The Warlord Chapter 9

WARLORD Chapter 9

I watched the Shorr army carefully as they marched up, and then split into two columns, to surround the walls of Goldenrod. It was a great relief to see that the composition of their host was pretty much what I'd expected: more infantry than cavalry, by a margin of about 7 to 3. That meant 28,000 foot soldiers. The horse troopers would be more than a handful in battle, but they couldn't participate in the storming of a walled city.

From Turn One on, I'd seen that an attacker needed at least a two to one advantage to assault a city. It could be done with less, as we had at Ivy, but we'd had a significant number of archers. The Balabans' siege towers had eliminated the defenders' advantage, but now all ten cities had dug dry moats, and deep, wide ditches around the entire circumference of the walls.

I had 17,000 troops in Goldenrod, plus about 800 armed servants. The Shorrs did

not

have a two to one edge in infantry. More important, though, I no longer thought that numbers alone were going to be decisive.

Two thousand troops could man the ramparts, leaving no bare or undefended spots. Five or six thousand would fill the entire space, basically standing shoulder to shoulder the entire length of the wall. We had more than three times that many. Heavy losses would not impair our defence - not that I wanted to experience that - but we could keep fighting.

In a pinch, we could use dismounted horse troopers as infantry. I also had a few new tricks up my sleeve, thanks to some research I'd done while I was back in my apartment.

But the essence of my plan was to hold the Shorrs here, to defend Goldenrod while our Second Army launched a strike.

Peachy had been right. There

was

no Second Army. But I'd created it, starting by stripping the garrisons of our four other cities. That netted us 30 light infantry units, 5 heavy infantry and six archer companies. I supplemented that with Sudha's flanking force, and over 2,200 more infantry from First Army. Then, for good measure, I'd given Second Army 3,000 armed auxiliaries.

At the moment, Flax, Hyacinth, Jacaranda and Ivy were garrisoned by only 300 armed servants. They had strict orders to retreat through the Portal if they were seriously threatened. We could reinforce them from Goldenrod, but it was far more likely that we'd need every fighter we had right here.

- "Good luck." I said to Peachy. "Remember -"

- "I know, I know." she said. "Wantrao is in overall command, but listen to Sudha. Use the auxiliaries as decoys, to tie down enemy troops on the wall. Don't send them in unless we're absolutely desperate. Is that about it?"

- "Yes."

- "Don't worry about it, Noobley. We'll get it done. You concentrate on your job here."

And with that, she went through the Portal to Ivy, to give Wantrao the order. Travot and Stina were already there.

Luth put her hand on my shoulder. "You've loosed the arrow, Daniel. Let it fly."

***

The Shorrs needed a lot of time to maneuver their army. It was mid-afternoon before they were ready. There was no discussion, no flag of truce, no call for surrender. As far as the Shorr family were concerned, only peons were going to die today, barring a few accidents to real 'people'. They could build more at the end of the turn.

It was a thoroughly unnerving sight, to watch ten thousand infantry rush the walls, carrying their scaling ladders. More troops moved up in support. Archers followed them, and began to loft their shafts at the top of our wall. It would take them a few shots to find the range. Our archers, meanwhile, did not lack for targets.

When the Shorr soldiers leapt into our dry ditch, and began to plant their ladders, they discovered the first of the unpleasant tricks I'd prepared for them: caltrops. The Touchstone had created thousands of them for us. If you're not familiar with the term, a caltrop is a piece of metal with four sharp little spikes, like nails, arranged so that no matter how it lands, one of the spikes always points upwards. You

don't

want to step on one.

They've been used for millennia. The Chinese and the Romans knew how effective they could be against horses, camels, and even elephants. Caesar used them at Alesia. Ninjas supposedly carried them, to slow pursuers. They were used extensively in both world wars. Those odd-looking devices on the D-Day beaches? Czech hedgehogs, designed as anti-tank obstacles, and a menace for landing craft. Caltrops. Simple caltrops are being used now, in the war in Ukraine, to puncture tires.

