Fall of Empires

Chapter 31

The sweat ran down the soldiers' faces as they cranked the winches to draw back the throwing arm of the catapult to its full extent.  

'Come on! Faster,' Nicetas entreated them. 

The skein of twisted rope creaked tortuously under the strain as the throwing arm was pulled back and secured in place with the slip hook. Nicetas nodded and grinned as a third soldier approached with a stone ball the size of his head and nestled it into the sling. He flinched in spite of his best efforts not to as the slip hook was jerked free and the weapon bucked like a wild ass before the arm thudded into the chaff-filled padding that covered the upright section. 

Nicetas hurried to the edge of the tower to observe the trajectory of the stone and was gratified to see it plough a bloody furrow through the ranks of advancing Avars as they crowded over the bridge. It came to rest just in front of the siege tower which was making its slow grinding progress forward into the teeth of murderous arrow fire from the walls. Already the dead were heaped in its path, so much so that men were forced to run out from behind the protective wall of shields that the enemy archers were sheltering behind in order to drag the corpses aside, only to fall themselves and add to the obstruction. Still the Avars came on. 

'We'll need to let them get that tower just a little closer,' Nicetas declared to the men around him as they once more sweated and heaved on the long winch handles to prepare the machine to fire again.  

A fresh missile was placed in the sling and Nicetas held up his hand to forestall its release. 

Meanwhile the barrage from the walls carried on all around him and the enemy continued to work their way forward; their own archers maintaining a steady rain of arrows that left dead and wounded men upon the ramparts. The siege tower had reached the centre of the bridge now. The enemy warriors who pushed against the wooden levers protruding from both the inner and outer walls of the tower were straining with all their might to trundle it towards the gate house, dragging fallen bodies aside or trampling them underfoot. 

Nicetas gave the crew the order to fire at last and once more the catapult bucked and flung its missile at the tower. This time there was a satisfying crash as the stone smashed its way through the hide-covered wicker screen covering the front of the lower story of the tower. Here a great tree trunk had been suspended in order to ram the gates. The missile succeeded in tearing away the lines which held the front of the ram on one side and caused it to swing free, crushing the men in its path. A roar of savage delight from the walls greeted their screams. 

'Again, again!' Nicetas called excitedly. 'They are a sitting target now.'  

The next shot glanced the side of the tower, tearing away some of the protective hides and cutting a swath through the massed warriors who were surging over the bridge behind their stricken creation. Meanwhile the survivors inside the lower story were hacking at the remaining ropes in order to free the ram which was now impeding their forward progress. 

As the siege tower resumed its slow advance, the catapult stationed on the southern tower of the inner gatehouse finally succeeded in landing a direct hit. Their first missiles had splashed harmlessly into the moat but this latest stone crashed straight into the uppermost story of the Avar siege tower, pulverising the two archers stationed within.  

Nicetas' next shot once more tore through the lower story, leaving barely a warrior standing. Still fresh men from behind clambered through the mangled bodies of their countrymen to take their places and the tower came on.  

Another shot from the southern tower again found its mark, tearing away the front of the upper story with a terrible rending of timber. 

'Fire pots!' Nicetas yelled over the parapet above the din of the cheering from the walls. 'Loose fire pots now.'