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Donovan Blackmoore - Formidable Fortress - Geraldis
The short man returned to the fortress bloodied and short of breath. His sword was slimy and hands almost frozen to the hilt of the blade. "We couldn't kill the king." They had done their best, but they couldn't even get close. "Killed..." Gasping for breath he gave his report to the officer at the wall. "Killed a whole unit of men and...We took an envoy." Pointing to the few carts of supplies he had parked outside the walls Donovan took another deep breath. If they could make raids on the supply wagons they may survive a siege.
Most of the men inside had been starving and Donovan wasn't an exception. He was a little weaker with the lack of food as were most. It was only the training and the absolute will to survive that enabled any of them to fight. The officer looked to the little man and nodded. "How many did you lose?" No one had ever breached the wall and the Guardians had been here for hundreds of years guarded by this fortress, but they needed every man. There were still dozens that lay in the make shift hospital. Their doctor was likely going to be overworked if he didn't have some kind of help.
Donovan glanced to the ground. "We lost Shade and two others." It was a little over half the group that had been sent out. The mission was suicide and they were called out long before they reached the king. Something like that should have been expected. He had been a soldier long enough to know that they wouldn't have completed the mission. Still his pride stung with the realization that he could not do what he set out to do. "What are your orders sir?"
"Get yourself to the wall." Even if the doctor was overworked the officer knew very well that Donovan didn't get along well with the doctor. The doctor was a tender hearted man and he wouldn't take well to hearing that Shade was lost. She'd died during the daring attempt on the king's life. "Rest of the men to the wall!" Yelling the order the officer watched as the men began to scurry about. They were Guardians and there wasn't time to be gawking. It was a war and the Kings Guard would be making another attempt at taking the walls again.
Bodies from the day before still littered the ground outside the walls. With what remained of heat from the days was enough to start the rot. Donovan peered over the edge. He expected an attack anytime now. The enemy would maybe try an attack at night or just before dawn. Those were the hours that it was most difficult to tell if there was an attempted breach. So far the king had enough men gathered outside the walls that the ones attacking could have rested before making an attempt. Still there wasn't enough blood in that entire army to take this fortress no matter how tired the Guardians became. Days on end would only be a blood bath.
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Richard Kingsman - Outside Formidable Fortress - Geraldis
A broad smile came to his face as he watched the weapon's envoy arrive. He had a small food caravan that he risked and it was all the further the Guardian's had gotten. Now the king's real plan would come into play. Maybe they couldn't take the fortress by blood, but they would with fire and stone. Marching to the king's tent he pulled the flap open. "You're majesty the weapon has arrived. Shall I have the men assemble it now?"
The king looked up at Richard from his study and he nodded. "I trust you'll have it operational by dawn."
"Aye, we'll have it put together and I'll have the men slather rags in grease and begin to lay them over the stones." The mountains had plenty of rock. Richard clasped one giant gloved hand in front of himself and he bowed before starting out of the tent again. Peering over his shoulder he caught a last glimpse of the king. He was great man. Finally there was a man that had the courage to see the scourge of Guardians exterminated. They weren't even worthy of being called citizens and it was why they had been exiled here in the mountains of Geraldis for such a long time.
As he exited the tent Richard straightened his shoulders. "John!"
Immediately the aid came running. "Yes sir." He almost had to jog to keep up with the man as he strode across the field, weaving between tents.
"I need you to spread the order. We assemble the machine tonight. I want every available man loading boulders from the foothills into a cart and slathering them with grease." The captain continued marching till he reached the point near the front lines. Already the aid had turned to give the orders. "John...." He waited for the aid to turn again. "Be sure you have men with pikes toward the front of the lines. When the catapult destroys the wall I want men ready to walk in. They have to push the Guardians back."
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Near Dawn ***
Richard stood with legs shoulder width apart and hands behind his back. "Do you have the measurements?" The man behind him gave an affirmative. Nodding in return Richard gave his next order. "Load the catapult....Flame the rock......Release!"
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Donovan Blackmoore - Formidable Fortress - Geraldis
Like usual he had the night watch. Donovan stared out into the black with bleary eyes. He had watched the enemy camp all night. They were building something and he suspected it would be a battering ram. Battering rams weren't any good when he had a narrow doorway. Guardians had never lost the battle to a battering ram. The doorway was narrow and it bottle necked the troops. It took a total of 2 men with 2 back up to slaughter hundreds of they attempted to take the fortress through the doorway.
Turning to walk along the north side of the wall he was suddenly faced with a huge flaming rock. It dove into the side of the wall and Donovan felt the vibration run through the wall. "We're under attack!" He didn't have to yell since most of the fortress had awoken with the sound of stone mashing into stone. Another flaming rock flew toward the wall and hit the top crest. Rock began to loosen and some fell away. The soldier behind it stood in place, frozen as if they had expected to find themselves wrapped around the stone. Donovan ran toward the man and pushed him to the side. "Get down and ring the bell. We need all men able bodied or not."