One Chett, larger and more ferocious than the rest, made his way to the front and ducked under a slashing attack from Serefa before darting under his horse. Serefa heard his mount scream in pain and then it collapsed in a heap and he found himself standing, his feet astride the dead animal. Before he could react the Chett was behind him. A huge arm locked around his throat and pulled him back, and he felt a blade slide against his neck. He tried to struggle free, shouting for help, but the blade bit deep. He felt no pain, just a warm flood and a dark curtain falling over his eyes, and as he fell atop his slain horse the last thing he saw was the Chetts scrambling past and up the stairs in a desperate bid to escape destruction.
Galen cursed loudly as the last few Chetts managed to get down the other side of the wall before his knights could reach them, but as he looked down at the fleeing enemy he realised how few there were: a hundred perhaps, but not many more. Then he looked down on the other side at the Chett dead heaped against the stairs and the inside wall. They had fought with amazing ferocity and bravery, but in the end there was nothing they could do against his armoured knights.
But it has not all gone our way, he reminded himself. After all, the Chetts had managed to get over the wall. There seemed to be as many slain defenders as there were Chetts, and a large number of them had been struck by those terrible Haxan missiles. He shouted for archers to shoot at the retreating Chetts, but even as he did so the now familiar sound of more metal thwacking against the wall made him duck below the parapets. He made his way to the tower and then down the stairs where he was met by a frantic Farben.
'Have you seen the queen?' the secretary demanded.
Galen looked blankly at him for a moment. 'No, I…' For a moment panic took him and he felt his muscles start to lock. 'She must be here somewhere…'
'I haven't seen her!' Farben cried frantically. People were starting to look at them.
'Calm down!' Galen ordered, and saying it helped him calm himself. He grabbed a passing captain. 'Have you seen the queen?'
The captain shook his head. 'Not since the attack began. She was on the walkway—'
Galen did not let him finish. Despite his armour he sprinted back up to the walkway, Farben close behind. Keeping low, they turned over every dead defender, their hearts in their mouths, but found no sign of her.
'She must have made it back down,' Galen said, breathing a sigh of relief.
'Unless she was knocked off the wall,' Farben countered.
They returned to the ground and started searching among the heaps of dead and wounded. They had almost given up when Farben shouted and ran to a collection of three bodies. Galen could not see what had grabbed the secretary's attention until he drew closer and saw the glint of armour. He ran over and helped Farben pull off one dead guard and a headless Chett, And there was Charion, blood all over her breastplate and helmet, her face as pale as a winter sky.
'Oh God…' Galen muttered and lifted her in his arms, Farben whimpering beside him. By now other defenders had gathered around, recognising who it was. Galen took off her helmet, but though there was a lot of dirt and blood matting her hair, there appeared to be no injury. He then took off her breastplate, and again there seemed to be no source for all the blood she was covered in.
It must all belong to the Chett, Galen told himself, hoping it was so.
Gingerly, Galen unlaced her jerkin and lifted her shirt. Half her chest was covered by a purple bruise that was rimmed with blood. He felt the skin tenderly. 'Two broken ribs, at least,' he said aloud. Charion moaned in pain, and Galen let out his breath. Farben looked ready to faint.
'She will be alright,' Galen told the secretary, 'as long as she is looked after. Get her to the palace. I will take over here.'
Farben did not even question the knight, but ordered some of the guards to make a stretcher with spears and cloaks and ordered another to find a doctor.
When they were gone Galen went about making sure there were enough guards put back on the west wall, using some of his own knights to make up the numbers. Then he visited all the wounded, determining whether or not they were fit for duty or needed to be withdrawn. Before he finished he was joined by Magmed.
'We lost seventeen knights,' the nobleman reported. 'Most of them were trying to hold the stairs against the Chetts.'
'I've put another fifty on the wall. That leaves us just over two hundred.'
'The odds are getting worse all the time,' Magmed said levelly.
Galen could only nod.
'As good a place as any to die, I suppose,' Magmed continued. 'I wish to God I could have a charge at Prince Lynan, though.'
'You may yet get your wish,' Galen returned. 'Because I have no intention of going down with the city should it fall.'
Magmed eyed him with surprise. 'You're not going to—'
'Run?' Galen finished for him. 'Of course not. But if the city is lost we have to break out. I will not let my knights be slaughtered in the streets and in the buildings. If worst comes to worst, we still have Kendra to defend.'
'Do you want us ready at the palace again?'
Galen nodded. As Magmed turned to leave, Galen held him back by the arm. 'And tell Farben to ready the queen. I don't know how fit she is to travel, but if we leave her here she will die at Lynan's hands.'
Magmed looked shocked. 'Even Lynan would not do that!'
Galen laughed. 'Did you see what he did to Sendarus? Why would he stop at killing something as petty as a provincial ruler if he would not hesitate to slaughter his own sister's husband?'
Magmed nodded. 'Alright. Where will you be?'
'Here. With Charion gone, someone has to take charge of the defence.'
'Do you think the Chetts will assault the west wall again?'
'Charion told me they would attack at this point at least twice, and the second time they almost made it to the main gate. They'll try again.'
Ager was visiting the trenches opposite the north wall when he heard the war cries of Eynon's warriors as they started their third assault on the west wall. He sent a silent prayer for them, but forced himself to concentrate on his task. Captain Waylong had asked him to come and was pointing out new work, mentioning the names of sappers who had performed exceptionally, detailing where they would go next.
'And the tunnels?' Ager asked. 'How's the mining operation going?'
Waylong looked particularly pleased. Keeping low behind barricades and mantlets he led the way to one of the tunnel entrances.
'We have four of these, three old ones and this new system.'
'New system? How long will it take you to get to tie wall from here? More time than we have, surely?'
Waylong shook his head. 'We're not digging completely new tunnel, only a new entrance. We've used this to intercept one of the old tunnels the enemy thought they had destroyed. They certainly caved in most of the early work, but they didn't finish the job. I takes us closer to the north wall than any other tunnel.' Waylong licked his lips. 'An hour ago we were no more than four paces from under the crooked section of the north wall.'
'Already?' Ager's voice rose with excitement. 'How long before you can set off the mine?'
'We're preparing the work as we go. By now they should be under the wall, but they're working as quietly as possible. The attacks your Chetts are carrying out against the west wall make it hard for any counter-miners to hear the work, so that's when we do most of the close digging.'