Wantrao's troops went in with a will. They literally ran towards the gate and the front wall, carrying their ladders. Wantrao was at the very front. The enemy archers began to fire, and the first soldiers fell. I have no idea why I did it, but I counted the troopers as they went down. It was horrible. I had to skip from thirteen to sixteen as three fell at virtually the same moment. Mercifully, I was able to shut off the voice in my head after twenty-two.
Wantrao's archers followed them, and took up position only forty or fifty yards from the wall. They immediately began firing, engaging the attention of the enemy archers, and prompting the enemy infantry to keep their heads down.
Meanwhile, Malusha launched her own attack. It became immediately apparent that she had a decisive advantage. Actually, she had two.
The first were the archers. The Shorrs had obviously left a standard garrison in Jacaranda: five light infantry units and a single company of archers, who were stationed around the main gate, the most vulnerable point. Here, as Malusha's infantry reached the base of the wall and placed their ladders, there were no archers shooting at them.
But our archers set up close, only thirty yards from the wall. They immediately began firing at the defenders. I only saw three or four direct hits, but many of the Shorr troopers seemed more concerned about avoiding arrows than they were about repelling attackers.
As she'd promised, Malusha herself was first up a ladder, and first to the top of the wall. That was where her second advantage was revealed. Just as she'd told me, the peons didn't strike to kill; instead, two of them tried to fend her off with the butt end of their spears.
Malusha had no such qualms or reservations. She hurled a javelin at one lightly armoured opponent, and then drew her sword. She beat aside the second peon's spear, and then leapt onto the ramparts. An instant later that second spear wielder was slashed across the chest.
The rest of our attackers were having a much harder time of it, but Malusha was in her element. It was awesome to watch her. I couldn't even have climbed the bloody ladder, much less fight the way she did. She killed or incapacitated two more enemies, and cleared a space around herself, which allowed one of our soldiers to join her atop the wall.
That soldier was killed, but not before another of our troops had joined them. That fellow (or female - I couldn't tell) concentrated on staying alive, while Malusha went about creating even more space. That allowed two more of our troops to reach the rampart.
I looked back towards the gate. To my surprise, I saw hand to hand fighting atop the wall, above the gate. There were far too many fallen bodies at the base of the wall, but our archers were still shooting, and the light infantry were still climbing their ladders.
On Malusha's front, the archers were now creating a decisive problem for the defenders. Wherever they stood directly in front of our ladders, they were targeted with multiple arrows. Almost simultaneously, two more of our troopers reached the top of the wall. One was immediately killed. The second was also eliminated, but not before another trooper reached them.
The fighting around Malusha had spread, as more of our infantry got to the top. She began to push along the rampart, creating even more space. Then she reached the point where another of our ladders was placed, which allowed another soldier to join her.
More of our soldiers began to reach the top. Two hundred defenders couldn't stop five hundred attackers, assisted by archers - especially not with the added advantage of Malusha. There was simply no one there who could harm her. The younger, physically fit Shorr family members were with their field armies. The same was true of the Hadyks, after all.
I sent a messenger to the opposite side of the city, ordering our troops there to attack. It was a hard decision, because I knew that they were going to take casualties. But it was necessary, to tie down the defenders there. I didn't want them sending another hundred fighters to oppose Malusha. It did occur to me, though, to send half of her archers around to the other side of the city, to help out there. As it was, the more of the wall that Malusha controlled, the fewer targets there were for our archers.
For a few critical moments, I had a hard time telling what was happening. In order to see both the front gate (which faced west) and the southern side of the wall, I was far enough back that I couldn't really distinguish between their troops and ours.
There was still fighting atop the wall over the gate, but it was limited to a very few small areas. On Malusha's front, however, there was fighting almost all along the wall.
A few moments later, I heard a loud cheer from our troops. The ramparts were in our hands. Malusha knew her business, though. She didn't let our soldiers pour into the city piecemeal. First, she organized strong units to push along the ramparts, one towards the gate, and another in the opposite direction.
She certainly knew her business. More of our troops climbed to the top of the wall. Rather than let them descend into the city in dribs and drabs, she waited until she had collected at least a hundred, and then led them down herself. Her target, of course, was the main gate.
