Chapter 34 - Second Wave

“Every dust-covered scholar loves to spout off about how you need ‘patience to win a siege’ and point to their ‘studies of history’ as proof. Those fools know nothing. If all it took was a bit of time, any conquest would be impossible to stop. Siegecraft is the ultimate skill in war, and its mastery has built and broken more cities and kingdoms than stars in the night sky.”

- King Pyrrhus of Epirus

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The factional truce seemed to be holding. The fat magus, Gundovald, showed up at the crossroads between the north trade road and the eastern gate road with the massive Ulfgrim looming behind him. Taliesin noticed that the goliath had opted to wear armor so thick that few would be able to lift it, but he didn’t seem too encumbered.

Runolf stood beside Taliesin with his arms crossed over his manasteel breastplate, looking unimpressed by the admittedly massive Earth Forged man behind Gundovald. For her part, Aina was invisible and had stalked into position behind the enemy mage. Fortunately, Jarl Gunther arrived shortly afterwards, which allowed Taliesin to avoid having to make annoying small talk with the mage from the Obsidian Enclave.

Jarl Gunther wasted no time as he approached, with Katla and a dozen of his House Guard at his back. “The east gate only saw some light skirmishes, distractions. How fared the north wall?”

“The protections of the burned wall held true,” said Taliesin. “We also repulsed the infiltrators who started fires inside the town. Your townsfolk put out the flames. Sadly, there were heavy civilian dead and wounded. There is one bright spot, however. They didn’t damage the wall.”

“Bright spot, you say? You speak from ignorance, Archmage. Your infiltrators severely damaged the North Gate in an attempt to open it from the inside. They only ran off into the town after they failed to take the gate. We lost many good men. Even now, the Sheriff is making repairs to shore up the gate so that it can’t just get smashed down by the first yeti that comes along tomorrow. I’d hardly call that a ‘bright spot’.”

Taliesin frowned. “I can come and place a similar shield in front of the gate like I used for the burned wall -”

Gundovald raised his hand to cut him off. “No, that won’t be necessary. Save your magics for your own piece of the battle. I have my own ways of strengthening the construction, once the repairs are done.”

“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who makes the reinforcement. These repairs are making the gate just another part of the wall, correct?” asked Katla. When the fat mage nodded, she continued, “That means we have no ability to sally out and counterattack from the north and drive them off. We can only go the long way around from the east gate, which leaves that side of the town undefended if they hide a force nearby.”

Taliesin opened his mouth, then closed it again as he eyed the Sheriff’s pet mage. Instead, he said, “How about scouting, is that completely out of the question now?”

“For now,” said Jarl Gunther. “It appears they have an advantage in this weather over our own people, despite knowing our lands far better. I’d hate to lose more men to their butchery just for a minor tactical gain. We can revisit the idea tomorrow evening if the situation changes. I will be staying at the gate tonight with my men. We can coordinate via courier tomorrow during the battle. I can reinforce as needed, if the battle happens along the north wall once again.”

Gundovald grunted and turned to walk away. “Until tomorrow.”

Once the mage was out of earshot, Taliesin turned to Gunther and Katla. “About there being no way to sally out…”

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Morning came far too soon for Taliesin’s tastes. It had been a long night of preparation once again, with far too little sleep. He stood on the wall with a warm mug of stew and a hunk of bread, staring out at the enemy as they gathered in the pre-dawn light. It wouldn’t be long before the battle was began anew. Runolf was around handling business with his warband, but several varingjar stood with him.

It wasn’t long before Aina appeared in that silent way of hers, treading lightly up the ladder and walking whisper-quiet across the new boards to stand next to him. He looked down at her as she waited patiently to be acknowledged. Her hood was up and a green scarf masked her face against the cold, but her eyes were sharp and missed nothing.

“Was it as we suspected?” he asked.

Aina nodded.

“When?”

“They want the gnolls weakened more first. Probably not tomorrow, but as soon as they get an opportunity.”

“Then we’ll be ready.”

Aina shivered in the chill air as the rocks began to rain down once again. Around her, the Stormlord’s men stood stoically along the wall, the new recruits from the villagers, freshly blooded from combat yesterday more settled and prepared now that they had a taste of what combat felt like. To Aina battle felt like a never-ending wolf hunt, but it wasn’t just one wolf, it was a wolfpack, and they were all starving and hunting you at the same time you hunted them.

The wall was holding up well under the bombardment, with very little damage. Lord Taliesin’s wards had made most of the wall too durable for the rocks to make much impact on, and the magic shield seemed to do even better for the burned section. Aina knew that the Stormlord expected the shield to be a weak point, but it sure didn’t look that way.

The town, on the other hand, was completely shredded - at least on the north end near the wall. Most of the buildings closest to the wall had collapsed, and those that hadn’t were severely damaged. Fire from the gnoll infiltrators had spread through a dozen homes and even more wagons, leaving a black scar in the middle of the broken neighborhoods. Makeshift shelters had been thrown up to make it through the night, and even now people were picking through the rubble, looking for lost loved ones or trying to salvage what belongings they could. Families were already moving further into the overcrowded town.

