IDWTBTHQ Chapter 110 - An Explosive Beginning

The city of Treval was built on the southern shore of the river Renn, right where the waters began to be deep enough to be always navigable during all seasons. And since most of the trades between the Empire and the Federation passed through that river, this made Treval an extremely important and thriving commercial hub.

However, this enviable position came with its own problems, especially since the city was located right next to the border with the neighboring nation of the Duchy of Rasse. It was no secret that the Duchy coveted Treval, and though both Medelan and Rasse were technically part of the same Empire and therefore allies, that didn't do much to soothe the worries of the kingdom. After all, small wars and low-key conflicts often arose between the states that made up the Empire and the Duchy had become aggressively expansivist over the last two generations, using any pretext it could find to grab more lands from its neighbours.

So, in order to keep Rasse's ambitions in check, about twelve years prior the king of Medelan had decided to renovate Treval’s defenses. The old, outdated walls had been replaced by bastions of earth and bricks, easily capable of withstanding cannonfire and destructive spells, with large battlements filled with cannons and protected by ramparts, while a deep and large moat had been dug in front of the walls. The northern part of the city, facing the river Renn, couldn’t be fortified but in order to dissuade enemy attacks from that direction a large citadel had been built on the north-west corner of the city, watching over the harbor and housing large cannons that would shred any ship to pieces well before it could reach the city.

Thanks to these impressive defenses Treval was now widely considered impregnable despite not having been besieged even once. And yet there were some who questioned the late king’s decision to fortify the city, because while it had certainly deterred the Duchy from trying a direct attack —which many considered unlikely anyway— it had given a lot of powers to the dukes of Grimdale who ruled over the city, since they now had a secure base of power they were sure they could hold even against the kingdom itself. Worse still, the Rassians, seeing that a direct assault would be unfeasible, had started trying to bribe the lords of Grimdale to their side, something which gave them yet another bargaining chip to use against their king. It was no wonder that the Duke of Grimdale had become the figurehead of the Council of Nobles, the political faction of Medelan who wanted to limit the power of their liege.

Thinking about the history of the city, Yasen thought that there was a certain amount of irony in it. But even more ironic was the fact that the arrival of the orcs had now vindicated the decision to fortify the city, as it offered the defenders the chance to stop the invasion then and there. That would certainly be a boon for the royal faction, if they managed to win. And if they lost… well, then they’d have much bigger problem than worrying about things like internal politics. In a way, it was a win-win situation.

“It's really true what they say.” He mused. “Every cloud has a silver lining.”

“Did you say something, Captain?” Duke Grimdale asked, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement.

They were both standing on the battlements over the city gates, surrounded by their lieutenants and helpers, while they waited for the orc army to arrive.

“Just thinking to myself.” Yasen replied, deciding that it wouldn't be prudent to explain his reasoning to the nobleman. Instead, he focused on the enemy army, which was currently approaching.

The orcs were currently spreading on the fields south of the city, slowly surrounding the city as they did. There were more than twenty-five thousand of them, all relatively well equipped and disciplined for their kind.

It was quite an intimidating sight, Yasen had to admit. If he had to face them in an open battle he would have been rather worried, but as he was defending a fortress he felt that the odds were much better. As impressive as it looked, the orc army lacked any sort of artillery or real ranged units, which meant that they couldn't retaliate at all while the defenders unloaded all they had on them from the safety of the walls. And the numbers weren’t that bad either, since in addition to the three hundred Royal Knights under his service, there were about fifty Aura User and five hundred guards from Treval’s garrison, which meant that there were more than eight hundred regular soldiers defending the city. Those alone would have been enough to hold the city, but at Yasen’s insistence they had also raised a militia of about four thousands volunteers, equipped with bows, crossbows or muskets, easy to use weapons that were effective even in the hands of untrained soldiers. And finally there were a handful of casters, both sorcerers and clerics, who could be useful in a battle, either by directing casting spells against the enemy or in support roles like healers and telemancers.

All in all, Yasen thought that the city could easily hold off any direct assault with ease. Which meant that the real threat would come from indirect attacks.

The orc army was a bit too far for him to pick up too many details yet, so he turned to a nearby sentry, who was also watching them through a spyglass.

“Do you see if the orcs are doing anything weird?” He asked.

“Well, they're orcs who are behaving almost like an actual army, if that counts, sir.” The soldier jokingly replied. “But apart from that, they're just surrounding the city for now.”

“Alright. Keep watching them then.” Yasen said. “And inform me immediately if you spot anything noteworthy.”

“Aye sir.” The soldier said.

“Why are you so worried, captain?” Duke Grimdale asked in a sarcastic tone. “These are orcs, not people. They probably think they can beat the walls into submission with their clubs!”

“I certainly hope so.” Yasen replied. “But I think it's more likely that they have something in mind. After all, their leader seems to be much smarter than the average orc.”

“Hmpf.” Lord Grimdale snorted in disbelief. “And what would their plan be, exactly?”

“I don't know for sure.” The captain admitted. “But it probably involves sneaking someone into the city to create an opening for them. I can't think of any other way they could hope to get past the walls without using artillery.”

“Well, good luck with that!” The nobleman smirked. “We put guards literally everywhere. I'd be surprised if a mouse could sneak in!”

“I do hope you're right, milord.” Yasen replied grimly, but deep down he kind of agreed with Lord Grimdale. He had been extremely thorough when placing sentinels around the city, trying not to leave out even the smallest and most unlikely way to get past the walls. He even had a few aura users in crucial points, using their aura scan in case the orc infiltrators were somehow able to become invisible —something that to Yasen didn’t seem so unlikely after he had been ambushed by that female-looking ogre during his fight with the oni.

