Chapter 71: Chapter Seventy: War.
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If today is the death of my beloved Rhaenys, then she will die a warrior's death.
~~~Third Person, Second-third Moon, 277 AC~~~
~~~Qarth~~~
The atmosphere outside the city walls of Qarth had heated up to great degrees when the huge army appeared on the horizon. The guards who guarded the gates ordered them to close, not caring if everyone had entered the city.
In the hall of a Thousand Thrones, the old man who had taken control of Qarth sat on a throne of gold and precious stones, his eyes closed, no concern on his face, at least until a group of three men entered the hall with anxious faces and a hurried pace.
"My king, the city is surrounded, and a huge army besieges the city as we speak," the leader of the three men who entered the hall spoke, informing the old man of the recent changes.
"The sum exceeds a hundred thousand; they are all cavalry. I fear the stories of the unequipped Dothraki savages were false."
The old man stood silent and with a thoughtful countenance as he digested the words spoken by the man, though perhaps it was the work of his complete confidence in his strength or a product of his advanced age that did not allow him to think clearly. "Let the levies organize and prepare to protect the ramparts; let not one of the three falls."
"Also, let the regretful men protect the docks from any attacks by the sea that may be given." With that last order, the old man closed his eyes again while the group of three could do nothing else besides retreat.
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~~~Lucios, Military Minister~~~
A vast field filled with soldiers was prepared for the battle on the city's outskirts. All the members of the Imperishable Horde legions that were present were tending to their horses without turning away from them as they were waiting for a single order: attack or wait.
While the legions and unsullied outnumbered the levies that Qarth possessed, the fact that they had to be the ones on the siege and attacking the walls put them at a distinct disadvantage now. They could take the city without spilling much-allied blood if they used the pieces they had brought from Tavalar and Xandar. Especially since the king would not intervene in the fight, leaving all the strategy in my hands and those of the generals who accompanied me.
"We have a hundred thousand cavalrymen, ten thousand infantrymen, and, if the weather is on our side, fifty wyvern riders," I commented and began the meeting that would define how we would attack Qarth with the generals Sabhana, Valery, and Gregory.
"The walls of Qarth are very easy to defend and difficult to break; besides, the scouts have seen scorpions and catapults on the walls, so the paramount thing would be first to get rid of them as soon as possible," Gregory explained, placing pieces of wood on a map of the city of Qarth and pointing to where the weapons were.
"The wyvern can get rid of those measures implemented by Qarth, though in that case, we would have to wait for the night so as not to lose limbs," Valery said. She was the one who knew the most about the winged legions of the kingdom since she was one of the first witches to obtain a wyvern, granted by the king himself.
Besides that, she would be the one who also knew the risk involved in a strike by the scorpions on the wyvern, which, although they were trained, required both they and their riders to evade the bolts, even if three scorpions managed to escape the wyvern's armor or even pierce the rider and put him out, it would also mean the loss of the wyvern, something we couldn't afford.
"In that case, we would have to wait for the night, and that's hours away; we don't have that time; besides, we don't know the precise moment when the wyvern will arrive, so taking them as moving counters right now is not feasible." I immediately exposed the cons of that plan, especially since the king would not like the news of losing a certain amount of wyvern by just taking a city; hell, even I would feel angry with myself.
"We can opt for a ranged attack," Sabhana proposed, taking the tokens representing our scorpions, the TNT triggers, and the propellers against arrows. "We have numerical superiority in the case of bolts and explosives; we don't have to get close to make breaches in the walls; even the devastators can be moved to attack the gates and break them; we already know the durability of their skin; even the netherite swords can only hurt them after several attempts."
"You know we don't fully control the devastators; even their handlers advance carefully when it comes to them. Once we give them complete freedom, the heat of battle will make controlling them when they have already destroyed the gates almost impossible."
While using devastators in battle could represent a huge advantage for us, it would be like putting a bull inside a pen of chickens. The devastators, as their name suggests, would devastate everything that crossed their path to the point of not distinguishing between ally and enemy—something that could end badly for us since the only one who controlled them in their entirety was the king.
"And you two?" I looked at Sabhana and Valery. I knew that thanks to the witches, the takeover of Meereen and Yunkai had ended in something extremely simple, and if they managed to sneak into the city, then the takeover of it would present no challenge at all.
"We can't go in," however, Valery's response threw my expectations to the ground: "What do you mean? They've already done it with Meereen and Yunkai; what problem does Qarth present?"
"The House of The Undying," Sabhana replied, looking bitter and just saying his name, "When I met with Qarth's emissaries seeking a parliamentary surrender, along with a payment for the aggressions against Xandar, I could not advance until I reached the city walls, something stopped me."
'Something stopped her?' Something like this had never presented itself before, not even when the House of Black and White was destroyed. While the gate to their temple presented problems, access to the place was not impeded, but now Qarth was.
"There is a barrier on the walls; it does not allow the passage of beings alien to the magic practiced in the city. So far, we do not know how to break the barrier from the outside; we believe that the origin of it is the temple of the eternal ones, but without being able to enter the city, destroying such a place is impossible."
'Shit,' and me thinking that the take would be simple. However, on second thought, if we had relied enough on using the witches' abilities to win several battles, we could win even without them. We only had to open a passage in the walls, and the city would fall.
Gregory nodded. As an unsullied general, he knew that the fight would be determined without the help of the witches. "Then we have to fight directly; the TNT cannons only have a firing range of fifty meters; for them to reach the walls, the cannon operators will have to be at that range, which will also cause them to come under enemy fire."
"Yes, but if the propeller operators are more agile and attentive, the cannon operators will be safe. Know that if even one of those cannons is hit, the TNTs stationed near it could explode, resulting in a huge risk, both to the operators and whatever is in their vicinity."
"Then it is decided," I said, finalizing the plans. "The cannons will seek to make a hole in the walls, the propeller operators will protect them as much as possible, and once the passage in the walls is made, the legions of the Imperishable Horde will advance towards the city."
Without more to say, the four of us left the tent where we met while each one went to his corresponding place. Gregory left with the unsullied infantry, which would stay behind and advance once the Horde legions entered the city. As for Sabhana and Valery, they would command the Horde as far as they could go, as far as the wall barriers would allow.
As for me, I made my way to the control tower, a tall and sturdy metal tower, where at the top stood a movable instrument with flags tied to it, next to where the women in charge of the war drums would give to transmit my orders through them, at the same time as the flag instrument moved and transmitted them as well.
"All right, here we go."
"Let the guns and propellers advance to within firing range of the guns," I ordered. The women simultaneously beat their drums in a rhythmic and synchronized sound as the men controlling the flag instrument operated it and expanded, beckoning with their flags.
In the distance, I could see how the devastators pulled the cannons and propellers, advancing to the firing range. At the same time, on the city walls, the catapults launched fiery rocks.
The propellers were not long in coming, and together, they launched themselves into the air, producing the characteristic noise of the air being cut while the wires at their ends spun at full speed.
The exchange took place, and as expected, the propellers managed to shoot down the rocks before they reached their destination; simultaneously, I gave the order to attack "fire."
The drums and flags relayed the order, and a loud sound was heard, startling several Horde horses. The TNTs flew until they reached the wall, glowing and making a loud noise like straw being burned.
"BOOOM!" The sound was such that even in the distance, it was heard with the TNT hitting the ramparts and impacting and hitting the target. It was only hoped that if it did hit.
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