Greenwater, Western Region of Castonia

Prefect Ryon stabbed his halberd towards the body of a Tulosan soldier.

He missed. The Tulosan tilted his body and Ryon's halberd missed the man's stomach by a few inches. Ryon's halberd hit the stony merlon of the wall. The blunt impact vibrated through his arm. He felt pain and instinctively let go of the halberd. He cursed himself for doing so. Letting go of one's weapon was stupid. Now he lost his weapon and the Tulosan's spear was coming for his chest. He quickly jumped back and avoided the Tulosan's stab.

It was close and the spear brushed against Ryon's mail. Although chainmail could protect against sword slashes, it was vulnerable to stabs. He grabbed the shaft of his enemy's spear and grappled the weapon from the Tulosan. The man wasn't prepared and he let go of the handle of his spear.

Ryon reversed the tip of the spear and stabbed the Tulosan with his own weapon. This time, Ryon's stab was hard and true. The tip of the spear penetrated the Tulosan's thin armor and pierced the man's chest. The Tulosan fell down and Ryon put his weight on the spear. He felt the spear move a few more inches into the Tulosan's body.

The Tulosan grabbed the shaft of the spear and tried to dislodge the weapon out of his body. Ryon felt the spear move a little. He was impressed. The strength of a desperate man fighting for his life was truly impressive.

But it was already over. The man was impaled under Ryon's stab. He struggled for a while, but Ryon knew that he punctured the man's lungs. After a few moments, the struggles of the man became weaker. He pulled the spear out. The Tulosan's body was still twitching, but Ryon knew he will die soon.

He looked around. It was bloody and chaotic. Screams, shouts and cries mixed in the air. A portion of the wall had crumbled and his unit was trying to defend the hole while building a makeshift barricade.

Their situation was dire. His men were being pushed back by the endless wave of Tulosans coming through the hole. To make matters worse, some of the Tulosans climbed the walls with their ladders. Ryon personally led a few dozens of his men to defend the top of the walls. They were outnumbered at first, but they prevailed. The Tulosan he killed just now was the last of them.

Even so, his soldiers below were slowly losing ground. If this continues, the Tulosans will take the walls of Greenwater and possibly the whole city. They must defend the walls. They need to. Ryon would fight to the death himself, but some of his men won't. A few of his men below were already retreating.

"Prefect!" the soldier behind him called. Ryon turned to the soldier. "It's the Marquis! The Marquis is coming!" he pointed towards a mass of soldiers at the distance.

Ryon saw Marquis Connel's flag. The winged swordfish in the flag was unmistakable.

"Reinforcements!" Ryon shouted as he quickly went down from the wall. "The Marquis is coming!" he shouted to his men.

After hearing that Marquis Connel is coming to rescue them, Ryon's soldiers cheered. Those who were in the process of retreating turned back around. They were pushing the Tulosans back.

After a few moments, Marquis Connel arrived with his men and joined the fray. They fought like wild beasts and drove the Tulosans out. Many of the Castonians died, but they were successful in defending the walls today.

"I'm glad we reached you in time" the Marquis said to Ryon. The Marquis personally joined the fight and his sword was bloody. His armor was also damaged.

"How's the Eastern Wall Sire?"

"Worse" he grimaced "We can't repair the gate so we just built barricades. But the Tulosans destroyed the barricades with one charge."

"They are getting desperate Sire. Do you think this has something to do with Knightsend?" Ryon asked.

During the first weeks of the siege, the Tulosans just camped around the city. Their trebuchets hurled stones at the city walls form time to time, but that was the end of it. But about ten days ago, shocking news arrived. Knightsend had broken the siege by themselves. It was unbelievable. Ryon knew how hard it is to fight a cavalry-heavy army. Around the same time, the Tulosan attack became more aggressive. They assaulted the city almost everyday. Eventually, they breached some parts of the walls of Greenwater.

The Marquis wiped his sword and sheated it on its scabbard. "Yes. Their supply lines are cut. They need to take Greenwater as soon as possible." He looked around "Three days" he then said

"What?" Ryon asked.

