-[Chapter 008]-

A flight of dragons swooped over the siege camp, lining up for the attack on the city. They approached the walls at a shallow glide, their violent intentions heralded by the sound of their guttural roars as they wound up their breath attacks. Long bursts of flame washed clean the fortifications that stood between Basil’s forces and the heart of Empire Solar. Any defender that was unlucky enough to be graced by the touch of the scorching blaze was quickly sent tumbling overt the ramparts, flailing and screaming as he fell. Others crammed themselves inside the guard towers and ducked behind the parapets so as to try and escape the infernal heat. Large portions of the outer wall had already been rendered black and barren by the first few waves, but the flocks of fire breathing beasts circled back as soon as they had recovered from their previous run. If all went according to Elnora’s plan, there would be no respite for the beleaguered soldiers manning the walls.

Basil’s army had established itself in the foothills of a barren mountain range, facing the city below. At the dawn’s first light his minions had begun assembling in the burned fields between the siege camp and the crumbling outer defenses of the imperial capital. Since the beginning of the siege the attackers had been hard at work establishing earthworks and trenches. They had used the excavated dirt to fill in the moat and ditches that had once surrounded the city. At this point the trenches ran so close to the walls that all but the largest of beasts could make their way into assault range without exposing themselves to the arrows and spells of the defenders.

Hidden in these forward positions the bands of orcs, ogres and wilder-beasts awaited the order to charge. They carried no ladders or climbing gear, but rather relied on the largest of creatures among them to reduce the fortifications to a point where they could clamber up and over the crumbling walls and into the city streets beyond.

The ranks of imperial soldiers manning the walls thinned with every passing dragon. But once in a while a bolt from a ballista or a lucky spell struck home and sent a beast veering off towards his roost before it had unleashed its fiery breath. It was a small victory, blemished further still by the fact that with all of their effort and sacrifice so far no dragon had been truly felled, only chased away. And they had yet to face the hordes of infantry that were sure to come charging in after the dragons had done their part.

Chants and war cries echoed up from the trenches, spoken in a thousand monstrous tongues. They flew over the dragon-fire scorched stone fortifications where they reached the ears of the imperial soldiers. The guttural cacophony of anger and bloodlust struck hard and buried deep into the hearts of the beleaguered defenders. They watched in horror as the endless hordes assembled behind the earthen mounds and in the trenches below, ready to burst forth at a moment’s notice.

Little did the defenders know that guiding these primitive beasts and frenzied demi-humans was a cold and calculating mind; a master who rallied the monsters towards a singular goal—the complete and total annihilation of Empire Solar and the civilization that had founded it.

From her position at the heart of the siege camp Elnora oversaw the ongoing preparations for the coming battle. The air assault was just her opening move. It was intended to wither down the morale and numbers of the defenders manning the walls, but she did not expect the dragons to carry the day by themselves. She knew that she would have to unleash the full power of the army to breach the fortifications. Nothing less than a full on frontal assault would suffice to claim victory in the timeframe allotted to her by Basil. And if all went more or less according to her plan, today would be the day that Empire Solar fell.

The she-demon used her brief window for deployment to position her troops for the coming fight. She issued orders to her soldiers by moving colored pieces on an enchanted map. The yellow parchment on the table before her displayed in fine detail the lines of fortifications, city streets and terrain, as well as the forces under her command.

When a unit was moved on the map the banner in the hands of the actual unit’s leader compelled it to reposition. The enchanted banner whispered directions to its holder, thus enticing the creature onwards in service to its master. In this manner the battle was organized from the command center atop of the hill. A dozen pieces moved at the stretch of her hand would send thousands of feet marching to the tune of a whispered command.

It was efficient. At least for as long as the banner-men listened. Once the battle was truly joined it was likely to result in chaos, but for now she enjoyed near total control over her simple-minded warriors.

Most monsters were not known to respond well to careful planning. Some downright abhorred it and much preferred to rely on their instincts. But when pressed under the leadership of a dungeon keeper even a band of goblins could be seen listening to a battle plan. Whether they understood it or not was a different question entirely, but at least the rest of the horde would be there to keep them in line and charging towards the enemies, not away from them.

