After the remaining citizens had left the city Commander Askalon broke what was left, about a thousand men - some trained military, many not -- into groups and put us to work. We made preparations non-stop for the next two days. I don't think I had more than an hour of sleep the entire time, strangely though I did not tire.
It was odd seeing the city I had grown up in abandoned. It was not just that it was quiet, but that it was a still silence. No merchants hawked their wares from the street side and no children ran playing through the alleys. I had never seen my home this way before... and it was unsettling.
Further unsettling still though, was the constant presence of the dead. We could not see them, but we knew they were coming closer. The field fires had created large, dark billows of smoke. Many times the wind picked up and sent waves of ash crashing through the city. The day sky was beginning to darken around Targonor and it provided us some small measure of comfort knowing that the fires were burning well, the orange glow from their flames barely visible through the thick smoke.
I worked under Captain Willem, he and the Red Blades were among the few of the trained military left in the city and we constructed and placed several ballistae and catapults. We then tested them and set discreet markers in the fields outside the city so we would know when the dead entered our range.
Others were put to work digging pits outside the walls, reinforcing the southern gates, mixing pitch, destroying the stairs inside the larger buildings and constructing makeshift ramps from roof to roof. The plan was to stay on the rooftops once the dead breached the city walls and stall them with small ambushes.
King Targonor, Commander Askalon and Captain Willem would all lead separate forces based on the roofs that would attempt to split the dead's ranks and coral them each into separate sections of the city. The plan was well thought out for such short notice, and I was somewhat surprised to hear that it had been Willem who had come up with it.
It was late afternoon on the third day when the first was spotted. It was one at the beginning. It staggered rigidly out of the brush into the fields surrounding the city. Soon though, many, many more began to appear, seemingly materializing out of the smoke.
A deep horn echoed through the city, alerting all to the fallen army's presence. I rushed back to the barracks and donned the chain mail shirt and skullcap I had been given and grabbed my longsword. For the first time in the past three days the city seemed alive, men ran every direction desperately finishing the last of their preparations. From the barracks, I made my way back to the southern walls and onto the parapets.
A deep sinking feeling formed in my stomach when I gazed out over the wall. For as far as I could see, both east and west, the dead emerged into the fields. They marched in no particular order towards us with a grim and unwavering determination that sent chills coursing through my body.
Soon, the bulk of our forces were lined up on the parapets. The king commanded the soldiers on the wall, while Askalon was in charge of the catapults back on the city ground. Willem and the Red Blades manned the ballistae. Even with the thick smoke billowing in from the north, we could see a goodly ways across the fields. While they were visible, the dead were still out of our range, so we waited.
With each passing second my dread grew as their numbers swelled. They began to funnel together, into a large, loose group that lurched steadily towards our gates. I could begin to make out their twisted and rotting features. I had heard the dead described many times, but no words could quite prepare me for their ghastly appearance.
I heard Askalon bark an order from behind me. There was a great groaning of wood and a massive stone whizzed by far over my head. It sailed over me in a long, sweeping arc and crashed into a small group of the fallen, rolling several times before coming to a stop. Two were obliterated instantly, crushed into the dirt by the heavy boulder. Several others were tossed aside or pinned to the ground.
"I'd say that puts them just about in our range," Horus bellowed from atop the wall, "Fire away, Commander."
With that, a barrage of boulders was sent careening over the city's walls. The dead made no attempt to avoid the impacts and several direct hits were scored. Dozens of the attackers were flattened into the ground as the giant rocks rolled through their lines. The enemy ranks quickly filled again though as still more of the dead poured into the fields.
"Captain Willem," the king called out, "your turn."
Willem shouted an order and the Red Blades fired off a volley from their ballistae. The massive bolts rained down upon the dead, skewering many into the ground or other attackers. Another round from the catapults followed, the boulders again rolled through the enemy lines crushing all that lay in their path.
The alternating barrages continued for some time as the sun set over Targonor. Soon it was dark, torches lit the city but the smoke from the fires to the north had created a dark cloud over the surrounding area, obscuring any moonlight. The dead were packing in around the southern walls. They were now no more than a few hundred paces from the gates. Captain Willem and Commander Askalon joined the king on the parapets. I was barely within earshot.
"If there weren't so many of them this might actually be going well," Horus observed grimly.
Askalon nodded in agreement. "They don't seem to care how many casualties they suffer. I don't know how many we have killed, I don't know if they can be killed, but we've at the very least we have de-habilitated hundreds."
