Year 12.328 After the Founders Autumn 63.

In the Lusian camp, the king met with the representatives of the garrison in the city in order to request their surrender, however the Oderickians rejected all offers of surrender, either due to their strong defences, pride, oaths or even loyalty. Even the most lenient of the deals was still rejected on the spot.

With the negotiations breaking down, the assault on the city began.

Fire and ice flew through the sky. Explosions on stone walls and screams of man made the scene of this day.

The Lusians began to assault Arrianne’s walls, Lusian archers and crossbowmen protected by both the shields of their comrades or by movable wooden roofs shot at any who tried to peek through the battlements. Mages fired balls of concentrated heat and threw ice javelins at the enemy, acting as movable artillery, and infantry pushed forward, trying to create a foothold.

An exchange of arrows and magic happened at every front of the walls.

With overwhelming disadvantage in missiles, the Oderickians could do little to prevent the infantry from latching makeshift long wooden bridges on the moat in order to allow ladders and battering rams to cross.

One Oderickian mage tried to fire and burn one of these bridges, however his attack was repulsed by a Lusian mage.Reacting quickly, the Oderickian mage tried to fire another spell but he was stopped by an overwhelming barrage of Lusian mages firing at his position, the Oderickian was forced to concentrate on defending himself and others beside him due to the difference in number. Unfortunately for the Oderickian mage he exposed himself too much and was picked by a lusian marksman who took the opportunity and shot the mage in an opening in his neck, bypassing the chainmail covering it. It was an instant death.

These bridges, basically were large thick logs being attached by rope and stakes on the ground. They took little time to place with the help of magic and were strong enough to ferry the battering rams and send troops through, although not in too large numbers.

One lusian infantry man passed through one such bridge with a shield over his head and several arrows stuck in it. Once he reached the other side and stuck himself in the walls, what awaited him was a volley of arrows from small openings in the battlements that allowed the defenders to shoot without the risk of enemy fire due to the angles called machicolations.

Stones, arrows and hot liquids began to pour on the soldier below, unfortunately for the soldiers, mages could not protect them here, so the only thing he could do was stick his shield up while others brought the ladders and the battering ram.

Lusian soldiers quickly brought ladders, one unfortunately did not put up his shield quickly enough as a stone fell into his head. Even with the thick metal helmet and the padding below, it was doubtful whenever that man was still alive.

Another soldier got hit between his shoulder and neck while trying to lift the ladder, his chainmail unable to completely stop the arrow. Still this same soldier, under high adrenaline continued to lift the latter until it was done. By the time the latter was up 3 other arrows hit him, 2 on his shield another on his head, still he readied himself to climb the ladder.

As more and more ladders got up, some man brought a large amount of wet wool in order to place them beneath the ladder in to break the fall of the ones who failed to get on the walls, and they would need it, for not even the fifth to climb it managed to get a grip on it, thankfully the walls were not that tall being about 4.5 meters.

Still with the overwhelming barrage of missiles and magic, the Lusians slowly began to create footholds on the walls by keeping the Oderickians ducked behind cover. Some of the Lusians also mounted close by a more lighter pre-made, type of artillery called scorpion that could fire large javelins at long distance, used in order to snipe enemy defenders, making it difficult for them to actually defend the walls properly.

However, although things seemed well for the lusians, they still were suffering large casualties. Artillery from inside the walls were firing large boulders enhanced by mana by the mages, after losing some mages so quickly, the Oderickian commander, a viscount by the name Baioric quickly changed tactics as soon as he noticed the walls were being so badly suppressed and decided to rely on indirect fire, where his mages would throw spells and help with artillery in order to hit the lusians from overhead. This did not improve the situation at the walls but did cause significantly more damage to the Lusians while keeping the Oderickian mages safer.

A rock flew through the skies and landed in one of the locations the Lusians set up a Scorpion, landing on it`s 3 handlers and the machine itself. The boulder had also a surprise inside, condensed mana quickly began to make it shake, until it burst and created a shock wave that wounded several men around.

This hellish scenario continued for over an hour before the Battering ram finally reached the first walls. There, Oderickians began to throw stones and spells at the battering ram through a large opening above the attackers only to be countered by the mages.

Thick tar and resins were thrown at the Lusians in order to create a fire around them, however again, the mages in there quickly began to freeze any flammables thrown, allowing the battering ram to begin hitting the gates and the walls itself with no problem and other man begun to use pickaxes in order to more quickly create a breach in the walls .

The gates were thick and strong while the walls were made of solid rocks, even with magic help perhaps they would be unable to breach in a single day, although they hoped to be able to take the walls without needing to create an actual breach and hopefully only needing to use this as a distraction.

In the walls, lusian soldiers were fighting for every inch of space closer to the gates but even with the towers in the walls suffering massive barrage of missiles and magic, they could still provide some support for the man defending the walls, making the lusians pay for every step.

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Shield bashed against shield, blades and chunks of iron met armor and pieces of chainmail, splinters of arrow shaft, rests of shields and blood began to colour the floors on top of the walls. A canvas of desperate fighting accompanied with the orchestra of shrieks of pain, agony, fury and hatred.

