During the day the militia was assembling and preparing for any potential threat on the city itself. Meanwhile, the few stanistas in the area were alerted about the presence of Beastmen and their potential attacks. Able-bodied people readied the defences they could build in a short time and the men manned them while women and children were escorted away to the safety of the town wall.

With town lancers running around to investigate the site of the attack, the leadership of the militia tried to make sense of the situation and to coordinate to the nest of their abilities. Right away, the major success was a quick discovery of the camp. Following the trail of footprints in the snow and the direction of fallen Beastmen bodies led few scouts to a nearby abandoned cabin where the beasts made their camp.

One thing that stood out in everyone's eyes in the report were the Beastmen themselves. Even with the heroic defence of the caravan guards, that alone couldn't account for every dead body they found. Instead, a clear number of them perished from the cold and the rags they were wearing for clothes were unsuited for winter environment. These clearly weren't native to Kislev and no one could figure out why they were there in the first place. Unfortunately, the proper investigation would have to wait.

As the evening fell and gates were put on lockdown, only allowing lancers in and out, the two merchants could only watch the organized chaos in the town from their room window at the inn. They never expected the current situation and how fast it changed from peace. They also felt lucky for avoiding the horde the day before and curiosity on how would Boyar and the Militia handle the current situation. If nothing else, solving the current crisis would cement confidence in Snježana's realm. Already, they were up to good start.

Using the superior mobility of the horses and their better adjustment to cold, the lancers managed to kite the Beastmen scouts and draw the attention towards the town without suffering a single casualty. The scouts, seeing the town wall, retreated to hunker down in warmth for the night and alert the rest. The Militia plan was a success as it gave to the Beastmen a clear target to focus on rather than potentially attacking stanitsas. They received the confirmation in the late morning the next day when the horde was spotted approaching.

It was made very clear just how poorly their enemies were prepared to that environment. 5 Gors, large horned beasts that were considered the leaders in the Beastmen hierarchy, as well as 200 Ungors, beasts the size of a humans that were common soldiers in herds, were shambling around in whatever could pass as their warm clothing. Such poor state of the enemy raised the confidence of the defenders.

Among the men on the east wall were the Wolf Guard Captain and Alex, watching the horde approach along with the other guardsmen. Captain was the first one to initiate conversation.

Captain: "Well, a day late, but it finally came a proper time for it. Sorry for the hostility I showed you the other night. You were truly only doing your duty. I heard from our scouts just how terrible the battlefield looked at the site of the ambush."

Alex remained focused on the approaching horde. He was wearing his armour, cleaned up, but still dented from the battle. "It's no problem, Captain. You were also only doing your duty and you had no reason to trust me. Now to see when will these beasts attack. How are we standing with troops?"

Captain: "Half of the Wolf Guard is deployed on this wall with the rest either in reserve or on other parts of the wall, just in case they have a surprise. The Militia is manning the barricade and our cavalry is at the western gate. As soon as the signal is sent out, they will sally out and charge them in pincer move."

Alex: "Alright. Do you have any short spears here?

Captain: "No, we are a gun unit. We prefer our rifles. Go down to the barricade. You will be luckier there."

Alex nodded and went to climb down the wall. Meanwhile, Captain continued to watch the horde. "Now, let's see what that idiot is doing.", he mumbled under his breath.

His remark was targeted towards a lone Gor who was approaching the wall. Big and ugly beast, with fur on hid limbs and some makeshift clothes covering the rest. As the Wolf Guard hadn't received their orders to fire yet, the beast was allowed to come within shouting distance where he tried to provoke the response.

"You puny humans! Is there no one worthy enough to face me in a real combat? Huh! All you ever do is cover in fear. A fear smelt from far away. All I need is to flex these muscles and you will run away! Now what do you say to that? Huh!"

"Wait, those things actually know human language? Does he think we don't know what happened? What a moron." Those were some of the comments that guards made. Meanwhile, Captain picked up his rifle, aimed it carefully and answered loudly: "This is my answer!"

