Even Gods Must Fall - Christian Warren Freed Page 0,111

but was caught on top of the head. A sickening crunch announced his shattered skull. Blood and bone flew apart. Krek came out of the swing and readied to wheel on the second. The war bar slammed into the back of his thigh first, dropping him to a knee. Waves of pain rippled through him. The Goblin reared back for a killing blow.

Krek was faster. He reached out and grabbed the Goblin by the throat, crushing the wind from him. Ragged claws tore at Krek’s forearm. The king drew the dagger from the Goblin’s own belt and plunged it into his enemy’s groin. Screaming, the Goblin let go. Krek pushed his attack, stabbing the Goblin over and over until he hung dead in his grasp. He discarded the corpse and rose. Fresh pain lanced up his leg. Not feeling any broken bones, he turned his attention to the battle raging around him.

Similar battles were being played out. Goblin and Minotaur bodies littered the area. Krek frowned upon seeing several of his bulls down but took comfort in the kill ratio. Already rattled, the Goblins offered naught but weak resistance to the onslaught of the Minotaur army. Hundreds died in the trenches. Horrid sounds filled the air. Bones breaking. Steel ripping through flesh. The wet sucking sound of fresh wounds. Cries of the dying. Groans from the mounds of wounded piling up. The world had gone mad and Krek was a willing participant. Limping, the Minotaur king lurched after a new set of foes.

Reinforced by another wave of shock troops, the Minotaurs drove deeper into the earthworks. Front ranks fanned out in a widening arc. Sword and axe rose and fell with killing blows. The ground ran slick with blood and offal. Several warriors slipped, their brethren leapt or climbed over to continue the attack. Suddenly the Minotaur army was in danger of being impossibly entangled. Snarls brought the front line grinding to a halt. Panting heavily, the bulls cut down the remaining Goblins and established a foothold for follow-on forces.

Having been brutalized, the Goblin ranks cracked and broke. Survivors fled back into the ruins to secondary defensive positions. The trench quickly became untenable as more Minotaurs swarmed into it. Soon the large warriors were forced to snatch bodies and toss them across the killing field just to continue unimpeded. Shock units surged through the gaps in the line, taking a new fight to the retreating Goblins. Scores fell, hacked down from behind as they fled for their lives.

Krek was at the center of it all. His dark bear hide draped across his shoulders flapped in the early morning wind. Sweat covered him in a thick sheen. His breath fumed from his nostrils. Naked from the waist down save for boiled-leather armor, the Minotaur king was drenched in blood. He paused at the inner lip of the trench and surveyed the battlefield. Most of the first trench was occupied by his army and the erected battlements were being systematically ripped apart. Reluctant as he was to admit it, the honor-less weapons of the Dwarves were highly effective. Krek brandished his war bar high above his head and roared.

A fresh battalion of bulls took the lead of the advance. Krek’s personal guards, they drove past the captured trench and into the massed ranks just beyond. Word hadn’t gotten through Goblin lines that the trench had fallen. Fresh troops were rushing to the battle while those already broken units fleeing the front hurried back into them. The result was a severe constriction that quickly devolved into a death mill.

Minotaurs fell upon the Goblins with unabated fury. Old grievances were expressed at the sharp ends of sword and axe. The Goblins struck back, hacking and slashing at their much taller foes. Deep cuts took Minotaurs at the knee and belly. Limbs flopped away, trailing ropes of blood. Grievously wounded Minotaurs fell to the blood-churned ground where they were set upon by Goblins and butchered.

Krek spied the danger and immediately moved to counter. He bellowed to his forces, who fell back, slightly, to allow for a rank of shield bearers with spears to advance. The body length of wood reinforced in iron successfully prevented Goblin swords from cutting low. Spears slashed forward, jabbing and plunging down into exposed shoulders and necks. Just like that the Goblin counterattack faded and died.

The Minotaur king wasn’t content with simply holding ground. His army was designed for breaking the enemy and driving them from the field. The only way