Fall of a City

         Reyni awoke to the sounds of battle outside. Her house was still bathed in the darkness of night, but she knew she wouldn't get back to sleep while there was a battle going on just outside the city walls. She got up, lit a candle, and walked over to a window. Singhus, Loundana's capital city, had been under siege by the Largerthian's for a few months now and she had gotten used to this. When the Largerthian's army was reported to be moving toward Singhus everyone had been genuinely surprised. Rellan, Largerthian's king, was not a particularly power-hungry person, so when a message was sent to them they were surprised to hear he was planning on gaining control of Loundana. The siege had been going on for about three months now, and despite various tries by both sides no one has been able to break it. Three months later and battles were still occurring every few days.

         The sun was just starting to come up now and she could make out the silhouettes of soldiers up on the battlements. She turned away from the window and went to get dressed. She knew she shouldn't go outside when there was a battle going on, even outside the walls, but if she didn't make it to The Crystal Goblet Inn she obviously couldn't get paid. She needed all the money she could get now, as the siege made prices rise greatly. She cracked open the door and looked outside. The streets, which were usually starting to get busy with people going to their shops and inns, were empty save but a few guards, and even fewer civilians. She walked out the door and the sounds of the fighting immediately grew a louder. One of the guards looked at her as if she was crazy, and of course she didn't think that could be too far off. At least The Crystal Goblet wasn't very far.

         When she arrived she was surprised to see the door was locked. Her face took on a dark look. Not once, at least as long as she had been working at The Crystal Goblet, did Sargel, the owner of the inn, ever miss coming in. Even if he had been sick, he came in and just stayed in the back room away from everyone. He didn't give anyone else a key either, so she couldn't open the door. She sighed; it was just so strange. There was only one real explanation for his sudden disappearance and it was an increasingly common case. With the lack of soldiers Loundana had conscription was necessary, though the methods by which it was done weren’t exactly most agreeable. Barging into homes at any time almost like they were a group of well armed thieves, but Julius, the army’s commander was desperate. Simply said even a great commander can panic under the worst of circumstances and these were quite near the worst as far as she could see.

         Reyni decided it would be best to go see if he was in his home. Something might have happened after all besides him being forced into service. She turned and headed for his house. The streets weren’t nearly as empty as before. She looked questioningly as many soldiers headed west past her. She wondered were they were going, for although the sounds of battle had ceased shouldn’t they still be on watch at the wall?

         She pushed that to the back of her mind. She had other things to worry about. This was mostly a residential area, where people are constantly going to and from the business district. Sure there were a few inns here and there like The Crystal Goblet, but mostly houses. Reyni liked Sargel very much. He was kind and thoughtful, just the type of person she liked. Sargel was too old for Reyni of course, but if she could find someone like him, but younger, and perhaps with a bit less width to him she would gladly settle down with that person. What if he got hurt, or even killed? That wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed her mind since she got to the inn.

         She reached Sargel’s house and turned the door knob. To her surprise it opened with ease, and she walked right in. The place was nice and tidy, not one thing was out of place as far as she could see. She walked into the other rooms and they were normal too. The dishes and glasses were in the closet, table clothes were neatly folded, and even his collection of knives, which he took great pride in, were mounted nicely on the wall. She actually hadn’t expected Sargel to be quite so organized; after all he was always rushing about things in The Crystal Goblet. Still, where could he be? She had searched the entire house, and yet there were no traces of him at all. She sighed depressingly. She decided to see if she could at least find the key to open the inn. It would be nice to find what had actually happened to Sargel, but seeing to herself was still more important no matter what.
She moved around the house making sure to look in every drawer and cabinet. Most were filled with papers certain odds and ends, nothing of any interest at all. After a while of searching and finding nothing she moved up to the second floor. She heard increasing shouts from the wall and for a moment stopped to listen to see if anything different was happening. The noise quickly died down though and she got back to searching. She gave the entire house a thorough search twice over, but it was doubtful she passed anything up in such an organized place. He must keep it with him, she thought. She left the house wondering what she should do now, but her thoughts were violently interrupted.

         She heard a loud explosion and when she looked for the source she spotted a column of spoke rising from the wall that was being attacked by Lagerthia’s forces. She heard horrid screams coming from that area and could only look on in horror along with everyone else on the street as two more blasts weakened the wall even further.

