The Lord and Lady in the White Tower
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I own none of this. No, really. Rating: K Time: This is a sequel to the Lady in the White Tower and begins some months after that story ended.
They all met again in the palace, this time to hear what Captain Holder had to say.
"First, allow me to present to Duke Richard the list of those who have been promoted and ennobled." Holder handed he list to Castle. All of the leaders of Castle's regiments had been promoted and advanced in the nobility or became nobles for the first time. All of the officers received a payment of six months' salary and all of the other soldiers and sailors received a year's salary.
"That is very generous of the Emperor." Castle said. "I will write to thank him on behalf of my entire army."
Holder grinned.
"Don't tell the Emperor that I told you this, but what you sent back to the Empire was worth ten times what you received."
"Still, it was very generous. What other news do you bring?"
"I have brought newssheets for the news of the Empire since you left. However, little has changed. The Empire is at peace, except for the occasional barbarian raid on the borders of the Empire. The Emperor and Empress are both well. In short, all is well in the Empire."
"Good to hear."
"We have brought more trade goods and are looking forward to meeting your trading partners. We also have brought enough food for my fleet, so we won't have to take any of your food. The Emperor didn't know how well your crops were doing, so we have six months' worth of food for you. Lastly, I've brought more troops for you. Aboard my ships are the Liddesdale Heavy Infantry Regiment, twelve hundred archers from the Mountains of Morane, who have their families with them, and the Sandrach Heavy Cavalry Regiment. In addition, the Emperor wishes you to expand your cataphract unit, your Companions, and has provided you with four hundred sets of armor for horse and man."
"The Emperor is quite generous." Castle said. "There has been a problem with the trade, however."
Castle went on to explain about the new Nikodimas and his army.
"However, we've found that Nikodimas allows the cities under his "protection" to trade with each other. Those ships, once out of sight of land, can and do sail to Cipangu and the city of Wakitannsa. Cipangu was cautious about trading with us at first. They feared a new and powerful competitor might damage their trade and power. But they didn't want Wakitannsa to monopolize all of the Imperial trade, so they've agreed to trade. There are also other smaller island kingdoms that we also trade with. I think you'll have no trouble making the Emperor happy when you return."
The new troops were brought ashore and integrated into Castle's army. Castle then set up a competition to pick the men who would become cataphracts in his expanded Companions. Most of those who were successful were heavy cavalrymen, but a few of Sandrall's men were accepted as was one of Prince Polito's men.
Meanwhile, the Imperial ships headed off to trade and two small fleets of caravels sailed off on voyages of discovery. The largest fleet sailed further south down the coast of Auricania where they were told were whole nations that weren't under the thumb of Nikodimas. The smaller fleet headed across the World Ocean to try to contact yet more island kingdoms rumored to exist just beyond the next horizon.
All was well until the summer.
Two of Prince Polito's men came riding in and headed straight for the White Tower, where they had been told Duke Richard was staying. They were greeted by a redheaded girl.
"We seek Duke Richard. We have news of Nikodimas' army. It's on its way."
"Will you come in?" The girl asked.
Although afraid of the legendary White Tower, both men were unwilling to seem to be afraid to enter a place where a mere girl was. They went in.
Both Castles were seated at their dining table when the men arrived.
"Have a drink of wine." Kate said. "You both look tired and thirsty."
The men grabbed the offered wine and downed the cups.
"We have a message from Prince Polito. In short, Nikodimas' army is on the way. They're a good five day's ride from here and moving slowly. In addition to their cavalry, they have a great mass of people on foot. We do not know their purpose." Then he handed over a written message from Prince Polito. The message said little more than what had been told to Rick, other than Nikodimas had seemingly sent his whole army to Aurum, at least fifty thousand horsemen and masses on people on foot. Polito said they were too many to count.
Because of the number of people on foot, it took eight days for Nikodimas' army to arrive before Aurum. Castle and his officers, along with Lady Kate, Princess Arran, Prince Karl, Duchess Ann and Duke Ranald, and, of course, the pretty kitty, stood on the wall overlooking the main gate to Aurum.
"His soldiers seem to be all cavalry." Castle said. "The people on foot appear to be civilians used as porters to carry food and fodder."
"He has brought some sort of siege equipment this time." Prince Karl said. "Many of the civilians are carrying long ladders. Apparently, he intends to use them to get across our moat, but wouldn't that still leave him attacking an enemy across a body of water?"
"Perhaps he's found a new soothsayer who has other ideas." Princess Arran said. "Fortune tellers always seem to manage to see a future you'll enjoy. All the ones my mother used saw great things for me. Eventually they were right, of course, but no one predicted the future I'm actually living."
"Can we hold them off?" Asked Duchess Ann.
