Order had been restored to Haytham's army and the entire force had surrounded the great hall, the battering ram that had been so useful earlier had once again been brought up. "To bad it's made of stone, or we could try to smoke them out." Kamal said, "We have the ram that should be enough, besides they only have a handful of fighting men left." Haytham was about to signal the ram to attack when he noticed a white sheet waving out of one of the small portals of the hall.
"Hold," He said, the doors to the hall opened slightly and a rather plump aging man stepped out, he was waving a white sheet on a stick a symbol for a truce. "Looks like they're ready to talk, Haytham dismounted and started towards the man accompanied by one of his bodyguards. "I am mayor Agostino of this fine town and I am willing to discuss the terms of surrender." Haytham stared at the man, "The terms are unconditional. You surrender yourself your town and all of its citizens to me acting on behalf of the Tisroc of Calormene."
The mayor sneered, "We do not recognize him as our ruler." "Mayor, I don't think you understand the gravity of your situation. You are surrounded, I have control of your town, and how many people do you have in that grand hall? Do you have enough food to feed all of them? I could wait and starve you out or I could just have these men batter your doors down if they can smash your city gate they can definitely smash thru those doors. Do you honestly think you could escape? One way in, one way out. Do you understand what I am telling you, mayor?"
The mayor was in shock, "Uh, please give us some time." "Five minutes no more, surrender all of your weapons and do not attempt any tricks." Less than five minutes and the citizens had surrendered completely, Haytham and his forces occupied the town for three days using the grand hall as a makeshift hospital where the wounded could heal from both the physical and psychological wounds.
No town citizens were allowed to leave and anything deemed useful to the campaign was confiscated, although Haytham didn't like to admit it he had a problem, he couldn't afford to leave men behind to guard the town nor could he leave it unguarded as the citizens were still defiant, he knew he had to come up with a solution.
On the third day of occupation Haytham called the mayor to him, "tell your people to gather their belongings within two hours. I want all of you gone from here." Agostino was confused, "What?" "You heard me." After the mayor had left Haytham called his officers to him. "As you all know I've had to come up with a solution to our problem." They waited, "Prepare to move out every single man in our army, by noon today I'm going to burn the town down."
It was almost noon Calormene soldiers drove the town's people out of town like cattle, "Get out of here unless you want to be cinders." They taunted the villagers, "You brute." Agostino yelled at Haytham, "This was our home!" "Be grateful you at least have your lives." The town was deserted not a thing stirred within, several of the soldiers stood outside with torches lit. "Burn it." Haytham ordered. Within minutes the whole town was ablaze, the thick smell of smoke filled the air and ash drifted down around Haytham. A large piece of ash fell on Haytham's saddle, he regarded it for a moment before brushing it off. "Let's go there's still a whole kingdom out there to conquer."
In the next chapter we will start to see things from the Telmarines perspective after some more time with Haytham.