The formation fell back in perfect order, the two sides of the gate swinging closed the moment they cleared it.
“Lady?” Sergeant Kira asked, gesturing upward.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
Alain went up the stairs with them, willing his legs to move up each step in turn. Cheers sounded as the banner of the daughter was planted on the battlement and Mari stood tall to wave in both directions.
Worn out, Alain leaned on the stone parapet. The sun had dipped below the overcast, sending slanting rays across the battlefield that illuminated strangely beautiful patterns in the smoke billowing from burning buildings below the third wall. He glanced at the stone beneath his feet, having almost forgotten in his exhaustion to see if it matched that of the vision, but once again it did not.
Looking outward once more, Alain could see Imperials flooding into the newly captured part of the city, columns of dark red uniforms and gleaming armor filling the streets towing siege machines with them. The sound of Imperial horns crowing triumph on the second wall carried easily to those on the third.
Mari put her arm around Alain, looking outward. “It ought to happen pretty quickly now, unless some Mechanics with the Imperials notice what I did and manage to shut off the locomotive’s boiler fast enough.”
The sound of the explosion rocked the city, large and small pieces of wreckage erupting from the Mechanic rail yard and tearing through nearby streets and buildings. Alain saw the Imperial columns on nearby streets break apart and scatter. Pieces of debris fell as close as the open area before the third wall.
The sound of the blast was still echoing, the soldiers around her cheering, as Mari stared at the devastation. “How many people do you suppose I just killed?” she asked Alain in a dull voice.
“Not nearly as many as will die if we fail,” he tried to reassure her.
“That type of math doesn’t make me like this any better.” She looked to the right. “The Mage and Mechanics Guild Halls are both outside our lines now.”
Mari pulled her far-talker from her jacket pocket, adjusting it and listening, calling several times, holding it up and getting no different result. “Nothing. Alain, why do you think none of our rocs have shown up here? Why wouldn’t they have flown on ahead of the army with more rifles and Mages and other critical things?”
“I do not know,” Alain said. “There must be a good reason. I was wondering why we have not experienced certain attacks from the Mage Guild. Perhaps the things we are both not seeing are related.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have been wondering why we have not faced any Mages who can create the illusion of lightning,” Alain explained. “Why have they not cast their lightning against the battlements? There are not many Mages with such skill, but it is odd that none of them are here.”
Mari looked south. “You think maybe those lightning Mages are trying to hold up my army? They couldn’t stop the army, but I don’t imagine rocs could survive hits by lightning. That would be enough to keep them from flying ahead. Did our enemies out-think us this time, Alain? Did they set traps that aren’t perfect but might have enough force to achieve their goals?”
“I do not believe that,” Alain said. “The flaws in the methods of the past, dividing common and Mechanic and Mage, we have seen clearly here. We will triumph.”
Mari smiled at him through the smudges of smoke on her face. “I made a Mage believe in something?”
“I have long believed in you. I also believe in what you do.”
Field Marshal Klaus came walking along the wall, trailed by Lieutenant Kaede and Lieutenant Bruno. “Greetings, Lady. That went better than I expected.”
“It did?” Mari asked.
“Yes. We had to yield the wall, but it cost the Imperials dearly.” He waved out across the part of Dorcastle that had been taken by the enemy. “They’ll have to bring up fresh legions during the night and withdraw the ones that have been in the thick of the fight. And with their Mages sitting out the fight for a while, we can hope for a quiet night.”
“The Mechanics might try to sneak some bombs close to the wall during the night,” Mari cautioned. “Some timers run long enough that they could plant a bomb in the night and it wouldn’t go off until morning.”
“We’ll keep a close eye out for that, Lady. Are any of those bombs large enough to endanger the wall, or just the gates?”
“Just the gates. To blow a hole in the wall they’d need several of those bomb wagons, and even if they had them those wagons can’t be brought up next to the wall without a lot of people noticing.”
