The Birth of Madness

Chapter 8 - Siege

An hour later, Ashi woke up. Sometime in her nap, the battering at the door had indeed stopped, but a quick look around showed that no one else sheltered here had moved much because of it. With a sigh, she picked herself and her weapons off the floor and went to go see.

Back at the roof, she found a couple guards laid flat, peering over the edge. Stepping near them, she looked over as well.

The Aulins had indeed given up on assaulting the fort, and it seemed like they had stopped rampaging through the town too. Instead, they were largely just milling around. Standing, sitting, lying.

"It's not safe up here," one guard warned, looking up at her.

"Oh, I'm aware," she smiled. With a quick step to the side, she dodged another very well-aimed arrow. She grinned down at the distant archer before stepping away. "Do you vigilant watchmen have any idea why they aren't gone yet?" she asked, smile fading into mild exasperation.

"Well," one said slowly, "it looks like they might be intending to siege us."

"Really?" Ashi asked with a half laugh.

"It does seem absurd," the guard admitted, "but they have ceased doing much else. They're just waiting."

With a sigh, Ashi made her way back inside. Hopefully this would not last long.

However, an hour after that, the Aulins still hadn't left, and Ashi was pacing the halls in frustration. She did not want to be stuck here. And, the ever-present specter of the past hung over her. If reinforcements came to save them, they might know of the deaths at the checkpoint. Or worse, be affiliated with Indigo. The fear was all consuming, but she tried to keep a steady facade.

Eventually, she made her way down to the first floor. "Captain?"

The familiar feather weaved its way towards her. "Ashi."

"We seem to be stuck," she told him. "I don't suppose you have a way to counter this."

The captain shrugged. "Waiting. We have enough provisions stored to last us a few weeks, over a month if we ration intelligently. They'll starve themselves back whence they came before we run out."

"Your plan... is to wait," Ashi repeated dryly.

"Our chance of fighting this head on was at the gates, so yes, our plan is to wait. I understand this will be a trying time for everyone, but please try to keep calm." He looked around casually, before leaning a little closer to whisper. "Word of your bravery has spread, Ashi. Many admire your strength, and your resolve to run into danger. So for their sakes, please try to stay strong." He leaned back, and said in a normal tone, "we'll be passing out an evening ration before long." With a final nod, he went back to where he was before.

Ashi blinked, not sure how to take the information that had just been provided to her. With a quick look around, she did notice that many were looking her way, or whispering. Suddenly very uncomfortable, she quickly made her way back to the stairs and took them two at a time up back to the roof, where at least there wasn't a crowd.

The sun was hovering lower in the sky, turning the horizon a blood red. She watched in silence for a while, before closing her eyes and falling into another shallow sleep.

Which was broken not long after by a guard coming to the roof to tell his fellow soldiers that it was time to eat. He also then approached her.

"Dinner time, Miss Ashi," he told her.

With a slight sigh, she turned to look up into the shadow of his helmet. "Is it corn?"

The guard clearly had been expecting that, so he took moment of silence before a hesitant, "No?"