The Storm's Own Son (Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

line were rows of chairs for the field officers. Tribunes and the more powerful hill chieftains sat in the front two rows, with captains and the lesser chieftains behind.
    Talaos sat in the front row, and near the center, for he had a special task.
    The walls of the tent shook in the howling wind.
    Sanctari was speaking, and wasting no time, for they had little. "Scouts have confirmed that the enemy main army has renewed its march toward Avrosa, and now numbers more than thirty thousand."
    There were subdued whispers or groans around the room.
    Sanctari raised his hand, and all quieted. He continued, "There is a second item of news. The enemy force has grown because they can spare more men. The army of the League of Lazla, and our other allies in the farther north, lost decisively at Drenic.
    "Given the enemy's two to one advantage in numbers, we would be unwise to risk a pitched battle on open ground, even if we had Avrosa subdued at our backs. As you know, the terrain here does not allow us to safely withdraw. However, the enemy's advantage will not be overwhelming if we are in a defensible position. With fourteen thousand men inside the city and the walls reasonably intact, we could hold out indefinitely. We could wear them down, or outflank them by sea.
    "Provided of course, we have support from the fleet.  We may see squadrons from Drenic, Kossos, and elsewhere in the north begin to peel away to support their home cities.  We will have to hope they break through and reach us soon.  Whether they do or not, we must make good use of time."
    The old general stood up, with a hand at the bronze plates of his belt, and another on the hilt of his sword.
    "Men, the enemy will soon be upon us. We are outmatched in open battle. We cannot avoid them by land. Our best chance for better options is to be inside Avrosa. To do that in time, we must storm the city, and we must begin today. Prepare yourselves."
    The assembled commanders rose, saluted, and set to work.
    Everyone there, including Talaos, knew their part. They had prepared, they had made their plans, and now they would begin. He thrilled at the possibilities unfolding before him, including those related to his own, very personal plans. It would be a good day.
     
    ~
     
    The bombardment had begun. Catapults and ballistae fired at targets on the walls, with particular concentration on the fortress at the main gate. Each of the four towers there had a large ballista, and the roof of the keep in between was packed with at least two hundred archers and heavy footmen.
    The lower towers along the walls each mounted a catapult or ballista. These were firing at the artillery of the besiegers and the mantlets and screening troops around them. The wind was making artillery fire difficult, particularly for the ballistae.
    Behind the siege engines, the allied army was forming up.  Ordered companies of footmen and archers stood facing the walls. Interspersed with them, about a quarter of the waiting forces, were mercenary irregulars or milling bands of hillmen. Orderly or not, every unit had a squad of men with long scaling ladders.
    At the center, facing the main gate, was a large body of hillmen under Warlord Kurvan. Behind him were Generals Sanctari, Nissas, and Pelias, with companies of heavy spearmen and swordsmen from Teroia, Aledri, and Megasi. In front of even Kurvan, however, were Talaos and his company of volunteers.
    Talaos himself, in his new armor, was watching a strange machine rolling up the corridor between Kurvan's forces and the next body of troops to the left. It looked to have been built on the huge, multi-wheeled base of a siege tower. However, instead of a tower, it had a single forward facing wooden wall, a giant mantlet plated in iron sheets and about fifteen feet high.
    Mounted behind the mantlet was something stranger, a colossal siege ladder more than fifty feet high, as tall as the battlements of the keep at the great gate, and twice the height of the walls