Chapter 5
Signs of Battle
Freeman led his men at a brisk walk back towards the freehold. He didn't want to arrive before the other groups who had a longer path to travel. It was only a few minutes later that he started to hear the sounds of battle. Freemans' group entered the clearing around the freehold and entered in to a massive battle. Whistler's Group was no where to be seen but Kundyl's group was fighting hard to push towards the freehold.
“Charge! Charge! Charge!” yelled Freeman as he ran into the clearing. “Take the gates, clear the hold!” He bellowed to his men.
How had Kundyl gotten here so quickly?
Freeman heard the sounds of battle all around him. He Saw men die on all sides. It was chaos. He knew the battle was going against his men. He started to pull men back, grabbing one here and one there sending them back the tree line to regroup. In only a few moments he had sent a fist back to the tree line. That left the better part of two fists in the clearing. They were fighting a losing battle. Freeman saw more men down than were up. The enemy was a tough force, they didn't feel wounds, they would fight you right up until the moment they fell never to move again. His men were affected by wounds. They were slowing.
Freeman started gathering men together. As they started to form a defensive line the men at the tree line started to fire a rain of arrows into he enemy. Again and again the arrows fell into the people as they slowly approached the fist Freeman had gathered in the clearing. The arrows were slowly taking a toll. They were outnumbered three to one, but slowly, ever so slowly the arrows started to make the odds closer to two to one.
The sounds of battle were horrible but it was not like what Freeman was used to. He could hear his own men scream and die. His enemy however was silent. The ripping of flesh, the severing of limbs, did not even slow them. With the forest also silent it was like a nightmare. You could scream and scream but there was no use there was no one coming to help, the undead just kept coming.
His men started to break ranks to attack the undead as they passed near.
Freeman yelled to his men, “Hold ranks! Let the arrows do their work. Let them come to you!” Any undead monster who came within reach of the first was immediately cut down by the trained soldiers.
The arrows slowed as the mass of creatures started to surround the group in the clearing. Freeman saw another group of men, maybe 4 or 5 fighting only a dozen paces from them.
“Move to the south!” yelled Freeman, “We have a group of men there we need to fight our way to them.”
The group pivoted and with precision started to carve their way through the undead. As they approached the location of the other men, there was a final group of undead they had to cut through. It was a tough, the once human monsters seemed to want to block them from reaching their comrades. Finally then cut through. There were only three men left, one badly injured. That left Freeman with a fist in the trees and fourteen men, and one wounded. They were facing about twenty undead men in the clearing.
Freeman started to push his group towards the gate. They passed the body of Kundyl as they got to the gate and pushed their way into the freehold.
Inside the freehold was a massive battle scene. Freeman was amazed. It was like all the people on the freehold had battled right here inside the freehold.
“Split up, I want a house to house search.” Freeman got the men moving. He climbed the wall and signaled the men back in the trees to come into the freehold.
When they arrived he told them, “I want you men on the wall. Signal as soon as you see Whistler.”
Freeman went into the freehold to investigate the battle scene. There were only nine buildings in the hold, so it did not take long for the men to finish the search. Once they were finished they reported to Freeman.
“What are our losses?” Freeman asked.
“Almost half sir. We lost quite a few when we first got into to the clearing, after that we held our own sir.” the bannerman reported.
“You half, get to the wall. You half come with me.” Freeman led them in the around the buildings in the freehold.
“What do you make of that?” Freeman asked.
“It looks like someone created a barricade to fight off the beasts sir.” bannerman Willick answered. “They probably breached the wall and the farmers fell back to here.”
“That would make sense, but look at the barricades. They are sheer on the inside and stepped on the outside. They are designed to keep something in, not out.” Freeman pointed to the barricade structure.
The men with him started to examine the area. It looked like someone had created a make shift prison or holding pen. The inner walls of the pen were scratched and battered like whatever had been placed in the pen had fought. Hard.
Looked at the barricade. He started to formulate a new idea as to what had happened in the freehold. It was not an external threat that had felled the farmers. This was not something coming from the corrupted lands to attack the people, but something coming out of the people themselves.
One of the bannermen at the wall called out to Freeman. “Sir, movement in the woods!”
Freeman ran to the base of the wall. “Where is the movement soldier?” The bannerman pointed almost exactly across from the gate.
“Get that gate closed!” Yelled Freeman. “I want it barred and re-enforced.” Men hurried to get the gate closed and barricaded. “I want archers ready to fire at the first sign of anything clearing the trees.” Men from the wall clustered along the wall near where the movement was first reported.
Freeman started to think about how long he could hold this position. He had lost almost all his men, he lost the two fists he sent with Whistler, lost half the remaining men. They were tired and it was getting late. He was going to have to hold this position until he could regroup and map a run to the Grey River. He started to think they could hold this place for a day or so and hopefully by then be rested enough to make a dash for the river.
He could hear the men talking among themselves as the waited for whatever it was to leave the safety of the trees. One man was giving updates on the movement.
“Within 10 paces of the clearing.”
“They have split up, two groups.”
“Now three groups, sir.”
“Sir, open the gate! It's Whister and his men, it looks like they have wounded!”
“Get the gate open, I want men on the gate and the wall. We need to get Whistler in the hold without letting any of those creatures in! Quick! Move!” Freemen barked out orders. “Watch the tree for those monsters, and make sure you identify any targets, I don't want any of our men shot by mistake.”
The gates we opened and Whistler and his men got into the freehold. They were down a few men and had seven wounded. Freeman felt a little better about holding out here until they could make a run to the river.
“Get the gate closed. I want the freehold secured and cook fires set up. It looks like this is home for a few days. Lets get busy.” Freeman left his men and returned to the make shift pen to see if he could figure out what caused all this death.
