Two major things were needed in the defence of a city. In fact, many were, the act of holding a fortified position was fiendishly complex and composed of an uncountable multitude of contrivances. They all, however, influenced the same two fundamental aspects in one way or another. Holding the enemy attack at bay for as long as could be managed, and thinning the enemy’s numbers during that time.

At the end of the day, when outnumbered, the defenders of a settlement would find their best hope laid within the prospect of achieving numerical equilibrium, or as close to it as was possible. And that of course meant remaining safe behind the walls, and killing them before they got in.

Silenos decided to tackle the matter of prolonging the siege, first, imagining that it would prove the larger challenge. Kaltan was not a large city by Shaiagrazni standards, but a scant few days was not a long span to be worked in either. They were stony structures measuring perhaps one metre at their thickest, and half that for much of their span. Not the sort of structure which would withstand even a single volley of modern cannon fire, but perhaps sufficient to turn away Venka’s weapons.

For a while. Venka had powerful casters within his armies, Silenos had heard, and they were the real concern. A breech wouldn’t take long to find itself carved across so thin a structure of rock, when it was Beladonnan Puppeteers or liches turning their powers to making it. The walls had to be strengthened, somehow.

He studied them, walking along their span, considering the options.

Keratin of course was the universal first-choice of House Shaiagrazni, infinitely versatile and eternally potent. It could be hardened, made springy, spongey, near-elastic and terribly, terribly tough. With molecules of ferrous compounds Silenos might make a material like his own armour, able to turn aside any weapons this world could muster. But he hadn’t the time.

The truly potent weaves of keratinous material required a great precision and care, such that even he was tested to apply it quickly. Silenos might make cubic metres of the stuff, might make dozens of cubic metres, but when dealing with a wall measuring ten or so kilometres in circumference and five metres in height, that was simply insufficient.

He could cover it all in less than a millimetre within that time frame, and even his own Fleshcrafting genius could not make a material potent enough to turn aside siege engines whilst measuring on the micro-scale. Silenos considered other possibilities.

Nacre was out of the question for similar reasons, as were many of the harder forms of organic tissue. Silenos had studied sea snails with shells of dark grey and iron-strength, once, but the substance of their bodies had required large volumes of iron ore that the city simply could not supply. Not in the amounts needed to coat an entire outer wall with sufficient sums.

Chitin was more homogenous and simple than the more exotic keratinous weaves, but he feared it was too weak. Silenos considered exotic mucus, arthropod teeth, protective mineral enamel. He flitted through a hundred possibilities before the obvious struck him like a catapult stone.

He would simply use bone.

Carbon, phosphorus, calcium and oxygen. A few trace elements aside from those four, and he would have all the materials needed for animal bone mineral. Most of which were found in the very soils or air around him.

Bone was not as intricately structured as many other substances, depending on the kind. It required no careful shaping or weaving, simply the creation of its chemical substance and the shaping of its volume. There was, after all, a reason it was so common in the works of less skilled Fleshcrafters. Silenos allowed himself a moment of embarrassment. His Master had often warned him not to overlook the basics, if she’d seen him now she would surely have arched a smug eyebrow and whipped his pride with some steel-tipped remark. He got to work.

Silenos got to work quickly, demanding he be brought the corpse piles, and feeling his mild annoyance reborn at the reminder that he was expending yet more resources which might otherwise have been used to create more servitors for himself. He was soon remoulding meat into osseous matter, deciding to graft it onto the wall in larger sections.

At first, he tried to attach the bone mechanically. Using Fleshcrafted talons and grip strength to dig furrows into the stonework, then hooking the slabs of bone on. It was a losing proposition. Silenos found himself spending five minutes affixing the stuff for every minute he made it, and at such a rate he’d be fortunate to have finished the entire wall within the week. There was need to improve his method, or else hope that General Venka was delayed beyond their most hopeful estimates. Silenos chose the former option.

He did it by first placing his raw materials against the stone, then beginning the process of transforming their molecules into bone from the bottom out. In doing so, he increased their density, thus reducing their volume and leaving pockets of near-empty space which he then sectioned off with further strips of bone. These pockets, vacuums, yearned to be filled, thus dragging air against them and exerting pressure from the atmosphere beyond the bone, holding it in place.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

By keeping them separated in many dozens of smaller compartments Silenos removed the risk of having a wall breach let his entire protective coating of bone fall away, and guaranteed it would remain where it was.

A clever design, even by his standards. It quartered the time spent affixing bone, and left Silenos’ week of work reduced to barely two days. He still found himself uncertain of finishing in time, however.

It took too long to move and walk, to reach every section of the walls. So Silenos improved his system further.

He Fleshcrafted a great thing of locomotive musculature and supporting vertebra, then mounted it atop the wall. From its outstretched limbs Silenos let himself dangle, and, his thoughts tethered to it, he commanded the construct to move sidelong or raise and lower his body, handing down organic tissue for him to work with while lesser constructs kept it supplied from the piled corpses in the city streets. Within half an hour he had a means of removing practically all his work save from the deed of actually producing his materials in the first place.