“Excellent.” Klaus turned. “Are you the Sergeant Kira I’ve been hearing about?”
“Yes, sir,” Kira replied, saluting.
“A dragon slayer, eh? Inspired by being so near the daughter?”
“Yes, sir,” Kira said again, smiling. “I have been fortunate to fight near her.”
“I understand she’s under your personal charge? Good. I can’t imagine a better soldier or a better unit than the Third Regiment for the task. I need to borrow the daughter for a short time, though. Lady, can you come for a briefing at my headquarters?”
“Yes,” Mari said, beckoning to Alain.
The field marshal’s latest headquarters was in an average-looking building that proved to be a small concealed fortress. The walls of the building were thick, the roof both reinforced and slanted to deflect anything striking it, and beneath ground level lay a very impressive basement with several escape stairways leading in and out to prevent those inside from being trapped. Alain looked at the soldiers rushing around to organize the room and update the maps, seeing order under the apparent chaos of activity.
Field Marshal Klaus brought them over to a large table, where once again a variety of wooden blocks portrayed different units and their positions. “We’ve taken our share of losses, but we’re still in good shape, Lady. How many of the Tiae rifles are left?” he asked Lieutenant Kaede.
“Most of the soldiers carrying the rifles have been killed, their weapons either destroyed or broken, and one possibly lost, though we believe no ammunition remained for that rifle. Only four Tiae soldiers bearing rifles remain, sir.”
Alain saw Mari close her eyes briefly before concentrating again on the field marshal’s words.
“We’ll deploy them on the right tomorrow, if that is acceptable to you, Lady. The Imperials normally alternate their primary blows, so I expect strong forces to assail the right of the wall as well as the main gate.” Klaus paused. “Of course, the forces hitting the left will be strong as well. Just not as strong.”
“We really did better than you expected today?” Mari asked.
“Yes.”
“What do you expect for tomorrow?”
“The same as today, Lady,” Klaus said, his eyes somber. “With one difference. Tomorrow we will not yield a wall. We will hold.”
Alain nodded to Mari to show that Klaus meant what he said.
“We will hold,” Mari echoed.
To Alain’s surprise, she meant it, too.
He thought of the masses of Imperials, of the fresh legions being brought up in the night, and decided he might as well believe along with them.
They went back to the battlement to await the dawn.
Chapter Nine
Mari awoke with a jolt of alarm as a rock cast by an Imperial ballista crashed into the street not far behind the wall. She stared around in the darkness, her heartbeat rapid, for signs that the Imperials were staging a night attack.
“It’s just a harassing bombardment,” Sergeant Kira said. She was sitting, back to the battlement, not far away. “We’ve got a little while yet until dawn.”
Mari sat up, seeing that Alain was still asleep. She moved over to sit next to Kira. “Thanks for helping me with Alain yesterday. I know that touching a Mage must have felt strange to you.”
“Like you said, Lady. He’s just one more soldier.” Kira turned a curious look on Mari. “How did
you two meet? The rumors say he sought you out to serve you.”
“Not exactly,” Mari said, looking upwards. Only a few stars were visible through rents in the clouds. A hush lay over the city, broken only by occasional soft noises from behind the wall and, once, the bray of a mule. “He did come looking for me when the caravan we were in was being wiped out, even though he didn’t know who I was. We sort of saved each other, then we saved each other again, and then…saving each other became a habit, I guess. And then I fell in love with him, and he fell in love with me, and then everybody was trying to kill us. Just a typical meet cute guy in a deadly ambush followed by romantic adventure involving assassins and dragons, I guess.”
“I never had that much fun on a date,” Sergeant Kira commented. “Maybe I should have traveled with more caravans.”
“It’s possible to have too much of that kind of fun. Do you think a storm is coming?” Mari asked, looking at the overcast.
“Very likely. This time of year we usually have storms that we say come in easy and slow, then hit hard and fast. This looks like one of those. It might build for a couple of more days before breaking.”