Still, this wasn't reason enough to get complacent. After all, the oni had already proven himself to be a devious opponent with many tricks up his sleeves, and there was always the possibility that he still hadn't shown everything he could do. Because of this, Yasen couldn't afford to be overconfident as long as the enemy still drew breath.

He turned his eyes on the enemy army, trying to spot the Blue Terror in its midst. After a few seconds he found him, barely visible in the middle of the horde and surrounded by orcs with a bluish hue to their skin, which seemed to be his bodyguards.

He decided that he'd focus on him for the time being. After all, he thought, if there was trouble, the oni was bound to be at the center of it.

On the eastern side of Treval, two guards were doing their best to breathe exclusively with their mouth. The post they had been assigned to, a small drainage tunnel which collected the sewage waters of the city and expelled them in the moat, smelled absolutely horrible, to the point that it had taken them more than half an hour to get reasonably accustomed to it. However, on the bright side, it was rather unlikely that the enemy would enter from there, since not only was the tunnel blocked by multiple grates, but the exit was also in plain sight from the walls.

Still, they dutifully stayed alert as they were supposed to, on guard against anything that might crawl up on them from the sewers. Because of this, they immediately noticed the four people pulling a cart full of barrels as soon as they emerged from behind a corner and started approaching them.

The guards immediately recognized them. They were the last batch of refugees that had been let in before the city doors were closed, a bunch of ragged farmers who had brought some barrels of fruits with them. They looked worn out and quite harmless, but nonetheless the two guards followed protocol and stopped them.

“Halt!” The older guard ordered, and when the refugees obeyed, he asked: “What brings you here?”

“I beg your pardon, sir!” One of them replied. His voice had something odd about it, a shrill echo that somehow felt wrong. “We were bringing some fruits to the guards of the city, to thank you all for saving us!” He opened a barrel and took out two ripe-looking honeyfruits. “Here! You can take this!”

“I'm sorry, but we can't eat while on duty.” The guard said sternly.

“And even if we could, it'd be hard to keep the food down with this smell!” His colleagues chimed in, earning a reproachful look from his mate.

“Well, it's not as if you have to eat them right now.” The farmer insisted. “You can take them and eat them later. It'd mean a lot to us to know that we contributed to the siege, even in this small way!”

The older guard paused for a moment, conflicted about what to do, but his colleagues supported the farmer.

“Oh, c'mon pal!” He said. “It's not against the rules to accept gifts! By Pretheve, that’s actually part of the bonuses of being a town guard!”

“Fine.” The older guard shrugged, and he lifted his spear to let the farmer approach. “But be quick about it. We can't afford to get distracted.”

“Thank you, sir!” The farmer said, approaching the soldier. “May the gods bless you.”

He handed the fruits to the guard, but as the latter extended his hand to take them the farmer suddenly grabbed his wrist and dragged the surprised man towards him. Before the soldier could react, the refugee stabbed him in the neck with a knife he had hidden inside of his sleeve.

The younger soldier, after a single moment of shocked surprise, opened his mouth to give the alarm, but before he could produce any sound a crossbow bolt hit him in the forehead, making his head jerk backward as he fell on the ground.

The farmer who had spoken froze for a moment as he heard the noise the younger guard made falling, but luckily no one came to investigate and so he relaxed and turned to his companions, one of which was still holding a crossbow.

“Be more careful!” He said angrily with a soft but even more shrill voice. “We don't want to make too much noise!” He started to lift the body of the older guard. “Now help me hide them, quick!”

His companions moved to help him, while the one with the crossbow reloaded his weapon and stood guard near the cart. Once the corpses were out of view, they all started unloading the barrels, using a surprising amount of care to not shake them too much or make sudden movements, though that wasn't at all surprising if one knew the content of those barrels.

The guards that had inspected the barrels just a few hours before had found them full of fruits similar to pomegranates, and since none of them was an expert botanist they had thought nothing of it. After all, it was normal to bring all the food you could to a besieged city. But anyone with some knowledge of exotic plants would have likely screamed and run away, because those weren't pomegranades, but rather fruits from the aptly named Bomber Tree, a rare and peculiar plant that could be found in the depth of the Caligare Forest. That was one of the most deadly vegetables of the forest, since its fruits were highly explosive and the tree would drop them at the first sign of danger.

It was those fruits that the Brain Spiders in service of the Blue Terror had used to blow up the pool inside of the Piraca fortress, and back then those fruits had been dried up, which made them safer to handle but also weaker. The ones in the barrels were fresh, which meant that any sudden impact would make them explode.

Which was exactly why the Brain Spiders currently masquerading as human refugees took extra care while they carried the barrels into the drainage tunnel.

“Careful!” The leader of the group whispered. “If one of these falls, they're going to find pieces of us on all three moons!”

Sloshing through the smelly waste, they placed all the barrels as deep as possible in the tunnel, just in front of the first grate. Then, without further ado, they lit up a fuse and ran away as fast as they could.

A few seconds later, a huge explosion echoed in the air.

Yasen almost lost his balance as the ground was shaken while a shockwave of hot wind hit him from the east, but he managed to stand on his feet, using his glaive as a crutch. Around him, many others, Lord Grimdale included, didn’t share his readiness and dropped to their knees, while a few very unlucky soldiers even fell from the walls screaming.

“By all the Gods! What was that!?!” Lord Grimdale cried, struggling to get back up.

Yasen could barely hear him, as his ears were still ringing from the sound of the explosion. He didn’t answer right away however, and turned to his left to see what had happened.

A huge cloud of smoke was rising from the eastern walls, and as he was watching small pieces of debris started falling from the sky like hail. Then, after a few seconds, he finally noticed that an entire section of the walls was now missing.

It was right at that moment that a mighty roar could be heard in the distance, and the orc army charged forwards.