Cordoba was a city of 15 thousand inhabitants. It had two lines of protection, an outer wall protected by a river in the south and a castle that was connected to the wall. The Mighty Castle was built on the southern side overlooking the river.
A week ago the ratmen had crossed the river and set up a siege camp, on the eastern side, of the city. The field In front of the eastern wall was littered with human and rat corpses. The moat In front of the wall was filled with bodies, making it useless.
The Duke of Granada and a big black armored ratman, overlooked the field of bodies. with excitement the Duke said. 'Exelet. All is going according to over plan. Wouldn't you say that we are ready, to commence the attack? Oh great and powerful swarmlord Ratbag?'
Swarmlord Ratbag snickered and answered with a rat voice. 'Yes. Yes. The tower's are built. The tunnel is ready. The feast is prepared. Now we must go fast. The big human army will come soon soon. Yes. Yes.'
Hearing his ally's, intelligent analysis of the situation he nodded in satisfaction. With that said the horns of war were blown. Letting out a ear piercing metallic sound. 'Kiiiiiiiiiiiiii, kiiiiiiiiii, kiiiiiii!'
On the eastern wall stood Jesus with the defenders of Cordoba, who were 12 thousand strong. The Duke of Faro stood on top of a round tower, yelling orders. ' Archers in front, melee fighters in the back! Wait for my command! Don't fire before I give the command!'
He had commanded the forces from Segres to defend the southern part of the wall, next to the gate.
During the past week, they had withstood countless suicidal attacks by the enemy. Their force's were being depleted. By now they had already lost over a thousand, from the original 12 thousand warrior's. The ratmen had lost about 4 thousand from their 50 thousand-strong army.
So far the ratmen had only used ladders and built-up Defensive wooden barricades. These wooden barricades were great cover for them, as they defended them from arrows. And also gave their Archers a safe position to shoot.
Yesterday they had destroyed all the remaining barricades, with cannon fire and fire arrows. Now all that stood In front of the walls was an open field with dead bodies and broken barricades.
In the distance, about 1 and a half kilometers away, they could see the rat army. Coming out from the Woods were all 46 thousand of them. They're lines stretched from the southern river, all the way up to the Northern edge of the wall. Seven hundred and fifty meters wide was their line.
The army was a mixed-up force. Every rat had their own weapons and armor. Most of them were wearing only rags and held knives. There were some well-armored rats at the back lines though.
As the army marched, great banging of drums and chants could be heard. 'Death to men! Death to men! Death to men!' Was the squeaky loud chant, that could be heard and the occasional shouts from their commanders. 'Loude! Louder!' They encouraged them.
Hearing this the Granadan humans mixed into the rat army, started to question their lot in life. But it was too late for them now. If they ran. The rats would eat them for sure.
Mixed into the rat formation were wooden barricades on wheels, ladders and great siege towers. Pushing these tower's were the ratmens strongest fighters. The Rat-ogres, they were 3 meters tall, massively over-muscled and hideous monsters. Some of them wore small pieces of armor and some didn't. Overall the entire army had no uniformity it was a mixed bag of troops.
On the wall watching this scene the men shook in fear. Most of them were only conscripted peasants and none of them had ever seen such a massive army.
Seeing the men's morale lowering, The Duke of Faro spoke to his men in a loud inspiring voice. 'What is this I see? Men shaking in fear? In front of a bunch of rats? You cowards! Remember who you are! You are men of Iberia! You are the light that stands In front of the dark!'
Hearing this the men cheered. Then he continued. 'I say we send these rats back to when's they came! I for one will not stop until all the rats are back in the ground!'
Massive cheers and banging of metal were heard on the walls. Jesus and his followers did not cheer, for they did not no fear. His men needed no, in courage ment, for they found peace in the force.
As the army marched the ground shook. Until it stopped, just 240 meters from the wall. The rats pushed their barricades In front of their line and behind were, catapults.
As the tension thickened, Duke Faro spoke. ' Hold! Wait for my command!'
Then a black deformed rat yelled. ' Release the prisoners!'
Jesus saw the catapult's fire, so he lifted his shield. With a hard thud something he felt something hard hit his shield. Looking down at his feet, he saw a severed head of a man there.
All around him, he could see all-sorts of body parts flying at the other men also. They were being bombarded by severed limbs of men and rats. Most didn't even manage to get over the walls and just hit the outer wall painting the stones red.
Some men on the wall screamed out of horror, some out-of-anger and others started to puke out their meal's. On the walls, an Aragonian warrior yelled, pointing at a severed head. 'Is that Pablo?' A other commented a head in his hands. ' That's not Pablo, this is! That's Hugo!'
While this was going on. The rats just snickered at the humans as they carried more bodies from the battlefield and their camp to the catapult's, were they then cut the them into pieces, before sending them at the walls.
The rats had forced many human villagers into their army, to serve as meat shields. In some villages, some people didn't evacuate and became the rat food, or meat shields.
Seeing this the Duke of Faro raged. ' You vile, evil, little, fuking shits! You're gonna pay!'
Hearing this the lord of Segres yelled in panic at the Duke. ' Not yet! Don't do it!'
The Duke didn't listen and yelled. ' Sent these foul rats back into the abyss! From where they came! Fire at will!'
This command was repeated all over the wall as men yelled. 'Fire at will!'
In an instant cannon's fired from the towers and muskets fired all along the wall. Bows also joined in as arrows flew. At a range of 240 meters, many musket and arrow shots fell short. But luckily the enemy where in such a huge mass that it was actually hard to miss.
Cannonballs hit the rat barricades and catapults. All were Shredded across their path. Cannonballs bounced in the sea of rats. Rats were cut in half and bodies shredded, sending limbs, blood and guts flying.