They didn't have far to go. These cities (or production centres) weren't all that big. Malusha's action produced immediate effects: the fire of the enemy archers slackened noticeably, and more of our troopers began to reach the top of the wall.
Then the gate opened, and our light infantry poured into the breach.
The end could hardly be in doubt. Still, I didn't want to rush to the gap myself. Rona and Deondra didn't think that any of the peon soldiers could attack me, but I didn't want to find out that they were wrong if some disgruntled archer decided to fire one last shot. There was also the possibility that a half-Shorr might recognize that I wasn't actually a Hadyk, and that they were entitled to take me down.
If that sounds cowardly, remember that my armour consisted of a tin foil helmet, a linen shirt over my ratty old concert t-shirt, and a pair of track pants. Also, given my own fighting skills, any angry child with a sharp stick (if they knew how to use it) could pose a threat to me.
It took me longer to get to the gate than I'd anticipated. First of all, I wasn't going to ride my horse over the bodies on the ground. I dismounted, and let one of the light cavalry hold onto my mount.
I'd never seen a dead body before. The first one looked almost like she was asleep, except for the fact that there was an arrow protruding from her chest. The next body was lying on its stomach; I couldn't see where or how they'd been struck.
There was no such doubt about the third. It was a female trooper, and an arrow had hit her in the neck. There was quite a bit of blood, and her face was contorted by what looked to be a mixture of shock and pain. It wasn't a pleasant sight.
I'd ordered these people - these peons - to assault the gate, knowing that many of them would be killed or severely injured. It was one thing to approach the whole battle intellectually. It was quite another to have to face the actual results of my handiwork.
When I came across the soldier lying on his back, with an arrow jutting from one eye, I had to turn to the side. I felt it coming, but I was helpless to do anything except vomit, heaving up my breakfast.
I spewed a stream of puke all over the boots of one of my cavalry escort. My stomach lurched, and I did it again. My head was swimming; I went down on one knee.
- "Lord Daniel?" Jashi was there, with a strong hand under my arm, helping me back to my feet.
- "Sorry..." I muttered. I didn't have to puke again, but I spat several times, trying to get the foul taste (plus the last few chunks) out of my mouth.
I managed to get to the gate, stepping over increasingly large (and high) stacks of bodies. Here I first saw those who had died from hand to hand combat, rather than arrows. It was hard to take. Spears left great sucking wounds, while swords... let's just say that many of the combatants seemed to prefer using swords as slashing or chopping weapons rather than for stabbing or thrusting.
I had to stop again, trying to breathe semi-normally and suppress my gag reflex. It was only later that I realized that I had somehow been spared the worst. The wounds themselves were gruesome, and in many cases I just couldn't bear to look at their faces. But my sense of smell wasn't engaged. There was blood - lots of blood - but no pools or urine or fecal matter. I'd read that dying people frequently lost control of their bladder and/or bowels, but that wasn't the case with peons.
There were no flies, either (something else I didn't realize until later). Honestly? My head was swimming, and I tried to concentrate on just getting past the gate. There were so many things yet to do, and me standing just inside the city, gagging, wasn't helping anybody.
- "Congratulations, Warlord." said Jashi. "Your plan worked."
- "What about Wantrao? Is he alright?"
- "I don't know, Lord."
- "You don't seem all that worried about it. Isn't he your brother? Half-brother, at least?"
She frowned. "No, Lord. We're not related at all."
- "What?" Peony had specifically said that he was Malusha's half-brother, just as Jashi was her half-sister.
- "We're not related, Lord." she repeated.
Something was off, here. But this was neither the time nor the place to question her about it.
- "I want to see him." I said. I began climbing the steps that led to the ramparts.
- "Lord - you are needed at the castle." said Jashi.
I ignored her. There were bodies to step over, of course, and pools of blood that I couldn't avoid stepping in. I saw more ghastly wounds. It was still sickening, but now I found that it also made me angry. When I played computer games, losing a battle was annoying, but I only got upset when the luck of the (invisible) dice rolls went against me. I hated when my casualties were disproportionately heavy, or when one of my favourite commanders was killed or badly wounded.
