Chapter 50

Gasper stared at the walls of the mercenaries' fortress. Above the wall, he could see a number of sellswords manning the parapets. Their inferior numbers were apparent event from where he was standing. They didn't have enough men to man the walls properly, considering that the enemy commander would want to have some men in reserve in case one of the walls weakened before the others.

The bandit crews, including his, had spread out and surrounded the fortress. Each chief would command the attack on one of the four walls. Gasper was staring at the southern wall, the one he would attack. Most of his crew was by his side, but about 700 of his men were sent to support Lucas and Viper who had the least men. That left him with almost 1500 men. Master Rudolf had accompanied the group of men supporting Viper. Gasper had agreed with the old man that it would be more likely for one of them to reach Edgar before everyone else if each one of them attacked a different wall.

Master Rudolf would be attacking the northern wall which had the gate. Gasper would be attacking the opposite wall, and they would hopefully meet at Edgar's residence within the fortress.

Gasper ran his eyes over his men. 1500 men were spread out in a loose and chaotic form that had nothing to do with formations. He didn't want the desperate refugees to die in battle, but they had accepted food and silver for a cost. And that cost included the risk of death that came at every turn. Some of them would die today, hopefully not many since the enemies were vastly outnumbered.

Gasper heard the weak sound of a war horn. Viper had brought the horn, and it was the signal for everyone to attack. He raised his hand and signaled for his men to begin.

The first group of his subordinates advanced, holding badly crafted wooden shields. They were followed by carriers of the ladders that would be used to climb.

As the shield bearers advanced, they raised their shields, awaiting the volley of the enemy. The archers on the walls weren't many. Gasper saw the bows on the wall pulled and loosed, then a sparse number of arrows descended upon his men.

The shield bearers easily endured the descent of the arrows and kept advancing, followed by the men carrying the ladders.

Another volley soon descended upon them, only to be as easily shrugged off as the one before it. Gasper's shield bearers seemed to have taken heart from their second success and they quickened their pace. The ladder carriers followed with a similarly hastened pace.

Gasper glanced at the rest of his men then raised his hand. "We'll follow," he shouted. Then he advanced forward with a steady pace that wasn't much slower than the advanced shield bearers. There was some distance between them, and it would give the ladder carriers enough time to set their ladders when they reach the walls.

He moved forward, his men advancing by his side. He was handed a shield that fared much better than the ragged shields of his men. And he held it above his head with his good arm. No arrows fell upon him though.

He saw two more volleys fall on his shield bearers and ladder carriers before they reached the walls. The volleys felled some of his men, but the damage wasn't enough to affect their assault in any way.

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The ladders were soon set in place. The defenders tried to push them off, but Gasper and his men arrived just then.

He glanced over his men's faces and saw trepidation clearly painted on most of their pale countenances. An instinctive fear had awoken within them. The same instinctive fear that awoke within all soldiers during their first real battle. Perhaps the only thing encouraging his men to climb instead of running now was the enemy's weakness and Erick's incessant yells for them to climb the damn ladders.

Gasper stuck to the wall as his men crowded the ladders and began climbing. Erick soon appeared by his side awaiting any commands. But Gasper had none. He would just throw his men at the defenders who would break sooner than later. "Just let me know when we have a foothold up there," Gasper said. He was waiting for an opportunity to climb. But if he climbed now, while his men were still fighting for even ground, then he would be inviting death upon himself.

He soon began hearing screams of agony from above. He peered from behind his shield and looked at the ladders. He saw two men falling off the nearest ladder and hitting the ground with thud thud sounds. The two men lay there, motionless, beside three other corpses.

He glanced above again and saw his men struggling against the defenders. He persuaded himself to simply wait. There was nothing to do but be patient now. He had no experience with sieges, and he had no equipment other than the ladders.

After some time of fighting, which resulted in a puddle of corpses adorning the surroundings of each ladder, Gasper finally heard Erick's voice again.

"We've got a foothold, chief," Erick yelled and pointed at one of the closer ladders. "There."

Gasper nodded. "I'll go up there. You stay here and keep the men climbing, and I will command the ones above.

"Yes, chief."

Gasper ran with the shield towards the ladder. When he reached it, he abandoned the shield and slipped through the men crowding the ladder. Then he began climbing up as fast as he could. His left arm wasn't good enough to fight with, but it could help him climb. He swiftly made it to the top of the wall where some of his men had gained a foothold.

There were four of his men when he arrived, and the only reason they could hold onto this foothold was that there was only a single enemy trying to fight them off. They hadn't advanced though, even with the sparse number of defenders. The men were hesitating. He spotted some reinforcements climbing one of the fortress's stairs. It seemed that the enemy's commander was trying to keep the wall his.

He drew his sword and yelled, "follow me!"

He moved towards the defender one of his men was fighting and delivered a kick. The defender staggered only to get a stab to the gut.

Gasper moved towards another one of the ladders to help his men gain another foothold. There were three defenders there still standing and keeping his men from stepping onto the wall.

Gasper was followed by his men as he faced the three defenders. Only three men from each side could fight at the same time, and there would always be a risk of falling off the wall.

One of the defenders moved to meet him, while another moved to meet one of his men. The third defender stayed and tried to keep his climbing men from gaining a foothold on the wall.

Gasper slashed at the defender facing him, and the latter easily blocked the strike. The defender noticed his wounded arm and grinned. He feinted a thrust at Gasper's gut then twirled his sword in an attempt hit the wounded arm.

Gasper barely avoided the strike aimed at his arm and tried to strike back. Behind his opponent, he saw the defender blocking the ladder being stabbed by a spear then being trampled by his men. He smiled and rained a flurry of attacks upon his opponent who blocked his strikes with difficulty.

Soon, the men that had just climbed up attacked the two remaining defenders from behind which ended the fight swiftly.

Gasper glanced at the stairs, and he saw that the reinforcements had climbed up already. He'd only gained two footholds along the wall so far, but they were enough to create a crowd of his men up here by now.

One more push would bring him into the grounds of the fortress.