Chapter 2: Departures (Part 7)

Demula had been transformed by the time the ships from Maksuma returned to the harbour, disgorging its cargo of men and horses. The walls were covered with wooden roofs that would protect the men from arrows fired at them. The people in the city were busy bringing in food and supplies, piling up stacks of wood and stones near the walls to be used as missiles. The womenfolk were busy making arrows under the careful eyes of the fletchers, while day and night the forges rang as armour was forged for the men rushing from all corners of Erennia to enlist. With the arrival of the survivors from Lamauk and the remainder of the Guard from Ylldelia, there were now almost fifty thousand soldiers within the walls of Demula, almost equal to the capital’s population, as well as another three thousand marines that could be called to the defence of the city if need be. It was becoming slightly crowded, and still the stream of men from the plains showed no signs of stopping.

With the armour, too, swords were being forged, straight blades as long as a forearm with wicked diamond points, and long falxes, blades like scythes half a pace long fixed onto a long hilt the same length, sharpened along the concave edge, powerful enough to take a head off with one swing. Talamioros had rewarded the soldier who had come up with the design for that weapon a week back, immediately giving a sack of gold to him and ordering production to commence.
Talamioros was sure they, the Thelomanni, would come for Demula; they now knew where the Erennin army was, and they would never leave an army undefeated behind them. Yet another rider had come from Maksuma three days ago, reporting that the Semiduroin had entered Maksuma in triumph a week ago, and were marching with all speed to assault Demula’s wide walls with their all their might.

The gate fortress facing the neck of land was the key to the defence; the rest of the city’s walls being located on sheer cliffs twenty paces high on average. Talamioros often walked around inspecting the defences, admiring with awe the amount of money and effort the Voruna had spent preparing Demula; it was obvious that the walls, an unbelievable twenty paces thick, had been hewn from the solid bedrock of the cliffs, not merely built on the plateau. In fact, the entire city had been levelled from the plateau, which originally stood at least ten paces higher. It was an amazing amount of rock they had moved, and the stone now stood in piles behind the walls, ready to fly forth at the enemy that dared to assault the city. The prince had, on one occasion, asked Lalikai, “How old is Demula? When did Arboru build it?”

“Oh, he commanded it built about a year after he first arrived in Arboriel…Demula took a very long time to build. It’s only been about four years since the city was completed.” Talamioros could only gape as he imagined thousands of people swarming over the land with hammers and chisels to pry stones out of the ground, levelling it and shaping the smooth walls that now surrounded Demula in the form of fortresses and walls.

Talamioros could see the Erennin fleet about a kara out to sea from the northern towers, keeping watch on the harbour in case the Semiduroin attempted to blockade the harbour in an attempt to starve the Erennin out. He had spent many nights in council with Lalikai and the other commanders in the army, poring over the maps of Demula and the surroundings, trying to puzzle out what the Semiduroin would try to do to take the capital and destroy the army.
Soldiers who later saw Talamioros coming out of the citadel, often after going in at night, would say he was tired, but radiant, and almost triumphant. They also noted the absence of women entering his apartments at night when everyone of them was enjoying themselves with the womenfolk after waiting for the army to arrive. He was committed and his eyes burnt with power and the strength of command; none who saw him doubted their commander’s abilities, and every single soldier, and even the citizens, put their faith in him. Surely, here was the man to defend Demula. If not him, then who else?

*************************************

The scouts returned to the encampment late in the evening. “My prince! They are there in Demula. There are fifty thousand of them inside the walls, and they have been well supplied. The city walls are well-defended, and they have many warships in the harbour.”

Liocana, crown prince of the Semiduroin, flapped his reins irritably as he sat on his horse, watching the massive army he had brought with him pack up their tents and get into line of march. They were amazingly slow at getting into order and no matter how many times he had taken the unit commanders to task he had not seen any improvement in speed. He turned his attention back to the scouts waiting expectantly for his question.

“I sent four of you. Why did only three come back?”

“We managed to get Uryk into the city, my prince. He is going to enlist as a soldier and be our spy.”

“Impressive thinking on your part; he might be useful in opening the gates of the city later on. He will be rewarded for the danger he has chosen to face. Return to the cavalry. We march.”
Riding down the long line of soldiers beginning their long shuffle towards Demula, Liocana told them then everything the scouts had told him; he believed in letting his army know what they faced. He was confident of victory; after all, he had received thirty thousand more men in reinforcements from his father the king just two days ago, together with so much of last year’s surplus harvest that surely he was carrying the entire country’s granaries with him in carts behind his army. With his soldiers now safely in excess of a hundred thousand in strength, he would be able to overwhelm the enemy by sheer numbers, not to mention confidence.

“The enemy capital is just half a day’s march away! If we capture the city, we conquer the country, and its gold mines. It means riches for all of you, riches and slaves to make you own lives so much more comfortable. We must take the city by assault; we may not starve them out. We have no fleet; we cannot surround and starve them out. Therefore let every man gird himself strongly and bravely race to the attack! We have defeated their army in open battle and taken two defended cities. How much more difficult can this city be to take?”

A cheer followed the crown prince as he galloped back to the end of the almost two-kara-long line, and the Semiduroin army wended their way through the hills to their final objective. They feared nothing now; after all, what was another city when the previous few had fallen so easily?