With a single squeeze of the trigger, Gor's right eye was turned into bloody mist. He reeled loudly in pain as blood started dripping down his face. With loud roars of pain, he turned to the wall and yelled: "YOU BASTARDS!" as he started running towards it.

With calmness and confidence in his voice, Captain ordered: "Now, men! Let's show him who we are!" The guards made sure to made the beast an example to others that were watching as the volleys tore him apart. First, few shots hit Gor's legs, making him lose his stride and fall. As he tried to stand up, the next shots tore his arm away and took out his other eyes. By the time he fell dead, a volley made a bloody mist all around him.

The ghastly sight caused a fear among the Ungors who were too unnerved to move. While the remaining Gors tried to rile them up for a fight, Alex returned back with few spears just in time to hear Captain mutter: "Stupid beast."

After looking down at the corpse, Alex asked: "Captain, why did you shoot him? I heard him talking about a duel."

Captain: "Why wouldn't I?"

Alex: "Because of honour."

Captain: "Heh, beasts having any honour. Good joke." Yet, when he turned to see Alex's face, he saw no sign of a smile. In fact, he showed some anger with him gripping his arm.

Alex: "Everyone..." He turned to glare at Captain directly. "Everyone has their own type, Captain. While you, you seem to lack your own, let alone in general."

With clear sarcasm in his voice, Captain answered: "Fine, next time I will send you. Then we will have to save your sorry ass while they try to swarm you."

Alex: "Swarm? If they try to, then you can fire at them. I doubt he would have done it though. He was too cocky."

Captain: "Nah, provoking to see a response from us. They thought destroying your caravan would scare us, even with everyone visibly in bad shape."

Alex: "And you complied in a spectacular fashion. Now to see what they will do now. Maybe charge us like wild animals. Still, try to show some honour. Shoot them to kill, not to use them as target practice."

Captain was truly amazed at what he was hearing from the knight. "Wait, you seriously think these beasts have any shred of honour among them?"

Alex: "Some. And even if they don't, it does not mean we must sink to their level."

Captain: "Then you are free to guard the barricade. Since rifles don't seem to work with your sense of honour."

Alex: "Rifles can work in tandem with honour. They are like more modern bows. Just don't shoot the same guy 13 times after he died."

Captain: "Little excessive, sure, but I would rather be sure now than regret it later."

Alex: "13 times is not being sure. It's just cutting meat with steel balls."

Captain: "I ordered a volley and a volley I got. What else is there to talk about?"

Alex made a deep sigh. It was clear they would never be on the same page. "Not much. I guess I'll just have to live with honourless men. Let's just wait on the attack proper.

Captain: "Yeah, let's see what they will do now."

While those two were bickering, the guardsmen finished reloading their rifles and were now waiting. Meanwhile, it seemed the threat from Gors finally worked as Ungors made a battle line with archers that was starting to approach. While Alex dropped the spears and drew his shield to defend himself, other guardsmen prepared to cover behind the wall.

However, just as the archers entered the extreme range of their bows, they made something unexpected as torches were seen being lit behind them. Captain was visibly disappointed by the sight of it. "Flaming arrows? Are you serious?"

Alex: "Really?"

Captain: "Yeah. What in the world are they thinking? Why would you do that from this far away? Bah, like I should have expected something smart from them." He ordered to his men: "Prepare to return fire once the first volley misses."

Alex: "Do you have gunpowder out in the open?"

Captain: "There shouldn't be. We already distributed the ammo."

Alex: "Anything flammable or anything out in the open?"

Captain: "I'd rather not find out. Get down!"

Everyone got down bracing for the attack. However the first volley fell well short of the wall. The weight of the arrows was too much at that distance. With no one hurt, the guardsmen decided to return. Their first volley was much better as it tore apart the archer line.

As opening minutes showed, the battle was clearly in the favour of the defenders. Without any siege equipment and cover, they had no chance for win. Unfortunately for the defenders, it seemed that Khorne was watching that day and that he was unsatisfied with one-sided massacre.