Short Story: The Rufus Files

by Peter O'Keefe

I, Rufus, have been tasked with writing out a report of the trials and trivialities of the battles of
Allville. The one who commanded me to do so was none other than the king, Arthur Heimer himself. He has reminded me to not feel shy to express any feelings I have about anything, so do not be alarmed by the politically incorrect things I have to say. First, I must tell you a little about myself. I am the vice-general of the Milandrian military, though I was only recently given the position. My full name is Nocus Rufus of Bellington, and though I have been in the army a long time, I was not made into a commander until just recently. I was given the job of writing this essay for two main reasons: one, I am a very learned scholar, and have written several novels in the past, so do not be surprised if I romanticize certain events; second, the general himself, Stephen Sight, is too slothful to write it himself. There, I said I would not hold back my feelings, and there you have it. Sight had been general for , and has not accomplished much but failure. However, if he is ever removed from office, I would be ushered to full commander of the Royal Milandrian Military, and heaven knows I am not ready for such a responsibility. Oddly enough, I was not chosen by General Sight to be vicegeneral; rather, it was the king who recommended me. May his rulings prove to be wise.
       We are now in the twenty-third year of the Great Goblin War, and our foes the goblins have not been kind to us. If you are not ignorant of the history of Milandria, you know of the struggles and trials we have faced with Allville, but in case you are a foreigner, I shall enlighten you with a brief history.
       In the first day of the war, the great city of Allville was taken with a surprise attack by goblin legions, in the middle of the night. They hadn't even received word of the recently declared war yet, so this was a horrible surprise to the people of Allville. The city was taken in a few short hours. All the commoners and soldiers were killed, their carcasses hung throughout the city as gruesome trophies of the deranged goblins. Word spread slowly of the defeat, for few had survived to tell of this monstrosity. Once we were told, the goblins were already settled, and the prophecy was foretold that whoever held Allville held victory in the war. The Milandrians had a massive siege of the city, but nothing resulted of it other than hundreds of thousands of lives lost from both sides, particularly ours. Ten years after it had been taken, with many failed attempts to reclaim it, we managed to take control of Allville again. I remember as a young lad hearing of this astounding victory, and the happy tears of Milandria as we realized that we would pull through this war after all. This would not last. The summer the next year, not a full year since we had taken it, Allville was once again taken into goblin hands, and all our people slaughtered. New bodies decorated the city now, adding some grotesque color to all the bones that littered the city. Ever since that fateful summer, the Milandrians have been fighting to reclaim the grand Allville. It has been our enemies’ now for twelve years, and our people had pretty much come to understand that going to Allville was going to your death. Only the bravest commanders lead attacks on the city now, and most payed for it with their lives. 
       Until recently, that is. It was late in the fall of last year when we received the most incredible news, from some of our top commanders. The two in particular were the purple-capes, or
Guardmasters, John Philips and Alexander Humalso. They had, with a large force, taken control of a small portion of the city. The region they had snatched was known as the Dungeons; it was the southernmost portion of Allville, consisting of large buildings, factories, supply houses and prisons. To this day I can not imagine how Philips and Humalso managed to hold on to the Dungeons, but eventually they forced the goblins into retreat, left to plot on how to retake the rest of Allville. When the Dungeons were taken, we knew that as many soldiers as possible had to be pulled out of their normal positions and packed off to Allville. I myself was a strong advocate for this, and I took my place before the courts of Milandria to plead for the recapture of the entire city. The king was on my side immediately, but the people were harder to convince, saying that it was impossible to retake the city. Eventually, after much toil and labor on my part, I got them to agree, and we pulled fifty thousand soldiers from all over the country. It was the maximum amount we could afford. As soon as all the preparations were set, I set off to the city with the army, lead by General Sight himself. This worried me. Sight had not yet won a great many battles, so I knew that if this operation was to be successful, I would have to risk my job and my life by disobeying his orders and instead plotting out the siege of the city our top strategists thought best. I would later convince Philips and Humalso to also join me in this bold act of defiance, and both of the most admirable men would agree with me. 