Silenos did so hastily.

It was growing dark by the time he finally finished encasing the walls of Kaltan in osseous protection, and Silenos found his legs unsteady from the long hours spent dangling high as he finally took his place back down upon the dirt. He gazed up at his work, a wave of pride punctuating its visage.

He had not made a few dozen cubic metres of bone, as he would have keratin. He had made several thousand. Enough to encase the rock’s front and back in five centimetre shells, flexible and yielding, yet tough and sturdy. He doubted they would have fared well against a blast of cannonfire, but such protection would be more than sufficient for the kinds of wars waged in this world.

Silenos took a step back to the wall, meaning now to mount it and begin work on the second stage of his tasks. He was surprised to feel the limb give out beneath him, his knee suddenly digging into dirty ground, his palms hitting the floor a moment later for stability. Every scrap of his body was heavy, aching and raw.

For a moment Silenos actually thought he had been attacked, that some force of the New World had possessed both the power to enfeeble him and the subtlety to apply it without his notice. Then the true reason made itself known.

He had exhausted himself. Silenos found a dry, cracking, jagged smile splitting his face. He’d become exhausted. It could hardly be considered surprising, six million kilograms of processed meat, dirt and air, of slaughtered cattle and shovelled shit, was a great sum to apply himself to. He’d grown so used to economically using what little resources he had that Silenos had almost forgotten he even had limits of magic rather than material or time.

Slowly, carefully, he got back to his feet. His enhanced musculature made little difference with a mana-deprived body, the simple mental exhaustion was what interfered with him now. Silenos sent out a command to call on one of his other undead, leaning against them until he’d felt some of his strength return.

By the time he was confident he could continue to work, the sun had fully disappeared over its horizon.

Silenos was left to rest only hours after the dark had consumed the city, his work having taken a considerable length. Shortly after, he was called back to the city’s walls. This time Finlay Baird waited atop them, eyes hard as they peered out, face tight. Silenos came to stand beside the man and saw what had him concerned instantly.

The enemy had arrived.

General Venka’s army moved much more like a modern one than the primitive hordes of the other New Worlders. Silenos might have been impressed, were he not a stupid savage pathetically labouring to serve a bumbling buffoon of a ruler. As things were, he only found himself irked by the inconvenience of a formidable enemy.

“You can see in the dark?” Baird asked, sounding surprised as he glanced at Silenos. Silenos didn’t see any reason in lying, just nodded.

“My eyesight is enhanced,” He replied, “What are your thoughts on the enemy?”

“Looks like we were right about what to expect, most are absorbed from nearby forces. A lot, though, are orcs.”

Silenos could see as much, feeling his lip curl at the sight. Repugnant creatures, they reminded him of the primitive hominids his species had evolved from. As similar to apes as modern man, by the low ridge of their brow and pronounced occipital sockets.

“You said they have the strength of six or seven men?” Silenos asked Baird.

“On average.” The man confirmed. “Venka’s are better fed and trained than tribals, though. I’d guess they’re closer to nine or ten. They’ve been known to snap the necks of bears, farther east, as I’ve heard it.”

Silenos could believe it, studying the beasts. There was a spasm of magic running through their bodies, and a great quality of musculature.

“They are not the main threat however.” He noted, peering now at a row of undead. They were of no blanket kind, all more identifiably individualistic by the different flairs and schemes of their armour. Each burned with a considerable magic, enough that any two of them might have bested even a Hero.

He recognised that magic from the things that had pursued Falls from that town, and very nearly caught him.

“How confident are you in our defences?” Baird asked, as the army began its deployment.

“Very.” Silenos shrugged. “But I’ve been wrong before, I’ll be tested in my certainty soon enough regardless of how strongly it burns.”

“You could surrender.” Came the voice of Sphera, and Silenos glanced at the bound woman sidelong. She had been accompanying him everywhere he went, of course, as he was simply the only creature trustworthy with holding her prisoner. Now, she didn’t look eager to flee. More concerned. “If you surrender, present the city to the Dark Lord, he will give you a high position. Higher than any of his lieutenants I daresay.”

Silenos snorted.

“Why would I wish to be second to a rat?” He looked back at the army, considering it. Yes, a formidable force indeed. Kaltan must have been a great thorn in the Dark Lord’s side. Perhaps it was inspiring rebellion elsewhere, that was worth considering after the siege.

“They’re waiting for something.” Baird snarled, sounding rather bestial as he did. “Look.” He nodded ahead, gesturing to the army. “That’s not an offensive formation, they’re making camp.”

So the delaying tactics had worked, then. Somewhat at least. Silenos found himself less surprised by that than the Governor’s apparent eagerness to fight.

“That is good, it gives you more time to drill the men with my new defensive equipment.” Silenos replied. “And me more time to do other things.”