Karl Pilat, Commander and Governor of the Gaian city of Theril, stared out the window of his tower, overlooking the battlements and the field beyond. A field swarming with Halite infantry. He couldn't see or hear them, but he knew that Halite crews in the distant forests were constructing Catapults to take down the walls. Walls hopelessly undefended against the armies beyond. At his command, he had three legions; three-thousand trained soldiers, plus perhaps two-thousand population able to fight. They were outnumbered almost five to one, by his conservative estimate.

He turned to his first officer, Scot Smithson.

"I want all those able to run out of here as soon as they can pack their bags," he ordered.

Smithson regarded him curiously. "Not the elderly and children?"

"Children, yes – their parents can look after them. As for the elderly," he gestured at the field beyond the wall, "they wouldn't last two hours before they were run down. Give every civilian the option to flee, but they have to split into groups – a large body of refugees would be easily spotted."

"Why not just evacuate the city?"

Karl looked at Smithson passively. "If we did that, then they'd know very quickly, and come hunting for us. Abandon these walls to engage them in the desert, outnumbered by a factor of five? That's suicide, man." He turned back to the window. "Someone has to hold them here so that the people can escape unnoticed – that's what we all signed on for. We knew building this city was risky – unfortunately, we weren't quick enough to reinforce anything. We underestimated the Halites, and we'll pay for that now." Eyes burning, he turned back to Smithson. "But first we'll make them pay. Carry out your orders, son, and meet me on the walls in an hour."

Smithson saluted and left, and Karl turned back to the window. Scot was a good lad – had his eyes on Karl's daughter, he was pretty sure – and hers on him – but Karl wasn't one to overreact to that sort of thing. With an idea brewing in his head, he took his helmet and left for the wall. He had a siege to repel.

Smithson moved swiftly down the tower stairwell, two steps at a time. Turning towards the garrison, he was spun around quickly by a woman's hand on his shoulder. Cloud Pilat, the commander's daughter and his girlfriend, moved closer and gave him a quick kiss before stepping back.

"What's going on, Scot – where's my father?"

Smithson sighed. "The Halite army's arrived, sooner than anyone expected. They've caught us completely by surprise, and we need to evacuate any civilian who can." Looking into her eyes, he continued softly. "That includes you. You might want to pack your bags."

Cloud looked stricken, then determined. "I'm not going without you," she declared.

Scot looked at her levelly. "Come to the command post on the wall in an hour – your father and I will be there. We can talk about this then. I need to speak to the garrison commanders." He turned away, moving almost at a run to the nearest barracks.

Over the next hour, Smithson went around all the major barracks, telling all the soldiers to spread the word about the evacuation. Heading up onto the wall, some soldiers were already sighting down longbows and crossbows in anticipation of an initial advance on the wall. Entering the command tower above the massive city gates, he moved over to Karl, who was looking at the Halite force with a small telescope

"Garrison's been alerted, sir – the word about the evacuation is being spread."

Karl nodded, still looking through the spyglass. "They're still putting their catapults together," said abstractly. "That gives us maybe a day before they advance – unless they wait for further reinforcement."

"Further reinforcement?" one of the sergeants said incredulously. "They've already got enough men to trounce us good and proper."

Karl turned away from the telescope, half-smiling. "You know that, sergeant, as do I, but they aren't sure just how many men we have here. When their emissaries came knocking, I met them at the gates – they didn't get a look inside. They aren't to know we're less than half-full." He turned to his chief engineer. "How many Catapults do we have now?"

"Not enough," the engineer said wryly. "A dozen, with half that being made out of whatever we can find. And three experimental Trebuchets, which we haven't properly tested."

Karl nodded thoughtfully. "Load up the three Trebuchets with fire-rounds. The wind is still a Northerly from the desert, and the forest are to the South – with this dry summer, let's see how well the plains will burn. At worst, we might roast a few of their infantry – at best we might damage their Catapults, and maybe even touch off a forest fire. It's worth a try, at least."

