Homesteading in a fantasy world

POV goblin commander

For once, nobody seemed to be letting me down. We were ready to move in less than an hour. There is still a lot of daylight left and we might make it quite close to the target if they keep up with not letting me down.

I looked at all the combat troops in front of me. It was a proud and a sad moment. They had grown so much but now the future has been stolen from them.

But some might have grown a bit too much. I can’t let them think that they can take my spot as commander.

I can see the first army sub commander eyeing me like a piece of meat. I have known about his intentions for a while now, but a heavily trained force of 60 shield bearers is hard to deal with.

They should be my troops, but the sub commanders have solidified their command, especially during these last few days. It’s hard to keep my anger in control that human has caused me nothing but trouble.

I commanded here only the goblins that’s have gone through the trial of iron. The rest must continue with securing food for the winter.

Even then, we are looking at 400 soldiers ready to fight. Nothing that human has can withstand my might and the Fat Across and the Beaver will make this a simple yet satisfying attack.

“The situation with the Beaver, report.” I say to the closest aide I see.

“Commander, the runners are currently moving towards it. We estimate it will start to move in a few hours. Do we wait for it to arrive, Commander?”

As I looked at the one that gave me the information, I didn’t recognize him. This keeps happening more and more and I do not enjoy that.

“No, we start moving now. I want Fat Across in the middle of our columns.”

I get a quick affirmative and wave him off. I looked around as everyone starts moving. I wait on the spot until the Shaman is close, and I walked to him.

“Are all your magics ready, shaman? I know you don't have earth magic to help us cross the river, but I hope you have something useful prepared?”

I could see that disdain in his eyes, but I will never forget when he tried to overthrow me. If he wasn’t the only magic wielder I have, I would have killed him long ago.

“I have some tricks prepared. You don't need to worry about that, but do we truly need to mobilize so much for a simple farm and to all accounts a single human?”

“You have no right to question my actions. I do it because I chose to do it, nothing more.”

He didn’t answer me, and I didn’t want an answer. I have more reason to kill him now because he was no longer useful in making more breeders, but he still needed to train someone to take his place, eventually.

We moved quite quickly. We were already halfway there, and the sun was still quite high. This surprised me because some of the goblins couldn’t even walk right to save their life and were constantly tripping.

I wanted to kill them for their weaknesses. They must know how weak they are. If there were more goblins like me, I would kill all that rest so that I wouldn’t have to look at their disgusting and weak looking bodies.

Speaking of disgusting, the second scout commander was moving towards me. I don’t know how it happened, but he’s the second most skilled, evolved and soon to have an ability goblin besides me.

He was good at keeping it a secret and currently excellent at making connections and friends. While he didn’t have any sub commanders supporting him, he had a lot of goblins fighting for him. His force was large but untrained. Unfortunately, a lot of the food gatherers listen to him.

An ambitious one that I must find a way to kill. He should be looking like me, not like the other goblins.

I don’t know what evolution he has, but he certainly hasn’t got the correct ones. Why wouldn’t he change to look more like the true intelligent species of the world?

“Commander, my scouts have found a wolf den and I wish to get permission to take my troops and finish them off for food and to make sure they won’t prey on us in the night.”

Oh, I just wanted to squeeze the life out of him. He mocks everything that I believe, but he played his cards correctly and I cannot do it so openly.

Meat is always required, and it will boost the morale of my troops more, but I can’t be allowing him to take credit for it.

“Listen all, I command the second scout sub commander to take his troops and bring us more meat so that we can all enjoy a feast when we win the battle for the bridge.”

I hear cheering all around and soon it spread to every goblin that was marching. They looked at me in worship, and I loved every moment.

The second scout sub commander didn’t look amused, but I just waved my hand for him to go to his duty. Thinking he can take credit for bringing meat back nice try but too naive.

Night had fallen, but I had torches lit so we can move at night. I wanted to make there as soon as possible and see the situation for myself.

So many had fallen at the hands of this human, and I want to kill him so badly but if the second scout commander is correct and he can make devices to help cross rivers fast and is portable enough to give out to any goblin, it's a thing that we must have.

We have only ever had two good ways to cross rivers and those devices have been with this tribe for a long time, further back than any of us can remain. I suspect we have stolen them from humans, but who knows.

I saw some of the scouts returning that I sent ahead to scout the bridge. And when they returned, they brought good news.

Apparently, it’s undefended like it has been for all the other nights I have reports on. The Fat Across had fallen behind because of the thicker parts of the forest. This turned out to be a good thing, so I can let my troops rest a while before we start.

“Second army sub commander, report to me now.” I looked towards him. He moved quite quickly, which I was pleased to see.

“Yes, commander, what is it that you need?”

“The sun is yet to come up, but we are ready for the first operation. You will support the Fat Across and you will choose two of the light units to get across the river. This is your operation to succeed or fail it.”

“Commander, should we not wait for the Beaver to arrive, and the sun has yet to come up, we can barely see anything.”

I grab his shoulder and pin him down. I slowly get to eye level with him.

“I wasn’t looking for any other answer than yes, commander. Is that understood?”

I could see the fear in his eyes, and it filled me with energy for the coming fight. He mumbled yes commander in a barely audible voice and quickly retreated, which I let him do.

At least he was good enough to follow orders quickly, and I commanded everyone to the edge of the forest and watched as the troops under his command moved out.

As I looked around and at the force moving out under the night's cover, I thought I might not even need most of what I have here. This human will have no idea what will hit him.

***

Slowly the Fat Across was being pulled by 10 goblins and surrounded by the forces of the second army sub commander.

The Fat Across was a similar construction to Rich Dirt’s ballista. It was a bit bigger and a lot stronger. The bow limb was made from steel, but it was not meant to fire bolts it fired big hooks in a large upward direction meant for climbing large walls.

The goblins used it to shoot the hook and the rope to the other side of rivers so they can then use the rope to get across. It’s an ancient weapon from times long past and has survived remarkably well.

The Fat Across was slowly pulled forward until it was quite close to the river so it can be fired and when the goblins were across, they could lower the bridge. Anyone who will stand against them will be drowned by their number.

For the goblins, everything seemed to be going well. The first hook was fired in a high arc towards the other side. It landed deep enough into the ground so the goblins can get safely across.

What the goblins didn’t know is that the human, rich dirt didn’t go and sleep in his house this night, but stayed in the tower just in case something might happen. His instincts about war were unmatched against the goblins that stand against him.

The first goblin getting ready to cross the river suddenly had an arrow sticking out of it and just a moment later, two more goblins found an arrow in their chest, and one fell dead, an arrow through in its head.

A brief silence fell over the entire area as the goblins tried to process what was happening, this spell was broken as four more arrows hit a moment later.