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| Details |
| Author: | Disknight |
| Summary: | Reeve fights the Horde at Northwatch Hold aboard the Achillea. Tragedy ensues. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Chain: Northwatch
“Fire!” shouted Captain Breen. The Horde’s attack on Northwatch Hold wasn’t an unexpected one, but that didn’t change the fact that the small fort was woefully unprepared for an assault of this size. The defenders at the hold itself were doing well keeping the Horde at bay, but there were four warships approaching from the sea, two Sin’dorei and two Forsaken. The Fallon ships, Aconite and Achillea wasted no time in engaging them.
Cannons thundered across the deck. “Reload! Reload!” Marine Captain Aaron Luther boomed.
The main guns crashed into the side of one of the Sin’dorei ships, sending splinters everywhere. They returned fire but most of their shots only did superficial damage to the sturdy hull of the Achillea.
“Stay sharp!” Barked Reeve, “The elves’ strength is their magic! Keep your eyes peeled for where they’re hiding their mages!” He snapped the aim of his arquebus when he saw a bright purple light shine through a gun port and unloaded a shot into it. He could feel his mouth pool with saliva from the rush of the kill.
“Nice shot, Reeve.” Lieutenant Oscar Nash called out, “Keep em coming. We need to even the score.”
Reeve tried to respond, but the words got stuck in his throat and came out as just a low growl, drool dripping from his jowls onto the deck below.
“Keep firing!” Captain Breen yelled, “They put their fastest ships in the vanguard! They mean to sail straight past us! Don’t let the Blood Elves reach the shore!”
The Achillea unleashed a second volley which punched a couple more holes into the hull and took out the mizzenmast of the lead Sin’dorei ship. Just one more volley from the Achillea’s superior guns would sink her, but then as if on cue a line of mages popped up across the deck and conjured up a giant wall of ice in the water between them. Their shots crashed into the newly formed glacier and shattered it, but it bought the Horde just enough time to slip past.
The Achillea wanted to give chase, but the pair of still approaching Forsaken vessels had other ideas. Ensign Quincey on the radio relayed a message to Captain Breen.
“New plan!” Shouted Breen, “The Aconite is pulling away to pursue the elves! We are sailing out to engage the Forsaken vessels and cover them. Set course to fire a broadside at their forward vessel!”
“Aye, sir!” The crew called back. The Achillea pulled deeper out to sea while the Aconite raced towards the swift Sin’dorei vessels. Even the crew of the Blackpool in port was working to bring the ship about to fire. It may not have been ready for the open sea just yet, but the guns were as good as any and that would have to do for now.
The Achillea closed in on the Forsaken, but strangely, the undead’s ships didn’t seem to be in a rush to meet them. They were still on the distant end of the Achillea’s range, but now wasn’t the time to be stingy about munitions. “Fire when ready, Luther!” Breen called out.
“Fire!” Guns thundered on the deck. Cannonballs splintered rails and dented the hull of the Forsaken’s forward ship, but nothing crippling. The crew on deck just seemed a bit shaken, but something seemed off to Reeve. The Forsaken had the advantage here. Why play safe now? Reeve pulled out his telescope to get a better look. To his surprise, the deck of the Forsaken’s ships were poorly manned. There didn’t seem to be hardly any marines on board either one.
“Switch to chain shot and reload!” Marine Captain Luther bellowed, “We’re keeping these rotters dead in the water!”
Reeve had a sinking feeling in his gut. Something was very wrong. “Captain Luther.” Reeve drew one of his pistols and sniffed the salty sea air. It was the stench of decaying flesh. It made sense given the Forsaken’s presence, but this was too strong. They weren’t close enough for the smell to be this noticeable. “The Forsaken are holding out on us. Look, there aren’t any marines on board! Has anyone seen them launch any boarding vessels?”