A caltrop wasn't going to kill a soldier, but it's a nasty booby trap. The Shorr troopers who stepped on them weren't to be climbing a ladder in the next few moments, if ever. They were also going to spend part of their time looking down, to make sure that they didn't inadvertently step on another one. And the troops behind them weren't going to jump down into the ditch without looking. Even when they didn't cause wounds, these little devices seriously inhibited movement.

I had one minor qualm about using them. The Shorrs were going to remember this little surprise. If we Grahams were going to storm a production centre in future, these things might come back to bite us. But on this particular day, we needed every possible advantage we could get.

For the first five turns, I'd built more archer units than tradition dictated - certainly more than the standard build. But I'd allocated a thousand of them to Second Army. We still had two thousand in Goldenrod, and for the first few moments, they had the advantage of firing from atop the walls, at ranges that we'd practiced for the past few days.

The Shorr archers had to find the range. A number of them went down, falling to our arrows. And then their missiles began hitting the crenellations, or passing just above or between them - and hitting our troopers.

There were a hell of a lot of them, too. Despite the advantage of the wall, if we engaged in a straight archery contest, we were going to lose far too many people. I'd already instructed them not to fire at the Shorr soldiers as they climbed the ladders. Now I sent word for them to remain in cover as long as possible, and not to expose themselves too often.

I had another surprise for the Shorrs' assault troops.

The Touchstone could create almost anything you asked for; stone for building, for example. You could ask for whatever quantity you wanted. So I did. On the ramparts of Goldenrod, we had thousands of stones. Ten pound stones. Twenty and thirty pound stones. And a few hundred even heavier ones, just for good measure. We'd practiced dropping them from the top of the wall. They didn't need to be hurled, or thrown accurately. Just push them over the side, and let gravity do its work.

A ten pound stone may not sound like much, but have you ever tried catching one? The men's Olympic shot put weighs 16 pounds; the women's is 8.8 pounds (4 kilos). I wouldn't want to be standing in front of either one. Imagine standing on the ground while someone drops them on you from the roof of a house.

Now imagine that you're climbing a thirty foot ladder, while also carrying a weapon, like a sword. And maybe a shield. All our defenders had to do was tip the stone over the top of the wall, right between the side rails.

Our stone droppers were briefly exposed to enemy archers, but only a few were hit. Some wanted to get a better look at the results of their work, and leaned over the wall, or stood up, exposing themselves far too clearly. We took a dozen more casualties.

But the destruction they'd wrought was significant. The Shorrs simply weren't prepared for such weapons. Troopers were knocked from the ladders, and plummeted to the ground below. Some fell atop their comrades coming up the ladder behind them.

In many cases, the stones smashed into the ladder itself, snapping rungs, or even rails, The very least they did was to shake the entire structure, causing a few more soldiers to fall.

I don't know exactly how many ladders the attackers had placed against the wall; there were too many to count, and I couldn't see all the way around the city. The number was in the hundreds, though. Two hundred? Three? More? I do know that we dropped hundreds of stones - and then followed those up with hundreds more.

The Shorr troopers were peons. It wasn't a question of courage; they would advance into combat without even considering the danger. I'm not saying that they wouldn't cover themselves with a shield, if they had one, or dodge an enemy's blow. But the likelihood of imminent death of injury wouldn't stop them.

What did stop them was confusion. They simply didn't know how to proceed against an unexpected situation like this. What were they supposed to do if their ladder was damaged?

The Shorr officers, the family members and half-Shorrs, were the ones who had to respond. And here we benefited from something I hadn't even fully considered.

They were leading the attack. Just like us at Jacaranda, where it was Malusha and Wantrao who'd led the way. Malusha had been fearless - and why wouldn't she be? Only an accident could bring her down. Peons were

not allowed

to attack her directly.

Why wouldn't Shorr family members and their half-kin lead from the front? There would have been a few, at least, who would have gone up the ladders first. Now they'd suffered casualties. That had to be the cause of the continued confusion. Their peons continued to mill about in the ditch beneath the wall - and we continued to drop stones on them.

They were missing leaders, and the remaining officers appeared to be in shock. They seemed to be more concerned with their wounded or injured family than they were about restoring order in the ranks. In some cases, they left their ladders against the wall, which gave us more opportunities to damage or destroy them.

