The passage through the barbican seemed a maze from inside, though there were only a half dozen turns. From above it did not look that bad. Until huge blocks of stone fell out of the walls, blocking the way ahead of and behind the Captain, trapping her, her staff and another dozen men.
The falling blocks initiated a train of mechanical events, the first of which was the launching of a storm of poisoned darts. Horses screamed and men cursed. And, as I sent my flying post downward to try to get the Captain out of there, burning oil sprayed from ports in the walls.
So this was how they had planned to get rid of Soulcatcher.
The heat drove me back. The black Voroshk clothing could not stand up to much of that.
Sleepy had chosen to place herself at the middle of the invading column. Which meant our forces had just been split in two.
A massive counterattack was sure to develop.
I pushed myself up beside Arkana, who was numb with the horror. “Get ahold of yourself! I want you to find Suvrin. Tell him I’ll take charge on the city side. He can build steps to get the rest of the men past that mess. He can use the lumber meant for siege engines. Go on! Get going!”
Once again I did not have to whack her to bring her out of her stupor.
Once again Mogaba had dealt us one off the bottom of his deck. This time our chances of surviving did not look good.
We should have been prepared for it. He had told us that there were arrangements in place.
Sometimes you just do not hear what is being said.
I checked the sun before I reached the ground.
We would have to hang on for a bit longer than what inspired me with optimism.
“It won’t be long,” I insisted to the commanders on the ground. “We need to put ourselves into a position to hang on until nightfall. Once darkness comes...”
“The Unknown Shadows.”
“The Hidden Realm.”
Shouts. A scatter of arrows fell.
“Push a company along the wall that direction,” I directed. “I want those steps under our control when the others start joining us.” I had to show an optimism I did not feel. I hoped Suvrin would press his half of the attack.
No man could question the courage of the soldiers from Hsien. They mauled the City Battalions badly. They mauled reinforcements from the Second Territorial. Unfortunately, the City Battalions and Mogaba’s Second Territorial elite mauled them right back. It did not take long to see that Sleepy might have taken too big a bite. The Great General seemed to have plenty of reserves, though he was parsimonious when it came to investing them.
Vigorous support from Arkana, Shukrat and Tobo kept us from being overwhelmed.
Once Tobo woke up enough to begin thinking more than mechanically the tide began to turn. Once he recalled that he was good for something more than dropping rocks and fire-pots. Once he added his sorcerous skills to the girls’ weaker ones we got stinging insects, painful worms of fire, lemon and lime snowflakes that pitted armor and flesh.
Nevertheless, the enemy kept us confined until darkness came.
Darkness always comes.
117
Taglios:
Night and the City
The Great General took charge of the riverfront defenses personally. He found morale abysmal when he arrived, accompanied by reserves from the Second Territorial. The long succession of military disasters had the soldiers suspecting that defeat was inevitable and that they were being wasted in a hopeless cause.
The Great General himself led his own lifeguard in a counterattack of such fury and finesse that the enemy soon lost everything that it had taken them all day to capture.
The invaders got no support from above. The Great General interpreted that to mean that they were in desperate straits at the South Gate.
There was not a lot of communication between forces. Nobody knew what anybody else was doing, really. The best anyone could do was cling to the plans and hope the enemy did not get too much enjoyment from his advantages.
Mogaba’s opponents tried reinforcing themselves with recent recruits. That did them little good. Those men entered the fighting in groups too small to make any difference.
The last attackers fled in the barges they had used to make their initial landings, drifting downriver because they did not have enough men healthy enough to row against the current. All the barges were overburdened, one so much so that it shipped water at the slightest rocking. It did not remain afloat long.
Mogaba treated himself to a long breather. He turned his mind off completely, closed his eyes, let the cold winter air chill him.
When he was calm and breathing normally again he allowed himself to return to the moment.
He could get the best of this thing yet. If he could get these men to the South Gate and get in a hard blow he might damage the enemy enough to earn his own people a fair chance of making it through the night. If he succeeded, victory would be his. They would not be able to survive everything he would throw at them tomorrow.
He opened his eyes.
The white crow stared at him from a perch on a broken cartwheel scarcely a foot from his face.
The crow started talking.
That bird was a much better messenger and spy than the crows he had known in earlier days.
The Great General listened for a long time. And wondered if the mind behind the bird was aware of his disloyalty.
He would not bring it up first.
The Great General dragged himself upright, ignoring the complaints of aching muscles. “Sergeant Mugwarth. Spread the word. All officers. Round up every man who can walk. We’re moving up to relieve the South Gate.”
The enemy’s aerial advantage betrayed the trap before it could close. Mogaba left the soldiers to their work and hastened toward the Palace. He arrived as dusk began to deepen shadows. The view from that eminence included half a dozen fires still burning. Smoke and trickles of fire still attended the fallen parts of the Palace, too.
Awaiting him was the news that the enemy had reduced most of the defenses at the downriver end of the city. Their forces there had been augmented by the survivors from upriver. These outsiders were stubborn fighters.
“Send reinforcements?” Ghopal asked.
Mogaba thought a moment. Those foreigners ought to be near their limits. “Yes, actually. These are all your men here, around the Palace, aren’t they?”
“I thought that would be best. Makes them all men I can trust.”
“Let Aridatha’s soldiers take their place. Send yours to the waterfront. And gather up any of your brothers and cousins who’re still alive, I want them here.”
“What?...”
“Do it. Quickly. Quickly. And round up all those captured fireball throwers.”