“Nothing yet, Reeve.” Luther nodded to him for bringing it to his attention, “Everyone keep your eyes peeled. We still don’t have a visual on their whole crew. Prepare to-” Luther’s order was cut verbally short as a cutlass emerged from the side of the deck and plunged into his neck. Reeve snapped his pistol forward and blew off the hand that held the sword, but it was too late. Several Forsaken marines climbed dripping up onto the deck of the Achillea, and there was more where that came from. A goblin submarine surfaced next to the Achillea with a full force of Forsaken marines in formation on top of it. The dead don’t need to breathe. There was never a reason they had to send boarding parties above the water. The Achillea never even had a chance to thin their numbers.
Reeve glanced back at the Aconite. She didn’t seem to be faring much better. Caught up in pursuit and not able to make proper use of its weapons, the blood elf mages had reduced its sails to cinders leaving her a sitting duck. The Aconite and the Blackpool did what they could to fire on the dinghies of orc grunts that were being unloaded onto the shore, but too many of the Horde’s reinforcements were making it to shore.
For now, though, the Achillea and her crew had more pressing matters to attend to. What appeared to be a full ship’s worth at least of Forsaken marines clamored up the side of the Achillea to storm the deck. With Luther bleeding out lifelessly on the deck, Reeve took charge of the situation, “Marines! Hold formation! Protect the naval officers at all costs! Our allies on the shore will need our guns!”
“Aye aye!” The marines shouted back. They drew their swords as quickly as they could to repel the Forsaken, but several were cut down before they got the chance.
Reeve growled and snapped his attention to Captain Breen. The Captain was his responsibility to guard. During his time in the Royal and Rebel Navy, Reeve’s biggest claim to fame was his impeccable skill as a swordsman. However, since turning into a worgen he’d found his claws to feel a much more natural weapon. He saw a trio of Forsaken closing in on Breen after having dispatched of the crewmen around him. Reev growled and dropped down on all fours. His snout wrinkled into a snarl and he growled as he bounded toward them to engage.
The first of the undead was gone before he even knew what was happening. A massive clawed hand dug into his jaw, snapped his head backwards, and sent him toppling off the edge of the ship. The second Forsaken broke away, leaving Breen to his comrade. He brought his sword in front of him to hold Reeve back, but the moment he saw Reeve reaching for a fresh pistol he knew he had to strike. The undead lunged forward, but even though he'd since stopped wearing a sword, Reeve knew how to read his opponent’s movements. Reeve sidestepped and brought himself inside of the undead’s thrust. The light in his reanimated eyes flashed and faded as Reeve’s claw tore into his belly and ripped out his guts. In the same motion Reeve pivoted on his foot and brought his other hand forward to aim his pistol. Breen grinned in thanks and satisfaction as the shot nailed the last Forsaken in the base of the skull and dropped him down to the deck as well.
“Fine footwork, Reeve.” He nodded in thanks.
Reeve simply assumed his post near the captain and fought back any Forsaken bold enough to get close.
Captain Breen looked around to evaluate their situation. The undead had hurt their numbers badly, but it wasn’t enough to take a ship with a full outfit of Fallon marines. They would have been better served making use of their superior number of ships rather than fighters. Either the Forsaken had grossly overplayed their hand, or they had another objective. And Breen hadn’t made it this far by underestimating his opponents.
“Ensign Paaved. Give me a status report! I have a feeling the Horde is holding out on us.” Breen called to the draenei shaman keeping lookout.
Paaved squinted from his perch in the lookout and tried his best to find anything out of the ordinary. He had plenty of experience serving on ships, just not the sailing variety. A lot of the nuance was still lost on him, “The Forsaken are holding their position for now, but…” He took out his telescope to get a clearer view of the ships’ crews, “They look like they’re getting ready to adjust their sails. I think they’re waiting for something before they make their next move.”
“The spirits, Paaved.” Breen asked again, “Are you sensing anything out of the ordinary? I don’t trust this boarding action. It’s too risky for them.”
Paaved pursed his lips. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “The water spirits all around the ship are disturbed, but that’s not anything-” He paused and touched his forehead to concentrate, “There’s something beneath us. I sense… fire?”
Captain Breen’s face went pale, “Of course. The goblins must have outfitted their crew with diving gear.” He called to Reeve where he stood ahead of him surrendered by a ring of fallen undead soldiers.
