Chapter 293: Siege

The Siege notice placed Ren against Greave.

He checked the pairing, then read the conditions. Each squad would defend a hold for one phase and attack a matching hold in the other. The periods were equal. The same declared squad had to complete both, and anyone extracted during the defence remained out for the attack.

The hold occupied a low rise inside a wall. A water channel entered beneath an arch, crossed the enclosure and left through a rear outlet sealed by an arena barrier. The only land entrance was a gate facing the attacker’s staging area.

Three markers lay inside: one at the water arch, one at the gate and one on the upper rise.

Ren checked the channel measurements. Ward could pass through the arch, turn inside and reach a broad pool below the upper marker. Smaller waterways connected the internal positions, with stone ledges beside them for aquatic entrants to brace against.

At each phase’s final signal, an uncontested occupied marker earned its holder one point. Empty or contested markers awarded neither squad anything. Abandoning the whole hold forfeited the defence and awarded all three points to the attacker.

The two phases formed one Siege score. Ties were settled by total uncontested holding time across all markers in both phases, then fewer extractions. Time earned before losing a position still counted.

Ren marked that sentence before turning to the roster.

— • —

Ward took six of the eighteen points. Vesper and Mistwhisker took three, Tarin three, Keep and Eira two each, and Snap the last two.

The water corridor suited Ward’s size, but the land gate would need protection without it. Vesper retained field command, with Tarin directing the water group. Keep would ride in its familiar mount between Ward’s shoulders.

At the cove, Ren checked the mount through a turn, then brought Vesper to the map. He indicated the stone beside the inner waterway near the gate and a second ledge below the upper marker. Snap could reach both through the connected water and plant itself against the rock to fire.

"Ward holds the channel. You take the gate. Eira stays at the upper marker. Tarin and Snap wait at the fork until you need them."

Vesper followed the route from the fork to each position.

"And if both entrances are pressed?"

"Decide where the reserve makes the difference. Keep it close enough to move again. Don’t commit it to chasing anyone outside."

She traced the route from the gate ledge to Eira’s pool before folding the map away. Ren had her check where Snap would rest at each end, then watched Tarin practise supporting it beside the cove bank. There would be no Riptide in this squad to carry it through a retreat.

The squad crossed into staging when the frame opened. Ren left the cove for the hall, where the viewing surface showed Greave’s attacking formation opposite the hold. The beams and fittings from his declared equipment were stacked behind it.

Ren completed the channel check and watched Vesper place the reserve. She kept the fork clear, leaving room for either entrant to turn toward the gate.

— • —

Ward occupied the channel marker beneath the arch, with Keep high on its back. Vesper stood at the land gate, Mistwhisker beside her. Eira remained within the upper marker near the pool’s edge.

At the signal, Greave’s first group approached the water.

Ren recognized the declared crew-companions from the public roster. They divided along the banks instead of trying to swim past Ward. One entered the water briefly, drawing the whale’s attention while the others advanced along the opposite side.

Ward turned enough to face them without leaving its boundary. Keep’s cradle remained above the arch’s shadow, visible to anyone coming close along the bank.

Vesper sent Tarin and Snap to support it.

Tarin moved down the inner channel. Snap followed through the water and braced on a submerged ledge beside Ward, covering the opposite bank. Greave’s companions withdrew a little but stayed near enough to threaten another approach.

They had committed bodies without gaining a marker. They had also drawn Ren’s reserve away from the fork.

Four crew members left Greave’s staging area with two beams.

They crossed toward the wall beside the land gate. Vesper saw them as they reached the open ground and signaled for the reserve to return. Ren touched the plate.

"Vesper. Bring the reserve back to the gate."

Tarin was already turning in the channel.

The beams went against the low wall, their upper ends secured while the first crew member climbed. Another held the lower brace. The second beam followed beside the first, giving the crew two narrow crossings above the gate’s flank.

Mistwhisker met the first entrant on the inner side. Vesper moved to stop the next, but more feet reached the wall while Tarin and Snap were still coming back through the waterway.

Snap reached the nearer firing ledge first. It planted against the stone and raised its claw toward the descending crew.

One attacker freed a beam from the crossing and dragged its end over the wall. As the timber swung down, Snap shifted toward the water. The end struck its braced side before it could clear the ledge.

A pale crack opened along the shell. Snap slipped sideways and failed to settle for a shot.

Tarin reached it as Vesper fell back toward the path up the rise. The Tidefire came onto the wet ledge with its spear, covering Snap while Mistwhisker turned one pursuer away from Vesper’s flank.

Four of Greave’s crew occupied the gate boundary. Vesper remained inside long enough to contest it, then gave ground when another beam was brought across their approach.

Ren put his fingers to the plate.

