Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

The Siege of Syrn: Part X

Dirk's prediction proved to be correct. the army stopped half a mile away from the city walls. In the dim, flickering light of the fires, Dirk could barely make out a mounted figure carrying a white flag come galloping up to the gate on horseback.

Four of the generals went out to see him. Soon, Dirk and Arem began to hear raised voices, but from where they were, they couldn't make out any of the words. After another few minutes of raised voices, the Thargonite turned and galloped back as hard as he could toward the camp that was being set up.

"Well, we've thrown down the gaunlet." Said Dirk to Arem. "Now we wait and see how they take it."

No one slept that night. Even though they were allowed to retire from their posts, Dirk and Arem remained. They shivered under a couple of light blankets leaning up against a wall.

About midnight it began to rain. Not hard, just a soft, monotonus drizzle. The fires were kept going through the night and through the rain.

Daylight brought no respite from the rain. It continued to drizzle.

Looking over the battlements at daybreak, Dirk and Arem saw that several catupults were being constructed, as were three trebuchets, a battering ram, and six, massive siege towers. Also in the area of construction lay dozens of ladders, these already finished.

"Why don't we open fire?" Asked Arem.

"Because they haven't fired on us yet. We wait for the provocation. We aren't interested in starting a war." Replied Dirk.

Within an hour, all the catupults had been completed. They were wheeled toward the front of the enemy ranks, and Dirk saw piles of rocks and stones among the troops. This, he supposed, was where the catapults where to go.

Enemy soldiers began loading the catupults. Then one of them fired. The stone arced high over cities walls and fell harmlessly in the street. A shout rose from the Aidarians. This was the provocation that they needed!

The catupults on the towers flung their rubble high in the sky. The rubble rained down on the Thargonite troops. The Thargonites raised their sheilds. Most of the rubble bounced harmlessly off, though a few of the larger stones crushed some of them.

The Thargonite catupults loaded again. This time they all fired on different locations in the city. A few of the boulders struck the walls, leaving large dents, but no serious damage. Most of the stones, however, flew over the walls and struck houses. Troops moving below the walls flung themselves out of the way, or raised their shields. A few suffered minor injuries, but Dirk knew that the worst was still to come.

Each soldier had been issued a bow and quiver of arrows the previous day. Now many of the soldiers strung their bows, Dirk and Arem included.

Thargonite troops were moving on the ground below. The catapults fired again. The Aidarians returned the fire, but neither side did serious damage to the other. Thargonites began moving toward the city. Ladders were rushed forward, and with a roar, a quarter of the army began to move forward.

Archers fired. Dirk and Arem added their shafts to the hail of arrows raining down on their attackers. Many of the men holding ladders fell. Most of the rest of the arrows, however, stuck in shields, or missed targets altogether.

The rest of the ladders were rushed up to the wall and mounted. One of them was near Dirk and Arem. Both of them dropped their bows and drew their swords. Already men below were beginning to make the climb to the top. Dirk and Arem looked at each other, each seeing fear in the other's eyes and feeling it in their own.

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