by Allan Joyal
"It should be," Verval replied. "The design is very good, and it’s got a lot of bracing."
"Ron?" Heather called out as I turned and walked over to the platform. It stood about five feet tall. Carefully, I put my hands on it and pulled myself up. The structure shook for a moment, but held as I stood up and looked over the wall.
The wall came up to my chest. I could reach over the wall, but my legs were well protected. It felt safe to stand on so I turned to look back into the valley.
"This will work," I said. "We need to build more though. And where is my spear?"
Heather ran over and held up my spear. "I was wondering if you'd ask about this."
"I've been busy," I said as I took the spear and turned to look back over the clearing. I could see that Aine was right; the orcs were slowly backing into the forest. Several pointed at me as they retreated. I could hear some angry hoots as the monsters vanished into the trees.
"They are running," Shaylin said happily. "Run away you cowards!"
"They are leaving?" Verval asked.
"For now," I said carefully. "I doubt this will be their only visit. The smoke from the fires suggests a far larger band than we just saw. And Piemal reported more heading south."
"What do we do?" Aine asked.
"Soldrin!" I shouted. "Climb up here."
There was a moment of silence. I watched the trees looking for any moving shadows. As I was watching the platform shook. Soldrin climbed carefully onto the platform. He stood up and I could see that the wall came up almost to his eyes.
"You wanted me?" he asked carefully.
I held the spear out to him. "All I need you to do for now is hold this and occasionally walk back and forth on the platform. Give the orcs something to look at and make it look like we have more people guarding the wall."
"But I will be guarding the wall," Soldrin protested.
"Yes, but we don't have an army back here. We also don't have more platforms set up. I'm going to help build platforms, but I need to give the orcs something to think about. So you get to pretend to be our army."
Soldrin looked puzzled. "What if the orcs come?"
"If they form up to attack, I'll come back," I said. "Until then, we need more platforms. Without them we can't really hold off a serious charge by the orcs."
Soldrin took the spear as I jumped down to the ground. I ran over to where Verval was standing. The man looked surprised. He glanced at the wall. "How long until the orcs try to storm the wall?" he asked.
"That is one question I cannot answer," I said. "Hopefully they'll take a few days to reach that point. It probably depends on how much food they have and how desperate the leader is for a victory. If they have food they might try to wear us down a bit."
"May they have a lot of food," Verval muttered. He looked me in the eye. "We have the second section ready for the split logs that you stand on. Or you can head down a couple of spots and start the next framework."
I glanced at the framework that was almost finished. Jeff and Borlan were continuing to install braces. A bit further south I could see Al unloading one of our carts. It appeared that Dafalia had gotten a mule hitched and was using it to transport wood and bamboo to the wall.
"I'll help Al," I said firmly. Verval nodded. I jogged over to where Al was unloading the cart and began pulling pieces. Most were two-inch diameter bamboo shoots.
"We're going through a lot of bamboo," Al said. "I like that this is a solid core bamboo, but we might need more in the future."
"There's a lot of it," Dafalia responded. "But it’s on the other side of that first stream. Natalie is up there now harvesting what she can. She brings it to the river and floats it to the ford."
"Is anyone with her?" I asked.
"Not at the moment," Dafalia said. "But the valley is safe."
"Not if an orc climbs the walls," Al said looking up at the north cliff. "They could try to sneak in."
"Al, I doubt any orc is going to climb one hundred feet of sheer granite cliff," Heather said acidly as she strode over to join us.
I nodded to my wife as Al and I continued to unload the cart. We stacked the bamboo poles rapidly as others began to gather. Al noticed the gathering and stopped unloading.
"We need to start with poles set up against the wall. Grab a couple of logs and we'll see where we want them. Corwar, we'll need the saw to even them out," Al said.
"Got it," Corwar said as he held up one of the saws we had obtained on our journey. "How do we make sure that these poles are set right?"
