Lord Bilal sat atop his war horse dressed fully in his black battle armor. His double-bladed war axe was holstered at the side of his horse. His blood-stained crimson red cloak billowed out behind him in the stiff breeze. Two of his generals and his mounted honor guard were gathered around him.
A rider approached on horseback, saluted, and said "My lord, construction should be complete on the last trebuchet by midday."
"Good!" said Lord Bilal and then he turned to his generals and commanded, "have the finished catapults and ballistae lined up for the siege of Mistwood City. At the 3rd bell, begin the shelling."
"We shall obey," the generals declared and then delegated their orders to their subordinates.
…
Jacques and General Cormack looked at the catapults and ballistae being lined up outside the city gates.
"Remember only start firing flaming arrows when you see battering ram approach," General Cormack reminded the archery company captain.
"Yes, general!" the captain bowed before leaving to reunite with his troops.
"Do you think it will work?" Jacques asked.
"No, at most it is a delaying tactic. By nightfall, the demon army shall be in the city. Our best chance of winning is making this a street fight," General Cormack advised.
"I wish to fight! Tell me where I shall be stationed?" Jacques asked.
"In the war room with me. You getting hurt shall only demoralize the army," General Cormack replied.
"No, I want to fight side by side with my troops. Having me there shall inspire them," Jacques argued.
"The soldiers would spend more time worrying about you than killing those demons. As emperor, you need to be in the war room. A ruler you need to see the big picture!" General Cormack pushed back.
"We agree your imperial majesty. After your rousing speech last night, your troops are already inspired. Your general is correct, nothing good can come with you in the field," said Cardinal de Bourbon.
"If your eminences agree with the general, I shall follow the wise council of my adviser," said Jacques defeatedly.
"You are a wise king who listens to counsel," Cardinal de Montmirial said.
"Indeed," nodded Cardinal de Baude.
…
By evening the massive 20-meter outer walls of Mistwood City were rubble. They had easily smashed the city's array and its walls. Now, the city laid bare for the demons to seize. The company of archer's corpses lay mixed in the ruins of the main gate.
An army of 30,000 demons marched through Mistwood City heading to Mistwood Keep.
Jacques stood on the keep's ramparts overlooking the city. It was a cold winter's night only made more frigid by impending doom.
The winter wind beat hard against his fur-skin robe. The cold win numbed his face, but he refused to look away from the carnage to come.
From above he could see the vacant city and make out his troops' hidden movements.
In the distance, Jacques made out a boy, younger than 13 years old, hidden in the holly bushes.
He took an arrow from the quiver and laid the arrow across the bow. He was watching the demons marching. His left thumb trapped the arrow, and his right hand slightly stretched the cord so that it engaged in the small horn-reinforced nock at the arrow's feathered end.
He raised the stave, his eyes still on the demons, and drew the cord to his right ear.
Almost in unison he and thousands like him released. The arrows flew true and they sliced through the demon's flesh killing them instantly.
Fiery arrows flew and lit ablaze carts filled with firewood and houses alike.
This was the empire's only hope of victory, a drawn-out street fight. Houses were lit to block the demon's advance into the city.
Arrows shot from behind windows and rooftops. The arrows rained down on the demons like chucks of hail.
Although demons were taller and twice as strong as the average human, they could be killed.
The barrage of arrows stopped the demon's advance momentarily.
"Generals, what are your men doing? Charge! Burn down every house if you need to!" Lord Bilal shouted angrily.
From his time in the military, Jacques knew a good archer could shoot fifteen accurate arrows in a minute. That meant the archers averaged almost twelve a minute and that there were 5,000 bowmen; that means in one minute 60,000 arrows struck the demons, a thousand arrows a second.
It also means that in ten minutes the archers would have shot 600,000 arrows and would soon be running out of arrows.
Yet what that storm of arrows achieved was to drive the flanks of the disordered demons advance inward, onto the waiting infantry and mages.
The battle lasted between three and four hours, the demons were weary, half blinded, and disordered.
"It looks like we'll push them back out of the city. They were ready for our insurgency. What seems to have happened is that their front ranks went down quickly. Look at their rear guard, they're pushing their front soldiers," General Cormack said.
"It does seem that the demon's front stumbled into our caltrops and barricades. At least it's giving our soldiers more freedom to fight and to kill," Jacques agreed.
As dawn broke across Jacques could fully see the onslaught his soldiers had caused. Demon corpses cluttered the city streets. At least 5,000 demons or more were killed by the surprise attack.
General Cormack's urban warfare and guerilla strategy, indeed, had proved successful. The enemy demons were withdrawn from the city, while General Cormack ordered his soldiers to retreat closer to the keep's outer walls.
A brief cheer went up from the Rhaziesian Army. Despite their losses, the cheers chorused further as the army celebrate pushing the demons out of the city.
"Let them celebrate," General Cormack said looking at Jacques' uncertain face. "We are still outnumbered and under-resourced. The only thing our men can cling to is hope."
Jacques nodded in agreement.
Outside the city, Lord Belial was visibly shaken with anger. Listening to the Rhaziesian Army cheer made him laugh with rage.
"Do those dogs think they one? Today we begin the last push to crush their pesky empire. Generals roll out the catapults. Crush every building, burn every house to the ground!" Lord Belial ordered.
Lord Belial watched as 20 catapults were rolled past the city gate ruins.