Elnora was not alone in the command tent. An armor-clad woman stood next to the she-demon and closely followed her every decision. She was a shield maiden and a follower of Lady Scarlet. It was under her supervision that the groundwork for the siege had been laid, but she had relinquished that command to Elnora as soon as Basil’s orders had arrived. Her new task was to serve as an advisor to Elnora, since she had a deeper understanding of the current situation on the ground and could better assess the capabilities of the assembled force.

“If I may,” the female knight said. “Wuzrag’s band was down to half strength last time I saw them. I would advise against placing them in the vanguard.”

“That would be a problem if I wanted them to survive the initial assault,” Elnora answered. “But I have read the reports on his conduct. That particular orc chieftain is too unpredictable. His thirst for blood might reach beyond my ability to control once we break into the city. Once we breach the walls, it will become increasingly hard to coordinate the troops. I’d rather he died in the first wave so that we could spare some of the more tactically minded soldiers for the street battles instead.”

The knight bowed her head in agreement. “That would be a prudent choice,” she said. “I will inform him of the honor that has been bestowed upon his clan. I’m sure that they will be pleased by the opportunity to distinguish themselves in the vanguard.”

Elnora was dressed in black suit of scale mail armor. It was true that plate mail would have provided more overall protection, but she had chosen to forego it on account of its lack of flexibility and greater drain on stamina. The succubus knew that she would need to cover a fair bit of ground to keep up with her advancing forces, so a more ergonomic suit of armor was preferable. On her head she wore a light helmet made out of joined bands of gold trimmed steel. The thin plates provided little defense, but their true purpose was to hold in place a large ruby on her forehead—a soul stone to power the magic artifact that was her head dress. The helmet offered her some degree of protection from spells and area effects while allowing for superb awareness of her surroundings.

Her assistant wore much heavier armor. She carried a full set of plate mail, a shield on her back and a bastard sword at her side. Her combat class was easy to guess as her white and blood red suit of armor was adorned with several torn pages of Holy Scriptures, hymns and prayers. To what gods or ungodly powers she had dedicated them to remained a mystery—the paladin would not say when questioned. She was, however, more than willing to discuss the red rose crest on her shield, which belonged to her mistress, Lady Scarlet.

She was one of her famed shield maidens. Her white and red armor signified her membership in the Order of the Thorn. Her branch was a hundred strong at all times and its members often served as field commanders to the forces of their dark lord. The other two branches—the Order of the Blade and the Order of the Chalice—were more concerned with direct combat and healing respectively. Together they formed the three branches of the Red Rose Society, the head of which was Scarlet herself.

Elnora’s strategizing was brought to pause as a guard outside announced the arrival of the dungeon keeper. “All hail—the—the—Dark One,” an orc exclaimed in his guttural tongue. The beast mangled the words, but spoke them loudly and with passion.

The canvas of the tent door parted and Basil was revealed in his towering red glory. The dungeon keeper entered the command tent and found his servants already kneeling before him.

Elnora bowed her head as she greeted her master. The knight next to her bowed even deeper.

“Rise,” Basil ordered. “Bring me up to speed on your progress.”

“As you command,” Elnora said and moved to show him the map.

“Our forces are almost in position,” she explained. “Once you give the order to attack, I will send in the first wave of assault troops—fourteen consolidated war bands, some six thousand soldiers in all.”

Basil nodded. “Mostly orcs, I presume.”

“Yes,” Elnora replied. “Their racial ability, {Blood Frenzy}, should last them long enough to overcome the first line of defense. In order to reduce the wall to a manageable climb I have positioned all of our mountain giants and the largest of trolls in support for their attack. They have orders to tear away at the walls and to stack the rubble at the foundations to form ramps that our infantry can scale. The more intelligent ones among them have been given orders to gently lift our troops onto the walls.”

“Dismantling the walls will take some time,” Basil noted.

“It will,” Elnora agreed, “but the outer layer of the walls and parapets has a glaring weakness that should facilitate my plan. It is covered in a layer of decorative stone slabs. The imperial capital was built to impress, but the pretty marble walls should provide ample material for our ramps once the dragons are done weakening them.”

