Elis is mounted on his horse, Silver, at the front of his army. He has not seen Ohith in a long time. To think he stands before it now, poised to conquer it. His army has been battered, but so have the defenders. As this point, whether he lives or dies, he must capture this city even if he dies trying. Elis wants to limit his usage of the catapults as he has no intention to destroy this city, not what he had come for.
Allan is in the city, alongside Capurnicus and Trolgar. The Hetheilian force has archers on the walls, infantrymen at the gate, ambush troops in the streets and a small tactical reserve in the city square. Allan knew Elis had no interest in destroying the city and thus laid his army in this manner. Aimed at the defending the city from constant and assaults. Scorpions and other light siege engines were placed on the walls to defend against direct assaults on the wall, these were placed on the sides so as not to be damaged by Elis’s catapult fire.
Elis initiates this battle, he commands his soldiers “Fire at the walls! Hold fire from the City interior!” and the Goblins started to load the catapults with large spheres of rock. Nero was not a loader or a manner, he was just armed with his spear and shield and standing in front of his assigned catapult just as some other Goblins were. The archers on the wall witnessed these catapults miss their mark, so far no hits as they were aiming only at the wall and they were too far away, trying to keep out of range of the defender’s siege engines.
This was frustrating for Elis so he sends these catapults forward to find their mark on the wall. The first boulder finally smashes into the wall and kills a handful of archers. But now that the catapults have been sent forward and situated to hit the wall. The scorpions mounted on the walls begin firing at the catapults. Far more accurate, a couple are instantly put out of action. Elis then orders the catapults to stop firing. He then commands “battering ram forward!” The Goblins that manned the battering rams began marching forward, the roof of the ram protecting them as well. It is a large battering ram, strategically balanced, it housed archers and foot soldiers on top of a suspended powerful horizontal column for the ramming. The catapults were recalled to their former positions but were ordered to continue firing on parts of the wall that did not put Elis’s advancing battering ram squad at risk of being killed by their own catapults. Long and gruelling, the advancing warriors slugged through the intense firing from the determined Human archers above them. The roof of the ram caught fire but the beasts were not fazed and continued pushing for the wall. They finally reach the gate and begin trying to ram it open. On the other side of the gate, Allan and his men await with their shields and swords in a tight formation. Forming a wall of shields and the points of swords. The Human’s Scorpions relentlessly terrorize the beasts trying to breach the gate. The large bolts go right through the roof of the battering ram, restricting its momentum, and killing those inside.
Eventually it caves in and the beasts try to run back to the front line of their army. But they are shot down and only a few make it back. The beginning was a loss for Elis but not significantly impactful. Elis’s army still had one battering ram left and had not run out of ammunition for their catapults. He decides that he will launch a second attempt in the night when it is harder for the archers on the wall to see.
“Why has he stopped?” Trolgar asks. “He has not stopped; he is waiting for the sky to darken before launching his next attack” Allan says. “Our archers and Scorpions on the wall, they will be at a tremendous disadvantage in the dark” Capurnicus says. “So be it, we can still defeat him even if they come in” Allan says reassuringly, although is just as afraid in the situation. He wants life to return to normal and looking back on what had happened in the previous battle, he too cannot bring himself to kill Elis.
The sun had dimmed and the battlefield is now set at night. Elis lines up four fifths of his army to assault the wall and provide protection for the battering ram. His catapults are ready for their first round of firing in this second phase of the battle, coated with oil, these are to be set on fire and are to take out the two towers which house the deadly Scorpions. “Forward!” commands Elis. Leaving behind a fifth of his forces just in case the Humans counter-attack from the outside and to prevent Elis’s army from being trapped.
They march furiously and the ram marches at top speed. The archers on the walls and the Scorpions immediately begin firing. Until one of the towers gets a direct hit from one of Elis’s catapults. Nero finds his chances and as he is coating his Catapult with the oil, he secretly spills some on the base of his catapult. It fires, some of the fire catches on the base of the catapults. Soon the whole Catapult catches fire and is out of action. Fortunately, no one had seen Nero do it. The sneaky Goblin would continue to pull tricks like this.
