They watched from the battlements for the first five days as the besiegers went through their preparations to assault. As at Crown Point, four assault ramps, two for the main, west wall and one each for the north and south walls, were begun outside of effective arrow range by the seemingly tireless workmen. The eastern wall was built over a cliff and was nearly impossible to assault.
She had wondered at how the enemy force was able to build their siege equipment and ramps in such short order, but in watching the workmen it became clear, brute force was the answer. Their laborers toiled relentlessly night and day, through blazing heat and rain and produced almost immediate results. Four medium sized trebuchets were completed in a few days and work was begun on their siege towers.
As the ramps grew closer to the walls Keika had the defenders harass the enemy soldiers and workers with arrows. The range was still too great for decent accuracy, so it was done sparingly, and only by the best archers. They had thousands of arrows stockpiled, but didn't want to waste them or let their foes know the depth of their reserves. Unimpressed by the desultory firing from the walls, the enemy became careless and then reckless in their work. This was what Keika and Valerie were anticipating. They were both elite archers. Keika could hit a motionless target on a still day most of the time at two hundred fifty yards and every time within two hundred yards with her eastern recurve bow. Valerie was the same at two hundred and a hundred fifty yards respectively. The girls waited until the work got within seventy five yards on a beautiful, windless day and then, with baskets of arrows waiting around them at all three walls, began to pick off one victim after the other. They stood side by side on the main gate tower and each worked on the ramp to their side. It became a contest as they called out their kills. (Their rules did not allow Keika to use AP) Five Knights dropped with head shots before anyone realized what was happening. Regular enemy soldiers in range then started to fall. Regrettably, a couple of them escaped with only a wound. After that they started on the workmen who had remained oblivious to the carnage, apparently still operating with the last orders they had received. Interestingly, like the Knights, they would only go down if an arrow hit a critical organ.
Keika began to feel sorry for the mindless brutes as they slew large numbers of them. At some point she stopped counting kills out loud. They were tools of the enemy and legitimate military targets, but she started to feel sick from the slaughter. Finally, the Knights who were out of range began to call the workmen back to a safe distance. The pair still dropped quite a few more before they clumsily ran out of range, and most of the ones that escaped were injured. Alertly, the enemy troops working the southern ramp saw what was happening and evacuated their area, so there were no targets there. Unfortunately for the northern crew, their view of the front of the castle was blocked by rocks and foliage. Sprinting to the northern wall, the girls wreaked the same havoc before these men also retreated from death falling on them from the skies.
A total of one hundred eighteen bodies littered the ground. The Knights and workmen had all dissolved into piles of clothing leaking copious amounts of black goo......like what had happened to the Hand agent who tried to kill her. Only when the last of them were dead or out of range did the bloodshed end. As their bow strings became silent they were surprised when loud cheering erupted around and behind them. Totally focused on the task at hand they had not been conscious of the soldiers about them. The girls turned and became suddenly aware that half of the garrison had been lined up on the walls behind them watching their display of archery prowess. Smiling now, together they held up their bows in triumph and the roar of approval got even louder.
Valerie was truly basking in the glow of their applause, but Keika was only playing the part.....acting the role of their warrior princess. The slaughter of the defenseless regular soldiers and, particularly the seemingly helpless, mindless workmen had troubled her deeply. One death, especially, had left a profound mark on her psyche. During their rain of death her telescopic vision had noted that one of the targets was familiar. Just before Valerie's arrow pierced his chest, she recognized Sergeant Ricky Miller, one of the soldiers who had been with Titovic at the road block. As she watched him die she was stung with the realization that, somewhere to their northwest, a pregnant young woman named Sally was now a widow, and the child she carried would never know its father. He had seemed like a decent enough fellow with dreams and hopes just like any other. Only a twist of fate had kept him from being one of her soldiers instead of the enemy's. Struck down by their hands his lifeless body fell to the ground, never to know his wife's caress again, or to joyously look into his baby's eyes. A brooding sadness gripped her soul. God how she missed Eric, missed him so much. She was fighting to extend this siege as long as possible, but every day that was successfully accomplished was another day away from him. Although she was torn with emotions, none of this internal turmoil was visible on the outside. To the world she appeared to be the radiantly smiling Supergirl that they all needed her to be.
Late that night they came and carried off their dead, at least the ones that had bodies. Hair whipping about her face, Keika stood alone on the windswept tower in the darkness and watched. She could see them clearly with her night vision and was just as deadly in pitch blackness as she was in broad daylight, but she could not bring herself to begin killing them again. All she could do was watch in silence and brood. Finally retreating to bed, she felt so lonely, so blue. The bed was so large and empty.....her arms, mind and body were desolate without him. She might be the commander of all military forces in Mercedia, but she was also a lonely and insecure eighteen year old girl, scared to death of failing the epic responsibility that had been thrust upon her. He was her shelter from that, her safe harbor. Her need to be with him grew by the day.
A cold nose and warm lick on her shoulder gave her a start. Ani knew her moods and was worried. She rolled over and hugged and kissed his huge head. "Thank you, big guy. I know you always have love to give me. You're the best. Mommy's ok, I'm just a little sad. I miss my man, but this will all be over some day, and I'll have the rest of my life with him.....and of course....you!" He licked her face and then lay down beside the bed. She smiled. He was a good dog.....and he had helped....she felt better. Lying down again, she rolled over and turned herself off.
For two days after their attack the enemy camp seemed quiet, then, on the night of the second day workers could be seen again at the ramps. As ordered, one of the guards came and awakened Keika when they detected movement in the area around the castle. Their eyes could not penetrate the dark to see what the enemy was up to, but hers could. After watching for a few minutes it became evident what they were doing. Clearly their opponents had read the book on siege warfare; they were engaged in setting up light wicker screens in front of the incomplete ramps. These were called 'Plutei' by the ancient Romans and were tall and wide enough to block their view of the work being done on the ramps. They would be moved forward as the ramps advanced towards their walls and the workers and soldiers would be protected from missile fire. If they were using these, then they would begin deploying 'Vineae' behind the screens next. Vineae were wheeled, movable shelters, open on both ends and covered with a wooden roof, topped with animal hide or sheet metal. They could be moved where needed and arranged to form a protected corridor to the work site.
Shaking her head, to some degree in admiration, she watched as her foe swung the pendulum of the advantage back in his direction. This part of the game was over, but she still took out one Knight and several soldiers before they scrambled behind their partially completed work to hide. At least it must have come as a shock when arrows began to fall on them again out of the blackness of the night, although they had their own enhanced archers. She harassed them for the rest of the night, and managed to slow the work down, but her targets were keeping on the move, knowing that staying in one place for more than a couple of minutes meant death. Eventually the screens were set up and she had nothing more to target.
As the ramps resumed their creeping progress behind their screens, the enemy began to rapidly complete a large siege tower at the base of each of them. The defenders fought them at every opportunity and there were occasional victories, such as starting several of the screens on fire with flaming arrows. That event delayed things at two of the ramps for a valuable day, but the besiegers knew what they were doing and doggedly kept up the twenty four hour work schedule. It was now only a matter of time before the ramps were completed and those towers would start their voyage to the castle walls. The time of waiting would soon be over.
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Golden Sword
Ciencia FicciónIn book 2 of the Firefly Light series Keika travels to a new land to start her life as the wife of a man she has never met. Her marriage is political, one meant to seal an alliance between nations, but she discovers possible happiness from an unexpe...
