Trials (4 page)

The archers took up their positions and sent a volley of hundreds of arrows. The Norghanian soldiers protected the men pushing the battering ram with their shields. Several Rogdonian archers fell from enemy arrows protecting the advance of the siege weapon.

“Keep shooting! Don’t let them get to the gate!” he shouted.

The defending archers dealt death among the men around the great ram. But each man that fell was rapidly replaced by another. The Norghanian shields covered the advance of the battering ram most effectively, as if it were a giant turtle.

Lomar felt a shock under his feet.

They had reached the gate!

Now they would swing the ram and destroy the reinforced door.

The moment had come. He turned to his men and yelled:

“Move away from the cauldron!”

Everyone quickly obeyed, knowing what was coming.

Lomar turned the handle of the cauldron’s lock system and poured the contents onto a groove especially built for the purpose of distributing the liquid along the entire length of the gate.

The boiling oil rained down on the ram and all the men who were swinging it.

The cries of horror and pain of the burnt and scalded men reached Lomar. Terror took hold of the enemy.

The blows from the battering-ram stopped.

“Flaming arrows!” Lomar ordered next.

The archers wrapped the arrows in rags they had been carrying at their belts and soaked them in oil. They lit the oiled arrows with the fire from the torches and then stood in position on the battlements, awaiting Lomar’s orders.

“Ready!”

The archers nocked their arrows.

“Fire!”

And the flaming arrows showered down on the attackers surrounding the ram, striking bodies and shields. On contact with the boiling oil and the soaked cloths the fire burst out and spread with unbelievable speed, creating a blazing inferno around the ram. The warriors screamed in desperation as their bodies burnt. Absolute horror spread among the attackers as the fire spread everywhere it touched. A stench of burning flesh reached Lomar on a powerful gust of wind, he was forced to cover his face.

The battering ram was burning, sending a black cloud of smoke up to the battlements. The Norghanians tried to put out the flames without success. There was chaos and despair in their ranks.

The archers repeated the process sparingly, making the burning missiles with care, to cause the worst possible damage among the enemy.

Lomar ordered the cauldron to be filled again. Straight away he gave the signal for his men to pour the oil from several jars over the first line of attackers whom the first blazing volley had missed. The orders were carried out immediately. Lomar pointed at the spots they needed to aim for and gave the signal. The entire front line of attack in the middle sector of the walls burst into flame amid the screams of the soldiers. The archers went on firing their flaming arrows and bringing pure hell to the enemy lines.

Lomar could see Gerart in the distance defending the western section, where there were several bouts of intense fighting. He looked to his right and recognized Captain Alaric in the act of killing a Norghanian.

“Alaric!” he called.

The man turned and ran to Lomar as soon as he realized who was calling.

“Captain, get some men together and take a few of the earthen jars of oil with you.”

Alaric looked at him blankly.

“The Prince needs help. Pour the oil on those spots where the enemy’s climbing. Take a dozen archers, make the enemy burn!”

The Captain understood.

He nodded without a word, called a dozen men and together they took three jars of oil. The fire archers followed them.

Lomar watched them pouring the oil on the spot where heavy fighting was taking place, right at the foot of the wall they were trying to climb. The archers opened fire on the Norghanians at the foot of the wall and they were swallowed up in flames. Alaric used the same strategy in two other key places, and soon much of the first lines attacking the western sector went up in flames, amid screams.

Before Lomar could take pleasure in the momentary victory, the shadow of the giant siege tower covered everything as if a god had turned out the sun.

“Hell, they’re here already!”

The four gigantic siege towers were only ten paces away from the wall: two at the eastern part and two at the western. Two new battering rams were closing in to take the place of the one which had been destroyed.

Lomar cursed under his breath.

“Archers, split up!” he shouted. “Aim your fire at the towers!”

The archers launched their flaming missiles against the framework of the two nearest towers. The arrows hit the wooden frame with its covering of skins, but instead of setting it on fire the arrows went out.

“What the…?” cried Lomar.

He looked at the structure, unable to understand why the tower had not burst into flame.

The arrows were hitting their targets, but there was no fire.

“They’ve soaked the skins on the frame in water, that’s why they won’t burn,” an archer cried at his side.

From the upper part of the structure, taller than the wall itself, a rain of arrows fell over the Rogdonians. Soldiers in blue and silver fell, hit by the enemy archers.

Lomar turned to his own archers and shouted:

“Enemy archers on the siege tower!”

His own archers met the enemy attack with another volley, but they were clearly at a disadvantage with the enemy holding the higher position.

Gerart came running to Lomar’s side, followed by four Royal Swords.

“Those towers are going to crush us,” he told Lomar, pointing at the monstrous structure of wood and iron.

“The Snow Army is waiting its turn to enter the fray,” Lomar commented, his eyes on the base of the siege tower where hundreds of warriors in white hauberks were gathered together waiting for the opportunity to climb up the tower and reach the wall.

“Can’t we burn them?” Gerart asked.

“No, your Highness, they’re soaked in water and they won’t burn.”

“We must work something out or else we’re lost.”

The volleys of flaming arrows had no effect. From the top of the structure the enemy archers fired back, punishing the defenders mercilessly.

The second battering ram reached the gate. The Norghanians had removed the remains of the first, and the attack on the gate was imminent. As they felt the shock Lomar went over to the cauldron.