Elis is armoured and is shielding himself in the crowd of beasts approaching the wall. Around him he watches his warriors die from the arrows, being much larger targets. But the losses were not staggering as most of the beasts had protective gear on and many arrows just glanced off. The battering ram reaches the gate and continuously tries to break the reinforced gate. At that moment, Gargoyles swoop in and start attacking the archers. The dark colouring of their skin enabled the Gargoyles to ambush the archers on the walls in the night. The archers were no longer able to keep Elis’s forces below at bey.
The gate is breached and the beasts bellow a loud and frightening war cry and after moving the ram out of the way charge the soldiers guarding the gate. Allan spears these beasts from the centre with his pie as Trolgar fires arrows into the closely paced ranks of the beasts trying to come in, the beasts to were firing at the Humans although it was much harder for them as they tried to push back the Human defenders.
The fight at the gate was bloody as both sides were losing soldiers. Suddenly a horn is blown and it is coming from outside the city and beyond Elis’s tactical reserve. The beasts watch in horror as they witness a charging mass of Trolls heading straight for them. Even those at the gate could see movement in the distance and hear the terrifying screams. Allan realised who it was. It was Serai, he and the warriors of his nation have arrived. Nero sees this and immediately runs to safety elsewhere in the field, not wanting to be mistakenly killed by these Trolls who he knows are allied to Allan. The beasts finally break through the gate’s defenders. Allan, Capurnicus and Trolgar retreat with the others to the centre of the city, the palace to regroup. Elis divides his forces, sending his warriors to the streets as he, his companions and his most trusted beast warriors move to take on Allan and his men in the centre of the city at the palace.
A bloody fight had broken out outside the city in the field. Fortunately, the Trolls under Serai outnumbered the warriors of Elis’s tactical reserve and manage to put up winning fight against them. The catapults were still firing. One boulder went over the city walls and crashed into a building that was only a stone’s throw from the palace. The last place Elis wants destroyed in the entire city. Elis then tells one of his companions to ride back and tell those firing the catapults to stop firing. His companion makes his way back immediately.
The two groups face each other at the centre. Allan and Elis lock eyes once again as before. The sky was dark, men and beasts were yelling at the top of their lungs, fighting. Fires are about and there are many pools of blood. Elis, two of his companions and a couple less than a dozen beasts finally charge at Allan, Capurnicus, Trolgar and a dozen Human soldiers. A brutal slugging match occurs as the elites of both sides clash.
Elis’s companion reaches where the catapults are. Going against orders he tells them to aim at the centre of the city, lying that these are Elis’s orders. The Goblins at the catapults comply and this time intentionally aim for the centre of the city. The companion then makes his way to the city centre, once again. Appearing to have a different agenda in mind.
Out of nowhere an Orc rams right into him. He is flung into the palace grounds. The pain is unbearable for him, adrenaline kicks and swiftly gets up in terror of this aggressive Orc. Capurnicus shouts f
rom within the mob of soldiers “run Allan! Outsmart him!” Allan then runs into the palace, the Orc pursues. He feels as though his non-master shoulder has been dislocated but whatever pain he had he brushes off. Allan runs into the dining room and throws his spare knife at the rope that secured the chandelier above the dining table. It hits and the rope comes close to breaking, he has a risky plan in mind. Allan then jumps on the table as the Orc enters. The Orc runs up to the table and swings his massive battle axe across the table. Allan swiftly jumps over it and upon landing can slice the wrist of this Orc. The Orc goes for a higher swing but Allan jumps of the table, landing on the opposite side. The Orc jumped on top of the table to get to where Allan was and just as he did, the vibrations unleashed by his weight forced the heavy chandelier to collapse onto the Orc who then dropped his battle-axe and fell forward, Allan rose his sword and drove it into the Orc as it fell on him. Allan leaned against the wall, exhausted and shaken. Suddenly he hears footsteps coming from down the hall. Allan then immediately runs up the staircase to the third and highest