One Lusian man-at-arms bashed his shield against a Oderickian, giving the lusian the chance to make his mace met the helmet of the oderickian, carving a nasty dent in his skull, however the same lusian was shot by an arrow, barely having time to defend himself before the missile went into his eye, but then he was bashed by a two handed club from the man behind his now dead foe in his chest, so strong was the impact that he could hear his coat of plates, chainmail and chest breaking, he soon would be dead too and join the dead on the floor, as if a exchange of lives had just happened.

The lusians had more professional and well equipped men, while the Oderickians had the defenses, support from the towers and desperation on their side.

All in all the fight was mostly even, with the Lusian making little gains.

Watching from afar Diaz could see the chaos of the assault unfolding. Even with over 5 times the number of men, the Oderickians still were causing numerous casualties due to the city defenses, which according to Totila were formidable and that was why they were so important to take.

Even with only a few hours of battle, many men were brought back in a hurry from the front, injured and incapacitaded, some dying on the way. There Diaz did what he could by helping the injured just like he did with the prisoners, however this time the flow of injuries seemed to be unending.

And indeed, in a way unending it was, for the battle kept going as the day passed and night came, with the walls more and more filled with fresh lusian soldiers.

Although this meant a continuation of such death tolls, Diaz understood it was a necessary step to take the city, which was by using their larger numbers and shifting the assault parties. He could see that there were 3 different groups in the army assaulting the walls in turns in order to tire out the enemy. Although during the night, due to the possibility of confusion the attack was much lessened and basically was there more in order to just harass the enemy, which was why the weaker troops were used during the night.

The oderickians, with little reserves to use and even less volunteers inside the city, had no way to rotate their man manning the large walls, by second day they were already feeling exhausted with little to no sleep, already showing signs of weakness with a decrease in casualties compared to the previous day.

Meanwhile, some lusian men kept the pressure on the walls, the ones in the back resting were feasting and playing games. While commanders and highly educated men on the oderickian side knew it was all a play to show dominance, to the common soldier it seemed as if the Lusian side had full confidence in their victory and this became a demoralising factor.

The fourth prince was honestly impressed by the way king Kniva took war and battle, relying more on politics, cunning and strategy rather than valour and tactics, reminding him of figures such as Basil ll and Suleiman, but even more so of a old general of his country, who brought victory to him and made the foundations of his victorious army.

Kniva was indeed slowly cornering the city garrison, never letting them have a rest, constantly making it so their days were miserable and unbearable, keeping the pressure on the city until the city fell.

By the fourth day, the Oderickians, who hoped to cause enough damage to the Lusians in order to convince them that assaulting the city was not worth it, began to become desperate and started to conscript the local population into service in order to defend the walls. However, with the majority of the population being unhappy with their occupation, they only managed to call upon little more than a thousand men, most of them Oderickian migrants, passerby and a few handful of mercenaries.

Meanwhile, Lusian reinforcement kept arriving one by one, fresh with troops supplies and siege engines arriving in parts, pre-made or acquisitioned in preparation for this siege like ballistas, onager, catapults and trebuchets.

Finally, with their will and bodies weakened, Kniva sent Totila with his best man towards the walls.

“Father-in-law, you know what to do.”

“Leave it to me your majesty, I will give our fellow patriots the push they need HAHAHA.”

With his large warhammer on his shoulder, and a large grin on his face, Totila and 500 of his best men joined the assault on the southern walls. Just by his mere presence Totila inspired the troops and who lifted their weapons in salute to their champion.

Seeing this tower of a man, an arbalest tried to fire a bolt at him, however Totila with little movement evaded the bolt in a show of agility. He then grabbed a 2 meter spear from one of his soldiers an threw at the arbalest in the walls, the arbalest was too stunned by Totila’s show of prowess and kept himself on the open, he was pierced in his chest by the large spear, too heavy to be thrown by a normal man.

Cheers erupted by this impressive act, the man now roused and eager began to push more and more in order to prove himself, while the Oderickians nearby were confused and intimidated.

Totila then shouted.

“A champion! Little Oderickians bring me your champion! one-on-one against me! Totila, Duke of Algiers! Who is it that will take this challenge!”

Using his spell to amplify his voice, he was heard by the entirety of the southern wall, announcing his name to the entire wall in front who trembled at the intensity of the sound.

Such as astounding, fiery loud voice entered the ears of the Lusian men around, who shouted his name.

“TOTILA! TOTILA! TOTILA!”

As his name echoed, so did the spirit of every Lusian Soldier around, their strength renewed they pushed the Oderickians further and further.

“What is wrong with these guys!!”

“ they suddenly got stron-Aaargh!!”

Oderickians, already tired by days of no rest and no ending fighting, began to fall one after the other, while the lusians felt their heart pump, their weapons lighter and their breath hot. The Lusian got a huge momentum with the presence of Totila and his magnifique prowess and carisma.

Just them, to finish off the enemy morale, Totila further taunted the Oderickians, by taking his armor off and announcing.

“COME MY FOE, I HAVE TAKEN MY ARMOR OFF AND AM NOW IN EQUAL FOOTING TO THE COMMON MAN, IS THERE STILL NO FOE TO FIGHT ME!?”

Totila announced in an even louder voice, the Oderickian hearing became desperate to prove they were no cowards. Sensing where things were going, viscount Baioric knew if he took no action the man’s morale would plummet, and they would possibly end up in a total rout, for a duel one on one is sacred and refusing one is a sign of cowardice and dishonour.

With no choice, Baioric ordered his man to open the gates, for he would face Totila himself, for he was the only one capable to challenge this colossus.