Arrows fell like raindrops in a storm, relentlessly pelting the walltops. There wasn't barely a moment to peer over the battlements- the enemy archers didn't reload as one. Skipper dared to take a look, and suffered a bit for it when an arrow clipped his ear, taking more fur than flesh.

He grit his teeth and touched the ear, checking his paw. There was barely any blood. But already a few of his troops had suffered worse- the most lucky among them had gotten an arrow through a footpaw, a wound that would likely cripple them for life.

Crouched behind a battlement beside him, Coda muttered, "Skip, what do we do?"

"Keep your head down for now."

Coda chanced a glance back over the battlement, then crouched down again. "Why would they attack now? Just out of the blue? An' it's not as if they're even achieving anything with it." Coda whipped around to give Skipper an alarmed look. "Do you think this is just a distraction? Maybe they're attacking somewhere else?"

Skipper shook his head. "Can't be. We have lookouts all around the Abbey. We don't have a blindside."

"Then what are they doing?"

Skipper noted the lessening hail of arrows. "Wearing themselves out and wasting arrows, apparently."

"So what are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna wait right here and not die. Keep your head down, got it?"

"Got it."

Skipper sent messengers to Buckbob and Log-a-Log, telling them to wait out the attack, and to make sure everybeast around them stayed low. The attack on the front of the Abbey lasted for most the day. Chaos ensued on the walltops when a lookout sounded the alarm from the back of the Abbey. Skipper and Log-a-Log sent a few of their creatures around to deal with the new attack, but there wasn't much they could do against the onslaught.

The random attacks went all through the day, stopping when the sun had fallen and the stars arisen. The abbey had been attacked randomly on each side, the small groups of archers appearing and disappearing with no cause or pattern, as far as Skipper could puzzle out. But they had accomplished a few things: they'd injured a score of defenders, and the rest of them were weary and worn to the bone. Skipper slumped wearily on his way down the wallsteps, walking behind everybeast to make sure not a beast was unaccounted for. Coda hung back to walk with him. "What was the point of that?"

"To tire us, mainly."

"Do you think they'll attack again?"

"They might- that's why I'm posting sentries on the walltops all night. We must remain vigilant at all times."

"An' I suppose you're taking the midnight watch, outta the goodness of your heart, as usual. Right?"

Skipper had taken the midnight shift ever since the siege had started. He liked the night sky, but the loss of sleep was beginning to take its toll. "Right."

"Wrong," Coda countered. Skipper sent his a questioning sidelong glance. "I'll take the shift for you. You need the sleep."

"Coda-"

"Before you argue, think of this. I debate with Mrue, and you'll never find a beast more stubborn than her. Good luck trying to make me change my mind."

Skipper couldn't help but chuckle. "Thank you."

Coda brushed it off with a nod, then lapsed into silence. "One good thing that came out of this," he stooped to pick an arrow off the lawns. "We've got more arrows."