created from the flattened ruins of burned, razed buildings, the debris sunk in
cellars, and basements, and leveled, or hauled away, was the marshaled might of
Cos in the north!
I motioned eagerly for Lady Claudia to climb the rubble, that we two, together,
might stand in that opening and regard the grandeur of war.
(pg.259) “Do you see how it is, that men can love it?†I asked.
“It frightens me!†she gasped.
“Look at them,†I said, “the soldiers, their glory, their strength!â€
“It terrifies me!†she wept, the wind moving the veil against her lips.
“How splendid it is!†I cried.
“I belong naked in chains!†she suddenly cried.
“Yes,†I said, seizing her arm, “you do!â€
Had I not held her arm, I fear she might have swooned on the rubble.
We then heard, from all about, before us, the notes of trumpets.
“The men are moving!†she said.
“It is the attack,†I said.
“They are silent!†she said. Hitherto the trumpets had been followed by great
cheering.
“They have had their fill of shouting, and such,†I said. “They come now to
finish the matter.â€
Light-armed troops hurried forward, slingers and archers, and javelin men, to
keep defenders back, as they could, from the crenels. Under their cover the
ladder brigades followed and the grapnel men; behind these came scalers,
crouching, protected under the shield roofs of infantry men.
“The wall will be attacked at several points,†I said, “to spread the
defenders.â€
She suddenly gasped.
“What is wrong?†I asked.
“I thought I saw a building move,†she said, “back by the other buildings.â€
“Where?†I asked.
“It does not matter,†she said, “it was only an illusion, a ripple in the air, a
matter of the waves of heat rising from the stone, the debris.
“Where?†I asked.
She pointed. Then she gasped, again.
“It is no illusion,†I said. “It is moving. There is another, too, and another.â€
“Buildings cannot move!†she said.
“I count eleven,†I said. “They can be moved in various ways. Some are moved
from within, by such means as men (pg.260) thrusting forward against bars, or
tharlarion, pulling against harnesses attached to bars behind them, such
apparatuses internal to the structure. Some, on the other hand, look there,
there is one, are drawn by ropes, drawn by men or tharlarion. That one is drawn
by men. See them?â€
“Yes,†she said.
There must have been at least fifty ropes, and fifty men to a rope. They seemed
small yet, even in their numbers, at this distance.
“Even so, how can such things be moved?†she said.
“They are not really buildings as you think,†I said, “made of stone, and such.
They are high, mobile structures, on wheels. They are heavy, it is true, but
they are light, considering their size. They are wooden structures, frameworks,
covered on three sides with light wood, sometimes even hides. The hides will be
soaked with water as they approach more closely, to make it difficult to fire
the structure. They overtop the walls. Drawbridges can then be opened within
them and men can pour out, preferably down, this giving them momentum for the
charge, over the walls, others following them up the ladders within. There are
many types of such structures. Some are even used on ships. We call them
generally castles or towers. As they are used here, one would commonly think of
them, and speak of them, as siege towers.â€
“They are terrible things,†she said.
“Even one of them,†I said, “from the platforms and landings within, and by
means of the ladders, bringing men from the ground, may feed a thousand men into
a city in ten Ehn.
“They are like giants,†she said.
“There does, indeed, seem to be stately menace in them,†I said.
We stood framed in the great, jagged hole.
“Come away,†I said, then suddenly. I dragger her back, behind me, down the
rubble into the cell. I went tot he executioner and drew away his mask, drawing
it then over my own head. I went to Lady Publia, who lay in the debris, covered
with dust. I brushed her with the side of my foot, and she did not move. I then
kicked her with the side of my foot, and she still lay still. I did not think
she was dead. She had (pg.261) been the most sheltered of all of us when the
wall had burst in. There was no blood about the hood or ropes. I did not even
think she was unconscious. It was my surmise that she had been hoping against
hope to be ignored, or not to be noticed.
I did not know, but I doubted that she, lying where she was, confused and
frightened, down amidst the rubble near the door, had even heard us, high in the
aperture, above her, across the cell. If she had heard us, I did not think she
would have been able to make out our words, or, probably, even whose voices she
heard, or their location, except with respect to her, she doubtless by now
helplessly disoriented in the hood. Perhaps she had hoped that she might be the
sole survivor of the strike. I did not know. In any event, she, hooded, and
helplessly bound, would have at best only a very imperfect understanding of what
had occurred. Presumably she would not know, for example, who might have
survived and who not. Gagged, too, of course, she could not even beg for
information. This amused me.