It took some time for order to be restored. A senior officer gave the command for a withdrawal. They took their ladders with them, even those that were damaged. They left behind the ones that were beyond repair - and the bodies of their dead peons.

***

The first Shorr assault on Goldenrod ended as a complete fiasco. There were over 550 bodies in the ditch, along with dozens of shattered ladders.

They hadn't even reached the top of the wall. Now they had fewer ladders. They had no workshop available, no carpenters or joiners, no tools. To get more ladders, they would have to send back to Caladium or Eglantine - plus however many troops were needed to carry them. That would take two days, at the very least.

We had lost 50 killed, and had 128 wounded. This was something new for us: non-fatal casualties. I'd been better prepared for it, though, and both Luth and blind Rima had helped with useful suggestions. We'd set up aid stations, inside some of the former servants' dwellings, where our auxiliaries offered what help they could. In some cases, that wasn't much; thirty of our wounded weren't expected to recover.

The enemy didn't look tempted to try another attack before dusk. Nor did we especially fear a surprise assault at night; when both armies were composed of peons - who didn't need sleep - there was no point in fighting in the dark.

But now one of the weaknesses of our 'humanity' came into play: our people needed rest. Some would have to forgo sleep, though, to remain on guard.

- "They wouldn't... would they?" asked Jashi.

- "Extremely unlikely." said Luth.

- "What would they gain?" I asked. "Surprise? It's hard for thousands to be stealthy. Concealment? We don't have to see far to drop rocks on their ladders. Whereas they'll want the light for their archers."

That was a sobering thought to end the day on. I sent the vast majority off to sleep, but spoke to the unit commanders as well as family members. We set up a rotation so that no one would lose more than an hour or two of sleep. The middle watches were the toughest, so I put myself down for that stretch. Armene tried to overrule me, but I pulled rank on her.

The Shorrs waited for the morning light. They took much greater care with their preparations this time. Instead of rushing at every part of the wall, they organized four divisions, each of at least four or five thousand troops. Each division, we noted, included a thousand archers.

It was the archers that took up position first. We had the advantage of the higher position and partial protection of the wall, but I declined to engage in a long-range archery duel. While we could create plenty of new arrows from the Touchstone, we couldn't create new archers. Even a favourable ratio of casualties would cost us people who couldn't be replaced. I chose to preserve our archers for key situations.

In fact, I moved them. Acting on advice from Luth, I shifted them to parts of the wall which weren't about to be attacked.

Their archers were significantly better coordinated. There were no massed volleys. Instead, they acted as squads of ten or twelve, each squad targeting a separate part of the top of the wall. Arrows were constantly trained on that space, and constantly being released. If one of our people stood, or hefted a stone over the battlements, three or four archers immediately targeted them. Just to stand up and look over the crenellations was taking your life in your hands.

Someone on the enemy side had made major adjustments after the debacle of their initial attack. I wondered if it might be the work of Symenon Shorr, the one male Rona Hadyk had wanted to have married into her family.

The greatest danger appeared around the main gate. The enemy carried a battering ram, which we had to stop at all costs. That meant our archers had to expose themselves. So did the troopers heaving rocks. Every single one of them was a target for enemy archers. We began to take heavy casualties.

Worse yet, we had fewer defenders dropping stones on the ladders. A few Shorr troopers reached the top. Fighting broke out on the ramparts. I called on our small reserve of archers.

And then Armene went into action. She was incredible to watch, like an irresistible, unstoppable force. She cleared one trouble spot almost single-handed. Then a brave trooper stood up to drop a heavy stone on an enemy soldier only two feet from reaching the battlements. Our fighter paid for it, as he was immediately skewered by two arrows.

Armene was already moving to the next trouble spot. Behind her, two more of our people dropped stones on the ladder that had reached the top, shattering its top rungs - but again, one of them was killed.

We really could have used Wantrao and Travot (Peachy's former half-Morcar friend), who was also an excellent fighter. But I'd sent them both with Second Army, who might need them even more.