“I suppose you intend to super-cool the marble to crack it?” Basil asked.

“Indeed,” Elnora said. “I have ordered all the available alchemists to produce as many frost orbs as they can. Once the trolls and giants begin their advance, and inevitably draw fire from the defenders, the alchemists will send forth their minions to smash apart the superheated stone and reduce the marble into rubble.”

“Have you considered launching a diversionary attack on one of the gates?” Basil asked.

“I have already sent out raiding parties to harass other sections of the wall to draw away the defenders,” Elnora answered, “but I don’t intend to divide my own forces. A concentrated push through the first layer of defense at a single point would serve us best, given the crude nature of our troops. A more detailed plan will increase the risk of them falling into confusion.

“I have been informed, however, that the band of chaos dwarves that we managed to recruit on this world has completed their tunneling work in time for our attack. They have undermined the left most portion of the wall along our line of advance. Once I give the order, they will ignite the stockpiles of arcane dust and mana stone positioned beneath it and, hopefully, breach the wall above.”

Basil agreed with her battle plan. “Good, have that be your signal to commence the attack. Even creatures as dull as these,” he said and gestured at the orcs outside the tent, “will understand that. Big boom means go.”

The shield maiden snickered and gave the ‘dull guard’ standing at the entrance a contemptuous look.

“What will you do after you breach the wall?” Basil asked.

“I will flood the city streets with our ground forces,” Elnora answered. “I have set aside a number of our best units to follow up the first wave of the assault—a grand total of sixteen thousand orcs, ogres and beastmen, supported by shamans, elementalists and witch-doctors of various races. They should provide the necessary healing and damage spells to overcome any organized resistance in the city streets.”

She dragged her hand across the city map on the table and drew a line towards an impressive fortification that lied at the very heart of the capital. “Once my forces will be in position to surround the imperial palace, I will send in the third wave, consisting mostly of mercenaries and demi-humans. They lack the brute strength and endurance of our bestial and greenskin troops, but they are by far the best fighters due to their class abilities and skill in combat. They should be able to overcome any elite guards that might remain at the palace.”

“Have you considered using the dragons inside the city?” Basil asked.

“Normally I would have planned for it,” Elnora answered, “but the dragon population of this world has been severely decimated over the centuries by the imperial forces. The false goddess, Maiden Solar, ran a long and bloody purge of the dragons, as they proved to be a constant threat to her expanding domain. Their low numbers will find it hard to repopulate if we expend them on this assault. Of all the forces at our disposal, the dragons are the most valuable and should be preserved in as large a number as possible to foster the generations to come.”

“A wise decision,” the shield maiden noted. “The Guild will look on us favorably if we chose to spare the rarest of monsters from annihilation.”

Basil nodded in agreement. “Very well, but make sure to keep them on standby should you encounter determined resistance on your way to the imperial palace. Nothing clears a street barricade quite like the fiery fury of a dragon.

“Well, I have seen enough,” Basil announced. “You have my permission to launch the attack at your earliest discretion.”

“Master, if I may… Where will you be during the battle?” Elnora asked. “Will you be observing it from here, or should I arrange an escort to follow you in the field?”

“I don’t think that I need to get involved with the siege myself,” Basil answered. “And there are no kith here who could threaten my life, so an escort will not be necessary. The Emperor already sent his best warriors to try and assassinate me yesterday. Judging from their power level there is no one here that could present a challenge for me. I would advise you to keep your mind focused on taking the city. I will be fine. I have a few things to sort out in the meanwhile.”

Basil rubbed his chin. “It’s a shame that they elected to fight behind their walls. Now it’s just a war of attrition. I was almost hoping that the Emperor would resort to something drastic, like what the mage cabal did on… what was the world? Laredan?” he looked to the shield maiden for confirmation.

Scarlet’s faithful servant bowed her head. “Laredian, My Lord.”

“What a pit of misery that world was,” Basil said. “The crazy cultists in charge of that civilization chose to sacrifice their entire capital city, slaves, nobles and anyone in-between, to summon a blood demon from the abyssal realm to fight me.