“Aye sir?” Reeve took the momentary lull in the melee to reload his pistols.
“It sounds like we’ve got goblin sappers likely trying to blow the ship from the inside. Make sure they fail.” Breen ordered.
“Aye sir.” Reeve holstered his pistols and leapt down to head below deck. He didn’t even bother to bring a lamp. Between his keen sense of smell and hearing. He could fight quite effectively even in the dark. That was his edge against the goblins. He kept his ears perked up and made his way to the magazine. If the Horde was planning to plant charges and sink the Achillea without risking a ship while exchanging fire then they would do it there. And he wasn’t a moment too soon as it turned out. He arrived to find a team of about half a dozen goblin divers carrying explosives and trying to pick the lock on the magazine’s door with a slew of powder monkeys with slit throats scattered across the floor.
The team of goblins froze when they heard Reeve growling. Their hands trembled while they clutched their daggers. They had lost the element of surprise and Reeve was clearly in another league from a handful of green crewmen. The dim glimmering light reflecting off of Reeve’s eyes got closer and closer. Reeve started salivating uncontrollably. It was hard to describe, but ever since he turned he felt like he really could smell fear. It was intoxicating. Reeve roared and the goblins dropped their payload and turned to run. It was hopeless, though. Reeve gave chase and killed them one by one.
After he was finished there he gathered up the explosives and made his way to the nearest porthole. It had been forced open from the outside, likely how the goblins made it on board. He tossed the explosives out to sink into the sea and boarded up the opening. The portholes were too small to accommodate anything much bigger than a goblin, so there likely wasn’t any risk of Forsaken marines who were more prepared to put up a fight down here, but who knows how many sapper teams got sent out.
Reeve took a quick lap around the ship to check all the portholes to see if they’d been breached. Fortunately it seemed like it was just the one. He sighed. Breen had caught onto the plan soon enough that the Achillea’s crew were probably able to fend off the other teams before they made it on board. Reeve breathed a sigh of relief and began to make his way back up to the deck when suddenly a loud booming sound shook the entire ship. “What in the Light’s name!?!” Reeve got down on all fours and ran back up to the deck as fast as he could, claws digging into the wooden deck leaving long scrape marks.
When he emerged outside he saw the Forsaken jumping off the edge of the ship and retreating back to the goblin submarine. They’d won? That’s what Reeve wanted to think, but no one else on board was paying the Forsaken any mind.
“What are you doing? Push back! I want all these rotters off of my-” Reeve’s words got stuck in his throat when he turned around to see what everyone else was so distracted by toward the shore of Northwatch Hold, “Bloody hell…”
Several giants made from molten rock were standing inside the fortress walls. The Alliance forces were utterly broken, scattering like mice from giants while the Horde invaders from both land and sea cut them down without mercy, soldiers and civilians alike.
Reeve shook his head to regain his senses and made his way back to Breen at the helm, “Captain, I handled the situation with the sappers.” He gritted his teeth and looked to shore, “What is happening out there?”
Ensign Paaved came down from his perch and clutched his head, “Such anger… Those fire spirits are being tortured! What is the Horde thinking!? This sort of magic is forbidden by the Earthen Ring!”
Reeve’s ears twitched. Did he hear that correctly? Had the orcs forsaken the Earthen Ring? That organization was headed by their allies the tauren. Whatever that spelled for everyone now Reeve wasn’t quite sure, but he knew it wasn’t anything good.
“Damned greenskins…” Captain Breen clenched his fists and set his jaw, “Alright men! It looks like we have a new priority target! Bring us in to the shore! We’ll coordinate with the Aconite and the Blackpool to take down those giants. We need to buy our people on the ground as much time as we can!”
“Aye sir!” Called back the helmsman, Lieutenant Olivier Norton. She spun the wheel of the ship and ordered the deckhands to adjust the sails to bring the ship around to fire on the giants.
