in time, howled in pain as his left leg gave in and he crumbled to his knees in front of Izabella. The former grin of confidence and satisfaction on his face was quickly replaced with one of shock and disbelief. He growled again, this time in anger, and raised his sword to strike the woman, but the huntress wasted no time and yelling, “Go to hell!”, plunged her blade straight through the orc’s chest and heart, stopping the monster in his tracks. His grimace froze as the last breath left his body. Panting from adrenaline and rush, Izabella tried to pull the sword out of the corpse, but it got stuck. Cursing, she pushed the dead orc to the side to reveal another pair of black eyes staring at her from the street, good twenty meters away.

The orc, wearing dirty linen leggings with his upper body hidden behind a rusty metal breastplate, examined the woman for a brief moment, tightened the grip of the long cutlass in his hand and snarled, ready to charge.

“Oh no, you won’t!” Izabella whispered and instinctively jumped to her feet, forgetting about the pain. The adrenaline rushed through her as she covered the distance to the entrance with one swift jump and slammed the door in front of the charging monster. She then grabbed the bear trap hanging on the wall by the door, dropped it to the floor, mustered all of her strength and pushed her right foot against the sharp edge of the crude device to force it open, cutting her foot in the process. Ignoring the fresh wound and blood seeping through the cut, she shoved the trap in front of the doorstep and rushed to the opposite side of the room, where her hunting bow rested on its usual place on the wall.

The door did very little to slow the charging beast down as the orc crashed into the house with his left foot landing right in the middle of the trap. The triggered device closed with a loud bang. Its sharp jaws crushed both tibia and fibula bones, trapping the leg just above the ankle. The orc howled in pain, lost his footing and tumbled to the floor.

Not wasting any time, Izabella raised her bow and released the arrow aiming at the head of the attacker. But she missed. The projectile bounced off the metal breastplate instead. The orc, fighting mind-numbing pain, locked his eyes on the woman and swiped his blade trying to reach her, but the huntress was standing too far. Growling and snarling the injured beast started dragging himself forward with his left hand, relentlessly slashing the weapon in his right hand at the woman. The massive bear trap slowed him down but didn’t stop the attacker from slowly closing the distance.

“Concentrate,” Izabella whispered to herself, pulling another arrow and taking a deep breath. She took time to steady her aim and relaxed the grip on the string. This time the arrow pierced orc’s left eye, instantly killing the monster. His weapon fell to the floor with a clang as the beast released last gurgling breath and finally grounded to a permanent halt.

Breathing heavily, Izabella jumped over the corpse to the door to close it before someone else spotted her. The smell of burning wood became stronger, and a quick glimpse outside confirmed her fears. She could already see tall flames rising above the rooftops from the direction of the city gates. More roars and screeches echoed in the alley, and Izabella quickly closed the door.

She didn’t have much time before either flames or other invaders would come knocking at her door. Ignoring the bloody mess, Izabella quickly dressed up and grabbed her weapons. She struggled a bit to pull her sword out of the corpse but eventually managed, with one ear always listening to the sounds outside. The muffled voices grew louder, and she left the house through the back door leading to a small enclosed garden she used as a storage for her hunting equipment.

The fresh air greeted her as Izabella sneaked out into the night. She quickly pushed an empty wooden crate against the adjacent shed wall and climbed up to the roof when her house door opened with a loud slam and multiple steps echoed inside, accompanied by shouts and growls.

“Fast bastards,” the young woman murmured and quickly hid inside the shadow of the nearest chimney. She pulled back the string of her bow with the arrow ready to shoot and froze, slowing down her breathing as one of the creatures entered the backyard. The moon threw enough light for her to see the details of the monster. The orc, dressed in reinforced leather leggings and west, was tall and sturdy. His face covered in white paint created an image of the skull and in the moonlight looked particularly creepy. Armed with a long crude spear, the creature looked around and sniffed the air. To Izabella’s relief, the smell of burning fire and smoke masked her scent; otherwise, the orc undoubtedly would have sniffed out her position. Moments later, annoyed with the absence of the smell of the prey, the orc went back inside, and soon the footsteps faded as the invaders wandered off to search the next house.

Izabella waited until she could hear nothing but the crackle of spreading flames in the distance before leaving her cover. She carefully examined the surrounding area and to her disappointment noticed few large groups of goblins swiftly moving across the rooftops some distance away.