"If you can dig a small hole near the wall and drop it in. Then we'll saw it off at the height we want," Al said.
"Won't that mean it might not be level?" Heather asked.
"It won't be level," Al agreed. "If we had time, I'd work with some rope to create a plumb line so we can level this, but right now we don't have time. If the platform is a bit uneven it will still allow someone to stand on it and fight off the orcs."
"And on that note, let's work," I said. "The orcs might be heading back to their camp, but that doesn't mean we have a lot of time to get these platforms put up."
Talk ceased as everyone around me pitched in, and we began erecting a second fighting platform next to the wall. The sound of hammers striking wood rang out across the valley. Everyone concentrated on the work as the day began to fade.
Chapter 29: The Siege Begins
By the time the sun faded that first day, everyone was tired and covered in sawdust. Four platforms were completed. Two more near the south end of the wall were started. I looked up at the middle tower as Thom climbed down. The young man was shaking his head as he walked over to his father.
"I can't see the trees anymore," Thom said. "At least not past the first ones."
I nodded. I was about to say more when I heard Kariy call out. "I have flat bread and some stew. Why don't you get dinner?"
I patted Thom on the head. "You can go first," I said. "You had the hard job."
Thom smiled and then dashed off in the direction of Kariy's voice. I could see she had set up a small stone circle for a fire. Her largest cauldron was over the flames. As Thom rushed over she squatted down to pick up a bowl from the ground.
"Who's got the night watch?" Lawus asked.
I glanced over at the wall. I could see white hair shining in the twilight and pointed to Cimbra. "I believe Cimbra has already taken that duty."
Lawus looked up at Cimbra. "You know, I almost decided not to join because she was with you."
I cocked my head, but said nothing. Lawus continued to look over at Cimbra as he continued to speak. "A dark elf? I mean, most people in Saraloncto have at least heard rumors that they exist, but in the tales we hear they bathe in the blood of wicked children and eat the still beating hearts of the men they seduce."
"Well, I don't think your children have anything to fear from Cimbra," I said as Jesame ran to the base of the tower and called out something. I could see Cimbra look down and smile at the girl.
"Fear her?" Lawus said with a laugh. "They adore her. She's always available at night to calm their nightmares."
I smiled. "She has meant a lot to us. Her night vision has saved us many times."
Lawus appeared about to say something. I turned to him, only to stop abruptly when Cimbra called out. "Ron. Anyone. Something is happening in the orc camp."
"Define something," I said as I turned back to look at the tower. I noted that Cimbra's head was turned slightly as if she was trying to hear something from the east. She turned her head back and forth slightly.
"I'm not sure," Cimbra said carefully. "They are camping a couple of miles away, so I can just make out the fires. The wind is keeping some of the sound away, but it sounds like they are using hammers."
"One moment," I said. I nodded to Lawus and then ran over to the tower. One of our platforms stood to the right of the tower, so I scrambled up the framework and leaned over the wall looking into the darkness.
I could barely make
out the trees just a short distance away from the wall. Beyond that I strained my eyes as I tried to spot the fires Cimbra said were out there. There was an occasional faint flicker of light, but nothing I could identify. Cimbra reached over and turned my head to the right so that my left ear was pointed towards the trees. "Listen," she hissed.
Everyone behind me in the camp turned. At first I could hear nothing other than silence, but then the faint sound of hammering reached my ears from the east. I strained to hear more, but the sound was drowned out by a series of percussive thunks as if someone was beating rocks with heavy branches.
I shook my head and turned to look at Cimbra. "The drumming drowned it out, but it sounded like they were hammering something."
"That's what I was hearing," Cimbra said. "At first it was faint, but I think they had a dozen or more working at the end. I'm not sure what they were doing though. Orcs aren't known for any kind of crafting."
I looked down at the clearing behind the wall. Everyone in our group was standing and gazing up at Cimbra and me. "It's far away," I said. "And it doesn’t appear to be something they are acting on immediately. Let's just keep watch for the night and be ready in the morning. Heather, did someone set up a watch schedule?"
