Being close enough, there was actually quite a lot of rubble from broken camps. Roland wondered if it was infighting or humans who did it. The rubble made good hiding spots, concealing the almost 100 people who snuck up in the dark. Peeking out, he saw more details than the heads and spikes. Scrap metal was used in the towers and walls, giving extra defence and a more sinister look to the place. He joined Jakson who was drinking and eating silently. He had a third skin of Kvass in his bag. Roland never did pick up the practice of carrying alcohol out. His skins always carried water.

Kajiko was keeping an eye on her silver timepiece. It looked like it cost handfuls of gold to purchase. She then closed it, tucked it in her chest and nodded to her clanswomen. Alright. Here we go. Roland opened the cover of his quiver and drew a bodkin, activating Quick-eye and Stop-eye. Drawing her sword, she stood with her clanswomen and they let out a piercing war cry. The force surged forward with Kajiko and her guards in front, ladders following at the rear, carried by the less experienced parties (judged based on their gear, which was quite an accurate assessment).

She had additional orders the night before. Archers would form a line and shoot, advancing to a stage where wooden shields allowed them to have a fire-fight with the defenders. All melee fighters were to engage the camps, using more of the wooden shields or their own to protect the ladder carriers, who were told to advance without stopping. They would then assemble the ladders. Priority was given to more veteran Volunteers who would ascend and clear the walls.

Orcs, having higher ground and not needing to move, shot first. Thankfully most orcs were facing the south wall so the hail was light but still, orc arrows brought down a few. Shields rose and the return fire rained down on the camps by the walls. The archer exchange had yet to begin.

"Don't stand so close, you filthy male!", yelled an Angel Hunter.

"I don't want your stink to rub off on me!"

"Stand further away, scum!"

"I'll quote my party leader, Demit the Priest. 'Fuck. You.' Kajiko said 'archer's line', and that's where I'm standing. You don't like Kajiko's orders, take it up with her". To prove his point, Penetrator struck an orc on the wall. Roland's bow was heavier than what the Hunters had, giving him more range over the Hunters who fired into the lines. Being an Archer who used the bow more exclusively, he was also more accurate, and didn't need to tilt his back so far when firing long distance. He savoured the looks of rage on the Angels' faces.

"How dare you mention her name with your unwashed mouth!?"

"Leave the man. Focus on your jobs!", yelled a more veteran Hunter down the line. Roland grudgingly gave credit to the Angel Hunters. They outperformed almost everyone else in the archery line. Other Hunters, seeing Roland and the Angels, were psychologically beaten. Their aim became poorer. Fortunately, the melee line became too dense to fire into, and the order to advance will come soon. Smoke began to rise from one of the towers. There's the signal smoke. In the distance, another smokestack burned, and another, eventually leading to Riverside.

"Advance!", ordered the veteran Angel. They picked up their disposable pavise shields and advanced. An Angel pulled a Hunter from the line and placed her between Roland and the Angels. Another Hunter closed the gaps and asked,

"What the hell was that?"

"Archer skill."

"We're all archers and I haven't seen anything like it."

"We carry bows, which makes us Bowmen-"

"Bow-Women!", yelled an Angel. Roland ignored her.

"-but I'M an Archer, not a Hunter". The Hunter was trying to recall something. Roland gave him time.

"Is it that woodsman's hut somewhere down the road from the Guild?". Roland nodded. The Hunter shook his head in disbelief.

"You prefer to fight with that axe or use Contact Shot?"

"We call it Point Blank, but I never needed to learn it. My team's great."

"You Archers worship Eldritch?"

"No. We don't have deities. I'm a bit jealous of your Wolf Dogs though."

"Rapid-fire?"

"That 3 arrows in succession skilll? We call it Handfull, and we fire 4 instead of 3". The Hunter shook his head again.

"How?"

"Thumb ring. You can't Handfull with an archer's glove", answered Roland.

"So what you got that we don't got?"

"Gemini. Fire 2 arrows at once". This was all new to the Hunter. How rare is the Archer class, dammit?

"Hama, Team Bruno". He extended a hand. Roland took it.

"Roland, Fireteam Alpha". Hama laughed at the name.

"Place shields!", ordered the veteran. The line stopped. The pavises were supported by planks. The archer exchange started when orc arrows struck the pavises. Roland showed off by firing into arrow slits instead of the crenelations. It was too dark and narrow to gauge visually if an orc was ready to loose, so one of every 3 arrows stuck out of the slits for a second before going in, meaning he had hit something. Some Angels, not wanting to be outdone, tried to do the same but their arrows rattled off the walls.

"Holy shit!", exclaimed Hama. Roland laughed.

"If there's so much as an arrow scratch on Kajiko-sama, I'll kill all of you myself! I SAID LEAVE THE MAN!", roared the veteran Hunter down the line. The Angels concentrated on the exchange. Orcs were coming from south gate so Roland shifted his aim, targeting the gaps between the crenelations, slowing down the inner reinforcements. Eventually they formed a moving shield wall, which Kinetic interrupted by pushing off some more orcs, drawing more angry gazes from the Angels. And how do you differentiate arrow scratches from the others? Bring it, Wild Angels. This is MY specialty.

"Holy shit! Holy shit!", said Hama. The Hunter between Roland and the Angels began to fumble.

"Down. Down now", said Roland to the 2. They ducked behind their pavises. Some other Hunters followed.

