Chapter 33

Year 163 – Fall – Quintus Mensis – 2nd day

Avem, town of House Valmai, land of the Vale

The sun was almost reaching its zenith when the mirage of the Kalator appeared in the far distance. The sunlight was reflecting on their armour, but the Valmai knew they were coming. The Kalator settled half a mile away from the walls. In the meantime, Lord Egmond headed forward on horseback, followed by his advisers and the commanding heads of his army.

Lanaya – “Are all horses this stubborn?”

Egmond – “It’s your first time riding one?”

Lanaya – “Yeah.”

Atilos – “Same for me, but I guess mine is more agreeable.”

Amund – “Don’t grip your legs on your horse. You won’t slide down if you keep your balance and hold the reins.”

Lanaya – “If you say so . . .”

Egmond – “Would you rather be the only one barefoot?”

Lanaya – “I’m fine; I’ll manage.”

The little group trotted before stopping out of reach from the Valmai arrows.

Atilos – “Now what?”

Egmond – “We wait.”

Atilos – “And if they don’t come?”

Egmond – “Look at their soldiers on the wall and look at our own.”

The soldiers on the wall seemed prepared and confident, and they didn’t seem to have walked for five hours straight.

Atilos – “Fair point.”

Egmond – “If they charge us, we’ll win through our numbers, but otherwise, I’d rather not fight them today. We aren’t losing much time by waiting here.”

During that time on the northern wall of Avem, the Krain’s general joined the Eagle of Vale.

General Thorkel – “What do we do?”

The Eagle – “What can we do? Our door has been turned into walls.”

General Thorkel – “Can’t we send them an arrow with a missive?”

The Eagle – “They won’t get in reach of arrows just to pick up a piece of paper.”

General Thorkel – “So, we just wait and look at them?”

The Eagle – “Either they think we’ll surrender, or they are observing our defences.”

Further into the land, Egmond and the others were looking at them.

Mundric – “Why aren’t they coming?”

Egmond – “They probably just want us to come close to get in the reach of their arrows. Just wait a little; they’ll come eventually.”

Ludger – “They might simply not want to talk.”

Egmond – “Lanaya, how long until your sorcerer’s concoction is ready?”

Lanaya – “Around eight days from now, maybe a bit more.”

Amund – “The river seems low to the west.”

Ludger – “Well, there hasn’t been much rain lately.”

Atilos – “I thought Avem was known for their large irrigation.”

Ludger – “It’s more in the south of their town.”

Mundric – “We might just be able to cross the river to the west.”

Egmond – “Maybe during the low tide, but I’d rather not. The rusted mail won’t be worth it.”

Atilos – “Hey, is it me or did they dig a moat in front of both the walls and their doors?”

Egmond and the others looked closely toward the lower edge of the wall.

Amund – “It does seem like it.”

Ludger – “If that’s the case, then they certainly won’t come.”

Egmond – “At least we now know they have no intention of surrendering.”

Mundric – “Will our ladders be long enough?”

Varok – “I think so. We made them quite large.”

Ludger – “We should affix some ladders together just in case we need extra length.”

Atilos – “Even if they are a little short, it’s way easier to climb a wooden wall than a stone one.”

Varok – “Hey, are you all sure they don’t have any ballistae?”

Lanaya – “There are no ballistae on the wall.”

Atilos – “That’s what you think.”

Lanaya – “That’s what I see.”

Ludger – “They are about 1,500 feet away. A ballista wouldn’t be obvious from there.”

Lanaya – “Well, it seems I have better eyes than yours. Could it be due to your old age?”

Egmond – “If they had one, they would have shot already.”

Amund – “A standard Union ballista rarely reaches beyond 1,200 feet anyway.”

On the wall, the two generals were talking.

General Thorkel – “It’s saddening you don’t have a ballista right now.”

The Eagle – “Well, in fact, we do have one.”

General Thorkel – “Really? And where might it be?”

The Eagle – “I’ve sent one of my men to bring it. It should arrive soon.”

General Thorkel – “You sent one man . . . to carry a ballista?”

The Eagle – “Not carry . . . bring.”

The House Krain general looked behind him, seeking the ballista, yet couldn’t see any such siege engine being pulled when he saw the Bear of Vale walking toward them with an eight-foot-tall war bow.

General Thorkel – “You have to be kidding.”

The Eagle – “You think I am?”

General Thorkel – “They are more than a thousand feet away.”

The Eagle – “I’d say about 1,500 feet would be more accurate.”

Thorkel kept staring at Ethen in silence, unsure if he wanted to believe him. Further in the open land, Lanaya was looking west when she noticed a small mirage taking shape on the horizon. She frowned and saw them clearly. About 800 Kalator were coming their way.

Lanaya – “Bjarne’s timing is quite on point.”

Egmond and the others looked west yet couldn’t see anything other than the burned grassland reaching the riverside. Enlightened by the sunset, the hovering smoke was following the shoreline, engulfed in a red shade worthy of the realm of Ignis, deity of flames and cinder.

Amund – “I might be blinded by the sun, but I see no Kalator banner in sight.”

Lanaya – “They’re sending someone on horseback.”

As they kept looking for a short while, they noticed the mirage of a horseback rider.

Ludger – “I don’t know what your sorcerer did to you, but be sure the gods will judge you for it.”

Atilos – “It could be a lucky guess, I’d say.”

Egmond – “Well, it seems we’ll start building our siege engines today.”

As their attention was on the lone horseback rider coming their way, Morgan joined Ethen and Thorkel on the northern wall.

The Eagle – “You see the horse with the red surcoat?”

Morgan – “The one to the east?”

The Eagle – “Yes, that one.”

