The next morning more armies started to appear on the outskirts of the city. Cavalry from the independent dukedom of Cordeb, heavy infantry from the republic of Genev and crossbowmen mercenaries hired by the principality state of Valenco.

These armies were all led by different generals and lords hired by the cities and states. Some of these commanders were from Guiscard or from other states, but all were enticed by the probability of earning large sums of gold. Most of these commanders were seasoned veterans with years of experience on the battlefield, and others were rich merchants hoping to gain prestige to rise in the ranks of the Etnian hierarchy system.

~ ~

Late in the afternoon all of the armies left the city of Melba and headed south getting ready to meet up with the rest of the forces of the Etna states. Only around half of their forces met in Melba with the rest of the forces meeting near the coastal city of Pesamo deep in the south of Etna.

During their march, many people waved at the soldiers and mercenaries of the different states. None of them thought waved or showed respect to the forces of Rufus, especially the grey skins.

For the grey skins, this was not anything new. They didn't care much, since they felt like they were in another world. Seeing the large city of Melba with its great walls and palaces or the seas of vineyards, grain fields or any other thing they saw astounded the grey skins.

"This really is something, brother. While we were starving in the mountains, these people were filling their stomachs with fruits, meat, bread and living in this pleasant world. Hard to believe right," Amala said to Pema.

"Not everything in this world is shared evenly," Pema answered back.

"Yeah….but now we are fighting for these people who would never share any of this wealth with us."

"Can you be more depressing…..?" Yosef said who was eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Excuse me?" Amala said.

"Your people now have a home, a kingdom and roofs on top of their heads. You should be happy?"

"What do you know. Do you know how it is if your people are starved and forced to scavenge since you were forced to live in the fringes of the world?" Amala asked with a mad tone.

"I actually do. My people live all over the universe and occupy the fringes since they are not allowed to live nowhere else," Yosef said back, leaving Amala silent.

~ ~

The army was soon arriving at Pesamo. As they were getting closer, smoke could be seen in the distance.

Scouts belonging to the dukedom of Cordeb arrived and informed their general. The general in turn rushed out to Rufus.

"King Rufus! The city of Pesamo is under siege by an imperial army."

An imperial army had ignored the islands of the strait of Espada and went straight to the mainland. It was at least fifty thousand strong according to the scouts and had already put up siege towers.

"We have to ride out to the city now. With cavalry we can arrive at the city to liberate it sooner," Rufus yelled out.

"We are not in a hurry, are we? They are just putting up siege towers so they will be able to hold the city for at least a day. We are in no hurry," Ximena said who came to listen to the report.

Soon loud shots were being heard from the direction of the city. It could be recognized immediately as dokkaebi cannon fire.

If the cannons would be allowed to batter the walls for long, soon the army could storm the city and pillage it.

"Black yaks and the rest of the cavalry, on me!" Rufus commanded.

Rufus started to ride fast with his retinue and the cavalry of the Fairfax kingdom. Three thousand black yaks and another three thousand horse cavalry started to ride with their king and Raja.

As they rode off they left the rest of the army behind making the soldiers and mercenaries of Etna shocked and confused as to what had just happened.

~ ~

After about five hours of harsh riding, they reached a top of a hill where they could overlook the battle that was raging.

A large army had surrounded the entire city of Pesamo with soldiers blocking every road and crossing leading in or out of the city. Large siege towers were being dragged to the walls as cannons pummeled the walls.

Even a small navy had come just outside the city's harbor stopping any ship from helping the city. The catapults on the ships sent flaming rocks over the walls burning down buildings.

As the soldiers of Pesamo started to shoot arrows from the city walls down at the enemy, a spiral of fire struck the walls ending any arrow fire that could hinder the varangians.