"Breathe, soldiers", Roland yelled down the line. Dammit, I'm sounding like Demit.

"You're doing fine. Remember your training, slow your firing rate. I do what I do because I'm useless in melee, and that's something you have that I don't. I'm no more special than you are. Deep breaths."

"Stop lazing around, you filthy pig!", yelled an Angel. Roland ignored her.

"Aim small, miss small!". He peeked, rose and Kinetic broke the bow and slammed into the face of the Orc who was holding it. The 2 hunters also loosed and hit. Other Hunters tried and succeeded. Morale improved.

"Outstanding! Keep it up, Marksmen!". That's exactly what Demit would say.

"The middle of the target is always the same size! Orc, Pit Rat, doesn't matter!" He pulled out his Elemental Bodkin. It was his last arrow.

"Switching quivers!", he announced. Damn, that was fast. Roland fired about 15 arrows a minute if firing carefully. At maximum speed without compromising too much accuracy, he did 20.

The ladders rose with a cheer, the last orcs on the ground died. Mages now began aiming at the walls. The orcs on top were bathed in fire, lightning and ice. Shadows wrapped themselves around some, making them easy targets. Kajiko led by climbing first, followed by her personal guard. All ladders had Angels leading the way. One ladder was pushed off and raised again. One Volunteer who fell off a ladder did not move anymore.

"Ladders! Protect the ladders!", ordered the Hunter in charge. They aimed accordingly.

Wounded Volunteer soldiers crawled, limped or were led back for treatment, where triage outside of bow range had formed. Demit returned, a Warrior leaning on her shoulder for support, a deep cut in his abdomen. Angel Priests didn't discriminate genders, choosing to stabilise the most severe cases first, like other Priests. Roland agreed with Brewary. They're good. They just don't trust men. His annoyance with the Angel Hunters subsided somewhat.

"Roland! Bandages!". He gave all he had to Demit. He remembered Demit had less magic than most Priests.

"Where're the others?", he asked.

"They're waiting to climb", she answered. A collective roar of orcs and humans were heard in the distance, south. What was that?

"Fuck was that?", asked Demit.

"Back to work, Priest. Don't waste time on this slob",

"Ay, fuck you. F.T.A., motherfucker". She grabbed some arrows from the Hunter's quiver and handed it to Roland.

"Hey!"

"Oh, what you gonna do?", Demit repeated the question again and the Hunter, figuring out that she was against Demit the Priest, went back to shooting. The Warrior groaned in pain and Demit helped him up again.

"Up we go soldier, almost there. Just needed some supplies is all".

"I thought Priests had things like Heal and Sacrament", he complained.

"Well my Fireteam is competent, soldier. Cure and bandages were all I needed", answered Demit. That's a goddamn lie, woman. Looking back at the triage, some Priests were already to the side, meditating to restore magic. Healed Volunteers walked back to the walls to continue the fight. The Angels war cry brought his attention back to the walls. Angel Hunters along the line did their war cry too, raising their bows. Volunteers had made it to the top, and there was fighting all along the wall. The fight was now taking place inside or on the walls.

"On the wall, now", ordered the Veteran Angel. The Angel Hunters joined the ladder climbing. Hama fist bumped Roland before leaving as well.

"If you mess up, the Scarlet Pimpernels will clean up after you!", he yelled after them. The Veteran Angel Hunter heard that and looked back.

There were injured Volunteers occupying one ladder, climbing down. They still had to make the journey back to the triage, which couldn't be brought closer because the towers still had arrow slits. Roland counted his arrows. 24 plus the elemental coating bodkin.

Jakson appeared with Brewary, using the excuse to help the wounded to climb back down. It looked convincing as both had bloody bandages. Brewary was slightly annoyed.

"Sugar says we got no business up there", he explained.

"South gate not open, chuvak. North gate reinforce with boss and orc mage. People trapped and die in keep", explained Jakson.

"You scouted this out yourself? Because we're telling Demit."

"Da. I say not go in."

"If Sugar says so", said Brewary. They went to tell Demit, who was bandaging someone.

"Give 'em if you got 'em". They gave up their last medicated bandages.

"The place is a death trap. Casualties are mounting inside. South gate hasn't opened and north gate reinforcement includes Zoran and its retinue, including the Sorcerers."

"How good is this intel, soldier?"

"Is scouted by me", replied Jakson. Demit cussed. Jakson is a reliable scout, failing only once when he was caught in the Damrow New City ambush. Well, the few times he doesn't spot crossbow goblins too, but I won't hold it against him. His scout report record is near spotless.

"Chief going south gate. Maybe we go from outside", suggested Jakson. There was no telling what was happening from the outside. The arrows had stopped, it looked like the orc archers were firing onto the Volunteers who were trying to get up the tower stairs. Demit and Brewary wanted to be in there. Jakson had proved himself too much to have his scout reports doubted. Roland secretly didn't want to go. Never mind the gold bounty on the Zesh's head. He had nothing other than Chop for close quarters, which was his least used skill.

"Open space for his sword and my bow. Plenty of room to move around too", he tried suggesting.

"Oh for fuck's sakes I want a shot at that motherfucker", said Demit.

"So do I, Paprika."

"Nyet. Not go in."

"Fine. Fucking hell. South gate it is. FUCK!" Fireteam Alpha left.