Freeman led his men at a brisk walk back towards the freehold. He didn't want to arrive before the other groups who had a longer path to travel. It was only a few minutes later that he started to hear the sounds of battle. Freemans' group entered the clearing around the freehold and entered in to a massive battle. Whistler's Group was no where to be seen but Kundyl's group was fighting hard to push towards the freehold.
“Charge! Charge! Charge!” yelled Freeman as he ran into the clearing. “Take the gates, clear the hold!” He bellowed to his men.
How had Kundyl gotten here so quickly?
Freeman heard the sounds of battle all around him. He Saw men die on all sides. It was chaos. He knew the battle was going against his men. He started to pull men back, grabbing one here and one there sending them back the tree line to regroup. In only a few moments he had sent a fist back to the tree line. That left the better part of two fists in the clearing. They were fighting a losing battle. Freeman saw more men down than were up. The enemy was a tough force, they didn't feel wounds, they would fight you right up until the moment they fell never to move again. His men were affected by wounds. They were slowing.
Freeman started gathering men together. As they started to form a defensive line the men at the tree line started to fire a rain of arrows into he enemy. Again and again the arrows fell into the people as they slowly approached the fist Freeman had gathered in the clearing. The arrows were slowly taking a toll. They were outnumbered three to one, but slowly, ever so slowly the arrows started to make the odds closer to two to one.
The sounds of battle were horrible but it was not like what Freeman was used to. He could hear his own men scream and die. His enemy however was silent. The ripping of flesh, the severing of limbs, did not even slow them. With the forest also silent it was like a nightmare. You could scream and scream but there was no use there was no one coming to help, the undead just kept coming.
His men started to break ranks to attack the undead as they passed near.
Freeman yelled to his men, “Hold ranks! Let the arrows do their work. Let them come to you!” Any undead monster who came within reach of the first was immediately cut down by the trained soldiers.
The arrows slowed as the mass of creatures started to surround the group in the clearing. Freeman saw another group of men, maybe 4 or 5 fighting only a dozen paces from them.
“Move to the south!” yelled Freeman, “We have a group of men there we need to fight our way to them.”
The group pivoted and with precision started to carve their way through the undead. As they approached the location of the other men, there was a final group of undead they had to cut through. It was a tough, the once human monsters seemed to want to block them from reaching their comrades. Finally then cut through. There were only three men left, one badly injured. That left Freeman with a fist in the trees and fourteen men, and one wounded. They were facing about twenty undead men in the clearing.
Freeman started to push his group towards the gate. They passed the body of Kundyl as they got to the gate and pushed their way into the freehold.
Inside the freehold was a massive battle scene. Freeman was amazed. It was like all the people on the freehold had battled right here inside the freehold.
“Split up, I want a house to house search.” Freeman got the men moving. He climbed the wall and signaled the men back in the trees to come into the freehold.
When they arrived he told them, “I want you men on the wall. Signal as soon as you see Whistler.”
Freeman went into the freehold to investigate the battle scene. There were only nine buildings in the hold, so it did not take long for the men to finish the search. Once they were finished they reported to Freeman.
“What are our losses?” Freeman asked.
“Almost half sir. We lost quite a few when we first got into to the clearing, after that we held our own sir.” the bannerman reported.
“You half, get to the wall. You half come with me.” Freeman led them in the around the buildings in the freehold.
“What do you make of that?” Freeman asked.
“It looks like someone created a barricade to fight off the beasts sir.” bannerman Willick answered. “They probably breached the wall and the farmers fell back to here.”
“That would make sense, but look at the barricades. They are sheer on the inside and stepped on the outside. They are designed to keep something in, not out.” Freeman pointed to the barricade structure.
The men with him started to examine the area. It looked like someone had created a make shift prison or holding pen. The inner walls of the pen were scratched and battered like whatever had been placed in the pen had fought. Hard.
Looked at the barricade. He started to formulate a new idea as to what had happened in the freehold. It was not an external threat that had felled the farmers. This was not something coming from the corrupted lands to attack the people, but something coming out of the people themselves.
One of the bannermen at the wall called out to Freeman. “Sir, movement in the woods!”
Freeman ran to the base of the wall. “Where is the movement soldier?” The bannerman pointed almost exactly across from the gate.
“Get that gate closed!” Yelled Freeman. “I want it barred and re-enforced.” Men hurried to get the gate closed and barricaded. “I want archers ready to fire at the first sign of anything clearing the trees.” Men from the wall clustered along the wall near where the movement was first reported.
Freeman started to think about how long he could hold this position. He had lost almost all his men, he lost the two fists he sent with Whistler, lost half the remaining men. They were tired and it was getting late. He was going to have to hold this position until he could regroup and map a run to the Grey River. He started to think they could hold this place for a day or so and hopefully by then be rested enough to make a dash for the river.
He could hear the men talking among themselves as the waited for whatever it was to leave the safety of the trees. One man was giving updates on the movement.
“Within 10 paces of the clearing.”
“They have split up, two groups.”
“Now three groups, sir.”
“Sir, open the gate! It's Whister and his men, it looks like they have wounded!”
“Get the gate open, I want men on the gate and the wall. We need to get Whistler in the hold without letting any of those creatures in! Quick! Move!” Freemen barked out orders. “Watch the tree for those monsters, and make sure you identify any targets, I don't want any of our men shot by mistake.”
The gates we opened and Whistler and his men got into the freehold. They were down a few men and had seven wounded. Freeman felt a little better about holding out here until they could make a run to the river.
“Get the gate closed. I want the freehold secured and cook fires set up. It looks like this is home for a few days. Lets get busy.” Freeman left his men and returned to the make shift pen to see if he could figure out what caused all this death.
posted by shaneknysh at 21:31
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