He looked around at his officers. "I'm not going to lie to you men – we aren't going to win this, no matter what we do. Within a week probably, or a month definitely, we'll all be dead and this city reduced to rubble. Since it's all effectively written off anyway, if you have any idea, no matter how ludicrous, if it'll help hold them off longer – try it. We're already making Catapults out of any wood we can find – we'll also load them up with whatever we can find. Kitchen knives, manure from the stables – anything that'll help put those Halite scum off this place. Don't stop to run anything past me; if you've an idea, implement it immediately. This is not a traditional fight, by any means."

As if to punctuate his thoughts, the three Trebuchets he had ordered loaded fired overhead, fiery payloads crackling as they arced to land smoldering far in the field beyond. Three bonfires soon stood testament to Karl's expectations about the grass' dryness, and the prevailing wind began to whip the flames toward the Halites, sheltering in the forest.

The sergeants took their leave, filing out of the command post as Karl's family entered, both his daughter and wife with determined expressions etched into their faces.

"Are all your belongings packed?" he asked them both, an edge of hope in his voice. His only reply was in the form of twin glares. "Too much to hope for, I expect. Can't you talk some sense into Cloud, at least?" he asked as an aside to Smithson, who threw his hands up in mock surrender.

"Already tried, sir; she has this fool idea that she won't leave without me."

Karl nodded thoughtfully. "I expected as much. She's right, you know." He smiled at the matching looks of astonishment on their two faces. "In a way at least; she isn't leaving without you – you're going as well."

Smithson's look of astonishment turned to outright incredulity. "Me? Why?"

"Someone with official ranking needs to give the Kahn a reliable report of what happened here. Besides," he continued, skewering his first officer with a look that spoke volumes, "there are very few people I trust with my daughter's safety." Silence settled into the room, which he broke quickly. "Well, don't just stand there man; get her away from here – and fast!"

Smithson came to a sharp attention, then shook Karl's hand. "Good luck, sir."

Karl smiled wryly. "Keep it for yourself, son; luck won't help me now." Scot nodded, then stood back as Cloud threw herself at her father, kissing him soundly before settling to weeping on his shoulder. "There, there," Karl said softly, patting her back. "You'll be fine; don't think about us anymore." With tears still outstanding in her eyes, she let Scot lead her from the room, away to the evacuation tunnels.

Karl turned to his wife of decades. "I don't suppose there's any chance you'll be going with them?"

She laughed sharply. "I'm flattered you think I could make it away from here," she told him, gesturing at herself. "I'm too old for endurance running now," she said lightly, then her face went stern, and she drew a sword she'd hidden beneath her coat. "But I can still wield a sword as well as when you taught me, all those years ago."

Karl drew his own sword in salute, then placed it point-first in the floor, kneeling behind it. "It will be my pleasure to fight beside you, my lady." He said eloquently.

She laughed lightly, then, dropping her sword, knelt with him on the floor. Pushing his sword aside, she embraced him warmly.

They fought together, side by side, constantly protecting each other. Until finally, after a week of fighting at the walls, the walls were breached, and urban street-to-street fighting began, the Gaian soldiers inflicting heavy casualties. More importantly from their view, they were keeping the army occupied, not realizing that over half the populace had safely escaped even before the walls were overrun.

After nearly two weeks since the Halite army had arrived outside Theril, the resistance was finally quashed; the commander of the invasion force led his own battalion in a storm on the Governor's Keep, the last Gaian stalwart.

Karl Pilat and his wife were among the last left standing; in a final confrontation, his wife was slain by the Halite commander, who paid swiftly for his actions. Karl led one last charge in vengeance, leading all remaining soldiers running through the corridors of the Keep, back out into the city. They could possibly have won through to the walls and beyond, but all knew it was pointless to do so, and simply set about slaying as many of the Halite army as they could before killed themselves. Hunting down the last of them took the better part of another two days, at great cost of Halite lives. Until finally, all that was remaining were shadows and ghosts, and the Halite armies withdrew.