       We arrived in the city by mid-December. Winter comes early there, so by then the ground was covered in snow. Sight and I dismounted, and met with Philips and Humalso in an ancient place called Fleel Plaza. Now that I was here in Allville, I was surprised by how it looked. The entire city was crumbling and old, ruins and random stones all over the place. Covered in a gentle snow, the entire city was perhaps the saddest thing I have ever seen. I had seen pictures of the great place before, sketches and illustrations and paintings of its grandeur. Never again would the city be able to be restored to its splendor. Even as I first gazed upon the city, I thought it would make a fine military outpost, once the defenses were bettered. Anyway, we met the guardmasters in Fleel Plaza, and they gave us a brief summary of how the siege had gone, the casualties, that sort of thing. Many had been killed in the battle for the Dungeons, but not as many as I had expected. Their own force consisted of roughly twenty five hundred men. With so little, it was a miracle the goblins hadn't retaken their prize already, but Philips explained to me that he was able to hide his true numbers by making it seem he had more. I myself have trouble with doing that, so I knew now the full genius of these two soldiers before me. About halfway through our meeting, General Sight sighed and asked if it was even worth it, reclaiming Allville. It was run down and it smelled like hell. What would we even do with it? I grew angry at the mere mention of this, and I heatedly reminded him not only of the prophecy, but also that we could not have goblins own Milandrian land  any longer; Allville was a path to capturing the capital, once the goblins were ready. It was decided that day by our council of four that we would push on with the siege, and mobilize our troops for a total takeover of our city. 
       The rest of that first day was spent with preparation, and fitting everyone in the Dungeon territory, which was a challenge. Supplying everyone with appropriate rations was even more difficult. Since the men we had brought were fresh and hadn't tasted battle recently, we selected from them a hundred men to watch over the camp at night, patrolling the walls and ready to sound the alarm. I do believe a hundred soldiers is the largest watch ever established for so small an area, but we needed it. That first night alone we were attacked by goblin extremists three times, though each was only small and poorly directed. Philips was the main crusher of these tiny assaults, mostly extinguishing them by means of archery and mini catapults; we were hesitant to send the swordsmen at them for fear of losing too many of our own men. That night, the final body count was a hundred and thirty seven goblins and twenty three men. Though this seems pretty good on our part, we knew we could not lose that many of our troops to random attacks like those. We had to step up our game.
       The next morning, bright and early, a messenger came to us from the goblin army. Him and a few of his top commanders met with the four Milandrian leaders (being I, Philips, Humalso and Sight). The terms of their treaty were simple: we gave back the Dungeons and they let us live, reminding us how we were outnumbered dangerously, and how they were calling for reinforcements as we spoke. At this, I recall vividly that Philips laughed harshly, and asked them why they needed reinforcements if they already outnumbered us. Were they that unsure of their own troops or had they been lying about us being outnumbered? At this display of wit and knowledge, the messenger fumed, and after a barrage of curses, asked if this meant we would not consider his terms. General Sight said that he would consider them. To this, Philips (a hot-tempered individual) declared that he would never surrender to them, that he would take back Allville even if he had to do it alone. I was quick to approve of his statement. Sight was very upset by this, but we held firm, and finally Humalso convinced him to reject the terms. At this defiance, the goblin snarled, and motioned toward the bones that littered the city and stated that there would not be that much of us left when he was done with us. I calmly told him that I personally would light fire to his body when we owned the city again. With these words exchanged, the goblins and the Milandrians parted ways, though that day would not be the last attempt at a peace treaty on the goblins’ part.
       The battles and sieges that followed were horrific. There is no other way to describe them. And the worse came when the Kerplok Clan entered the fight. As you probably know, the Kerploks are a small race of people, fighting warriors who serve the sorcerer Balkdine and his allies. There were many of them, and one of the Kerploks could easily defeat two of our own men. At our meeting that night, us four decided that the only way to win the city would be to exterminate the Kerploks as a race. It was a grim decision, but three of the four leaders agreed on it, so it was decided on. The only one who disagreed was me. Call me a fool, but I believed it was wrong to purposefully set out to destroy a people. The Kerploks were exception. But that's besides the point; the decision was we would do it. But the question still remained as to how we would succeed in wiping out the people. The answer came to us on a frigid, snowy morning when the Clan set out to reclaim the Dungeons without the help of the goblins. We decided to corner them in Fleel Plaza, because due to the plaza’s mighty portcullises, we could easily trap them in. The original fighting took place in the confined, boxed in streets near the plaza, and our troops (lead by Humalso) began to slowly pull back toward Fleel. We had ladders lowered from a wall that surrounded the place, and we set them down for our own men to escape by. Of the few that survived, Humalso was one, and told us to continue with the plan. He was ushered to the healing house shortly after. The Kerploks were very afraid once they realized the trap, finding themselves trapped. I actually gave them a chance to surrender and live, which wasn't part of the original plan, but the courageous and foolish wild men refused to surrender. The snow fell gently when Philips ordered the archers to finish off the Kerplok Clan. Blood and snow clashed in a horrible yet beautiful way as the men fell dead. It was the worst thing I ever saw, and while everyone else celebrated the victory that night, I went on a walk through the Dungeon area, wondering how we had killed off an entire people in one day. Sure, a few had escaped, but the majority of them were gone. It was a hard concept to grasp when all the history books were filled with stories of those dangerous people. 
