A Kingdom at war

Chapter 28: Preperations

The next day Siem and Jarus woke up early to the smell of baked eggs. When they arrived in the kitchen they saw Jedd was working hard. The smell was amazing. "Goodmorning" Jedd said as he noticed them.
"You're up early." Jarus said after he yawned.
"I wanted to make a good breakfast for you. You'll be draining yourselves of mana again. I figured I would help you with a good meal to start the day."
"This is much appreciated, thank you." Siem said. "It smells great."
"I'm almost done. You can pour yourselves something to drink."

After they had breakfast they went outside. "Where do we start?" Jarus asked. Siem looked at the tower and ramparts where soldiers patrolled.
"Let's ask first if there is a central place for all the wounded." Siem said. He then crossed the street towards the tower in front of them.
"Soldier." Jedd said to get the attention of the person in front of the entrance to the tower.
"Is there a place where you treat the wounded?" Jedd asked. The soldier shook his head. "There used to be, before people fled the city. We treat our own now." he said.
"Where do you do that?" Jedd asked.
The soldier looked surprised. "Here, in the tower. The heavy injured ones are on the beds. If not, then they still participate in the patrols and do what's required of them."
"Thank you. These two are mages of the Tower of Magic. They are here to heal everyone." Jedd said as he pointed behind him at Siem and Jarus.
The soldier looked shocked. "I'm sorry. Please enter. Don't let me stop you." he said as he moved aside.
"Don't worry." Siem said. "Are you injured? Can we help you?"
The guard quickly shook his head. "No, I'm okay. Our Commander is hurt though. He took a nasty cut on his arm that isn't healing well. Please help him."
"Rest assured. We will heal him and everybody else that needs healing." Siem said.
They then entered the tower in search for injured people.

Jens, Anne and Yra were walking on the ramparts towards the Eastern gate. "How will it be like to fight here?" Anne asked. Jens suddenly stopped walking and faced Anne. "I've been thinking about that. There are two options. They either climb the walls or breach the gate. And if they do climb the walls, they will want to open the gates as fast as possible. Only then can they swarm the city and get an advantage."
"I agree." Yra said. "The wall are high so they can't climb it easily. We will probably be pushing them off the walls while they climb."
Anne shivered. "Do you think we will be stationed at the gate?"
"That's up to Commander Farseer to decide. We will know soon enough." Jens said. He then started walking again.

As they approached the gate Jens asked where they could find Commander Farseer. He was in his command room in the house that was build next to the gate. It was made from stone and had a double front door, so that people could enter and leave the building at once. When they entered the house Jens looked around heard a lot of talking from an adjacent room. He decided to follow the noise. When they entered the room it was obviously the command room. There was a large table in the middle that had the layout of Southville on top of it. Siem noticed several pawns. As he looked closer at the several pawns, he noticed that two were shaped like a teardrop with an image of a ghost on it. To his surprise they were not positioned on the wall, but on the street behind it. Jens guessed that those two pawns represented his two squads. He wondered why they were not on the wall.
While Jens waited for the meeting to start, he looked around the room. Only Commander Farseer was someone he knew. The rest must've all been stationed in Southville, before they had arrived.
"Everybody is here so let's start." August said. "For the ones that don't know me, I am Commander Farseer. I will be in charge of the Eastern wall. I don't know the most of you. I don't know your reputation. What I do know is that you are all loyal soldiers that wish to defend this city. I expect you to follow my orders for the incoming battle." August said as he looked around the room. "We have made a plan for this battle. I will explain this now, so listen carefully.

Jens listened to the battle plans. His Ghostblood squad was not assigned to the wall. This was as he suspected from viewing the table. He was disappointed about this.
August explained how they would deal with different situations during the siege. The Ghostblood squad was to stay combat ready at all times during the battle. Their job was to reinforce the wall, wherever was needed. They would have to respond swiftly in order to keep all the ramparts secured.
At the end of the meeting August asked Jens to stay behind.
"I can see that you do not agree with your assignment."
Jens shrugged. "I thought we had proved ourselves in the previous battles. I was hoping to get a section of the wall assigned to us."
August smiled. "You have proven yourselves enough. The thing is that you have no experience or training in defensive siege battles. Your squad has zero veterans who have experienced different sorts of battles." August said. "That said, I have faith in you and your squads. You wil have the responsibility for the entire wall. You will have to continually split up your two squads in order to be able to help everyone during the battle. You can not reinforce one squad and let the others deal with themselves. They will all depend on you."
Jens nodded. "I'm sorry, Sir. I was oblivious."
"Don't worry. You're still so young and are gaining so much experience during this war. Learn from it all and keep improving. Soon enough you will outrank me."
Jens was flabbergasted. "That's impossible. You're the army's Commander. How could I ever outrank you."
August laughed. "You're a good person, Jens. Thank you for your faith in me." he said. "There are still a few days before the battle starts. Go prepare your squads in the time you still have."
"Thank you. I will make sure we will not fail you. We will win this battle and win this war." Jens said determined.