"That isn't bad for an afternoon's work," the king replied. "I suppose they'll try to surround us now."
"We could slow them considerably if we had some light," Captain Willem observed dryly.
"Now is as good a time as any," Askalon added.
Horus grinned. "Very well, why don't we light things up a bit?" He turned. "Archers," the king commanded, "ready your bows!"
A long line of small flames ignited along the top of the parapets as several scores of bowmen lit the ends of their arrows.
"Ready!" the king shouted as the archers drew back their bowstrings. Horus looked back to the commander and Willem. "Is it wrong that I am having a tremendous amount of fun?" he asked.
"Absolutely not," Askalon answered with a perfectly straight face.
The king nodded. "Good," he said. "Fire!"
Brilliant streaks of flame darted through the air as the burning arrows descended upon the horde below. The dead, however, were not the targets. We already knew arrows were of little use against them. The oil we'd soaked portions of the field with earlier, however, took to the flames quite nicely.
It had been spread across moderate sized patches of the ground a few dozen paces apart around the entire southern perimeter of the walls. Stacks of timber had been placed in the patches to ensure the fires would burn through the night.
The grounds before Targonor's gates were lit brightly as almost instantly hundreds of the dead were consumed by fire. Many staggered from the blaze, flames crawling over their bodies, only to collapse a short distance later. But to my horror, even more seemed to shrug off the effects of the fire, even as it slowly burned through what remained of their rotting skin.
The fire did succeed in providing us with illumination though. We could see our enemies clearly now. Portions of the horde seemed to be breaking off to the east and the west - surely to surround the city. What remained surged forward away from the flames towards the southern walls. All the while, the horde's numbers grew as more continued to lurch into the fields from the surrounding area. For as far as I could see in all directions, staggering heads bobbed up and down in the tall grass as they worked their way towards the city, all in a nearly perfect silence.
The stench was nearly unbearable. I tried to breathe through my mouth but it seemed I could even taste the smell of burning flesh. I saw several men around me gag or begin to vomit.
Captain Willem stood stone-like on the walls, gazing out at the attackers. "Who is leading them?" he asked aloud.
Askalon peered over the edge and scanned the area. "You're right," he said, "they're splitting to surround the city but I don't see anyone directing them."
"Whoever is commanding must be staying beyond our sight," Horus observed. "Nevertheless, they are splitting. Commander, take the east gate, Willem take the west. The fires should keep them away from the north gate, they were almost at the walls last I heard."
Rastus and Askalon both nodded and rushed off the gather their respective troops. Captain Willem led the Red Blades to the west gate to Askalon took a contingent of men to the east. I was told to stay at the southern walls with the king, and took over for one of the commander's men helping to load the catapults.
For the rest of the night I worked in shifts, pushing the heavy slabs of stone into the massive basket. Occasionally we would instead load it with a barrel of oil. After launching them I could sometimes see the tips of flames leaping from over the wall and judging from the reactions of the archers on the parapets, it was easy to tell when a good hit was scored.
We continued to bombard them for the remainder of the night, they tried futilely several times to gain entrance to the city with grotesque battering rams but each attempt was thwarted as boiling pitch was dumped over the walls onto those below. As the sun rose a new unit was brought into take our place and we were told to try to go get some sleep in a nearby building. I was exhausted, but ventured up to the top of the walls before taking my leave. The early morning sun shone through the smoke, illuminating the battlefield with a hazy glow.
The fires were still burning strongly, though the dead simply maneuvered between them now. The ground was littered with charred or crushed remains, whether their former owners were up and walking somewhere in the horde, I did not know. The dead themselves now surrounded the walls completely. Their numbers were astounding. The fields below were a literal sea of bodies but I was pleased to see they had not made much progress on the walls over the course of the night. And while that fact should have comforted me I was instead worried. They had seemingly taken whatever lay in their path with ease up to this point... surely a wall wouldn't be able to stop them.
After a few minutes, I headed back down to the empty building with the rest of my loading team and tried to get some rest. It was impossible to sleep, even in my state of exhaustion the sounds of the catapults continually launching, or the ballistae firing their giant wooden bolts kept my eyes open and the gnawing presence of the dead just outside our gates kept my mind alert. Finally though, I was able to drift off.
I awoke a time later to a loud crashing sound. Men were shouting outside. I sat up quickly and looked around. Many of the other men were waking up and gazing around with the same look of confusion as me. Then we heard the sound again, we collectively jumped to our feet and raced towards the door.
