Capítulo 22: Goblin everywhere! (I)
"Get the men in position!" Duke Hon screamed out to the soldiers that were busily moving around into position. "Move! Move! Move!"
The soldiers started to move in unison. They stomped, clattered, and marched forward.
Phil was next to his grandfather and watching everything play out before him. Soldiers were moving from one location to the next, bringing out and sharpening wooden stakes. They dug up holes and stuck in the wood stakes with the sharp point facing forward. Even the townsmen were busy helping out with the construction around the town. We had arrived in the middle of when their preparation was taking place.
I was wondering what I could do to help as I arrived next to Phil. "Is everything going to be alright?"
"We don't know. The amount of goblins coming is over fifteen thousand. We've never seen such a ridiculous number of goblins congregated together. This has never happened before."
"What do you mean?"
"They tend to form small tribes, not an army. Even a goblin chief can't pull this off."
"Then what could?" I asked, wondering who and how made this even possible.
"I don't know." Phil was deep in thought.
"Duke Hons!" A scout on a horse came galloping up to him and stopped. "We have an urgent message to deliver."
"Go ahead."
"The Goblin forces that had split up into three smaller units are coming here in a three-pronged attack. We will not be able to escape to the east or the west anymore."
"How long will it take for them to get here?"
"Less than a day, sir."
Duke Hon's furrowed his eyebrows. He reached up towards his beard and gently stroked it. "Pull out all the citizens now. We must move to the nearest city, or we won't last. I cannot have my people suffer the consequences of this war."
"Yes, sir, but it will take a while to get everyone moving."
"We'll hold them back. Phil goes and takes the people to the City of Manda."
"But grandfather, that's a six-day walk. Without reinforcements, we won't make it safely." Phil spoke. "Plus, I know I can help you here and keep the goblins at bay."
Duke Hon stared at Phil with a stern expression. He shook his head and ordered, "No, your Uncle and I will stay behind. Take your grandmother and lead the people to safety. Phil, as the new Duke, you must keep them safe."
"But-"
"No buts!"
"Yes, sir." Phil's shoulders slumped, and he turned around to leave.
I watched him sprint off to gather up the townspeople. "You know he doesn't hate you."
Duke Hon's glanced down at me, surprised that I was still here. "I know." He calmly replied.
"Is that why you are sending him off? So he doesn't die?"
"You have quite a sharp intuition." Duke Hon smiled. "The bloodline of the Zemrick must survive. Especially someone young like him. He has a whole life ahead of him while I do not."
"That's a pretty harsh way of thinking. I do not believe you are meant to die yet."
"You are a prophet?" Duke Hone looked at me quizzically.
"No, it is something I just wanted to tell you. To continue striving to live and come back to meet with your grandson again."
Duke Hon thought it over. "I shall keep your words close to heart."
I couldn't help but give him a wide grin, at the same time I wished him luck with all my heart, hoping that he would come back for Phil.
"You should leave now with Phil. This place is no place for children."
"I will." I rummaged through my pocket and handed him nine-level E Common Magic Stone and one Level C.
"This is?"
"Insurance. I recommend you use the Level C one when it becomes your last resort."
"I shall put it to good use."
"I know you will." I waved at Duke Hon's and ran after Phil. There were a lot of things to do, and there wasn't much time.
The townspeople scurried around, half throwing things into their wagon. Some couldn't take anything but the clothes on their skin with a few coins. There was no time to dally, and every minute counted. It took the whole afternoon literally, and it was becoming dangerously close to the time of the battle.
"We need to move out now!" Phil was yelling out to the town's folks. He was riding on a black warhorse.
"Sol! Sam! Lead them towards the north. Protect my grandmother, as well!"
"Yes, Sir!" Both of them saluted him and ran ahead. A large number of wagons, horses, animals, and flocks started moving. Most of them were mothers, children, and the elderly, while the men stayed back to help in holding off the goblin attack.
"What shall we do, young mistress?" Moca asked. He was right next to me, waiting patiently for what I have to say. While Coco was transformed into a horse, pulling at my sleeves.
"We follow." I pulled myself up on Coco's back. Tart climbed up and sat in front of me, pleased at what he had done. Coco pranced around for a moment I thought she was annoyed that Tart was on her back.
"As you wish young mistress," Moca bowed, he too pulled himself on a different horse.
We pushed forward, approximately five thousand people trudged forward quietly and quickly. Not a single person spoke a word for fear of being found.
"Where are we headed towards?" I asked Phil. He was leading the group in the front, while Don was trailing behind us.
"To the City of Manda. They have defensive walls that would protect us from the goblins attack. They are also our allies."
When I had talked to Duke Hon's about going into the Forgotten Forest, he flatly denied using the idea of living there. Instead, he decided to go towards the City of Manda.
"That's reassuring, but what happened to the reinforcements? Wasn't the king going to send any?" Don replied.
Phil was silent. Instead, he furrowed in anger. "He deemed it not worth his time and told us to hold the goblins back. That wretched king, to leave his people behind when we needed him the most."
"That is a problem."
"What's worse is that he will suck the people dry so he could live a more luxurious life. This is why I hate talking with them. The majority of the king's followers are like that."
"So, if there are no reinforcements, do you think we will be able to make it to the city without a fight?" I asked. Truthfully speaking, it did not look good at this rate.
"All we can do is hope grandfather will be able to keep them back. If not, then no."
"I see."
For the next two days, the townspeople continued to push forward without any rest. Fear was thick in the air, making it difficult for anyone to sleep. The animals and people were being pushed to the brink of exhaustion. They were not even close to the city.
"Phil, I don't think the town folk will be able to keep marching like this," Don pulled up next to him. "At this rate, we will all drop dead from exhaustion."
"I know, but what can we do? The goblins are probably not even a day or two behind us. If we don't move forward, we are not going to survive." Phil was concerned as he looked back at his people. He could see the exhaustion, fear, and many were having difficulties following.
"Still, we should take a break for a couple of hours."
"I agree with Don," I rode up next to them both. "We're not going to last if we don't rest."
Phil was battling over what to do until he finally gave up the idea of pushing forward. "Fine, We'll rest for a couple of hours, then we have to move."
"That's great. I'll go tell the rest for a bit." Don pulled off on his horse and started going around, telling people to rest.
Staring out into the crowd, I could tell that this trip was getting people emotional and physically drained. To have ten thousand goblins enclosing in on them from all sides made them fear for their lives. Even though I could not revert to my dragon form to help fight the goblins, the time limit was not over.
Status de energia semanal
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