"I estimate the city's fall to be in three days if they continue their assault. I recalled the men from Castle Timur and consolidated our forces inside the city, but we still can't defend against 25,000 Tulosans. Soon the city will fall" he lamented

Ryon frowned. Marquis Connel was right though, the city was on the verge of defeat. Thousands of Castonians were either dead or too injured to fight. In fact, only half of his cohort remains. Morale was also low.

Suddenly, a man ran towards the Marquis. He was in a hurry. From the looks of it, the man must be Marquis Connel's squire.

"Sire! A red-sealed letter arrived from Knightsend" The squire said as he handed the Marquis the letter.

Ryon could see the anxiousness in the Marquis eyes. He took the letter and immediately read it.

"Impossible!" Marquis Connel exclaimed. His expression was that of surprise but there was a hint of joy in his face.

"Are..Are you sure you didn't just make this up? If this was just a joke, I would strangle you" he said to the squire.

"No sire. It came from Knightsend. Look at the seal. It was Prince Timothy's personal seal" the squire replied.

Ryon couldn't hold his curiosity anymore. "Sire, pardon me for asking but what did the Prince wrote in the letter?"

The Marquis didn't answer him. Instead, he asked Ryon back "Prefect, you have experienced dozens of battles before, right?"

Ryon nodded

"Do you think it's possible to destroy an army of ten thousand with just a few dozen casualties?"

"No Sire. That's impossible" Ryon quickly answered. It really was impossible. Why would the Marquis ask him a question with an obvious answer?

"You're wrong Prefect" Marquis Connel corrected "Because Prince Timothy just did it."

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"General Sigurd is a fool! This is probably the worst defeat Tulosa had experienced." Prefect Maine shouted. He then looked around as if he was gathering support from the other officers. "I should have led that army."

"We just experienced a humiliating defeat and you're scheming for power. How shameless can you be?" Prefect Jerome reprimanded.

"You!" Maine glared at Jerome. The two Prefects then stood up to brawl but the others held them down.

"Ten seconds" General Rickard said slowly and coldly. "You have ten seconds to behave or else I will be your opponent."

The two fighting Prefects immediately froze and went back to their seats. They behaved after hearing Rickard's words. The other Prefects were also silent.

"Now let's talk about what happened to Sigurd's army" Rickard put his hand on his forehead and frowned. "How could this happen?"

"Maybe the letter was a mistake or a joke" Prefect Dan commented

"I don't think so. I told you, Sigurd is a fool" Prefect Maine repeated.

"Or maybe Prince Timothy is just too good?" Prefect Dan said. He stroked his beard. "We shouldn't have underestimated them."

"We didn't" It was Prefect Jerome's turn to speak. "First, who would've thought that Knightsend would break the siege. Second, we never expected that Prince Timothy was a beast."

"Enough with that. We should decide what our next step is. Continuing this siege is too dangerous" a Prefect voiced

"But we are so close. Our spies revealed that the defenders are weary. The city will fall any day now."

"He's right. We need to retreat." Rickard finally voiced out. "We can't risk it. We're already pushing our luck by assaulting Greenwater even after Knightsend broke the siege."

"But General, what about the Calgarians? They will be disappointed"

"We don't have a choice. We must find another way." Rickard replied.

Their original plan was to take Greenwater and let the Calgarians have the city. Calgari and Tulosa were in a secret alliance and planned a joint invasion of Castonia. Tulosa will invade first and take Greenwater. The Calgarians would then enter Castonia through Greenwater by the sea. This was the reason why Rickard's army attacked Greenwater instead of Solon. Destroying Solon would damage Castonia more, but their victory would be short-lived since Castonia could repel them with its full force. On the other hand, the combined force of Calgari and Tulosa would be enough to defeat all the armies of Castonia.

But now they failed and the King will be pissed. They need to find another way to join forces with the Calgarians. It will be hard, but that's better than continuing their assault on Greenwater. Although the city was on the verge of surrender, they can't spare even a few days. They need to retreat back to Tulosa.

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but the Castonians bested them this time