General Cormack watched in horror as the siege weapons rolled into Mistwood City.
"How could I be so foolish! I should have known this wasn't a standard military convention. These monsters have no principles.
"General speak quickly, what do you mean?" Jacques asked curiously.
"These demons aren't here to just seize the territory; they are here to destroy. Human commanders would try to preserve the people and infrastructure. But look at those catapults! They don't care about saving the house, they are here to destroy. Quick Infantry, Signal, and Intelligence Commanders pull back your troops!" General Cormack ordered.
But it was too late.
Larger boulders wrapped in oil-soaked burlaps were already in the air. The missile flew down demolishing houses, shops, and churches.
Tears streamed down Cardinal de Montmirail's face as she watched the boulders destroy Mistwood's Church of Gaia.
"So much destruction for what cause? Hubris. I pray Aether retribution on these demons," said Cardinal de Bourbon.
"At least our people are able to flee. We can always rebuild," Cardinal de Baude advised.
"Yes," Jacques said. "We need to guard our people's escape. Our empire is its people, not this land."
"Wise words from someone so young," Cardinal de Montmirail smiled wiping away her tears.
"General, the troops have fallen back to the keep," the Infantry Colonel announced.
"Good, tell the mages to save their magic. If we want a long-protracted siege, we need to use their powers to reinforce the array. As long as the array holds, we have a chance," General Cormack commanded.
The colonel saluted and left the rampart.
By mid-morning, Mistwood City lay in ruins. The once thriving city of tens of thousands was now nothing but burning chunks of debris. Now nothing stopped stood between the demons and Mistwood Keep.
As the demons worked to dismantle Mistwood Keep's array, Lord Bilal sent an envoy to parley their surrender. Even though he did not think the young emperor would surrender, he wanted to test the mettle of the man. He wanted to see if the emperor had the stomach to see his men sacrificed.
Jacques watched as a horde of demons holding white flags rode up to the keep. The flag fluttered in the crisp brisk air. A demon in a red tabard, the same one he saw through the vines in the cave, sat on his stallion.
The demon in front holding the white flag approached the portcullis and shouted, "Lord Belial has sent an envoy to parley!"
Hearing the call for parley, Jacques yelled down, "I am Emperor Jacques-Louis Avignon de Caernarvon what are your lord's terms?"
The demon who tracked Jacques replied in his unearthly baritone voice, "We've sacked your capital, claimed your empire, destroyed this city, and now laid siege to your keep. Surrender now, and Lord Belial shall graciously spare your subjects."
Jacques' heart ached. He wanted to spare his subjects with their lives. But he knew keeping their lives meant demining them to a life of servitude and harassment.
He looked around and saw his subjects, the general, and the cardinals waiting for their emperor's reply. He knew he had to become the emperor they need. Furthermore, he saw the desire in their eyes, that they rather die fighting like men than serve as dogs.
Gathering his mana, Emperor Jacques-Louis de Caernarvon strengthened his body and shouted his reply, "You secretly invaded my empire and began to rape and pillage everything in your path. I have no doubt you'll continue to do until Terra is under your foot.
Listen to my words, here and now, we shall never surrender. We shall fight you, invaders, with our last breath or as long as we breathe. We are not defeated, and you won't break this keep, nor our spirits.
Tell your Lord Belial, that Emperor Jacques-Louis Avignon de Caernarvon said, to take his army and leave now while you can. Go home and continue your filthy lives there!"
"Very well. I shall personally claim your head for my lord," the demon envoy said and rode back to his camp.
For an entire day, human mages were able to restore the depleted water array, but their mana reserves were near depletion.
The demon mages were powerful casters and with capable array masters. In little over a day, Mistwood Keep's array disintegrated.
With the array gone, Lord Bilal did not miss the opportunity to shell the keep. Demonic mages rained down fireballs and meteors destroying the keep's edifice. The depleted human mages were unable to successfully block the onslaught of spells.
As the mages worked to shield the keep, siege ladders hooked on the keep's high walls. Hundreds of demons stormed up ladders to face the awaiting army.
The army was outmatched in strength, armor, and weapons. It took three humans to bring down one demon. The demons were easily able to climb onto the battlements.
Watching the humans continuously being pushed back, Lord Bilal smiled gleefully and thought, 'I wonder how my Lord Thanatos will honor his loyal servant?'
The demon army quickly spread from the battlements to the towers and turrets before they were able to raise the portcullis and lower the drawbridge. Now thousands of demons flooded into the bailey and made their way to the keep.
"Your imperial majesty we have to go!" Mathéo urged.
"How can I abandon my people? No, I want to stay and fight," Emperor Jacques-Luis argued.
"You must stay alive to retake this land. Come quick General Cormack has prepared an escape route for us!" Mathéo advised.
"Why wasn't I made aware of such plans?" Emperor Jacques-Luis
"Because the general knew you'd refuse. The cardinals have already left we must hurry or will miss the last ship!" Mathéo warned.
'Last ship,' Emperor Jacques-Louis thought as he could feel Mathéo dragging his body to a hidden tunnel.
Under the cliff which the keep stood upon, Emperor Jacques-Louis stood on the ship and looked at the burning Mistwood Keep. He could hear the screams of his dying soldiers. In a matter of days not weeks, his 20,000 army was decimated. As he watched the last soldiers proudly fight.
Tears pooled in his eyes and all he could mumble was, 'fought the six hundred.'