       After this, the goblins seemed to lose confidence. We pushed forward bravely, mowing down anyone that dared to stand in our way. I have no qualms with destroying goblins that are trying to slaughter me. Two weeks after the death of the Kerploks, we were astounded when we were able to take control of yet another portion of Allville, a small one called Orbit Gorge. It was a fancy name for such a small, run-down section of town. This area was smaller even than the Dungeons, but this capture helped everyone, both man and goblin, realize one thing: Milandria had the ability to retake the entire city. In a speech, I told the soldiers that we would take back the city if we had to take it one street at a time. There was no way we would yield Orbit Gorge or the Dungeons, no matter how fiercely we were besieged. And so, the most successful but also most bloody part of the siege began, hundreds of men being killed each battle, but fresh troops arrived all the time from the capital and other cities nearby. We pushed on, and less than a month after the reclamation of Orbit Gorge, we owned all of South Allville. The king was happy to hear the news, and sighs long held were released all over the world. Now, Milandria was almost certain to win the city at the rate we were going. We were unstoppable. But that was to change soon. One morning, late in January, our scouts reported that a humongous force of goblin soldiers had just arrived in the northern city. Things looked grim. They had been planning a takeover of our portion of the city again, and their king had spared no expense when it came to troops and equipment for this siege. I recall telling Humalso that evening that the next battle would be the last one; whoever won would win Allville in its entirety, most likely forever, and have the upper hand in the war. I would not lose this battle, and neither would Humalso. Those next couple of days were very stressful for us leaders; we knew that whatever we did next would be in history books forever, future generations discussing what we could have done better. Not only that, but the lives of pretty much every free nation in the world depended on this battle, for if the goblins won the city, they would most likely win the war, then go on to conquer all of the world. With Milandria out of the way, that would be very much easier.        One evening, General Sight called me, Humalso and Philips for a quick meeting in his office. He told us there that he did not intend to lose his entire army for a lost cause like Allville. He said that we would retreat tonight, quietly so that the goblins wouldn't notice. After stating this, he said not to argue with him, that he would not change his plans no matter what any of us said, case closed. Even Philips was speechless at this. Quite out of turn, I told him I would not stand for it. I would take back Allville if I had to do it alone, and none of his orders would stop me. The three commanders beside we were surprised at my outburst, but I was adamant. Sight could not stop me from fighting for what I believed in; as long as I was in Allville and we didn't own it, I took no orders from the general. This shocked him. He angrily threatened to fire me, but Philips jumped to my rescue, saying he agreed with me, and Philips is perhaps the best at arguing I have ever known. Humalso also swayed to my side; we were determined to take back the city at all costs. Finally, Sight said that we would ask the soldiers what they thought, and anyone who wanted to leave could. This was a fair proposal, but a sick feeling clutched my gut as I marched to the long hall where many of the men resided. Humalso, Philips and Sight each went to a different long hall to give the warriors there the same proposition. I spoke to the men that night, and I felt sick thinking that they might not continue. But they were just as human as me or anyone else; they had the right to decide whether they would fight or not. I knew I was doing the right thing, but I can't deny that I had regrets as I was making the speech. When I was done, the soldiers were astounded that they were being given the option. They were silent for at least an entire minute, and my heart pounded hard during this minute. Finally, one of the soldiers hoped his way to the front, and told me he would fight and die for his country. He saluted me and pledged his service to me again, maybe for the last time. I would only later find out that he would indeed be killed during the battle to come, but he was the true hero of Allville. If it hadn't been for him, the others probably would not have stayed to fight, but they did, for after he made his pledge, the others began to make similar proclamations one by one, until every man in the room promised he would fight for his country. I have been told that the way to measure a commander’s success is by his victories, but that day, I realized that the true signs that I was doing my job right was that they were willing to die for their country. What more could I ask of them?