“If the storm hits, will it prevent the Imperials from attacking for a while?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Storms make it a lot harder to pass orders and see what’s going on, but they also provide cover and make it more difficult for the defenders to size up what’s happening.” Kira nodded toward the south. “I hope your army gets here soon.”
“Me, too.” Mari pulled out her far-talker, but heard even less than the day before. “Those clouds must be blocking the signal.” She noticed Sergeant Kira trying not to stare at the device. “Here. Someday lots of people will have these. Even better ones than this. This is the on/off switch, and this dial sets the frequency, and this dial controls how loud it is.”
Kira shook her head, holding the far-talker as if it were something fragile. “I’d heard rumors of Mechanic devices like this. I never thought I’d see one or hold one.”
“Why don’t you try it? Let me set the frequency. Go ahead. Push that and talk into that.”
“What do I say?”
“Say this is Sergeant Kira of Dorcastle, and you’re a common, and you’re using a far-talker for the first time.”
Kira smiled, then spoke the message into the far-talker.
“I’m sorry no one answered,” Mari said, taking back the device and putting it in her jacket again. “The atmospherics are messing with its range, which means my far-talker can’t talk very far at the moment. Maybe next time.”
A growing murmur of noise along the battlement marked the arrival of another field breakfast. Alain woke and joined them, his expression impassive. “Any visions?” Mari asked him.
“No,” Alain said. “I do not even recall dreams from this night.”
“Me, neither.” Mari realized that even though such battles fed her nightmares, while she was actually fighting them she had neither the energy nor the time to be tormented by memories of things seen and done. The idea of a battle bringing her internal peace was either ironic or awful, she wasn’t sure which. Maybe both.
Alain looked to the north. “The Mages remain distant from this wall.”
“Good. Too bad I can’t discourage the Mechanics enough for them to do the same.”
Kira rose up a bit to gaze over the battlement. “I hear something going on out there. We might have an early morning of it. Earlier than yesterday, that is.”
She had barely finished speaking when Mari heard the thunk of a hundred ballistae firing and saw fiery projectiles rising from the north, like a false sunrise aimed at the defenders of Dorcastle.
“Here we go,” Kira said, picking up her rifle.
The early Imperial attack proved to be a mistake. The darkness was still so thick that the Imperial units got intermingled, slowing the assault and resulting in large numbers of legionaries milling about at the foot of the wall as the defenders cast down rocks, spears, and bricks that could scarcely miss.
Mari and Kira added to the confusion by shooting every officer they could spot. Far down the wall to her right Mari heard the surviving Tiae rifles firing as well. She wondered how Major Danel and the other Tiae cavalry were doing, imagining they were doubtless frustrated to be waiting in reserve while others fought.
She also wondered what had happened to her, that she no longer flinched every time she fired, thinking of the person her bullet would strike. There were too many, there had been too many, and they would all kill her if given the chance, they were all trying to kill her right now. Like a Mage, she had walled off her feelings, not having the luxury to indulge in them when life and freedom were on the line.
The legions fell back, reorganizing as a red sun rose through the haze of smoke that now seemed to permanently engulf Dorcastle.
They came again, few siege towers visible today. Alain set on fire the two that were visible to him and a large battering ram being hauled toward the gate.
A group of Mechanics tried to deliver another hand-carried bomb to the gate, falling to Mari’s and Kira’s fire until the two survivors fled. Alain put heat on the abandoned bomb, the explosion hurling nearby legionaries in all directions.
Ladders thudded against the parapet. Defenders set pikes against the tops and shoved, trying to overbalance them and throw the ladders down. On the ground, legionaries pushed back or fired crossbows at the pike-carrying defenders.
Mari spotted a Mechanic with a rifle, but before she could fire Sergeant Kira’s shot dropped him.
The legionaries fell back again, attacked again.