Morgan – “You think it’s their lord?”

The Eagle – “I certainly hope it is.”

Morgan – “Well, there’s one way to find out.”

Morgan took what seemed to be a thin little spear and drew his eight-foot war bow while aiming at the sky. The rough rope creaked as the giant oak bow bent. From the intense tension, Morgan’s muscles shook as he kept drawing further. He exhaled until his lungs were empty, enough for his arms and eyesight to remain steady.

Feeling the wind hit his face from his left, he aimed toward the west. His sharp right eye aligned with his arrow, and he released the string. The arrow oscillated around the handle of the bow before piercing through the air so fast it could barely be seen as it dived into the sky. The large string was still vibrating when the giant pulled a second arrow.

Amund – “You have good eyes, Lanaya.”

Atilos was looking back at the wall when he noticed something cutting the air. A song of whistling wind was coming their way.

Egmond – “I think we should place our trebuchet and mangonel on the west side.”

Atilos – “BALLISTA!”

All of them looked toward the sky and saw a projectile coming straight toward Egmond. As he pulled the reins of his horse to turn, the giant projectile pierced through his horse, which then fell to the ground.

Egmond – “FALL BACK!”

As another arrow came his way, Lanaya used her spear and deflected it to the ground.

Lanaya – “CLIMB ON MY HORSE! TAKE THE REINS!”

Without waiting for his rest, Egmond grabbed the side of the saddles and climbed on Lanaya’s horse as a third arrow impaled his agonising horse.

Egmond – “FALL BACK!”

A fourth arrow then missed its target for the ground as the Kalator leaders galloped away.

Varok – “I told you they could have one!”

Egmond – “Any of you saw where it came from?”

Atilos – “It came from the middle of the wall.”

Amund – “It wasn’t a ballista!”

Atilos – “And what else could it be?!”

Amund – “I don’t know, but this arrow was too long and too thin for a ballista. It got shot by a bow.”

Mundric – “It makes no sense; no one could weld a bow like that.”

Atilos – “He could have.”

Egmond – “Who?”

Atilos – “The man who killed Roberht!”

Egmond – “The Bear of Vale . . .”

As they joined the rest of their army, they got off their horses, and Egmond looked at Lanaya.

Egmond – “I won’t forget what you did.”

Lanaya – “You better not.”

Egmond – “Prepare the war council. We’ve got a siege waiting.”

About an hour later, the Kalator reinforcements joined the army. The war council was taking place.

Bjarne – “To think they would set their own land on fire. All the grass is burnt. It only stopped in the northeast of Rust-Fell because nothing grows in the clay to begin with. The fire is still spreading south, and at this speed, it might reach the Frey before the rain falls.”

Trygve – “The Frey’s nothing compared to the loss of the Velika Forest. Half of it might burn before the next rain. We can still see the smoke hovering north. To think we lost all that wood . . .”

Egmond – “We didn’t come here for the wood. We came here for the fertile lands of the Vale, and the ashes will nourish them. We came for the Oluja River. Once we’ll have Avem, we’ll use the grains from the Frey, and we’ll sow the largest farmlands of the Union. So, let’s focus on the siege instead.”

Trygve – “How do their defences look?”

Amund – “We think they made a moat around the northern wall and barricaded their three gates. Our first goal should be to create breaches on the walls.”

Mundric – “And what stops us from walking around the walls?”

Ludger – “The river’s deep, and there used to be a steep cliff near each wall a few years ago. You’d have to swim for at least a hundred feet, if not more, while being under volleys of arrows.”

Mundric – “We could pass during the night. Assuming a low tide.”

Amund – “Possibly, but the water is cold, and if we are to fight them, a wise man would have an escape route in case of failure.”

Mundric – “You think we would lose the fight?”

Atilos – “Or simply get ambushed before reaching the shore.”

Trygve – “Doesn’t House Valmai own ships?”

Varok – “One more reason to be careful if we cross the river.”

Trygve – “But those ships could lead us to their eastern gate. They don’t have a drawbridge there, and a siege ram could force its way through. These ships might be our way into Avem.”

Lanaya – “Nelis’s sorcery will be our way through the northern fort.”

Atilos – “One option shouldn’t prevent the other. What kind of ships are they?”

Ludger – “They are transport ships used to carry wood and stone, even in the low tide. They are wide yet low and don’t turn easily.”

Trygve – “If we scavenge wood from the northern wall, we should be able to board them with rafts.”

Bjarne – “Which brings us back to the wall. We have no wood. We are limited in our siege, but we have enough stones to attack them day and night.”

Trygve – “How many ladders do we have?”

Atilos – “About 80, but with that dig, we might need longer ladders, which means you can cut that number in half to be more accurate.”

Egmond cleared his throat to get the attention of his subjects.

Egmond – “I want 200 men to carry dirt and build a hill about 800 feet west from the wall. The hills will reach the river shore and will lead all the way to the edge of our encampment. That preacher of Ira Arcum is the only threat to our siege. Make that hill rise at least four feet above the ground. Then, assemble the trebuchet behind it, near the river shore. I want it ready by tomorrow.”

Trygve – “You don’t want to aim at the northern gate?”

Egmond – “No, we’ll aim for the soldiers. I want them to feel like standing on the wall will be their death sentence. I want to launch the first rock by sunrise!”

Atilos – “Then I’ll get the prisoners ready tomorrow morning.”

Egmond – “Get them on the hills, ahead of the trebuchet. This way, they’ll think twice before aiming at our trebuchet with one of their own.”

Atilos – “Understood.”

Trygve – “What about the six mangonels I’ve built?”

Egmond – “We’ll use them during the assault to help clear the walls. For now, they’ll wait. Let our siege begin.”