"We have far more arrows and javelins than they have people. We've had our fletchers, bowyers and arrowsmiths working constantly since the first of Nikodimas' people came and threatened us. And we've bought more weapons from friends." Castle smiled. "And we have artillery he does not, and I think we have a surprise or two for Nikodimas."
The purpose of the civilians, aside from their use as porters became clear the next day.
"The people on foot are coming!' Yelled a sentry, just as dawn broke.
Castle had slept in the tower over the main city gate and was on the wall within seconds. Lady Kate was not too far behind.
"What are they carrying?" Kate asked.
"Nikodimas isn't going to attack us across the water. Those people are carrying sandbags to fill in our moat. We'll have to defend ourselves."
"You can't mean to kill them." Lady Kate said. "Those people are unarmed. There are women and children among them."
"They are our enemies and if they fill in the moat, their army can attack. I have to kill them."
Kate nodded.
"I understand, but I cannot watch this. I'm returning to the tower."
Sadly, Castle gave the order for the archers and javelin men to kill the approaching civilians. The soldiers had no trouble with the order. Most had been killing for many years and those who were new to the trade of war took their cue from the veterans.
The city militia, largely armed with javelins, was more hesitant. Oddly enough, it was Philo the baker that pushed them to attack those below.
"We have a choice, "Philo yelled, "We kill their men, women and children, or they kill ours. I serve my family, my guild and my city." And with that, he threw a javelin. As usual, he didn't hit anyone, but the rest of the militia began throwing their own javelins. As the crowd of civilians got close to the moat, more and more fell to arrows and javelins, but there were tens of thousands of them, it seemed.
Once they had dumped their sandbags in the moat, those who lived headed back for more sandbags. They knew they had to obey Nikodmas. Death from an arrow or javelin was usually quick. Death dealt out by Nikodimas was very, very slow and very, very painful.
Even the dead helped Nikodimas. As the bodies piled up in front of the moat, they were pushed into the moat by the living.
Night didn't stop the assault and made it harder for the city's defenders to see their foe. Castle had his war machines throw barrels of blazing pitch into the night to light up the night. He also began to let groups of men leave the walls to eat and sleep.
"Richard, I'm sorry that I left you." Kate said softly, as Castle dozed, leaning against a wall. "I have always said that my place is beside you and it is. And it always will be. I'm so sorry. All I want is you."
"And you'll always have me." Castle said, pulling her close, "but I can understand why you wouldn't want to witness such a slaughter."
The second night, Duke Richard decided to send some of his men out to try to undo the work done by Nikodimas' civilians. Those he sent were as fully armored as they could be and still do the work needed and all of the archers and javelin men were on the walls ready to defend them.
"He's sending his horse archers." Castle yelled. "Bowmen!" he roared. "Aim for the horse archers. Let out infantry outside take care of the civilians."
As Castle had been told, their horse archers were the poorest of Nikodimas' troops. They had little armor, the worst horses and were not well trained. Their bows were also shorter ranged than those Castle's men wielded. The enemy horse archers died in droves.
Sentominas was a halberdier in the phalanx of Pirend of Piraeus. He went out onto the lowered drawbridge with his comrades to clear out the moat. At the end of them moat he found two girls staggering under a single sandbag.
"Drop the sandbag." Sentominas yelled.
The girls did just that. Then, exhausted, they just stood there. Not knowing what else to do, Sentominas picked up both girls under one arm and brought them back inside.
"Look after these two." He barked and then headed back outside.
Once again at the end of the moat, he found an older man with a sandbag.
"Drop the sandbag." He commanded and the old man did.
"Go inside. You'll be safe there."
The old man shook his head.
"I cannot. If I do, Nikodimas' torturers will slowly kill my wife and children. It would be better if you killed me."
Sentominas thought for a second, then used the blade of his halberd to slice open the sandbag.
"Go. I will not kill you."
While most of Castle's troops concentrated on destroying or removing the sandbags, some of the civilians were killed.
When dawn arrived, Nikodimas began moving his cavalry forward, threatening Castle's troops that were still outside the wall and beyond the moat.
"Recall the troops." Castle ordered.
The troops retreated back into the walled city, but the civilians and their sandbags kept coming.
"Another mob of civilians is coming." Prince Polito said to Castle.
Duke Richard had used his sea power to land small troops of scouts to the north and south of Nikodimas' army. They found little except small bands of enemy horsemen foraging for food or horse fodder. There was none to be found, however.
"There are three groups of…many thousands. I'm sorry, Duke Richard. We were no able to get close enough to do a good count. But they appear to be carrying food and horse fodder, more sandbags and more ladders. We scouted to the south for many miles but saw no sign of any others. Since there's no food here for many miles, if we can hold out, our enemies will run out of food and then they can either starve or go home. If they wait too long, they may all starve to death while going home."
"They may. But the moat is filled in in three places. Nikodimas will attack soon, I think. We'll have to be ready to defeat him."
"We will." Polito said with a smile.
TBC