I motioned that Lady Claudia should be silent. I looked down at Lady Publia,
lying so still. I supposed now she was pretending to be dead, or, at least,
unconscious. There are numerous ways in which such fraud may be terminated, for
example, to throw the woman into water, to hold her head under water for a bit,
to see if she tries to free her head, sputtering and begging for mercy, to put
her under the whip, to use the bastinado in the soles of her feet, to claw
unexpectedly at the soft flesh behind her knees, even to lightly caress the
soles of her feet, and so on. I wanted something, rather, which would prove to
Lady Publia, even if to her profound humiliation, what she was. First, I
separated the ropes a bit on her upper body and put my ear to her heart. It was
beating, so she was alive, as I thought. I also heard the heart rate increase,
excitedly, she frightened, and knowing I was making this determination. Still
she pretended to unconsciousness.
I then lifted her up a bit, supporting her with my hand behind her back, and put
my other hand to her belly. She tried to pretend to be unconscious. She tried to
hold herself still. But soon the very physiology of her body, almost
autonomically, became active, and I felt the gathering heat (pg.262) and the oil
and openness of her, her vitality, readiness and need. Then, surrendering, she
moaned and squirmed. Then, piteously, abandoning all effort at deception, she
thrust hers
elf against me, offering herself to me, whoever I might be, for use
as a slave.
I then withdrew my hand and, as she moaned piteously, helplessly, threw her to
my left shoulder. This keeps the sword arm free. I carried her with her head to
the rear, as a slave is carried. She would think herself, I was certain, on the
shoulder of the executioner. Too, she could feel the hood I wore, against the
left side of her waist. I then, followed by Lady Claudia, carried her from the
ruins of the cell.
16 I Assume Command
(pg.263) “Where have you been?†called a fellow outside the cell, approaching.
“They are moving forward even now! The ram will be at the gate again in Ehn!â€
I lifted my right arm, acknowledging his words. We had not seen the ram from the
cell. It had been perhaps obscured by the main gate’s west bastion. He turned
about and I followed him through the corridor, presumably to the height of the
forward wall.
Lady Publia then began to squirm madly on my shoulder, considering such might be
her last opportunity perhaps to draw attention to herself. She did call
attention to herself, but mainly to find herself the butt of jeering remarks,
which, even hooded, she could heard well enough; too, several of the men, and
women, struck her as we passed, she reacting, startled, and in pain. By the time
we reached the wall I did not doubt she would be well bruised. Lady Claudia
followed, closely, frightened, miserable. It seemed she cried out, softly, as
the blows struck my moving, helpless, well-curved burden, almost as though she
felt rather they should have been hers to endure. She even sobbed. If Lady
Publia heard these tiny noises, and associated them with Lady Claudia,
presumably she thought that Lady Claudia was accompanying the executioner to the
wall, doubtless as she herself would have. She had been quite cruel to us, I
recalled, as our warder, and had much mocked Lady Claudia in her distress, when
Lady (pg.264) Claudia, rather than she, had worn the ropes. Now, to her horror,
she found that it was she herself, unknown to her compatriots, who was being
carried to the wall. She herself, doubtless, had the situation been reversed,
would have followed the executioner eagerly, and, later, with sardonic
amusement, as the spectacle unfolded, done her best to increase Lady Claudia’s
misery. That being so, perhaps she could not understand the sobs, and the sounds
of commiseration, she heard behind her. But she, unlike Lady Claudia, had not
yet been taught her form of humanity and her sex. She was, however, learning
something of the preciousness of life.
Then, after a long, spiral climb, we emerged through a guard station, and onto
the wall. It was bright and windy there. Lady Publia, feeling the cool air and
wind, emitted a long, helpless, miserable groan.
“There,†said the fellow we had been following. He pointed to the battlements
over the main gate, higher than those on the wall generally. On that creneled,
raised platform, already in its mount, I could see the long, slim, polished
impaling spear. He then left us.
I looked over the wall and noted that the long, rolling, shedlike structure was
quite near, beneath which the battering ram, on its ropes, was slung. It had not
been visible from the cell, as I had speculated, as it had been obscured by the
gate’s west bastion. Some of the ladder men and grapnel crews were already
probing the walls. The siege towers were still some hundreds of yards away.
A quarrel sputtered against the interior of an embrasure, chipping it and
glancing away, upward.
