War

"Fire!"

Ten ragged archers fired into the ranks of the Orc horde to little effect. David ordered the remaining twenty-five footmen forward. He sat calmly on his horse surrounded by his cavalry. He didn't know how he could be calm when he was surrounded by hundreds of Orcs. But he had no choice but to stand and fight. A few miles down the trail were the elderly, the women and children and the wounded soldiers as guards. He was fighting for survival. All his life he had been fighting, ever since he was able to hold a sword.

He was in his late twenties; he was tall and well built. But he was a hard man. All the youth in his features had been forged into a steel like appearance: Cold and hard. He had brown hair and blue eyes and he had dimples when he smiled which wasn't very often.

For the last year he had been fighting a losing war. From out of the north hundreds of Orcs had swarmed destroying Villages and Towns in random patterns. As quickly as they had come they would disappear. From then on end Men had united together for the first time in their history. There was no bickering or fighting every man served to the best of his abilities. They followed no men of noble birth but men of skill and talent.
 
David was a junior officer when the war started but he rose quickly due to his ability. Now he alone remained of the original chain of command. It was his duty now not to win the war but to survive it. He had elected to flee to a new place to try and rebuild their shattered lives. He knew they were doomed if they stood and opposed the Orcs. He just didn't have the number of soldiers he needed. He had in his command about a hundred able soldiers. Then they also hand hundreds of women, children and the elderly with them. He knew that somewhere there would be fragments of other commands left but they were miles away and posed no threat to nobody. No the only choice now was to flee south.

He called the retreat and twelve footmen fought an orderly withdrawal. There was one small comfort David allowed himself and that was his pride in his men. There discipline was unmatched anywhere.

"Cavalry charge!"

 With that sixty-five horsemen charged into the ranks of Orcs providing the footmen with cover. The horsemen rode over the Orcs on their first wave cutting all enemy troops down but numbers started to press in on them. They had to turn and fight their way out. Only forty-five horsemen made it out alive. David being one of them. They retreated down a narrow ravine. The ravine was only bigger enough for horsemen to ride side by side. David had already positioned his remaining archers up there after peppering the Orcs. They were to cover their retreat.

 One thing noticeable about the war was the Orcs lack of skill in war craft. Their only tactic was to swarm the enemy. This was a simple way of killing there own soldier's yet there numbers appeared the same.
 
 They couldn't keep going on like this. They wouldn't be able to flee if they were constantly being chased but the Orcs were eager to follow.

 The Orcs blindly followed the Horsemen into the canyon. Instantly the ten archers stood and fired down on them. Soon the Orcs go their own archers in there to fire back. But they found no men. The men had moved further down the side of the canyon to cause an avalanche, blocking the path. This gained them only a few hours.
 
 The Horsemen regrouped, some doubling up with the footmen and archers before moving out at a steady trot. A few more miles south and they came across a strange fortress on the road. It didn't seem to be made out of wood or stone but metal! David rode down to the gates.

"Hello the fortress!"