"Yes," my other lover called back. "We're keeping the periods short and the men will sleep the night through. We need you awake to build more platforms and defend should the orcs charge."
"What about tonight?" Jeff asked. "Won't the orcs try to attack?"
"Unlikely," Cimbra called back as she looked back out toward the fires. "These orcs are surface dwelling creatures. They are relatively blind at night."
"I thought they lived in caves," Verval said from the ground.
Cimbra turned back to the camp. "There are creatures that do dwell in darkness with my people. Some look similar to these orcs, but they are not the same. The eyes of most creatures that live underground are visibly larger."
"Yours aren't," I heard Lawus comment.
"We still use a lot of magic, and long ago my people used magic to permanently alter our vision. We paid a high price for that magic," Cimbra said quietly.
"Even now?" I asked as Cimbra turned back to lean against the wall. I could see her shoulders shake.
"I don't know," Cimbra whispered. "My people have so few children. I do have two older brothers, but they were adults long before I was born."
"We'll make sure you watch your daughter get married and have her own children," I promised as I gazed into the darkening sky. "Those orcs will leave that camp and return north without breaking past these walls."
"How can you be sure?" I heard Verval call out. "This wall isn't exactly well built. You threw it up in days, and now it's going to hold back how many orcs?"
"All of them," I said as the drumming in the distance got louder. I stared at the trees barely able to see them in the gathering darkness and wondered what the orcs were doing.
"Wow, when did we get to Africa?" Al quipped as the drumming continued.
"What?" I asked as I put a hand on Cimbra's shoulder. "I'm going to grab food," I whispered.
"My father loved old adventure movies where some great white hunter would travel to exotic lands. They loved to use distant tribal drums to set the mood. That sounds like what I remember from the movies," Al said. I glanced down to see him looking at the ground. "And now I have to explain that to everyone don't I?"
"Later," I said as I jumped down. "I just hope they don't go all night because we do need sleep. Kariy can I get a bite to eat?"
"Just like a man, ordering women around," Lydia said darkly. "Ron, what do we do about the drumming? It's going to make it hard to sleep."
"Hopefully they'll stop soon," I said as Kariy rushed over to me carrying a bowl of stew and a biscuit of some kind. "They need to sleep."
Lydia frowned as I accepted the food from Kariy. Kariy smiled and nodded toward the wall. "I can take a watch if that will help."
"Talk to Heather," I said. "She's organizing the watch schedule. I'm too busy trying to get the platforms built so we can actually defend against an attack."
Verval walked over as I began to eat my meal. "I didn't really look over the wall," the man said. "How many orcs are out there?"
"Too many," I replied. "There are over a dozen fires lighting their camp. Large fires too. Not the small one we have here to cook for our small group."
I could see the blood leave Verval's face. "Can we run?"
"Where?" Hencktor asked.
I noticed that Al had walked over to join us. The young man was shaking his head. He waited a moment for Verval to notice him and shrugged. "There is a funny saying that one of my friends loved. He'd hear someone talking about avoiding a fight and would say, 'Go ahead and run, you'll only die tired.'"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Verval asked. The drumming from the orcs started to increase in volume as the last light from the sun faded.
"That running won't provide an escape," I said quietly as I looked at the wall. "Verval, there is no place we can run to now. If we abandon our goods we might escape, but then we'd starve. IF we don't abandon the herds and goods, we'd move too slowly to escape, and the orcs will catch up to us and kill us."
"You brought us into this trap!" Verval shouted.
"No," I said. "This isn't a trap."
"We can't leave! We have orcs coming to kill us!" Verval screamed.
"No, they are coming here because they believe they can steal our herds," I said quietly. "I doubt they care much about us. We are just an obstacle as they seek food, and our herds would feed them for a day or two."