The ballistae continued to hurl their deadly projectiles, some solid and others afire, so that the buildings behind the third wall caught and sent clouds of smoke billowing up to join with the low clouds. Brief gaps in the overcast gave a glimpse of the sun and cast a few rays across the battlefield. Staring in astonishment, Mari realized it was almost noon.
The fallen on the battlement were carried off, some moaning in pain, others silent in death. The front defended by the Third Regiment grew shorter and shorter as the surviving soldiers drew together and fresh reinforcements came up onto the battlement to cover the resulting gaps.
How many attacks had been thrown back? Mari couldn’t remember, the Imperial assaults running together in her mind.
Her rifle empty as another scaling ladder hit the wall nearby, Mari drew her pistol and leaned out a bit, ignoring the crossbow bolts being fired at the battlement. Aiming carefully, she fired several shots into the cluster of soldiers holding the base of the ladder. Some fell, others lost their grips. The top of the ladder swung out under the push of pikes wielded by other defenders, the legionaries trying to climb up the ladder gripping desperately or jumping off into the crowd below before the ladder overbalanced and fell among the attackers.
Another ladder thudded into the battlement nearby. Mari extended her arm and fired as a legionary who had ridden the ladder up tried to jump onto the battlement. Her shot hit the Imperial soldier and knocked him back.
More legionaries swarmed up the ladder as Mari reloaded. Defenders rushed to meet them with pikes and swords. Another ladder thumped up nearby.
Alain met the legionaries coming up, his long knife killing and wounding until the fire he had set in the ladder weakened it enough for it to collapse, spilling attackers back to the ground.
A soldier standing next to Mari took two steps backwards and fell, a bullet hole from a Mechanics Guild rifle in the center of her chest armor.
Mari wasn’t sure how far past noon it was when the attacks ebbed. She sat behind the parapet, breathing deeply, staring at nothing.
“Eat,” Sergeant Kira advised. She looked as haggard as Mari felt.
Lieutenant Bruno came by, saluting her. “Lady, the Imperials got onto the wall to the right for a short time, but we threw them back. The secondary gate on the right was badly damaged by a Mechanic device, but it’s been braced and is holding.”
“
Good,” Mari said, not sure what else to say. “We’re holding?”
“Yes, Lady. We’re holding.”
A short time later, Mari heard shouts being passed along the wall. “Parley! There’s a parley flag!”
She got up enough to look, seeing the traditional white flag with a wide blue band around the edge. Near it were a number of high-ranking Imperials.
“Those targets are tempting,” Sergeant Kira murmured.
“They are,” Mari said. “But behave yourself, Sergeant. Only shoot if they give cause.”
“Lady Mari,” Vice President of State Jane said as she came along the battlement. “At least you’re easy to find,” she added, gesturing toward Mari’s increasingly tattered banner. “We’re going to see what they have to say.”
“Can we trust them?” Alain asked.
“No, Sir Mage. But we’ve got enough crossbows covering them that if they try to pull something we should be all right.”
Mari and Alain followed Jane down the wall and to a small sally gate near the main gate. Field Marshal Klaus was waiting along with Lieutenant Kaede and Lieutenant Bruno. “Where’s Vice President Eric?” Mari asked.
“He hasn’t been seen since we pulled back from the second wall,” Jane said. “I’ve trying to find out if he’s in one of the field hospitals.”
The gate opened and they walked out into a scene from a nightmare. The bodies of dead legionaries lay so thick at the base of the wall that it was difficult to walk without treading on them, and where bodies did not lie, blood pooled. Mari did her best not to look at any of the faces of the fallen, already having too many seared into her memory.
The Imperial parley group was not led by Prince Maxim or Princess Lyra, but the four eagles on the collar of the senior legionary officer identified her as a legion group commander, the highest Imperial military rank. “Are you prepared to end this useless struggle?” she asked.
Vice President Jane answered. “Certainly. Does that mean you’re withdrawing?”