“Don’t you know? The Cavalry is always either fashionably late or arrives at just the right moment.” - Old soldier’s saying.

“Reporting, Miladies,” said Yliz as the woman seemed to appear out of the shadows while Aideen and the rest were having their dinner that night. The army had traveled for three days since Arno and his division rode ahead of them, and were approximately half a day’s distance away from Gor-Seinnon. “My scouts have returned with news of the situation around the city.”

“That’s timely,” noted Mimia as she placed down the empty bowl she had just been eating from just moments earlier. “Since you said ‘around’ I will assume that our scouts were unable to enter the city itself, then. Has the battle been joined?”

“Yes, Lady Disciple,” replied Yliz with a respectful bow. “Our best estimates indicated that the battle had been joined as early as three to four days ago, and the crusaders are currently besieging Gor-Seinnon, while the Council of Flesh Artisans are on the defensive,” explained the young elven woman. “We have also noted traces of another battle several kilometers from the city, so chances are the Council attempted to engage the crusaders there and lost.”

“They clashed so early?” asked Aideen with some surprise in her voice. “I guess those crusaders must be quite a bit more… driven than we had expected then,” she muttered. “Did your scouts spot any sign of the Vitalicans circumventing the city for the west?”

“Yes, your Ladyship,” replied Yliz politely. “It should not be more than a few thousand at most that did so. I believe Sir Arno’s Third Division should make short work of those Vitalicans without question.”

“Just got to hope he made it in time…” Èirynn stated from the side. The group had invited some of the Antemeians to dine with them, and even in the firelight their faces had visibly paled when they listened to Yliz’s report just now. “Gor-Seinnon still holds strong, I assume? Or are the city’s defenses showing signs of weakness already?”

“The first wall of the city had been breached and abandoned, Lady Disciple, but our scouts had seen fighting both in the streets between the first and second wall as well as plenty of defenders on top of the second wall itself, so it should be safe to say that the defenders still hold the city firmly in their hands,” reported Yliz to Èirynn’s question. “The crusaders have completely besieged the city, however.”

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“I guess even numbers don’t work too well when your opponent is specialized to fight against your main troops,” noted Mimia as she looked at the Antemeian necromancers.

The zombies that the Antemeians used as their foot soldiers were individually stronger and tougher than the skeletons favored by the Ptolodeccan necromancers, due to the flesh that still clung to their bodies. In retrospect, however, that flesh also made them slower and clumsier, and a necromancer needed to expend more mana to control a zombie compared to a skeleton.

On top of that, in the previous fighting Èirynn had noticed how the crusaders tried to hurl urns filled with oil that had been infused with the light element. When such oil came into contact with undead flesh of the zombies, it would spontaneously combust, often annihilating many undead in the vicinity. The skeletons used by the Ptolodeccans elicited a far less violent reaction from those, however, and at most each urn would only take out a handful of skeletons.

It was clear that the Vitalican crusaders had devised countermeasures to deal with the Antemeian zombie hordes and flesh abominations – those same urns could greatly damage one, and multiple could likely annihilate an abomination without much issue – but hadn’t considered the possibility of interference from the Lichdom.

Whether that was out of arrogance or negligence, none of them knew, but as a result, the Lichdom army sent by the Bone Lord was positioned perfectly to exploit that weakness of the Vitalican crusade.

Despite the nervous looks of the Antemeian necromancers, Aideen still ordered the army to rest properly that night. They would go into battle the following day, so the troops – at least the living ones – and the necromancers controlling the skeleton horde needed to be well rested for that. It was unlikely for the crusaders to finish the siege within half a day anyway.

The Ptolodeccan army marched once more the moment dawn arrived the next day, the horde of fifty thousand skeletons accompanied by the additional living troops an intimidating sight as they crossed into the heartland of Antemeia. Within hours, the great city of Gor-Seinnon was within sight, and so were the Vitalican crusaders that laid siege to the city.

It was obvious that most of the crusaders had made another foray into the city proper, leaving their camp mostly empty except for the wounded and the camp followers. The moment those Vitalicans still in the camps caught sight of the tide of skeletons headed their way, some panicked, while others rushed into the city to inform the main body of their army.

Despite their efforts, none of the crusaders inside the city had reinforced the camps by the time the tide of skeletons arrived.

Aideen gave a strict order that those who surrendered shouldn’t be killed, but many of the Vitalican camp followers – whether it was out of fanaticism or fear, nobody knows – resisted and ended up dead anyway. It was a sight that made her shake her head and sigh, but was no longer one that would haunt her nightmares. She gave them a chance, so it wasn’t her fault if they refused to take it.

Within thirty minutes of the arrival of the Ptolodeccan army, the Vitalican camp outside of Gor-Seinnon had been seized in its entirety, which created an interesting situation. The Antemeian defenders were still fighting the Vitalican crusaders in the outer city between the first and second walls, while now the Vitalicans were also surrounded by the army from Ptolodecca.

The situation only lasted a short while, however, as once the Lichdom’s army finished rearranging their ranks, Aideen gave the order to charge into the city.