Cordoba is a city built next to The longest river in all of Iberia that could carry ships from far inland all the way to the sea. Because of this, the wide fertile lands surrounding it and many natural resources that could be harvested from the mines in the mountains it was an extremely wealthy and well-protected city.
Overall it is a prosperous city of many traits and a healthy population of over 65 thousand inhabitants. It has two lines of defense, a tall outer wall protected by the river in the south and a mighty castle built inside the city on a hill hugging 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. And now after a week of constant fighting the moat In front of the wall was completely filled with bodies, making it almost completely useless.
The Duke of Granada and a big black armored Ratman stood on a small hill overlooking the field of bodies. With excitement the Duke said. " Excellent, all is going according to our plan. Wouldn't you agree. I say that we are ready for the next phase. Wouldnt you agree Swarmlord Ratbag? "
Swarmlord Ratbag snickered and answered with a rat voice. " Yes. Yes. The towers 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 a black flag was raised and the mighty rat horns of war were blown, letting out many ear-piercing metallic-sounding noises. " 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 the gatehouse tower, yelling out orders. " Archers in front, swords and spears in the back! Wait for my command! Don't fire before I give the command! "
Jesus watched the Duke giving out orders from the top of the wall next to the gatehouse where the forces from Segres were commanded to hold the line.
During the past week, they had withstood countless suicidal attacks by the enemy. Their forces were being depleted. By now they had already lost over a thousand, of the original 12 thousand men leaving only approximately 11 thousand men remaining. The Ratmen had lost a lot more, approximately 4 thousand from their original 50 thousand-strong army While the Granadans had lost a thousand men from their 10 thousand-man army.
So far the Ratmen had only used ladders and built-up Defensive wooden barricades to try to get in close. These wooden barricades were great cover for them, as they defended them from arrows. And also gave their Archers and rat slingers 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 littered with 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 55 thousand of the enemy men and rats. Their lines stretched from the southern river, all the way up to the Northern edge of the wall. Over seven hundred and fifty meters wide was their line.
The army was a mixed force in terms of equipment. Every rat had their own weapons and armor. Most of them were wearing only rags and held knives. Although there were some well-armored rats at the backlines though.
The Granadan humans were much the same. While many were nothing more but conscripted peasants with wooden shields and spears there were some that were well-trained and wore real armor and weapons.
As the army marched, great banging of drums and loud chants could be heard. " Death to men! Death to men! Death to men! " Was the squeaky loud chant of the rats that could be heard along with the occasional shouts from their commanders. " Loude! Louder! " They encouraged them.
Hearing this the Granadan human men who were mixed into the rat army had mixed reactions. Many had started to question their lot in life heavily. 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 towers were the Ratmens strongest fighters, the Rat-ogres. They were 3 meters tall, hulking muscular rats with deformed hideous faces and bodies. 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 everything.
On the wall watching this scene the men shook in fear. Most of them were only conscripted peasants who had never seen combat before this siege let alone such a massive army.
Seeing the men's morale lowering, The Duke of Faro spoke to his men in a loud inspiring tone of 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! You will not falter! You must be brave this day for your families! "
Hearing this the men cheered. Then he continued. " I say we send these rats back to the dark holes where they came! I for one will not stop until all these rats are back in their holes where from all they will be able to smell is the shit smell coming off my boots heel! "
Massive cheers and banging of metal shields were heard all over the walls. Jesus and his followers did not cheer, for they did not show no fear. His men needed no encouragement 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 rolled small catapults behind them.
As the tension thickened, Duke Faro spoke. " Hold! Wait for my command! "
Then a black deformed rat yelled. " Release the prisoners! "
Noticing that the catapults were about to fire Jesus and the men on the wall lifted their shields. With a hard thud, he felt something hit his shield hard. Looking down at his feet, he saw an 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 bodyparts 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 meals. On the walls, an Aragonian warrior yelled while pointing at a severed head. " Is that Pablo? "
Another 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 catapults. Thre at the base of the catapults they then cut the bodies 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 in time or wish to cooperate with the rats so they became the rats 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. " Send these foul rats back into the abyss! Fire at will! "
This command was repeated all over the wall as men yelled. " Fire at will! "
In an instant cannons 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 was in such a huge mass that as long as you could reach that distance you were sure to hit something.
Cannonballs hit the rat barricades and catapults. All that was hit was instantly shredded into pieces 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 its 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 out of 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 in total 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.
Angered by the humans assaulting them the rats started to charge. In the front ran the ladder carrying rats. Behind came the barricades and siege towers. The catapults were immediately abandoned as their crews too impatient to just stand back and use the catapults decided to instead join in on the charge. This rat army's catapults were weak and unable to cause any real damage to the city walls so the Swarm Lord simply nodded its head and allowed this to happen.
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. But at the same time, the enemy started to fight back as well. 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, creating a swushing sound.
On his right, Jesus could see an archer getting hit in the head with a sharp stone. The stone cut straight through the man's unprotected forehead, killing him instantly. Another 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 off the walls 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 luckily for the defenders no bows, except the ones the Granadan humans had which was not much.
As the ladders came up against the wall, the rats started to climb without any hesitation as if they were in a complete psychotic frenzy of insanity. Seeing the rats climbing up the ladder towards the high walls, Jesus smiled and said. " Are you ready? "
Hearing this 3 of his men nodded and came up 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. Seeing this Jesus and his 3 force-sensitive men used the force together against a singular ladder and sent out 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 Ratman had gotten almost to the top when he was sent crashing down to the ground with the ladder. With a heavy splat sound, almost 20 rats were crushed in an instant.
Seeing this the other rats panicked and quickly tried to get on the walls. But their movement was quickly stopped by the spears and swords of the defenders.
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 its left hand touching the wall, it used it to pull itself up fast. With its 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 horror 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 its sword straight to the man's neck, slicing it clean off.
Noticing this a bowman on the Ratmans right turned. He pulled out a dagger and struck the rat in the back. At the same time, the other spearman pierced the Ratman also. Feeling the rat go limp they pulled their blades out in a momentary 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 it could strike the man. Jesus stepped In front of it and blocked the rats overhead strike, with his shield. With his sword in his right hand, Jesus cut the rat from the waistline in two. Seeing another rat coming over the wall, Jesus sent a powerful psychic wave toward the halved rat. The rat split in two as its corpse flew straight into the other rat, sending them both flying off the wall. With no time to lose Jesus and his followers pushed the ladder down before more could come up.
Seeing this scene from a distance The 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! We must not let them take the walls or else the citys inhabitants will be lost! "
Fights 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 exposed sides of the Ratmen.
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 have already gone by since the first shot was fired. Already over two thousand rats have died and hundreds of defenders. If this continues, we will never win. "
Then he turned to look at the city's castle and thought tohimself in frustration. " Damn you Duke of Cordoba. How dare you leave and make me the one in charge of your citys defense, when you hide behind your castle walls like a coward. " After venting out his frustrated thoughts, he said to the man next to him. " Meke the rats burn. "
Saluting the duke briefly the soldier lifted up a red flag. Seeing this all the towers did the same. Next torches were tossed down 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.
Immediately on contact large fires were lit a flame, causing black smoke to cover the rats on the ladders causing the rats to start suffocating to death as the ones below started to hesitate at this sight. Finally, there was a small chance to rest for the defenders as the smoke created cover. And thanks to it in but a small instant over 500 rats had died perished.
Seeing this the Duke let out a sigh of relief. He had just bought them some more time with this move. Now his men could focus on the real challenge to come, the towers.