“Man the guns! Everyone back to your posts!” Reeve ordered. With Luther gone now he was the ranking marine on board. Reeve returned to his arquebus and double checked that nothing had been damaged during the Forsaken’s attack, but had to stop halfway through when he saw what was unfolding as they got closer and closer to shore. The giants were picking up huge boulders and shattered pieces of the fortress walls and throwing them at the ships. The Blackpool, having been crippled in port before the battle even began, crumpled instantly as a boulder snapped her in half. The Aconite was a Fallon ship and made of sterner stuff, but with her sails gone there was nothing she could do. It took three hits from the giants and she was swallowed up by the sea.
Breen stood dumbfounded. They had lost. Northwatch Hold was lost. The odds were against them from the beginning, but he never expected this.
“Captain! Your orders?!” Reeve yelled. They needed to act now. With the other ships out of the way, the Sin’dorei ships were turning to re-engage. “Captain!”
“There’s no way… They aren’t even taking prisoners…” He ground his teeth and tried to get a hold of himself, “Give them hell, men! We aren’t going down without a fight!”
The guns of the Forsaken ships thundered, having since closed the distance after their failed boarding action. Reeve jumped down from his post to rush to the Captain’s side, “Captain! Get down!” But it was too late. One of the cannonballs crashed into a railing along the deck and sent a huge splinted spike of wood straight toward Breen impaling him in the back through his kidney. Reeve gritted his teeth. He was too late. And to make matters worse, blood elf archers were now turning their attention as well. Arrows zipped past the crew of the Achillea, many of them finding their marks in the necks of her officers before the marines handling the anti-personnel weapons could provide covering fire.
Norton looked around, eyes wide, unsure of what she should do next. The between the Forsaken and the blood elves, the Achillea had been absolutely gutted of officers. Reeve raced toward her, “Where is Commander Thorp?!” He shouted for the next person down the chain of command.
“I-I don’t know! We’re taking hits on all sides.” Norton said frantically, “I’m not even sure who’s still alive!”
Reeve growled impatiently, “Who still standing has experience commanding a ship?!”
Lieutenant commander Esda limped up to the helm. Her leg was stuck with a red arrow, “I do, but never one that sailed on the sea…” The draenei woman smiled weakly, “I will serve if I must, but I would suggest someone else if we can afford it…”
“Take us out of here!” Reeve barked to Norton. He was resolved to do what needed to be done, “This fortress is lost. We don’t gain anything by staying here to be slaughtered. We need to make it back to Theramore and send word to Admiral Fallon!”
Norton and Paaved looked at him a little uneasily. It was hard to accept defeat and turn their backs on their comrades being hacked to pieces on the shore.
“Now!” Reeve bellowed, “I’m taking command of this vessel. If any of my superiors object to that then they can do so in a court martial once we’re clear of this place!”
“A-aye aye sir!” Norton started to get a hold of herself again and set their course to evade the Horde’s vessels.
Paaved blinked at Reeve, “But you’re a marine, Lieutenant Reeve. Aren’t you?”
“I’m a sailor, Ensign.” Reeve set his jaw and looked ahead, “I was the first officer aboard a gunship during the civil war, and right now that looks like the best we have.”
With the crew rallied the Achillea sped out along the shore away from the Horde. She was faster than the Forsaken ships and the Sin’dorei ships’ guns weren’t powerful enough to do too much damage as long as the Achillea’s gunners kept their mages pinned. Reeve found himself thanking whatever higher powers were listening that Fallon ships were so well made.
“Sir!” Paaved called from his perch, “There’s still people trying to flee towards the hills! The Horde is waiting for them there! They won’t make it!”
Reeve took a deep breath, “Maintain course.” He said coldly, “If we get any closer to shore then we’ll suffer the same fate.”
The din of battle continued as the Achillea returned fire to keep the approaching Horde vessels away. Reeve barked orders to gunmen to coordinate their fields of fire so that the blood elves couldn’t make proper use of their mages.
Norton pursed her lips and did her best to remain stone-faced even as tears rolled down her cheeks. She maintained their course back out to sea.
Paaved’s heart sank. He wanted to do something, but he knew that this was their only option.
Reeve took a flare gun out from his belt and loaded a shot. He raised the gun to the air and fired a bright blue flare to signal to whoever could see that the Achillea was falling back.
