Utu-ja received his orders and ran to a place farther back than the other bowmen, crouching on a large barrel that was farther toward the left flank of the defense line.  Longshots were his specialty and he'd have more time to aim from farther back.  He was also more visible from the walls than most and was in an exposed position if the enemy had archers.  But that was a risk he'd have to take to get clean shots into the chaos that was going to erupt when the enemy landed.

Most of the ships seemed to have competent pilots and docked reasonably well.  One of them, though, was clumsy enough that he apparently used one pier to slow down before docking at the next.  The argonian hoped that they would be equally clumsy in battle.  This situation didn't feel right.  It didn't help that the garrison was panicking and stupid, no matter how brave.  They wasted an entire volley of arrows before they had a single good shot.  But Utu got a glimpse of the armor worn by the enemy just before they ducked behind cover.

He used the first vial of frostbite venom to soak his first arrowhead and the first few inches and set the other three beside his lead foot.  He actually left the arrow inside the vial, braced against his leg during the assault by the atronarchs.  Poison wouldn't do anything to them and he didn't want to show off while the enemy was watching.  He only had 18 steel arrows and then he'd be down to his iron heads.  Those arrows had to count.  He didn't have a Jarl footing the bill for his gear.

Then the atronarchs fell and the real attack started.  He heard horrified whispers of giants but these things were no giants.  A giant could kick one of them well into the river.  Still, they were built like trolls and much bigger.  Even without the armor he would have to use poison to bring something like that down.  Now, he had to find weak points.  

He waited and watched, his jaw tightening at the power and the carnage.  There were people he respected over there.  He didn't want them to die.  He didn't know Jorwen personally but he had never seen anything contemptable from him.  Now, he saw something to admire.  The man was a beast himself.  Still, he looked like he was shaken and tired and he'd only killed one.  But, for an archer with a good view, he had done far more.

Jorwen had forced that beast to show numerous weak points in its armor where the metal didn't help it.  The leather beneath looked thick but Utu wasn't using a common bow.  He drew back that poisoned arrow as far as he could with his long arms and lined up a shot with one that was in the lead by only a short distance with two of its cursed kind behind it.  They were running, charging, and focused on the area where Jorwen was rallying the other mercenaries.  There was a gap in the metal plate just at the root of the hamstring.  It was small but Utu was used to hitting the gaps in a stag's ribs from two hundred paces.

He loosed the shot and it flew true.  With the added power of his elven bow and his overdraw the poisoned arrow penetrated the thick leather farther than others.  Still, it wasn't at the right angle to cut the tendon.  The beast was startled and stumbled, tried to correct its balance and suddenly found that its right ankle wouldn't respond as it wished.  The venom worked quickly, especially where it first struck.  The beast fell and the two behind it had the misfortune to catch their feet on their fellow.  One of them went down with a second massive crash, its armored head cracking the stones where it struck.  The other managed to keep on coming but its balance was gone and its first swing went wild, missing everyone and turning its torso to the side.

Utu quickly readied an unpoisoned arrow and concentrated on the ones on the ground.  The one that had tripped was already rising, shaking its head only a little.  It would be the first back into the fray and might break Jorwen's position.  Utu fired a second arrow, also overdrawn.  He was going to exhaust himself before he ran out of arrows if he had to pull so far back to make a difference with each shot.  This arrow was not so well fated.  It hit the base of the helmet and glanced downward inside the armored collar of the beast.  Part of the arrowhead had snapped off and the jagged remains weren't likely to penetrate far.

It turned to look his way and ripped a stone the size of the argonian's head from the dock before hurling it.  Utu jumped to one side and the stone smashed through the top of the barrel.  He landed hard but rolling and managed to escape serious injury.  Well that was the end of his advantageous position.  Now he had the brute's attention, no cover, no height, and only one vial of frostbite venom left.  The others lay smashed on the stones.  This didn't look good.  It was reaching for another stone.