16 Fallen Thunderbolts

Holding lit arrows, the Razaasia soldiers lined up, and as soon as they heard the horn, they released their fiery volley at Hosha City.

The lit arrows streaked across the sky like a fire dragon, hurtling towards the Magoli and Musian soldiers on the wall, landing on houses, people, and scarecrows alike.

Leading their advance with three massive siege towers shielding the infantry, the Razaasia army also brought forward the battering ram, its heavy thudding growing closer to the Hosha City gate.

"Siege towers!" shouted a Musian soldier, his voice strained.

"Battering ram!" another echoed, panic rising in his tone.

"Stop their advance! Wait for orders!" Mandla roared, his voice cutting through the din.

Drawing his bow, Mandla began shooting relentlessly at the Razaasia soldiers charging towards the Hosha City wall. A grim calculation formed in his mind: at this relentless pace, if their advance wasn't halted, the siege towers would be at the wall within the hour.

Looking at Hibo, Mandla called out, "Captain!"

"No matter what you do, you and your men must prevent those siege towers from breaching the wall until the order is given!" he ordered, his voice unwavering.

Mandla grabbed Kianga's arm. "Take the wounded soldiers to the keep and protect it."

"But I want to be here with you," Kianga said firmly, her eyes pleading.

"Protecting the keep is just as important as fighting with me here," Mandla countered, his voice gentle but resolute. He smiled at Kianga, a tender light in his eyes. "As much as I wish you could be with me, I know that during this time, the people in the keep need you more than I need you here," he added softly.

"If you are going to die, you must promise to take your last breath in my arms," Kianga said, her voice trembling. She looked at Mandla, who gave her a brave, bright smile. "Be careful, my love." With a last, lingering glance, she stood up and quickly ran down the stairs.

Hibo stood on the far right with her soldiers, her jaw set. She knew they had to prevent the siege towers from reaching the city walls until the order was given, even if it cost them their lives. The price of a breach before that moment was simply too high—she couldn't bear it. She understood clearly: if even one tower reached the walls, the Razaasia soldiers would swarm over, killing them mercilessly, and the meticulously crafted plan to save the city would shatter. Therefore, she would hold that line, no matter the cost.

"Listen, men!" Hibo shouted, her voice cutting through the roar of battle. "Until the order is given, our job is simple: keep those two siege towers away from the walls!"

"Yes, Captain!" The Musian archers shouted in unison, their resolve hardened.

"Stop those towers!" Hibo roared, aiming her bow at a gap in a siege tower's panel and firing.

Continuously observing the dwindling distance between the advancing Razaasia soldiers and the Hosha City wall, Chinua realized with every glance over her shoulder just how quickly they were closing. Now, the three siege towers and the battering ram were within two hundred yards of Hosha City.

"Two hundred yards!" Chinua shouted, quickly dodging an incoming arrow, grabbing another from her quiver, and nocking it to her bowstring.

"Naksh! Yellow flag!" Hye roared.

Standing not far from the wall, Naksh turned and walked towards two yellow-feathered arrows. He grabbed the first and fired it straight at the pile of dead soldiers in the middle of the street, near where four catapults stood. Then he grabbed the second and shot it straight up, letting it fall into the middle of the road in front of Drystan.

Reza and Payam stood three hundred yards away, their expressions a mix of grim determination and eager anticipation. From their position, they watched the Razaasia soldiers advance in force towards the Hosha City wall, knowing the three siege towers would breach it at any moment.

Reza grabbed the lead rope and stood beside his horse. Looking at Payam, he smiled, a sneer twisting his lips. "It seems they have nowhere to escape." He snickered. "We will capture that city today." With a triumphant swing, he mounted his horse, ready to ride into the heart of the battlefield.

"Young lord, we haven't won yet, so approach with caution," Payam cautioned, his voice measured.

Reza merely smiled, dismissive. "I know we haven't won yet, but at this rate, we have already won half the battle." Looking up, he saw that the battering ram had already reached the city gate, its heavy thuds echoing. "The injured city gate can no longer withstand the second attack," he declared, his confidence surging. He whipped his horse, leading a hundred elite soldiers forward, facing the strong wind, rushing towards the center and heading straight for the city gate. He knew that when he reached Hosha City gate, the gates would be wide open, and he and his best soldiers would rush in to attack the city.

When Reza and his hundred elite soldiers were a hundred yards from the Hosha City gate, he saw figures hurled over the city walls. They landed with sickening thuds among the Razaasia troops below.

He initially figured the defenders had run out of conventional projectiles and were simply launching scarecrows to scare his men. He even snickered at the thought. But then he saw something that froze his amusement: many soldiers on the battlefield had stopped advancing and were vomiting.

Quickly reining in his horse, he looked down at the fallen shapes, no longer thinking of scarecrows. He saw then they were not scarecrows dressed in Magoli armor, but the mangled, reeking bodies of Razaasia soldiers who had died in the previous battle.

Payam watched, his eyes widening in grim understanding, as the once ferocious Razaasia soldiers on the battlefield slowly came to a halt, their advance faltering, becoming sitting targets for the defenders on the walls. When he saw the mangled bodies of Razaasia soldiers among them, he sprang onto his horse.

The scene sparked a chilling realization for Payam: the Magoli and Musian soldiers hadn't attacked them earlier but had waited for this precise moment to shatter their morale. Judging by the sickening sight before him, the enemy had succeeded completely.

He rode after Reza and his soldiers, desperate to convince the Young Lord to order a retreat.

