Chapter 381
Lyra stood in her command post, watching the tactical situation deteriorate with merciless clarity.
The mental reports flooding through Seraphina’s telepathic network painted a brutal picture:
"Eastern wall completely overwhelmed! Vex’ahlia’s elites are taking catastrophic casualties! We can’t hold!"
"Central section collapsing! Kelvin is wounded! Defenders are breaking!"
"Western wall is being overrun! My serpentfolk are dying by the dozen!"
Lyra’s tactical mind processed the mathematics with cold precision. They’d lost the battle. The only question now was whether they’d lose just the position or lose everything.
Eight hundred seventy-three of her people at dawn. Now down to approximately seven hundred twenty effective fighters still engaging. One hundred fifty-three casualties in less than three hours of fighting.
Against twenty-six hundred human soldiers who kept coming in endless waves.
The mathematics were unsustainable.
"Everyone ," Lyra broadcast through the network, her mental voice carrying absolute authority. "General retreat. Fall back to Third Line immediately. This is not a fighting withdrawal—this is full evacuation. Get everyone out NOW!"
"Lyra, if we retreat now—" Commander Vex’ahlia protested.
"We lose Second Line but preserve the army. If we stay, we lose Second Line AND everyone dies." Lyra’s voice was steel. "RETREAT! That’s an order! Eastern, central, western sectors—evacuate immediately!"
A moment of shocked silence across the network.
Then Commander Vex’ahlia: "Eastern sector withdrawing!"
Kelvin, his voice tight with pain: "Central sector falling back!"
Skar: "Western sector retreating!"
The settlement defenders began their withdrawal.
Elise had been running for ninety seconds when the goblin arrow caught her.
She’d dropped her spear, abandoned her post, fled in blind panic from the central wall’s fighting. The screaming, the blood, the dying—it had broken something fundamental in her nineteen-year-old mind.
She ran toward the rear, tears streaming down her face, not thinking about duty or honor or consequences. Just running.
"Deserter!" someone had shouted, but the battle was too intense for anyone to chase her.
Elise made it two hundred yards before her panicked flight took her past a concealed position where three goblin archers had been providing covering fire.
One goblin named Pix drew her bow with professional calm despite the chaos around her.
Running soldier. Deserter maybe. Still an enemy.
Pix led the target slightly, accounting for Elise’s speed and direction. Drew. Released.
The arrow caught Elise in the lower back, punching through her leather armor and pierced right into her her.
Elise screamed and fell, tumbling across the ground. She tried to get up, but her legs wouldn’t work properly. The arrow had damaged her spine.
She crawled, sobbing, trying to reach cover behind a supply wagon.
Pix nocked another arrow, drew, aimed at the crawling figure.
Released.
The second arrow took Elise through the neck. She made a wet gurgling sound and collapsed, blood pooling beneath her.
She died slowly over the next two minutes, drowning in her own blood, alone, never understanding that the veteran archer who’d killed her had been providing covering fire for retreating settlement defenders.
Pix never knew she’d killed a deserter. To her, it was just another enemy soldier eliminated.
The goblin archer moved to a new position, continuing to provide suppressing fire as her comrades withdrew.
Commander Vex’ahlia stood on the eastern wall, her purple-tinted face splattered with blood, both blades still dripping from her last kill.
"All eastern sector fighters—immediate withdrawal! Urgak’s orcs, establish rear guard positions at stairway access points! Everyone else, move NOW!"
The settlement defenders on the eastern wall began pulling back in organized fashion despite the chaos.
A goblin named Krix fought her way backward, parrying sword strikes from two human soldiers. She killed one with a desperate thrust through his throat, then turned and ran for the nearest ladder.
An orc named Thorgak positioned himself at the top of a stairway, his massive frame blocking access. "Go! I hold!" he bellowed to retreating goblins streaming past him.
Commander Vex’ahlia was organizing the withdrawal when a human soldier got through her guard. His sword struck her shoulder—the same shoulder wounded earlier—and pain exploded through her arm.
She spun, her remaining functional blade opening his throat. But she’d taken another serious wound.
"Commander! You’re bleeding badly!"
"Doesn’t matter. Keep moving. Everyone to Third Line!"
Three elite demon warriors moved to guard her retreat, forming a protective triangle around their wounded commander.
Behind them, Thorgak held his stairway against eight human soldiers who tried to push past. He killed three in brutal close combat before the others finally brought him down with coordinated spear thrusts.
He died buying ninety seconds for twenty-seven defenders to escape.
Central Wall
Kelvin clutched his bleeding shoulder, his sword arm barely functional. Around him, the central wall section had devolved into chaos.
Human soldiers were everywhere. His Squad were being systematically killed or forced back.
"Central sector, fighting withdrawal!" he broadcast through the network. "Wounded first! Anyone who can’t fight grabs someone who can’t walk!"
A young goblin named Rix tried to help an older orc warrior who’d taken a spear through his thigh. The two made it fifteen feet before human soldiers caught up.
Rix put himself between the orc and the attackers, his small blade moving desperately. He managed to wound one soldier before a sword strike cut him nearly in half.
The orc warrior roared and, despite his leg wound, grabbed the soldier who’d killed Rix and threw him off the wall. Then another soldier’s spear found his heart.
Both died within seconds of each other.
Kelvin saw it happen. Saw a dozen similar deaths as his defenders tried to protect wounded comrades during the retreat.
"Kelvin!" A human defender named Thrain grabbed his good arm. "We need to move! The wall’s lost!"
Kelvin let himself be pulled toward the evacuation routes, his vision blurring from blood loss.
Behind them, human soldiers surged forward, sensing victory.
Western Wall
Skar’s serpentfolk withdrew with the efficiency of natural predators recognizing an untenable position.
"Disssengage! Fighting withdrawal! Use natural advantages!"
Serpentfolk had superior climbing abilities. While goblins and orcs had to use ladders and stairs, serpentfolk went over the wall’s edge and down the outer face using claws and natural grip.