He turned his head away from the ongoing duel to see if it wasn't simply his mind playing a trick on him. The object moved again, and he dismounted to investigate.
He drew his scimitar and cautiously went over to the large boulder, where he had seen the object move. Just as he got close, a glick darted out from behind the boulder nearest to him and aimed a claw at his face. The blow scraped across the base of his jaw, missing his jugular by a hair's breadth as he stepped back.
"Glick!" he shouted, stepping out of the way of the next blow and landing one of his own, severing the creature's head. Pungent blood soaked the dirt as he panted and looked up, only to find a horde of others coming down the northern trail.
"By Yarathea, it's a horde! We're under attack!" he shouted, racing back to the others as quickly as his legs could carry him, prompting the others to stare at him. They followed the direction his hand was pointing in, and saw a larger number of glicks than the man had previously seen. "We're under attack!" the man shouted again, waving in the horde's general direction, hoping to get the others' attention.
Gorm and Ari were still dueling when Bashir noticed the commotion behind them. "My lord, an army of glicks approaches from the North," the man said, nearly out of breath. Bashir's eyes opened wide. "Stop the duel," he shouted. Gorm and Ari froze mid-blow and looked at Bashir.
"He must die, Your Majesty," Ari snarled. "We have a larger problem than his death right now, Ari," Bashir said angrily. "Glicks are coming from the northern trail, and we will need all the help we can get," he continued. "You have an army behind you; why should you worry about whether or not we continue?" Gorm asked through gritted teeth.
"I have brought no Synners with me, and these men are not exactly trained to fight these bastards. Set your differences aside for now, and when the battle ends, you may get back to killing each other. Right now, we need to fight them as one," Bashir regarded the two men carefully, observing their body language. "I will have your head when this is over," Ari said begrudgingly, looking at Gorm. "You're welcome to try and take it, pup," Gorm replied.
"Gorm, gather your remaining men, and stand with us," Bashir said. "Not like I have much of a choice. Men, to arms!" Gorm shouted. The elves guarding them from the nearby bushes slipped back, out of sight.
"Cowards!" one of Gorm's men shouted at them, noticing the elves' flight. "It's no use. They don't get involved with human affairs unless there's something in it for them other than death or imprisonment," one of the other men said.
"Get in formation," Bashir called out to his riders. Hearing the order, they made a line with their horses that faced the oncoming horde. Foot soldiers made their way up the pass, rallying behind the horsemen. "Wait for them to funnel together near that boulder," Ari shouted, pointing with his sword as the ground began shaking with the horde approaching them.
The horde's screams and screeches grew progressively louder, and some of the soldiers began to shake with fear. "Stand together, and we might win this," Ari commanded. Bashir caught a single glance of the glicks and made his way to the top of the rock where Gwili once stood. Meanwhile, Ari steadied himself and noticed Gorm was standing beside him.
"Not the most ideal of places, I know, but I'd rather be next to a good swordsman than one who has soiled himself," Gorm said with a shrug. "That's a fair point, but why take your enemy's side after saying you'd never work under Harutian command? A bit hypocritical, don't you think?" Ari asked with a scoff.
"Better the one you know will try to kill you, than the one you think might do it by accident. It's not that I don't trust my men, but I'd rather have a clean cut across my throat than get mauled by these nasty looking fuckers," Gorm said plaintively. "Eh, good point," Ari replied.
The glicks were nearing the boulder, and the horses became uneasy. "Steady, men!" Ari called out while Gorm gripped his sword tightly, lowering it to be almost parallel with his hind leg. The glicks passed the boulder in an unorganized fashion, causing a congestion in their flow. The few who made it past the congestion were staggering about like chickens without their heads.
"Now!" he shouted, pushing off the balls of his feet. The riders charged the group and took off with swords drawn. Gorm and his men went after them, with a group of Harutian soldiers coming along with his remaining men. The horsemen met the glicks, and the pungent, green blood began to flow. The screeches let off by the glicks having their limbs severed by the riders were near-deafening in the narrow section of the pass.
The congestion of glicks nearest to the boulder only allowed a few to pass through at a time, but they were so large in number that it was an unending stream of them. Gorm and the other soldiers cut down the stragglers missed by the riders, and all seemed to be going well, when suddenly, the glicks began to collectively tear the riders from their saddles.
"It's like these bastards are being told to do this shit! What the hell is wrong with them?" Gorm said his thoughts aloud as he sliced into a creature's neck. "No idea," Ari shouted back, swinging his scimitar upward while deflecting a claw with his shield.
One of the glicks grabbed Ari from behind, trying to wrestle him to the ground. He threw his head back, knocking a few of the glick's rotting teeth back into its mouth. The glick released its grip on him, reeling in pain, and he quickly turned to finish it off with his sword.
Gorm saw the riders falling quickly, and called for reinforcements. He saw the glicks taking down the horses, beginning to eat them while they were still alive and kicking. He felt pity for them, but there was nothing he could do to save them now.
The battle raged on for the better part of an hour. Glicks took down many of the inexperienced soldiers, but fell to the ones who actually knew what they were doing. Gorm and his men were bloodied, beaten, and getting tired.
They never stop coming, do they? Gorm asked himself.