Divided Nation

King's Crossing

The march south had been no easy task. Even with a strong army and supplies regularly coming down the road, we were constantly attacked by bandits and Regime scouts that struck and went before we got to the site.

     We had spent nearly 3 whole days walking through the marshlands where the South Pincer ended and poured their waters into a bog, turning the whole place into a marsh. We had suffered the heaviest casualties there, with supplies trains being delayed and the soldiers starving in those days.

     Even so, we made steady progress, leaving the marshes on the third day and coming near GoldRidge in just a week's march. To get to the castle, we had to cross the essential bridge called King's Crossing, an arched bridge that spanned over the canyon that GoldRidge perched on.

     I half expected the bridge to be blown up as we marched south, but I knew better. That bridge had taken millions of dollars and years to build. I doubt Louis would do something as stupid as blowing up the only bridge that connected Regime land to one of the biggest castles in the Regime.

     There was a serious threat of the bridge being decimated was still presentable. The second we reached the bridge, I sent a force lead by Jay down to the bottom of the bridge to protect it and make sure no sabotage team blew it up.

     The bridge itself was impressive. Its narrow beams stretched all the way down to the bottom of the canyon, almost 400 meters below. It was about 10 times less wide but still enough to get a considerable amount of soldiers across in time.

     "This is risky," Alexia said, galloping up to me after inspecting the bridge and putting some protective spells around the beams, "We're risking separating" our army yet again and this time, they'll be no Harold winning a battle on the other side."

     "This is the only way into GoldRidge," I replied, staring at the castle in the distance.

     GoldRidge was probably the strongest castle outside of the Garrisons. It perched on top of a hill, overlooking a small town that sprung up around the canyon, whose walls glittered with gold in the mourning sun.

     Strong stone watchtowers circled the castle, consisting of two walls total. The inner wall was way higher than the outer ones, almost double the height. Regime banners flew down the walls as the tiniest visible guardsmen patrolled the top of the walls.

     There was only way into GoldRidge. The tiny winding path that made its way up the hill from the town. Goldridge was designed so that 3 sides of it were on the cliff, making it impossible to be fully surrounded or stormed from all sides. Going up that path would result in heavy losses, climbing up with archers raining arrows while our forces got clogged up in the narrow path.

     And once we reached the top of the cliff, there was still the heavy barred gate that blocked our way. It would take a battle ram or any equal siege machine to knock down that gate. The other alternative would be siege towers or ladders, but the path was too steep and narrow for siege towers and ladders would be too inconvenient to run up the narrow path with.

     "All clear!" Jay shouted, making his way back up the canyon with his men,  "No dynamite, or any explosives."

     "Alright, you heard him!" I shouted at the army, "Let's start making our way over!"

     The army trudged forward at a slow speed, still skeptical of the enemy bridge. We had taken the bridge easily enough. The Regime had withdrawn the usual guards and retreated them behind the closed gates of GoldRidge. The town seemed deserted as well, its torch holsters empty and its street deserted.