"Young lord! Retreat!" Payam shouted, riding his horse as fast as possible towards Reza, who was still heading straight for the gate of Hosha City. "Retreat!"

Inside Hosha City, Drystan stared intently at the front gate. Behind him, the Magoli archers were lined up, bows drawn, ready.

Drystan himself stood at the arrow machine, his eyes fixed on the gate, his hand on the trigger. The heavy weapon was aimed directly at the entrance.

Behind the archers waited Khunbish, Khenbish, Zhi, and Khawn, mounted on their horses and ready to charge. Behind them, the Magoli and Musian infantry patiently waited.

The gate of Hosha City suddenly swung open. The Razaasia soldiers, believing they had finally breached the city's defenses, rushed in through the gap, their war cries echoing.

But they were wrong. They weren't pouring through a broken gate; they were rushing headlong into a perfectly sprung trap.

The moment the Razaasia soldiers surged in, Drystan grabbed the trigger handle. The arrow machine roared to life, unleashing a devastating storm of arrows into the mass of charging troops, tearing through flesh and armor.

When the weapon fell silent, empty, four soldiers beside Drystan scrambled to reload it, their movements practiced and swift.

Then the Magoli archers fired. Hundreds of arrows screamed into the oncoming soldiers, adding to the slaughter, transforming the entrance into a bloody choke point.

Khunbish, Khenbish, Zhi, and Khawn rode forward through the bodies of slain Razaasia soldiers. They reached the battering ram, each grabbing a corner.

A group of ten Magoli and Musian soldiers surged forward, their combined strength heaving the heavy weapon away from the gate.

With the ram cleared, the rest of the infantry poured out of the city gate, charging straight into the battlefield, a roaring counter-offensive.

Drystan pushed the arrow machine forward, following after the Magoli and Musian soldiers. Once out of the gate, he turned the machine to his right and headed straight towards the first siege tower.

When Reza and his soldiers were less than fifty yards from the Hosha City gate, they saw them: the Magoli and Musian infantry pouring out of the broken gate, charging straight at them.

His earlier certainty of capturing Hosha City before dusk vanished. Seeing the sudden, ferocious countercharge, he knew taking the city would be far, far more difficult now.

But his resolve hardened. He wouldn't back down. It was too soon to say who would triumph or fall.

Despite the grim scene before him, despite his drastically reduced odds of winning, his determination remained absolute. He did not retreat. Instead, he spurred his soldiers forward for the final showdown.

Jeet ran forward with his archers and soldiers. A triumphant shout went up among them:

"The gate has been breached!"

The cry was repeated, spreading like wildfire through their ranks:

"The gate has been breached! The gate has been breached!"

Outside Hosha City gate, Jeet and his unit—the remaining Magoli archers and a small group of soldiers—took their stand. Jeet drew his katars, their sharpened edges glinting in the dimming light.

"No Razaasia will walk through this gate!" he roared, his voice filled with fierce determination.

"Yes, Captain!" the Magoli archers and the small group of soldiers shouted as one, their loyalty absolute.

They quickly formed a line, blocking the city gate with a bristling array of bows and arrows, a true human fortress.

From atop the city wall, Chinua heard the signal from Jeet's team—the shouted cry: "The gate has been breached!"

Looking out, she saw that Khunbish had led the others into battle as planned. She saw the Razaasia soldiers recoiling, visibly disturbed by the grotesque sight of the putrefying bodies of their slain comrades from the previous battle, their fighting spirit clearly shaken.

As the three siege towers edged closer, she knew it was time. The third phase of their plan was now.

Chinua knew Drystan, operating the mobile arrow machine, would soon destroy the siege tower closest to her. With urgency, she grabbed two full quivers of arrows. She ran to join Mandla and the Musian soldiers on the middle section of the city wall.

"Don't let them hook!" Chinua shouted, her voice ringing with urgency.

"Burn them!"

Running past Mandla, she headed for Hibo's soldiers, firing arrows relentlessly at the first tower.

On the city wall, the Musian soldiers grabbed heavy jars of oil. They waited, their muscles tensed, for the second and third siege towers to lumber close enough.

Once the towers were within range, the Musian soldiers began hurling the oil, sending shimmering arcs through the air. Simultaneously, Magoli archers, arriving with lit arrows, rushed to their positions and began firing at the now oil-slicked towers.

The Razaasia soldiers pushing the siege tower felt the chilling slick of oil flowing down its sides. They began to stop advancing, a ripple of fear going through them. When an inferno erupted, spreading quickly and wildly towards them, they broke ranks and fled in terror, their formation dissolving.

Inside the tower, the soldiers preparing for the assault had a delayed, horrifying realization. By the time they knew they were under fire, the flames had already climbed from outside into the stairs, trapping them in a fiery cage.

Unable to get down, they scrambled up the stairs in a panic, their screams lost in the roar of the fire. They desperately pushed the bridge down, only to be cut down by a relentless hail of arrows from the defenders on the wall.

A thunderous roar went up as the second siege tower, burning furiously in the middle, began to give way. It didn't fall straight, but toppled onto the first siege tower, the one Drystan hadn't yet disabled, engulfing it in flames.

Mandla's head whipped up at the deafening crash. He saw burning debris raining down, striking the Magoli and Musian soldiers on the wall.

His eyes darted right. He saw Chinua among the Magoli archers and sprinted to her side, pulling her into his arms to shield her from the deadly hail, protecting her with his own body.

With a groaning, cataclysmic crash, the two massive towers—the first and the second—slammed into the city wall. The impact was devastating, splitting the wall in two and leaving a swathe of burning ruins in its wake.