The closest bunch of twenty to thirty frail figures was chasing the retreating crowd below, peppering the defenceless town dwellers with arrows. Looking around, she also noticed flames rising to the sky from the east and north, with only the western gateway to the city still appearing intact. That was the last passage out of the besieged town, and this is where she will go.

Izabella stayed put until the nearest group of goblins moved further away before jumping to the adjacent rooftop. As she left her house behind, a woman’s scream echoed from the direction of her street. Then it turned quiet again. Orcs must have found one of her unlucky neighbours.

The huntress stepped carefully, all the time checking her immediate surroundings and listening to any suspicious sounds. Most of the city’s residential buildings were adjacent to each other, making it easy to cross from one roof surface to another.

Fading screams and shouts in the distance echoed through the empty streets as she kept moving towards the west, away from the flames slowly but steadily spreading behind her. Mostly two stories buildings provided enough cover from any unwanted attention from below as she moved carefully towards the west, regularly stopping and listening. Few times she had to rush for cover noticing small groups of goblins roaming around. The creatures were looking for any stragglers or town dwellers hiding in their homes. Those poor souls were doomed, and Izabella wasn’t in the position to help them. She had to keep moving.

Suddenly a woman screamed nearby, and the infant cries echoed somewhere below. Izabella stopped and instinctively glanced over the edge of the rooftop to the street level. In the dead-end alley, a young woman carrying a newborn was leaning against the wall behind her husband. The man, armed with a pitchfork tried to keep a couple of orcs at a distance. The creatures blocked their only way to escape and were slowly closing in.

“Stay away, you bastards!” the man yelled, thrusting his crude weapon towards the approaching attackers, yet orcs stayed beyond his reach and slowly narrowed the distance with their blades out. Suddenly one of them jumped forward and plunged his sword deep into the man’s chest before the poor soul could react. The man groaned in pain as his legs gave in and he fell to his knees, dropping the pitchfork. The orc twisted the blade inside the man’s chest and pulled it out before pushing the gasping for air human to the ground. His wife screamed in desperation, covering the child as the murderer shook her husband’s blood off his weapon and stepped towards her. His companion, obviously enjoying the view, groaned but stayed behind and didn’t interfere.

“Please, leave us alone!” the woman pleaded the killers, but it was pointless. Orcs never missed an opportunity to kill.

“Oh, I’m gonna regret this”, Izabella whispered to herself and carefully pulled the bowstring, aiming at the orc closest to her. Her voice of reason screamed not to interfere and draw attention, but she couldn’t ignore helping the poor woman, especially with a child on her hands. Izabella exhaled and released the string. The arrow whizzed through the cold air as it rapidly covered the distance and entered through the back of the skull of the unsuspecting creature with a silent thud. His body leaned forward and slammed against the pavement with a much louder noise, forcing the orc approaching the woman to turn around. He glanced at the corpse of his friend and turned his head towards the direction of the shot, noticing Izabella. The last thing the monster saw was the metal arrowhead flashing before his eyes as the projectile pierced his skull through the right eye socket. The orc winced releasing the last gasp while his body fell backwards right in front of the terrified woman.

“Get out of there! Quickly!” Izabella shouted to her, at the same time, with the corner of her eye, noticing the movement in the adjacent street. A mixed group of orcs and goblins just hugged the edge of the tall building and were moving towards the alley. The young woman, still shocked and confused, scrambled to her dead husband in a desperate attempt to wake him up. Her whimpering mixed with newborn’s cries echoed in the surrounding streets, drawing the approaching group’s attention.

“Save yourself! They are coming!” Izabella yelled to the woman, throwing away her cautiousness. But it was too late. A dark figure suddenly appeared from underneath the building Izabella was hiding on. The monster, armed with a sizeable crude spear, locked his attention on the woman still kneeling next to her dead husband and stepped out of the shadows. He then turned around and looked up to the roof where his and Izabella’s eyes met. She immediately recognised the skull face who visited her house and instinctively stepped away from the edge, cursing herself for her recklessness. A roar of the skull face filled the air indicating that it was the time for her to run.
Suddenly she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her right shoulder. The goblin arrow caught up with her. Nearly losing her balance, she dropped her bow, and it fell over the edge of the roof. “God, damned!” Izabella hissed reaching out for it, but it was too late. More arrows followed whizzing around her. It was time to run. Fighting the stabbing pain, she jumped to the roof of the nearest building when the woman’s screams ended abruptly. Moments later, her child went silent too. The screeches and growls of goblins somewhere behind meant only one thing: the chase was on.

To be continued