"An obstacle they'll kill to remove," Verval snarled.
"They have to get past the wall first," I said. "And we can defend that."
"For how long?" Hencktor asked.
"I believe the record for holding out in a siege was over twenty years," I said. "But I don't think the orcs can maintain that camp for more than a few days."
"Years?" Verval asked. "And how can we last years?"
I smiled and looked over at Esme. "Esme how is our water situation?"
Esme giggled. "Well, we might run out if there is a very severe drought, but right now the river is running deep and clear. We have lots of fresh water available."
I nodded. "Good, good. Natalie how are the crops doing?"
"The heavy rains don't appear to have done too much damage," Natalie responded. "Many of the seeds have sprouted, and the seedlings are growing rapidly. Our irrigation system does need a lot of work, but we can keep the fields watered thanks to the river. I'd say we'll have plenty of grain for the winter. We will need time to plant more crops for next year."
I looked over at Verval. The young man had a surprised look on his face. He stared at me as I turned to Gertrilla. "Well, we know we have water and grain. How about the herds? Are they doing well?" I asked.
Gertrilla giggled. "They are thriving now that we aren't travelling," she said. "A couple of the heifers have given birth. Three more are probably pregnant. I saw one of the bulls mounting them a few days ago. The sheep are also doing very well, and we probably have a few pregnant ewes."
"We have forty chickens now," Dafalia said before I could turn to look at her. "That's about all I'm comfortable allowing at the moment as I'm not sure if we'll see a lot of snow. I don't know how our food and fodder stores will handle winter. I haven't been as aggressive breeding the rabbits. We have two dozen right now, but several does are pregnant."
"So we have plenty of food, and we can use the animal skins for clothing and shelter. We also still have all the trees for wood," I said firmly. "I'd say we can hold out a long time as long as the orcs can't get over or around the wall."
"They could just pull it down," Verval said sulkily.
"Do they know that?" I asked. "If we get the platforms up quickly and make sure that the orcs don't realize we only have a few defenders they'll eventually have to leave. All those orcs in that camp are going to be hungry. Eventually t
hey'll run out of food they can gather."
"And they might decide to charge at our walls tomorrow," Verval complained. "Those walls won't withstand any determined assault."
"That is what we are going to have to make sure doesn't happen. We'll keep people on the platforms," I said.
"With what?" Verval asked.
"The spears," Heather said matter of factly as she walked up. I could see Joelia behind her carrying several long staves. In the firelight I could see the glint of metal on the top of the staves.
"What spears?" Verval asked.
I nodded to Heather. "I see you found the spearheads we purchased back in Saraloncto."
"And got them installed on some shafts we made from some bamboo," Heather said happily. "We figured that another six spears might help with the defense."
"It's enough for all the men," I said. "And we do have a lot of slings, even if we never had time to get everyone taught how to use them."
Heather giggled. "Ron, I'll probably be holding a spear before this siege is over. There aren't enough men to cover the wall all the time and still get the catwalk built."
I looked over at the wall. "Sadly not the type of catwalk I'd like to see," I said absently.
"Ron!" Heather demanded as she slapped my chest. "Keep your mind on the siege. We need you guiding the rest of us."
"I'm tired and just want to finish my dinner and then sleep," I said quietly. "Tomorrow we have to get more platforms up, and we'll be doing that while the orcs look for weaknesses."
"So they look," Heather said. "You'll try to anticipate what they will do and make sure that we stop them. For now relax and eat."
I nodded one last time before turning my attention to the bowl of stew I was still holding. It had cooled some in the night air, but the spices brought some sweat to my brow. The biscuit helped reduce some of the burn in my mouth as I finished my meal.
When I used the remnants of the biscuit to mop up the last few drops of stew, Heather reached out and snatched the bowl from my hands. I looked up in protest, but she used her free hand to point towards the trees. "You'll find our bedroll just past the first tree. Go there and lie down. I'll be there in a moment."