Chapter 12: The Siege of Lapetra
THE MONTH OF NINSUM DAY 24 YEAR 675 OF THE SECOND HOLY CALENDAR
After crossing the Howard Bridge, the Antlatur Army marched towards Lapetra. The city was built on the North Bank of the Black Knife River by Michael Black, who was initially made a noble by the kingdom of Antlatur for his service as a mercenary during the conquest. Lapetra became the largest city in the Kingdom of Black after years of development by the Black family.
As a central marketplace for the kingdom's farmers and herders to sell their products, Lapetra became a significant center for the wool trade and various dairy products. However, like the rest of the kingdom, it had fallen on hard times due to the blockade of the Kingdom of Antlatur. One of the city's key trading partners, the Kingdom of Cestia, had reluctantly cut off trade relations with the Kingdom of Black at the insistence of Antlatur.
The city was situated on the north side of the Black Knife River, with the river acting as a natural moat. Many people believed this was proof that Michael Black was always plotting against the kingdom of Antlatur despite his outward professed loyalty. The city was heavily fortified with tall, sturdy walls, four thick gates, and large towers. The walls were constructed like a pentagon, with one side facing the river and the others facing outward, each with its gate. The city had a wide moat but wasn't sheer against the wall. Instead, it was a hundred feet outward. At its furthest point from the wall, the city was almost on an island, with another preliminary fence in front of it. The initial wall was only 7 ft high, but it was challenging to bombard the city's main wall with magic or conventional siege weapons. The city had survived three sieges in its lifetime, two at the initiation of the kingdom of Antlatur and one by the Uscan Union.
To fully besiege the city, one needed to invest troops on all of these gates and position a token force across the river to prevent resupply or reinforcements from getting into the city. Andrew left a token force of roughly 12,000 soldiers from the kingdom of Emmon. This was punishment because, during the march, they had fallen into an ambush, which had killed much of their cavalry. Three thousand soldiers had died in the ambush. To add insult to injury, Andrew sent Niances to command the force on the river's south bank. This could be considered violating the autonomy of a sovereign affiliated kingdom. But, to justify it, he also sent Zach Pickett and his antler knights to the token force on the south bank, making it a mixed army. This happened at his sister's insistence, who convinced him he wouldn't be helpful in the siege, given that his forces were primarily composed of cavalry.
Andrew divided the rest of his army and established two camps, each with 25,000 soldiers. The Antlaturs spent much of the 21st marching and building fortified camps. Standard war protocol would involve creating a series of trenches and walls around the entire city to prevent surprise attacks. But Andrew found this unnecessary, given their complete numerical advantage over the enemy. Morale on his side was already relatively low. There was no point in forcing the soldiers to do hard work for no tangible gain, which would lower morale further.
On the Kingdom of Black side, they had barely 12,000 soldiers, primarily a reserve Brigade of the second division left behind to defend the capital and the capital garrison, a single Brigade of elite soldiers assigned to protect Lapetra. The kingdom scrambled to scrape together whatever mishmash they could to reinforce the garrison, militia who had yet to wake in their Mana, and veterans who had already retired. The completely out-matched defenders could only watch as their enemies entrenched themselves outside their walls.
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Chaos in the city was kept to a minimum despite the massive army outside its walls due to the populace's familiarity with being besieged. People had already been preparing for this moment when they heard about the invasion beginning. They had already started storing food and supplies in their houses. They quietly went home, blocked themselves into their houses, and waited for the storm to pass.
Veronica Elia Nora Valerie Black, queen of the Kingdom of Black, had recently taken a backseat in politics and Military Affairs. More accurately, her political influence was severely reduced due to the succession complications. Prince Francis was the only legitimate heir to the kingdom, the son of the only legal husband that she had ever had. However, Prince Francis was a spoiled brat whom no one particularly liked. Under normal circumstances, another one of her children or even one of her relatives would have been chosen as an heir. However, a complication arose due to her own succession. She had an elder brother and sister who many people considered far more competent than her at the time of her succession. Now, people had revised their opinions. The reason why she'd been chosen over her older siblings was the fact that she descended from Francis, the liberator's fourth wife. Who just happened to be a princess of the kingdom of Antlatur
Who had been captured and forcibly married by Francis. Because her mother had royal blood in her veins, Francis pushed Veronica to inherit over his other children. Accepting her illegitimate son, Valerius, or another relative as heir would undermine her Legitimacy, as they didn't have the Royal Blood of Antlatur. Many people had already given up Veronica and started supporting Valerius or one of her other relatives. She was forced to take a back seat in her nation's politics and Military affairs. Ironically, the only group still supporting her is the traditional conservatives, her long-time political enemies. They had forced through a decision to make Francis the Commander of the third division, resulting in the disaster they were currently faced with.
However, when the kingdom faced a crisis, all the nobles united to defend it. They were used to facing crises and knew that internal conflict during such an external threat would only result in disaster. So the Council, once entirely opposed to Veronica, unanimously elected her Supreme Commander of the city's defense. Veronica displayed her talent for warfare, delaying the enemy forces at the Howard Bridge, launching a successful ambush while fortifying the town, and sending word to her son about their current situation. Despite her years of conflict and lack of a proper mother-son relationship with Valerius, she believed in his military abilities and that he would rescue the capital in its hour of need. This was made from a rational and not emotional belief. All she needed to do was hold on until he returned and smashed the enemy.
The enemy began their attack before they were done with their camps on the 20th, launching a magical barrage against the city's barrier. To take down a barrier on the scale of Lapetras would typically take weeks. This showed their commitment to a long-term strategy. Veronica had been preparing to build various Siege engines on top of her walls. She had all the alchemists in the city make Mana potions to ensure their mages could maintain the barrier and launch counter-magical attacks if necessary.
On the 24th, the initial probing attacks began. These attacks always had to happen to anyone attempting to siege Lapetra. They had to take the first steps, crossing the moat and securing a beachhead. Then, they had to bring actual siege equipment against the city walls. They smashed the preliminary walls with ballistas. They crossed the moat by building mobile bridges carried on long poles. The Blacks didn't just sit there and let them cross the river without paying the price, firing a volley of arrows and spears at these Bridge Crews and then retreating. Once they were across, they began fortifying their bridgeheads, building a dilapidated wall, and securing the permanent bridges the blacks had built across their moat.
They could bring more extensive siege equipment with the permanent bridges, but only to a certain extent. It was impossible to fit siege towers or trebuchets through the bridges. But they could fit battering rams. They had learned from their past failures one of the main problems was that their battering rams could only be brought against the gate. Funneling their points of attack down to four. They could also bring ladders, but these were ineffective against manned walls and would only work if they had a considerable advantage in numbers and were willing to make massive sacrifices. So, Andrew had commissioned special battering rams that could fit through the gatehouse and still smash through the thick walls of Lapetra. The battering ram required over 100 people to push it and just around 30 people to lift the ram itself. The downside to this battering ram was that it took quite some time to construct. Despite spending two whole days on it, they only completed two.
Andrew decided to wait to begin his assault until the 25th. By that time, the Bridgehead would be more secure, and he would have completed a third battering ram. He would have also given his soldiers plenty of time for rest. They had no idea the unprecedented disaster that was taking place then.