“The beast put up a good fight. It wasn’t enough to stop me though. His skull is still hanging over the fireplace in the Emerald Hall of the Mansion. Just don’t look too closely at the teeth—we had to glue those back in once I was done with it.”

This time it was the orc guarding the entrance of the tent that could be heard snickering.

“Anyhow… I can see that you have things well and truly in hand,” Basil told Elnora. “I guess I better go and take my place in the shadows.

“Remember that your main goal is to breach the gates of the imperial palace. If you can achieve that task in a timely manner, I will consider your grasp of command to be adequate.

“Oh, and I expect you to conserve your forces as much as possible. Assume that there are no Guild-side contingencies available in case that you fail. Fight like your life was on the line.”

Elnora saluted Basil. “I will make you proud, Master,” she said. “I will prove my worth!”

Basil nodded and stepped outside. Once the dungeon keeper had disappeared from Elnora’s sight a pair of black-hooded minions appeared out of thin air next to him. They wore black leather armor and carried longbows slung over their backs. These were the followers of Schwartz and they specialized in ranged combat, espionage and ambush tactics.

“My Lord,” one of them addressed the dungeon keeper, “we have successfully infiltrated our strike groups through the south-eastern gatehouse. At your call the garrison of the palace can be eliminated.”

“Understood,” Basil said. “How is the Emperor doing?”

This time the other ranger answered. “Emperor Osran is currently located within his private chambers. He dismissed all of his servants and guards earlier in the morning. It seems like the old man has resigned himself to death, but we made sure to check his chambers for hidden stockpiles of poison, so that he could not deprive you of your meeting.”

“What about his court mage?” Basil asked.

“Dead in his chambers, as you requested,” the ranger answered. “My brothers have also taken the liberty of killing the rest of the mages in the Mage Tower on their way to sabotaging the teleportation circle. As for the court priest, he is no longer in the capital. Form what we have gathered the man fled the city during the night with most of what remained of the imperial treasury as well as several of his mistresses.”

“Well done,” Basil said. “Inform your brothers in the palace to expect my arrival shorty. They can kill anyone who gets in our way, but the Emperor must remain unharmed. I am looking forward to our meeting.”

The rangers bowed to their master and vanished into thin air.

Basil took one last look at the forces of darkness massing in the valley below and adjusted his magic bandolier. He then raised his hand towards the imperial city and pointed his finger at one of the many balconies that were set on the side of the imperial palace that rose up above the urban jungle surrounding it.

“[Teleport],” he commanded and in the blink of an eye the dungeon keeper found himself landing on the railing of the balcony. The wooden handrail cracked and broke under his weight, but, having fallen through it, Basil managed to find stable footing on the perch of the balcony itself.

As he turned around he could now observe the ongoing siege from the perspective of the besieged. The city streets below him were as of yet untouched by fire and ruin, but a number of barricades had been thrown up in advance. The citizens and soldiers of Empire Solar scurried about as they made ready for their last stand.

“Brave souls,” Basil noted. “They are determined to fight for their civilization to the bitter end. I applaud your grit.”

The dungeon keeper heard the balcony door behind him open. Basil swung around and found an imperial soldier staring at him. To the man’s credit he did not back away from the hulking demon, but drew his sword instead.

As the unlucky soldier stepped forward with his weapon raised for the strike, Basil reached out and grabbed him by the head. The dungeon keeper then threw the poor sod over the edge of the balcony. Like an overripe apple, the armor clad body of the human burst open when it hit the ground some fifteen stories below. Basil wiped the man’s spittle and snot from his palm against the doorframe and turned back to observing the city, waiting for the battle to begin.

Soon enough a thundering noise washed over the imperial capital—the roaring boom of an explosion. A large chunk of the city wall facing the siege camp suddenly erupted into a cloud of crushed stone and blue plumes of smoke. The signal to begin the assault had been given. A swarming mass of monsters rose up from the trenches and flowed towards the walls, their charge given rhythm by a thousand beating drums, no doubt striking fear into the hearts of the defenders.

“Brave, unfortunate souls,” Basil said. The dungeon keeper turned his back on the city and stepped inside the palace. “You could have been so much more, but you had to fall for the oldest trick in the book—the promises of a false god.”