* * *

         Julius pulled his sword from the body of a fallen soldier and wiped the blood off on his cloak. That was the closest Lagerthia had come so far to taking the gate in these long months since the siege began. Not that they had actually never made it up on the wall before- if they hadn’t they would have given up the siege long ago- but they had come too close this time to overrunning them and actually making it inside where there weren’t too many soldiers. For now the assault seemed to have been fought off though. There were still a few small groups of enemy soldiers along the wall, but for the most part they had all been killed or scared away. He sheathed his sword and called his men to him. As soon as they were all gathered he brought them into the war room. His forces were weakening and he had to break the siege quickly.

         “We cannot afford to just defend this wall any longer.” Julius spoke with a strong, clear voice that made people listen. “Our supplies are running short, and we do not have an unlimited source of men either." They indeed did not have an unlimited amount of soldiers. In fact they had very few for Loundana was in the middle of a fierce war with surrounding nations and could not spare any reinforcements. They had to bring in conscripts from the city, in fact the man to his right, Sargel, happened to be one of the newest he received.

         "Therefore I am organizing an offensive," he continued. "Because we are outnumbered we must be clever about this. There is no way that we will be victorious if we just charge out of the gate with all of our men and archers covering on the walls above." He pulled out a detailed map of the city from under a pile on the table and placed it on top. The city gate was on the east side of the wall, but Julius drew his attention to the west segment. There he placed markers along the wall at certain intervals. "At these points I have had tunnels dug. Simply all we will do is send a small force to the gate to keep the enemy busy while the main force makes their way through these tunnels and around the outside of the city to surround the enemy."

         The other men nodded in acceptance. They immediately got up and headed to the barracks to prepare while Julius went and informed the other officers of his plan.

***

         Leon looked upon the small group of mages that had just recently arrived for him. These would prove to be Julius' defeat. Through years of studying they had gained the talent to use the mystical force of magic. Their purpose was a brief and simple one. In a few moments they would blow a large hole in Singhus' wall to let his army through. After that, even though it would be wonderful to have them to help fight against Julius' soldiers, their usefulness would be over. The spell they were to use was powerful and would leave all of them too exhausted to do anything else, but it would be enough.

         Leon simply nodded towards the mages and they followed him out of the tent they were in. It was time to begin. He simply gave them the word and they started the incantation for the spell. Minutes afterward the gate opened and small force of soldiers came running out. He could only laugh at Julius' feeble attempt to fight off the siege. His men were already joining the enemy in battle. The gate had closed behind them, but no matter, the mages were nearing completion of the spell. Just then he noticed a larger group of soldiers coming along the outside of the wall. He cursed and rallied soldiers to him to protect the mages, but just then a loud sound filled he ears and he saw debris raining down. It was immediately followed by two more explosions, taking out a large portion of the wall.

         It was done. They would soon hold the city. He urged his soldiers to press their attack on the small force protecting the gate and ignore the larger force coming along the side. They wouldn't matter anymore. Once he was in the city they would be safe for the most part.

***

         Julius stopped in mid-step. His plan had been going wonderful. Leon would have been surrounded in just moments, but then through the nefarious deeds of what he suspected were mages the wall had a large hole in it. Much of the debris had landed with the soldiers defending the gate killing or wounding many of them, and now any effort he made to stop the enemy would be fruitless. The first soldiers were now running into the city. He couldn't give up though, not while he still could fight. He gave a final battle cry and charged into the fray. He had to protect all the innocent women and children, especially his, that would be helpless to the assault of Lagerthia.

         Many men fell under his blade, and he noticed his force was cutting well into the enemy's soldiers, but after risking a look behind he saw that his forces were dwindling. It would only be a matter of time before they were all killed, but it was too late to retreat now. He kept fighting until he felt the cold metal of a blade enter his back, and then he fought no more.

***

         Reyni heard herself let out a scream as she saw soldiers start to pour in from the wall. For a moment she was held in place by fear, but quickly realized that she had to run and run hard. She passed her house without even slowing for even there she wouldn't be safe from these men. She found herself taking no direct route as she fled; all she wanted to do was get as far away from the Lagerthian army as possible. It didn’t take long for her to see other people running with her, but despite all the people that were running there were still plenty of screams from those that were not so fast. She was never a very good runner and felt herself running out of breath already. Finding a place to hide soon was necessary. She could not keep running especially not in the dress she was wearing.

         She looked behind her to see if there were any soldiers behind her, but that was all it took to send her falling to the ground. She struggled to get up, but Leon’s men had not been far behind her. Before she was able to recover a particularly big soldier hoisted her up by the back of her dress. She got pulled into an alleyway between two large buildings, but everyone running by ignored her screams in their own fright.

         She lay weeping in the alleyway, scratched and bruised, as she desperately tried to cover herself up with the remains of her dress as her assaulter left the alley to help capture the high lord.