“Sir…” Paaved still couldn’t bring himself to protest. He looked out at the shore and saw all those people running for their lives. Running to their deaths more like it. There was nothing he could do. Nothing he could-
!!!
There were people in the water! They made a break for it and were swimming toward the signal flare.
“Lieutenant, er… Captain!” Paaved called out, “We have survivors swimming out toward us!”
“We aren’t changing course.” Reeve responded calmly.
“We don’t have to!” Paaved cried, “Let me drop a longboat. With the spirits to aid me I just might be able to make it to them in time!”
Reeve growled, “I need my shamans to give us some cover to shake the Horde off of our tails.”
Paaved looked down, dejected.
“If you’re too slow I won’t be coming back for you.” Reeve looked up at Paaved with his sea-green eyes and nodded, “Commander Esda, assume Ensign Paaved’s post.”
Paaved saluted Reeve and climbed down from his perch. He made his way to a longboat and launched it out to sea. Storm clouds started to form at the stern of the Achillea as the draenei shamans aboard summoned a squall behind them to stall the Horde’s pursuit.
“Spirits of water… lend me your aid and save these lost souls from their doom!” Paaved held up his totem and the water around the longboat grabbed hold of the craft, sending it tearing through the water toward the lone survivor. Saltwater and rain soaked his body as he sped forward, but the boat miraculously remained dry as a bone. Not a single drop of it was filling the hull. The heads of the swimmers bobbed in and out of the waves in the distance. They grew closer and closer as Paaved sped ahead, but after each wave, fewer and fewer of the heads made their way back above the surface.
“Please… Light preserve them…” Paaved clenched his teeth and pushed the boat harder. The boards creaked as the water thrust it forward at breakneck speed. By the time he reached the swimmers, there was only one remaining. She was a human woman with short, red hair. Paaved grabbed her arm and hauled her aboard. Immediately she grunted and reached out toward the bodies floating lifeless behind her. Paaved had to hold until she settled down so that she didn’t fall out of the ship and drown.
Once she had calmed, Paaved breathed a sigh of relief and held up his totem again, “Thank the Light I was able to save you at least…” The woman lying on the deck groaned and mumbled in her half-conscious state.
Whether it was luck or the will of the elements, Paaved couldn’t say, but he made it back to the Achillea unscathed. As soon as the longboat was pulled back up he took the woman to Reeve with the help of another crewman.
“That was some fine sailing, Ensign.” Reeve said, “Don’t make a habit of it.”
Paaved saluted as best he could with his free hand, “Thank you, Sir.”
The lone survivor was being supported on either side; it seemed her legs wouldn’t quite hold her. Her hair was soaked with seawater, making the color less recognizable at first, but when she lifted her pale, haunted face it was clearly the supply officer who had interviewed Reeve not long ago - a calm day on the beach that might as well have been a century ago. Her brown eyes were dead and distant until her gaze floated past him; then her attention snapped back, and a semblance of life returned to her face.
“Reeve…” she said hoarsely. Even the single syllable seemed a heroic effort for her in her current state.
Reeve blinked. As a worgen he wasn’t exactly the most popular person at Northwatch, yet somehow its sole survivor was one of the few who took the time to know him, “Mattingly…”
“You know this woman, Sir?” Paaved asked.
“Not well.” Reeve said a bit dismissively as he focused back on the task at hand, “Paaved, you are to relieve Commander Esda and resume your post. Crewman, you take Mattingly and Esda to a shaman for medical attention.”
“Sir!”
Reeve turned around. He looked back at the carnage while he gave the order, “All hands on deck! We set sail for Theramore at top speed!”
“Aye sir!” The crew echoed.
Reeve never turned his back on the smoldering ruins of Northwatch Hold as the fire giants continued to trample it in the distance. By some miracle he and the Achillea had managed to survive, but this was still one of the worst defeats he had ever suffered. He clenched his firsts tightly as the image burned into his mind. These were the lengths the Horde was willing to go to in order to win. All the murder, all the destruction. This was no battle. It was a massacre.