Every now and then, Lord Taliesin would poke his head over the wall and cast a spell, usually one of his lightning spells, before having to duck back down for safety. The gnolls clearly knew to look for him, and a flurry of rocks from their slingers pelted the wall whenever he tried to get a spell off. The Stormlord moved every time, and the section of wall they were defending was long, but he was still lucky to get off a single casting before being spotted. She shook her head. If he kept going like this, he wasn’t any more effective than an archer.

Then, the enemy began to move forward to assault the walls again. Aina turned to Runolf and caught his eye. “Recon.”

Runolf nodded from his position next to Lord Taliesin, and Aina slipped away from the walls. She ran east along the wall towards the North Gate, relying heavily on her passive Forging to gracefully stay in Motion. She leapt over a pile of rubble here, ran along a fallen beam there, then ducked through a narrow opening before jumping over a wagon into an alley. A startled yelp from the wagon’s owner came from behind her as she exited the alley on the other end, vanishing into thin air as she slowed to a stop and activated her second Forging.

Now only a few blocks from the Sheriff’s forces, Aina slipped along the roads until she was close to the gate. She found a partly intact building and climbed up until she had a decent vantage point. Ahead of her, she spotted the Sheriff on the wall next to the gate, exhorting his archers to keep shooting. The creepy fat mage was on the other side of the gate, and she shivered when she spotted him. He was doing something magic, and when a huge stone came flying in, it went veering off to the side instead of striking the vulnerable gate.

The gnolls were being held back, and the Sheriff and his men were fully engaged. Aina nodded, and slipped away to report back.

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“Six men is not enough, my lord,” said Runolf.

“This is supposed to be a fast strike, not a full attack,” argued Taliesin.

“The enemy doesn’t care what it is ‘supposed to be’,” said Runolf implacably.

“Fine, bring who you think is enough. But don’t leave the wall undefended,” he replied a touch irritably. “We need to hurry.”

Runolf nodded, and rattled off a list of names and instructions. In moments, Taliesin, Aina, Runolf and a dozen varingjar were running towards a designated warehouse near the center of town, several of them carrying a crate. Waiting there for them was Jarl Gunther, Arbiter Katla, and what appeared to be most of the Jarl’s House Guard.

“That’s more men than we talked about,” said Lord Taliesin dryly.

“Indeed, you brought more as well. It seems I was overruled.”

“Hmm,” said Taliesin with a smirk. “Well, we’re going to have to be fast, no matter how many we have.”

The varingjar opened up the crate, to reveal six stone steles that Taliesin had worked on late into the night before.

“Everyone, I’ll open a portal into the enemy camp. I will not be able to move from the portal. You must put these stones in a circle around us, about a hundred yards from the portal, and return. That’s it! In and out, and then we leave. Questions?”

“Um, what do the stones do?” asked one of the House Guard.

“Excellent question. They’ll link to each other, and make a tornado to destroy some or all of the camp and anyone caught in it. Anything else?”

Another hand went up.

“Yes?”

“What’s a ‘tornado’?”

“It’s a really powerful wind that blows in a circle,” said Taliesin, resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. It seemed this region wasn’t naturally on the receiving end of this type of weather phenomenon.

“We’re… going to blow some wind on their camp?” asked another guard doubtfully.

Jarl Gunther stepped in. “Tornadoes are exceptionally powerful. This will be very destructive. Alright everyone, let’s go.”

Taliesin summoned his Empyreal Staff to his hands with a flash of aether. The northmen warriors around him instinctively took a step back, while Arbiter Katla gave a wild laugh.

“We must move swiftly. If I need to close the portal, I’ll need a few minutes to recover before I can cast it again, leaving us stranded in the enemy’s camp, heavily outnumbered. So we get in, drop the steles, and get out.”

Once he got confirmation nods from everyone, Taliesin prepared himself. “[Greater Portal].”

Immense amounts of aether poured through him and into his staff, activating one of the hideously complex runic circles engraved into it in a flash of light. A moment later, Taliesin’s intent tore a hole in the world, revealing the supply tents of the gnoll encampment. Two dumbfounded gnolls stared at Taliesin from a scant three feet away.

Taliesin raised a shaky hand to cast a spell. “[Ice -”

“No need, milord,” said Runolf as he calmly stepped through the portal and cut down the gnolls in two swift blows. The varingjar poured through the gate next, with three of them tearing off in three different directions with steles in hand. Gunther and a half-dozen House Guard ran through next, with his three fastest warriors running off as well. Finally, Taliesin stepped through with Katla and Aina.

Katla strode boldly forward, sword at the ready, as the men fanned out and formed a tight circle around the portal. It would only take a single gnoll to raise the alarm prematurely. Taliesin shook under the strain of holding open the powerful spellform.

First one varingjar returned, then another. Then the House Guards began to return. First one, then two, then three. Long seconds ticked by, when loud gnoll yips of alarm began to sound, and then get repeated. In seconds, the camp reverberated with the gnoll equivalent of alarmed shouts. Hands tightened on weapons, and Katla looked ready to attack the first thing that moved, alive or not.

Finally, the last varingjar came around the corner, but he wasn’t alone. He was half-carrying, half-dragging a teenage boy under his arm.

As he reached the portal, the warrior said, “Milord, the gnolls have humans in the camp just past the supply tents. A lot of them.”