“Torguria. Last published census. Three million, five hundred-and-sixty thousand. Brinnock…”
The advisor traced past other totals towards individual cities. He looked up at the queen once he found the number. “Four hundred thousand.”
“How recent was that census?” the queen asked.
“Three years.”
“Military statistics?”
The advisor reached to his assistant for different sheets of parchment.
“Yes. We…” He searched for the desired details. “We show them as having a modest number of standing, professional armies, totaling an approximate twelve thousand, with half that inside the city walls. The other half of those armies are dispersed across the rest of the country, concentrated around Brinnock with numbers rapidly decreasing as distance from the city increases.”
Maccail anticipated the queen’s next question.
“And what information is there on militias, or conscripts?”
The advisor’s assistant pulled out another parchment from his stack and started to read.
“Uh, yes, my lord,” he began. “There are a fair number of villages with varying sizes of militias, but their voluntary forces are not known for presenting any real threat.”
Ualar wasn’t impressed with the comment. “That seems like a bold statement. To dismiss them so casually like that?”
“I agree,” the advisor said. “We just don’t have any additional data on their militias.”
Jularra listened intently to the exchange, calculating her own thoughts as the back and forth unfolded.
“Are there no estimates at all as to their militias?” she asked.
The advisor leaned over to the assistant’s parchment as they both reviewed it. They flipped through additional sheets until the advisor found something to add.
“I don’t see anything on militias specifically, but I do see here an estimate of potential conscripts.”
Jularra raised her eyebrows, waiting. The advisor dipped his head back to the parchment.
“Five hundred armored horse. One thousand archers. One thousand spears. And Three thousand infantry.”
Jularra watched the others for their reactions, holding her chin as the advisor read out the numbers.
“So, that’s…” Latham sought to confirm, “twelve thousand in and out of the city, plus five-and-a-half. Worst case, seventeen thousand, five hundred."
Drumean immediately responded. “That’s not including any unknown militias.”
“I don’t like unknowns.” Robain added what most of the others were thinking.
The queen walked to a window, still stroking her chin. She and the others continued to weigh the information.
“Now, I’m fairly sure that Brinnock has had much more spent on its defense than any other city in Torguria,” Korden began. “But what notes do you have on the city’s defense infrastructure? I’m sure we have all visited numerous times and have our own recollections, but I want to be sure.”
The assistant nodded and held the parchment up once more.
“The city’s outermost perimeter is defended by a single wall, ten feet thick, and is, at its closest point, just under a mile from the two concentric walls that surround the main keep.
“The primary fortification is just under a square mile in size, and shaped by two sets of concentric walls. Each set of walls are made up of eight sections that curve inward, meeting each other with substantial bastions at each corner. There are multiple structures, including a keep, inside the inner wall which sit atop a motte. There is a steep incline of fifty degrees between the inner and outer walls, and there have been reports over the years of that area containing various traps and ground-level obstacles, but we have no details on anything specific.”
The assistant lifted his head up, panting slightly.
The queen continued to look out the state chamber window as she asked a follow-up.
“What do we have on the topography of the area surrounding Brinnock?”
The advisor flipped through more of the parchments and set the pile down after grabbing a thick, folded map. He handed the assistant a corner and then motioned for him to move further away. They gently unfolded the map and held it against the wall. Jularra turned as the map fell out to its full size. The advisor leaned out while holding the map to identify its orientation.
“Uh,” he uttered to the assistant. “Spin it to the right once. There.”
“As you can see, here is the keep," he pointed, "the structures surrounding it, the motte, and the concentric walls. Outside the fortification are various commercial areas, markets, and the residential areas which compromise the bulk of the area inside the city’s walls."
“But the topography outside the city?” the queen interrupted.
“I’m sorry, yes, of course,” the advisor rushed to say. He continued while pointing at assorted locations on the map.
“The land is mostly flat and easily navigable by foot or carriage. There are only occasional groupings of trees, with moderate vegetation. Most of the unpopulated area is grassland used by livestock.”
Maccail leaned forward and brushed his lips with his interlocked fingers. “They would see us coming for miles,” he announced coldly.
“Surprise isn’t always possible, Maccail.”
“I’m aware, Latham. But if the main goal is a swift and decisive attack,” he said, gesturing at the map, “then marching up to an extremely durable fortification and allowing them to adapt to any approach is foolish.”
The advisor, who had been trying to interject to resume his details, finally poked his way back in to the conversation.
“I’m sorry, my lords, but that isn’t everything.”
Attention turned back to the advisor.
“Yes?” Maccail prompted.
“The area is mostly flat, but the city’s outer wall brushes right past the point of a neighboring plateau. It looms far above the height of the wall.”
The room’s occupants retreated into their minds for analysis and consideration.
Korden had the next question. “I’m not sure how relevant that could be. How high above the fence is the top of the plateau?”
The assistant consulted his parchments, but couldn’t immediately reply. Just before the queen was about to say something to keep the conversation moving, he found something to add.
“Oh, here. The difference ranges from one hundred feet at its lowest, to two-fifty feet at its highest.”
Almost everyone in the room scoffed and chuckled.
“Well, that doesn’t really present any options, then. Even at a hundred feet, the height is