       Philips, Humalso and Sight had all gotten their own troops to pledge their allegiance (though I later learned that Sight threatened his men), so without any pause, we grimly armed ourselves for battle. It was time. We travelled towards the northern portion of the city, clanking in our armor, all of us scared but with a firm resolve to end the battle our way. It was past midnight now, so our attack would take the goblins by surprise (hopefully). Our plan, devised by chiefly me and Humalso, was to send a small battalion to assault a few of the bedding chambers, where many of the goblins would be asleep. While this was going on, a band of snipers would go ahead of them, taking out any guards so that the secrecy would last as long as they could make it last. The snipers were a great group of stealthy young men, who advanced cautiously. I was particularly impressed when I saw that they took out five guards all at once, without so much as a sound. Though this was useful to us, I couldn't help but pity the creatures for a death like that. The world seemed to not have advanced in anything but in war and weaponry; rather than dedicate our time to advancements in math, science, agriculture and inventions, our world only focuses on killing. Only one nation can be left to survive, it seems. Our former allies have abandoned us in this war; I know that can easily happen again. Death is all we care about, so we create wars instead of cities. Pointless wars, at that. 
       I'm sorry, I have strayed. Anyway, we managed to get through the city easily enough, with not a soul detecting us. The large battles had yet to take place, though, and they would take a serious toll in our troops. When the goblins first saw us, they sounded the alarm immediately, and we were ambushed from all sides. The results were catastrophic, three hundred men killed in maybe thirty minutes, with no signs of stopping. I had lost contact with the other commanders of our troops, wherever they were, so I had to retreat a little farther north (deeper into enemy territory) with perhaps five hundred soldiers. We were chased all the way, but soon I realized that the attacks came less frequently the further we got from the battlefield. I assumed this was because the bulk of the enemy’s attention was on Philips, Humalso, Sight and the other soldiers. One of my top warriors hinted that this was our chance to escape with our lives. I am ashamed to say I considered it. But I knew that I could never abandon my friends and brothers to such a horrible death; the cost of losing the city now encompassed the lives of a large section of the Milandrian army. I knew that the enemy had most likely forgotten about us, unwise as they were, so we could pull off a very effective surprise attack. Our plan, formulated quickly by our top leaders available, was to send half of us to the underground catacombs the city had built many years ago (one good thing about this battle was that we were actually still fighting on our own turf; we knew the layout of the city as well as or better than the goblins). Once there, they would sneak up on the goblin lines, right behind them to take them down quickly, before they even knew they had company. The other half of our men would sneak into a tower that one of my more architectural soldiers informed me of. It was the perfect place to assault the enemy with arrows. It was hidden and fortified, so it could take a while for the goblins to discover where it was coming from. That, added with the assault from the back, was sure to cause an immense amount of confusion among the goblins. Also, to the relief of the soldiers, I could point out a goblin leader by their armor. They would be targeted first, almost a surety that the goblin would be leaderless and therefore completely ineffective. True, us men were outnumbered, but with all the confusion, we had much confidence we could win the battle, and by that, the entire city of Allville. I taught a young man named Sergeant Benks, the leader of the secret archery unit, how to identify goblin captains. Then we parted ways.
       I was to lead the catacomb assault of the goblins. We found an entrance very close to where we had been meeting, and traveled a very far distance to get to the battlefield. The one thing we had been concerned about was not knowing where exactly to get up, but we had no worries soon; we could hear the battle from a mile away. I need not press you with the grim details of the battle that occurred that day, during which thousands of us were killed, but the point is the struggle went very much the way we had predicted. The goblins had no choice but to retreat from the city, without so much as collecting their supplies or helping their wounded brothers. Such is the nature of most goblins.
       Our own body count was tremendously high that day, but we had won the grand city of Allville. It was a glorious day to be a Milandrian. We now held the upper hand in the war, leaving the goblins no foothold in our country. This was the major turning point of the war. From now on, it would be a strictly offensive war for Milandria, and it was up to us commanders to take every fort and every piece of land the goblins owned, even if we had to take it by inches. There would be no rest for us commanders anymore. Our country needed us most now; we had to answer the call. Several weeks after the reclamation of Allville, a large celebration was thrown in the city, people all over the country coming to rejoice in what had once been a symbol of Milandrian doom. The king was there that day, and that day, he told me and the other commanders that in a short while, a siege of the goblin stronghold of Mekrinak had to be put into place.
       The war was not over yet. Though we now held the upper hand, it had just become much more difficult.

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