“Move away,” he shouted in warning, then turned the mechanism that set the cauldron to swing. The boiling oil ran along the pipe and rained down on the attackers.

The screams of the enemy as they were hit were appalling.

“Archers, fire!” he ordered again, and the men lit their arrows.

“Volley!”

And all hell broke loose over the attackers once more as flames engulfed them all, devouring flesh and wood alike.

The battering ram was consumed by the fire in a matter of moments.

“Great work!” Gerart congratulated Lomar.

“Thank you, your Highness, the gate will hold.”

An idea began to take shape in Gerart’s mind as he saw all the Norghanians in flames. He looked towards the courtyard. He still had a third of the men waiting to reinforce the walls.

“More archers! I need more archers up here!”

At once the soldiers ran up the stairs.

“Lomar, come with me, we’re going to burn that tower.”

“But how, your Highness?”

“The same way as the battering ram,” the Prince replied.

Between the two of them they put a great earthen jar of oil beside the cauldron, then brought it close to the tower three paces away from the wall. The moving assault platform was beginning to be laid from the tower to the wall. Soon the whole Snow Army would arrive on the wall.

“Now what?” Lomar asked.

“We’ll tip it on to the base of the tower, by the wheels, and make a great funeral pyre.”

They poured the contents of the jar down onto the base of the siege tower, then fired three flaming arrows at one of the enormous front wheels.

The wheel caught fire and began to burn with massive flames.

“It works!” Gerart cried, delighted.

“Another jar, we need another jar!” the Prince shouted to the men beside the cauldron. Immediately two archers left their bows and brought one to them. It went the same way as the first, onto the base of the structure. On impact, the fire extended all along the base and began to climb, devouring the wood of the giant frame as it went. The moving bridge slid onto the wall, making a catwalk, and the Norghanians spilt out of the tower.

“Lomar, keep up the defense here. Don’t let them reach the cauldron! I’ll get more oil to burn the other siege tower on the other side!”

“Right, your Highness!”

“Good luck, my friend,” said Gerart with a wink and then ran off, followed by his Royal Swords.

Lomar fought as if possessed, with the devoted Rogdonian men at his side managing to contain the assault of the men of the Snow Army who were trying to take the wall from the giant siege tower. The flames intensified at the base and were beginning to creep up the enormous framework. The warriors, trapped and desperate, began to jump off to escape the flames. Those on the upper levels, panicking at the sight of the smoke and flames under their feet, created an avalanche of people on the moving bridge. Many Norghanians were thrown down the wall or into the courtyard. The rest were killed by the defending soldiers.

Lomar ran to the cauldron and saw that the other siege tower was also alight. Prince Gerart had managed to set fire to it. The two columns of smoke from the gigantic structures were visible from leagues away. The first siege tower, engulfed in flames, began to topple. Below, the Norghanians sought to escape from its shadow. With a crash the enormous tower finally fell to the ground, crushing hundreds of unfortunate warriors among its burning embers as it collapsed.

Gerart saw the great machine fall and smiled. The one in front of him was already engulfed in flames and would soon fall too. He looked apprehensively at the other two towers which loomed over them like two giants made up of wood and men.

But something surprising happened. The two towers stopped moving.

Gerart watched them in puzzlement. Slowly the towers moved away from the walls!

They don’t want to lose the two other siege towers. They’re taking them away
.

Horns sounded in the valley and the Norghanian army stopped its attack. In an orderly manner, the soldiers began to retreat.

Gerart could not believe his eyes. The proud, dreaded Norghanian army was retreating!

“Archers, let death rain on the enemy!” he ordered.

All along the wall three thousand archers took up their positions and sent death falling from the sky onto the retreating enemy troops, further punishing their failure. The enemy was retreating, well protected by their shields and in an orderly and disciplined way, but hundreds of them were still falling.

The defenders burst out in jubilant cheering:

“They shall not pass! They shall not pass!”

The whole wall shouted, delirious with joy.

They had held out and repulsed the assault.

The enemy was in retreat!

They were beating a retreat!

Night was falling and the whole Norghanian army fell back to their own camp.

Gerart, Lomar, Longor and Urien gathered at the Great Tower.

Gerart came straight to the point. “How many losses?” he asked.

“We’ve lost nearly three thousand men today, counting the dead and those wounded who won’t be able to fight again,” Urien said. “The losses on the battlements have been way too many.”

“Yes, those barbarians are incredible fighters. By the time we managed to kill one, often he’d already killed two or three of ours,” Lomar lamented.

“There are too many of them, and the wall’s too wide and long to defend properly,” Count Longor said. “Besides the fact that many of our men had no experience whatsoever…”

“Their losses have been terrible too. How many men do you think they’ve lost today?” Gerart asked Urien.

“Three times ours, about nine thousand men.”

“Yes, your oil saved us just as you predicted, wise Counselor.”

“By a hair’s-breadth. They were very smart, soaking the skins in water and then wrapping them around the wooden framework. But they hadn’t protected the base, the huge wheels of the machine. Very smart of you, young Prince, to notice that.”

“I don’t know how I came to think of it. A stroke of luck, I guess.”

“Something more than luck,” Urien said with a smile. “I’d say it’s called having a good head.”

“Will they attack again?” Lomar asked.

“Most certainly,” Longor assured him. “After all those losses they won’t back down. It’s all or nothing for them now.”