Into the City of Stone

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The big man frowned as a glance at the city allowed him to still see over the walls at structures that definitely didn't look like they were for civilian use. Starting with a massive structure overlooking the Granite Portal itself.

- Okay, am I seeing fortresses now, book? Or whatever they're called over here? -

- Yes. Starting with the most powerful of the fortresses outside of the city, Tor Branath, built on a peak overlooking the Guardians. It is said to hold almost five thousand troops, with catapults, ballista and other weapons trained on both the plains in front of the Guardians and the Guardians themselves. Any approach to the city has to pass beneath Branath. -

The entity hesitated slightly.

- It is currently not garrisoned. -

- For fuck's sake! - Jared growled. - Does Aaron want to lose this war?? -

- Not deliberately. And he's starting to realize with each passing moment since the Arch, just how ill prepared the Tuatha currently are. But even with conscription and an accelerated plan to build new weapons and machines of war, as well as refurbish the ones currently in disrepair, it will be a struggle to prepare the city adequately to defend against even a moderate assault. And Ertann isn't known for holding back. -

- We should just tell the Denai to just take command of Branath and go from there, - Jared pragmatically suggested. - Those bastards have been fighting the Darkness for the last five thousand years almost non-stop. Out of all the races of Light, and I include the Nomads on this, they are the best prepared from what I could see. -

- Not a bad idea, actually, - the book admitted. - I'll try to pass it along to their command staff when they start appearing on the Caer Esdraelon Overlook in the next couple of days. -

Jared was enough down the road, that it was harder to see things that were closer to the wall. But he could still see several more fortresses, their walls thick and blocky, with turrets, towers, and keep in tight, strategic formations. One such fortress was built to the south of the city, protecting what looked like a southern entrance, broad and powerful, with an adjacent, smaller fortress built on a neighboring peak. A third fortress, equally massive, loomed over what the book had called Hammerhand's Gate, the entrance to Throne City. Two more great fortifications lay in the Crown of Seven, the hills Throne City was built in, protecting secondary approaches to it.

And in the open spaces between the city and town clusters, protecting strategic approaches and locations were no less than seven more massive fortresses, their presence providing maximum protection to vital parts of the valley. Combined with the massive walls and their own towers and fortifications, the city bristled like an armed camp. If those castles were actually garrisoned.

- The castle guarding the southern approach to the city is Tor Ashiel, - the book replied when Jared asked a moment later. - That one there, the one that overlooks Hammerhand's Gate is the Hammer of Stone. The fortress in the eastern Crown is Tor Neried and to the west is Tor Leneeth. The others are also named, with histories and stories of their own, if you want me to tell them to you. -

- No, I think I've had enough of named castles for now, - Jared said as the nearest disappeared behind the top of the wall as he continued his approach to the Guardians. - Too many new names and I'll start losing track. Especially since they're all probably empty. -

- Correct. Although, as of this morning, Aaron is in the process of completely garrisoning Tor Neried, Tor Leneeth, and the Hammer of Stone. -

- At last, eh? Finally getting off the schneid and getting things done. Hopefully he's got somebody smart in charge that will tell him to rotate the veterans to the castles that'll get hit first like Branath and Tor Ashiel. I'm not a military guy and even I know that'd be the thing to do! -

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