We had Vanea, who did her best, and Jashi, who I tried to keep out of combat, because she would be needed elsewhere later on. Luth was far too old, Faldor too short, and Inzhay lacked the aggression necessary. Boloda and Kisel refused to leave my side; they would pitch in directly only as a last resort.

As Armene extinguished another trouble spot, the enemy got a dangerous lodging on the other side of the gate. They slowly began to expand their foothold. It took her some time to work her way back there. In the meantime, the Shorr bridgehead had extended even further, encompassing almost a fifth of the wall on the main gate side.

Armene finally got there. In a few short moments, she completely halted their progress toward the gate.

Then she was struck by an arrow. It hit the side of her helmet, and glanced off. But she was momentarily stunned. She stumbled, and very nearly fell. The troopers behind her took hold of her, to pull her back, while two more bravely stepped into her place. They were both almost instantly killed.

The enemy raised a cheer. Emboldened, they pressed their advantage. I glanced at Boloda. She shook her head. She wasn't about to let me go anywhere near there.

But I could give the order to our reserve archers. They began to fire at the Shorr troopers packed together atop our wall. Some of our bowmen had even occupied the upper storeys of building facing the wall, and were shooting from windows.

Our soldiers on the wall were now packed just as tightly. The enemy couldn't make any more progress. There was literally no room for more attackers to reach the top of the wall.

It was sheer carnage up there. People and peons fell from the wall. The living were pushing or even kicking the dead off the ramparts, just to make more space for themselves to stand.

Despite the savagery of the fighting, we were no longer in great danger. The Shorrs weren't going to control the wall directly above the gate. Nor could they reach the access stairway on their other side. Even if they had, how many of their troopers could have come down into the city? A hundred? Two hundred?

We had three thousand of our people waiting to receive them. They would have to control a much greater stretch of the wall before they could seriously threaten to break into the city. The fact that they had 40,000 troops trying to get into Goldenrod meant little when we had so many fighters inside.

It was a bit like a hockey game. Five skaters against four, when someone is sent off for a penalty, is known as a power play, or 'the man advantage'. Five on three increases the chances of a goal dramatically. But what if it was fifty against thirty? The advantage of numbers breaks down when there's no space to deploy them.

It took some time - and many lives - before someone on the Shorr side realized that they weren't advancing along the wall in either direction. They could freely climb their ladders in that section, and put more troops on the battlements. All that did, though, was to increase the number of targets for our archers, in what was rapidly becoming little more than a shooting gallery.

The enemy stayed far too long. Then they reached a point where they decided to stop feeding their troops into the meat grinder. No more soldiers were climbing the ladders. The ones on the wall were basically left to their fate. Only a handful climbed down. The remainder continued to fight, and died. Their bridgehead on the wall shrank to a foothold, and then to a toehold.

When the last of the attackers were killed, Armene's troopers found two Shorr family members among the dead. They were easily distinguishable by their ornate armour and the quality of their weapons.

That must have been a major blow to them. We suspected that one or two more had been killed in the first attack.

- "How many Shorrs are there?" I wondered aloud. "Family members, I mean."

- "Twenty-six." said Luth. "And perhaps another twenty half-Shorrs."

I could only compare them to the Hadyks. What if the Hadyks had lost Malusha, Wantrao, Armene and Jashi in the same fight? Who could replace them? Who would lead the next attack?

The Shorr family members had probably led the way, secure in the knowledge that peons could not attack them. Had they put their first losses down to accident, or bad luck? They had to know better, now.

The other assaults did not fare as well. They gained a brief lodging on the northern side of the wall, but were unable to expand it. Prompt reaction by Vanea and Faldor sealed them off. Their foothold was soon reduced and then eliminated. The other two assaults never reached the top of the wall, resulting only in more shattered ladders, and more dead peons. The Shorrs withdrew.

We had taken casualties, too. Our people attending the wounded were soon overwhelmed, and we had to set up an improvised hospice in the castle courtyard. I can't use the word hospital, because we had no doctors. Nor could I create painkilling drugs through the Touchstone. All we could do was make them comfortable, stitch up superficial wounds, and occasionally remove an arrow.