I barely had my sword out of its sheath when I burst out into the city. It was light outside and looked to be about mid afternoon - it was hard to tell through all the smoke, which now formed a sooty haze of ash around Targonor. Frantic shouts were coming from the southern walls as men scrambled to man their positions.
One of the ballistae which had been mounted on the parapets sat in shambled pieces at the base of the wall. Three armored men lay in a crumpled heap below it, they were not moving.
"Take cover!" I heard a voice yell. "Here comes another!"
Without thinking, I dove to the ground and covered my head just in time to see a massive ball of flame come hurling over the top of the wall. It slammed directly into the building I'd just left, and with a mighty crash blasted through the structure's sturdy wall, leaving a gaping hole as the side of the building began to fold and buckle inward. Brick and mortar were sent flying in all directions. A piece of debris rapped me sharply across the back. I grimaced in pain as the wall collapsed in on itself before me.
A large chunk had been torn from the building. The now exposed insides lay in tattered ruin. Several of the men who were not lucky enough to have made it out lay lifeless among the rubble, a thin layer of dark dust settled over their broken bodies. Near the center, lay the large, smoldering ball of flame. Its fire was weakening, but the heat was still far too intense to go nearer. Thin wisps of smoke hissed upwards as debris that fell into the flames was singed out of existence. The ball clearly had a solid core of some sort, but of what I did not know.
Then I heard the king. "Destroy the catapults!" he roared from atop the walls. Then the entire area burst into a frantic movement. I ran up the stone steps to the parapets. Another great blast crashed into the city's wall and shook the ground beneath me. I struggled to stay on my feet and clawed my way to the top of the steps.
The dead still swarmed the ground outside Targonor. The ground was thick with them, making it nearly impossible to distinguish one from the next in the dim light. The fires still burnt, though they had lessened in intensity significantly. Their swirling ash rained down upon the crumbled remains of several crude battering rams that lay next to the gate. Another was being pushed through the seething horde towards the city. Several hundred paces out two bulky catapults were being silently loaded with more large balls of flame. The dead handling the scorching missiles seemed indifferent to the horrific burns being inflicted upon them.
"Help me with this," a soldier urgently called to me. He was fumbling with a ballista bolt, trying to load it into the firing mechanism. I rushed to his side and helped him slide it into place, the jagged steel end pointed menacingly into the horde below. The soldier rushed behind the heavy ballista and began to turn it on its swivel.
As he aimed a volley of large rocks were fired from the city ground behind me. They flew outward towards the enemy's siege equipment. Several fell short and crashed into the horde, leaving long streaks of crushed dead in their wake. Many more though, continued over the bulk of the dead armies and slammed into the catapults, blasting them apart as a shower of splinters exploded into the crowd around them.
A deep, resounding boom echoed through the wall as the attacker's battering ram met with our southern gate. It was crudely constructed from the trunk of an old gnarled tree, and pushed by a score of the dead. It was on fire, several burned arrows protruded from its side. The flames had consumed the top half of the old tree, withering and charring the bark. I looked to the soldier behind the ballista.
"I know." he said quickly, "help me turn it."
Working together, we pushed the ballista as far to the side as it could go and pointed it downwards.
"Try to hit it in the center," I said, "The fire will have weakened it."
He took careful aim and fired. A loud metallic clang rang out as the bolt sped whistling through the air. It sheared through one of the dead completely, cleaving it nearly in two and ripped into the battering ram. Blackened bark sprayed outwards as the bolt removed the majority of the top of the ram and tore a deep crack into the trunk.
Down the wall, another metal clang rang out as a second ballista fired. The bolt drove itself directly into the crack, splintering the ram into two as the archers delivered a volley of burning arrows into the dead surrounding it.
The soldier leaned forward onto the ballista and exhaled deeply. "That was close," he said. I nodded in agreement briefly, and then turned to pick up another bolt.
Over the next four days, there were many such close calls. The dead seemed to grow only stronger with each passing day and our defense grew more frantic. Their catapults demolished any building inside the city within their range and severely weakened our walls. Still, the southern gates held strong.
Captain Willem and the Red Blades defended the western gates, they fared much the same as us. It was on the evening of the fifth day we heard a low rumbling from the east gates. I was hurriedly stacking ballista bolts when the ground began to shake, it was barely noticeable at first and had it not been for the deep rumble that accompanied it I may not have noticed. I looked back to the east, the smoke had almost completely obscured any sunlight now and a growing layer of ash blanketed the entire city.
I could not see anything and I really did not have the time to do much else, so I turned back to grab another bolt. The dead were pushing several more rams up towards our gates and we needed to destroy them. It was then when I heard the explosion. I felt a searing heat on the back of my neck and spun back around to see a brilliant plume of yellow and red flame dancing over the eastern gates, illuminating the dark city.
The king immediately began shouting orders. Runners were sent to confirm what we all suspected.
"Don't stop," Horus called out, "not until we hear word."
Minutes later, a soldier came running along the wall. He was bleeding, and his arm was swollen and broken. "My lord," he shouted, "They've breached the walls. We cannot stop them."
The dead were inside the city.
"Fall back!" Horus commanded. The defenders melted away from the walls, and sprinted inwards towards the buildings that remain untouched by the attacker's catapults. I found myself in a crowd of archers surrounding the king, the runner with the broken arm next to me. Horus shouted commands as we ran, and groups began to split off and enter buildings.
A ways into the city, we burst into a small warehouse. The large room that dominated the main floor was nearly empty, its stores having been depleted in the days prior. We raced up a flight of stairs and then climbed a ladder onto the flat roof. A smooth layer of snow-like ash covered the top of the building, with more continuously raining down upon us.
A movable ramp constructed of thin sheets of wood and rope bridged our roof to that of the building just across a small alleyway. We raced across it and began to pull the ramp in behind us. A pulley on the roof held a large sturdy wooden cabinet several feet above the door below.
"Tell me exactly what happened," Horus panted.
"I don't much know, my lord," the runner responded. "I just saw the explosion, a piece of the wall knocked me down and when I got up the dead were pouring into the city. I turned and ran as fast as I could to warn you. I am sorry, my lord."
The king shook his head. "You did well..." he looked at the runner inquiringly.
"Vassik, my lord."
"You did well, Vassik," Horus said. "What of Commander Askalon and the rest of the men?"
"Many were killed or wounded in the explosion, my lord. The rest were fighting to push the dead back when I left. They were not succeeding."
"And Askalon?"
"I am sorry my lord, but he was taken in the explosion."
Horus let out a short breath and cursed. He started to say something, but was cut short.
"My lord!" a voice called out. Horus spun around, trying to locate its source. "Over here," it called again. I turned to see a man standing on a roof across the street. He was waving his hands wildly, trying to get our attention. He was wearing a Red Blades uniform. "Over here!"
The king spotted him. "I see you," he called out. "What news do you bring?"
