A Bloody Fight

We set up in the village as soon as we arrived.  Gallanarre and I were here only yesterday, of course, and they'd begun work on defensive banks before we left.  The were still working at it when we arrived today, although much more hastily, and now it is finished.  The purpose of these banks is to slow the arrival of the enemy, to provide cover for those with crossbows, and to channel the invaders into a killing field.  We all joined in with the digging work, because we knew we didn't have long, and this is a vital defence.

We stationed some of the more experienced sword and axe wielders off to one side of the banks, hidden among some scrubby bushes, and the archers too up positions along the bank.  Behind the bank we stationed the remaining warriors whose job it was to taunt the Gurgam as they came up the hill towards the village.  I joined the group of taunters, my presence as a Dzarraf would certainly help to excite the enemy.  We were just setting these defences when two of our scouts came running into the village – the enemy was very close, we had just a few minutes.

As the Gurgam came up the hill and over the rise, we held back with the archers, but began taunting them as soon as we could see them – we started bashing shields and swords an blowing horns.  When they saw this and heard the noise they accelerated up the rise.  We had put markers out across the open space to the south of the village to allow us to co-ordinate the defence.  When they reached the first markers, we opened fire.  Several Gurgam in the front rank fell in the first volley, but they kept coming.  The shooting continued as they closed.

When the invaders reached our second mark they were close to the bank, we charged.  As the last volley of arrows and bolts flew at the enemy our troops ran over the bank to both sides and through the small gap in the overlap.  We crossed the short open space towards them very loudly, while the warriors who were further down the slope rose and attacked them from the rear with surprise.

We closed in just a few seconds – and we'd caught them in a pincer.  More of them fell as we closed in.  Their horrible rusted short swords were frightening as they swung them at us, but our axes and swords also swung bravely in reply.  It was carnage.  Those with little training axe or sword training suffered the most, and a few of our forces fell, but the Gurgam came off the worst.  I took two of the beasts out with my axe, the second one I took his head off with one swing.  The gruesome green blood splattered all down me as I turned to face another, and I was filled with the fervour of battle.  This one, though, was quicker and caught me in the shoulder with his sword.

The pain doubled me up; I'm not used to this.  The young Gnaeblin alongside me stepped up and took over my fight; thankfully we were running out of enemies or I'd have been in trouble.  The Gurgam that hit me didn't survive for more than a second more, and as he fell his companions decided they'd had enough.  They broke and turned to flee.  I couldn't get a last swipe at any close to me - the pain in my shoulder and running down my arm and chest prevented me from lifting my axe.  As they fled down the hill, we let them run, and our archers reached for their bows to pick them off as they ran.

After the fighting the village went silent.  There was an odd mix of elation at the victory and sorrow for the villagers that had died in the fighting.  Shouting started from behind us as orders were barked to begin the tidy up, the plan was to clear the field and reset our defences in case more Gurgam turned up.  I just couldn't be involved with that – I was just mastering my shoulder pain and tried to help move some of the bodies, but it gave way, and I gave up.

It took just a few minutes to organise our own dead, but the Gurgam took a little while longer; their bodies were here at the entrance to the village and scattered down the slope where they'd died trying to attack us.  We lost five villagers in the fighting, and four more of us were injured.  We counted their dead - there were forty one Gurgam bodies, twenty three of these fell in their charge up the rise.  While it's sad for those that died, the ratio of losses is very good.  We think just four made it out of sight back down the hill.

My shoulder is really painful, but there are a couple of acolytes of the Gnaeblin church on their way to tend to us.  They'll be with us by nightfall, and they'll be taking care of all the battle wounds.  If I'd had my way, they'd have travelled with us - but it's not my decision, and I understand the needs of the villages.

At least my wound means I don't have to join in the tidying up, and it's been bandaged really well.  The able-bodied are now piling the enemy corpses away from the village and preparing to burn them.  The village dead will be given a heroes burial at dusk.