A musket ball hit an ugly big rat in it's red eye. Blowing it up instantly and leaving the ball stuck in its brain, killing it instantly.
A hunter shot his big longbow from the walls. He sent his arrow flying an impressive 300 meters. The arrow struck a cheering flag carrying rat, right in his right arm.
With an arrow in its arm, it cursed. 'Damn you! Damn you! Damn, you human!' Over it flew a cannonball, that hit a siege tower, right in the middle. Rats were blown to bits and sent flying from the tower. But the hole was small and so the siege tower continued to move.
All around the rat army, there was death and destruction. In a few minutes, almost two hundred rats had died. But even so it wasn't much. The city walls only held 30 canons and 2 thousand men with muskets. Some had longbows or crossbows, but most were only regular archers with short bows. Short bows could only reach a maximum of 100 meters.
The rats did not just stand still and they had started to charge. In the front ran the ladder carrying rats. Behind came the barricades and siege towers. The catapult's were abandoned as their crews joined in the charge. This rat army's catapult's were weak and unable to cause any real damage to the city.
Jesus just waited patiently as the army closed in. Finally at the 100 meters mark the real killing started as the short bows joined the battle. From the gaps in his helmet, Jesus saw a stone flying towards him. With a quick twist of the head, the stone just flew past him, as it created a swishing sound.
The rats had now started to fight back. To the right of Jesus, an archer got hit in the head with a sharp stone. The stone cut straight through the man's unprotected forehead, killing him instantly. An other archer aimed his bow down over the battlements. When he did so a stone hit his left hand, crushing and twisting his fingers. The man yelled in pain as he was pulled back to be treated.
Most stones missed their marks or did not kill. But still, dozens of men were stoned to death and even more were wounded. There were thousands of slingers in the rat army but no bows.
As the ladders came up to the wall, the rats started climbing without hesitation in a frenzy of insanity. Seeing the rats climbing up the ladder towards the 6 meters high wall, Jesus smiled and said. 'Are you ready?' Hearing this 3 of his men nodded and came next to him.
Every wall section is separated by a tower, and you can only access the other sections by going through the inside of the tower.
On their 40 meters long stretch of wall 6 ladders were placed. Next, they all focused together on one of the ladders and simultaneously they pushed the air. They used the force to send a powerful psychic wave at the ladder.
As the rats climbed they felt the ladder move. Like somebody had just shoved it hard. As the ladder fell the rats screamed in horror. The highest rat had gotten 5 meters high when he was sent falling down to the ground. With a heavy splat sound. Almost 20 rats were crushed.
Seeing this the other rats panicked and quickly tried to get on the walls. But they were stopped by spears and swords.
As a brave ratman with a sword and shield in hand climbed. The rat suddenly saw a spear coming straight down towards it. With a shield in its left hand, it blocked the attack. Quickly it climbed and blocked one more attack. Now with it's left hand touching the wall, it used it to pull itself up fast. With it's torso in view, a peasant spearman stabbed it in the stomach as his friend attacked its shield again. With a spear in its stomach, the rat pushed forward, as it yelled. 'Die human!'
The spearman looked in fear as the rat man pushed its body past the bladed end of the spear straight through to the wooden handle. Now in striking range, it sent it's sword to the man's neck, slicing it clean off.
Noticing this a bowman on the rats right turned. He pulled out a dagger and struck the rat in the back. At the same time, the other spearman pierced the rat also. Feeling the rat go limp they pulled their blades out in relief. Until a second one climbed over the wall. The rat jumped on the bowman and struck him on the head with a spiked mace. The man's skull cracked and his face caved in, with a loud splat.
Seeing this the spearman pissed his pants, as he fell on his as, in shock. Seeing this the rat smiled evilly and charged. Right before striking the man. Jesus stepped In front of him and blocked the rats overhead strike, with his shield. With his sword in his right hand, Jesus cut the rat in two. Seeing an other rat coming over the wall, he sent a powerful psychic wave toward the halved rat. The rat split in two as his corpse flew straight into the other rat, sending them both off the wall. The. Jesus and his followers pushed the ladder down.
Seeing this scene from a distance Lord Segres was stunned. But quickly composed himself and yelled at the others. 'Get those archers away from the ladders! Swordsman to the front now!'
Fight's like these were happening all over the wall, as men desperately tried to defend the walls. Many rats were killed, before getting anywhere near the top of the wall. From the towers on the sides, archers and muskets fired at the climbing rats exposed sides.
At the gate a wooden battering ram, made of a single solid tree was being used, to break down the gate with little success. From the gatehouse stones were being thrown at the rats, crushing their heads and bodies. Archers and muskets also fired continuously creating an ever growing pile of bodies.
The Duke of Faro looked at the battlefield from atop the gatehouse tower and thought.
6 minutes had already gone by, since the first shot was fired. Already over two thousand rats had died and hundreds of defenders. If this continues, we will never win.
Then he turned to look at the city's castle and thought in frustration. 'Damn you Duke of Cordoba. How dare you leave and make me the one in charge of the defense, when you hide in your castle.' After venting out his frustrated thoughts, he said to the man next to him. 'Meke the rats burn.'
With a nod of his head, he lifted up a red flag. Seeing this all the towers did the same. Next torches were tossed from the towers right In front of the walls.
Before the battle, they had poured oil just In front of the walls and tossed dry grass to cover it.
Large fires were lit a flame, causing black smoke to cover the rats on the ladders. The rats suffocated to death as the ones below hesitated. Finally, there was a small chance to rest for the defenders as the smoke created cover. In a small instant over 500 rats had died.
Seeing this the Duke sight in relief. He had bought them some time. Now his men could focus on the real challenge to come.