As I went toward the gate’s battlements a grapnel looped over the wall
gracefully and fell behind the walkway. Considering the arc, its width and
height, I assumed it had been lobbed there by an engine. It was drawn forward
and one of the hooks caught and the rope sprang taut. Such things are generally
not much good in this form of fighting except for secret ascents, say, at night,
when they are not noticed, or there are too many of them to deal with. They are
much more useful, in my opinion, at sea, as in, say, drawing ships within
boarding distance of one another, the ropes then usually being attached to
chains some ten feet or so behind the hooks. This makes it hard to cut them
free. Boarding hooks, on poles, are (pg.265) often used, too, for such purposes,
when one can get close enough. These are sometimes sheathed with tin near the
points, again to make it harder to cut or chop them away. Pikes for repelling
boarders, it might be noted, are often greased near the blade end. This makes it
harder for boarders to grasp them, wrenching them away, forcing gaps in the pike
wall, and so on.
I will append one qualification to these observations pertaining to grapnels
which is to acknowledge the giant, chain grapnel, and its relative, the grapnel
derrick. The giant grapnel is hurled by an engine and then, either with the
second arm of the engine, or by the same arm, reversed, drawn back with great
force. This can rip away the crests of walls, tear off roofs, and such. If
Cosians used them here they might have created gaps in the battlements. The
effectiveness of such a device, however, given the weights involved, and the
loss of force in the draw, is much compromised by the necessity of extreme
proximity to the target. Also the defenders may be expected to free or dislodge
the grapnel if possible.
The derrick grapnel is much what the name suggests. It is used from walls,
dangled down, and then drawn up with a winch. If the wall is a harbor wall it
can capsize a ship. If the wall is a land wall, it can, with luck, topple a
siege tower. This device also, however, tends to be ineffective except under
rather optimum, special conditions. For example, very few captains are likely to
get their ships within range of a derrick grapnel. Would you?
I watched the rope on the grapnel for a moment and noted that although it was
taut it did not exhibit the differential tensions which it would if it were
being climbed. I pulled it loose then and, letting it tautness do the work, let
it fly back over the walkway and the crenelation. Had I more time or been of
Ar’s Station, perhaps I might have waited until it was being climbed and then,
after a while, cut the rope. This sort of thing, as you might imagine, tends to
be somewhat frustrating to the fellows who are climbing the rope, particularly
if they are some seventy feet or so up the wall at the time. It take great
courage, incidentally, to climb such a rope in daylight under battle conditions.
I did not doubt but that one or tow of the fellows on the other side of the wall
were probably just as pleased that it had come back as it did. It (pg.266) also
takes great courage, incidentally, though it is much easier to do, to climb a
siege ladder, particularly when the walls are heavily or stoutly defended. It is
better, I think, for the individual attacker, particularly if the walls are
high, over twenty feet, say, to try to enter over the bridge of a siege tower
or, even better, through a breached wall or gate.
I looked th
rough the crenelation again, standing back from it. It takes time to
move such cumbersome objects. Their progress forward was steady, but so slow, it
seemed sometimes almost like watching the hands of a clock move.
I passed a lad standing behind one of the embrasures with a crossbow. He was too
young to be on the wall. One quarrel reposed in the guide of his bow. Beside
him, leaning against the inside of the parapet, were some more quarrels, only
two of which were crafted, one feathered, one with light metal fins. The others
were little more than filed rods, neither feathered nor finned. With these, too,
there were some wooden quarrels, blunt-headed, such as boys sometimes use for
bringing down birds. I did not think they would be effective. Perhaps, ideally
targeted, launched from within a yard or so, one might cause a fellow to lose a
grip on a ladder. More likely they would serve as little more than irritants.
I smelled hot oil on the parapet, and a cauldron of it was boiling, which I
passed. Buckets on long handles could be dipped into this, the oil fired, and
then poured on attackers. The oil tends to hold the fire on the object. I passed
two catapults on the walkway. They were quiet now, not even manned.
I proceeded on toward the raised platform over the main gate, where the impaling
spear, flashing in the sun like a polished needle, was mounted. I passed another
lad, too, also, in my opinion, too young to be on the wall. Better these fellows
had been running about the windy corners of the markets, looking for the veils
to blow about the faces of free women or pursing slave girls, pulling up their
brief skirts, playing “brand guess,†or busying themselves playing stones or
hoops behind the shops. He was crouching beside a pike of stones, building
stones, and tiles. It is hard to throw these with accuracy without standing
above the crenelation. This exposes the caster, of course. He seemed lost in his
thoughts. (pg.267) I wondered if he had been on the wall before. I supposed he
had a mother, who loved him.
When I passed him, he looked up. I saw then that he had been on the wall before,
and that, though his age might indeed be that of a boy, that he was a man. He
then put down his head again, returning to his reflections, whatever might have
been their nature. Near the steps to the raised platform I passed two men with
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