"Snap to Eira. Hold the upper marker and the channel."

Tarin supported Snap through the inner waterway toward the upper pool. Vesper and Mistwhisker covered the bank beside them, then turned to face the gate from within the upper boundary.

Eira came down to the water’s edge without leaving that marker. Tarin steadied the cellarclaw against the ledge while she examined the cracked side and bound it with material from her wrap.

Below, Greave’s crew stopped at the gate position. The companions outside the arch kept Ward occupied, but made no attempt to pass its head into the enclosed channel.

Ren watched the upper path while Eira worked. Greave had a point and a secure foothold. To gain another, he would have to advance into Vesper and Tarin’s defence or commit more to the whale.

He held what he had.

At the phase signal, Ren owned the channel and upper markers. Greave held the gate.

Two points to one.

— • —

The reset allowed the squads to move to their next staging areas and use their own treatment. It did not permit outside assistance or replacement entrants.

Ren watched Eira work with Snap beside the staging water. He could not send Life through the plate, and the home gate remained unavailable for a return to the same round.

She supported the cracked side, added another layer of binding and had Snap plant against a stone. When it shifted its weight, the damaged support slipped. Eira checked the binding again, then spoke to Vesper.

Ren couldn’t hear the assessment. He could see that the brace still failed under pressure.

He touched the plate.

"Vesper. If Eira clears Snap to fire, one shot at most. Tarin gets it out of the line afterward."

Vesper acknowledged, crouched beside Eira and watched the next check. Snap held a planted position briefly, then eased off the damaged side. The two women conferred before Vesper indicated the outer channel on the map.

Eira checked the underside of the binding where it touched the stone. Snap shifted its weight away from her hand, and she waited for it to settle before securing the loose end. Vesper stayed beside her through the check, with Tarin in the water close enough to lift it.

Ren waited for the attack view to open. Snap remained with the squad; its role would have to fit what that binding could support.

— • —

Both defenders had received the same setup period.

Greave used much of his to establish the gate and upper positions. At the water arch, his crew had fixed one brace and was bringing the second crossbeam across when the attacking signal sounded.

Ward advanced through the outer channel with Keep on its back. Tarin moved ahead in its Lawfire, carrying Snap toward a low stone ledge near the arch. Vesper and Mistwhisker took the land approach, with Eira following under cover.

The arch crew hurried the beam toward its fitting. Once seated, it would leave no opening large enough for Ward.

Tarin set Snap against the ledge and remained close beneath the surface.

The cellarclaw planted on its bound side. Across the narrow water, two crew members lifted the beam, exposing a gap beneath it.

Snap fired.

The shot knocked the nearer carrier away from its end. The beam fell into the water, hanging from the opposite brace. Tarin surged beneath it in its Lawfire, carrying Snap off the ledge as its damaged support gave way.

They crossed together before the crew recovered the fallen end.

Inside, Tarin brought Snap onto a wet recess of stone beside the channel marker and emerged with its spear. The cradle remained outside on Ward, its network still within reach.

Ren watched Tarin turn toward the internal approach, placing itself between Snap and the crew on the bank. One arm stayed against the cellarclaw until it rested securely in the recess. Then Tarin raised its spear across the narrow step leading down to them.

The marker showed contested.

Greave’s crew had never left its landward portion. Tarin had reached the objective, but reaching it had not yet earned Ren control.

— • —

Ward stopped at the blocked outer arch.

The whale pressed forward without battering the stone. The beam shifted against its brace, drawing two crew members back to secure it. Water rose along the inside bank, and Tarin adjusted its position to keep Snap clear of the surge.

The crew could still approach from within the hold. One came down the step with a length of timber held ahead of its body. Tarin caught the wood on the spear shaft and turned it aside, forcing the attacker back onto the broader bank.

Another moved along the pool’s edge. Tarin shifted through the water toward it without leaving the marked area, then returned to Snap when the entrant stopped.

Ren kept his hand near the plate. Tarin held a narrow position with little room for anyone to pass it, but the enemy presence on the bank prevented an uncontested claim. The marker’s holding-time counters remained still.

At the land gate, Vesper and Mistwhisker were keeping the defenders occupied.

Eira waited in cover behind them, close enough to receive anyone pulled back along the approach. She couldn’t reach Snap through the wall. The route to it lay through a defended gate or beneath the blocked arch.

When a gate defender turned toward the inner channel, Vesper advanced across the marker line with Mistwhisker beside her. The position became contested until the crew forced them out. She withdrew only far enough to keep the next approach open.

Ren watched her repeat the threat from the gate’s other side. She was spending movement and effort without gaining a point, but each advance delayed a defender who might otherwise have joined the crew facing Tarin.

Greave sent companions down from the upper rise. They reached the inner fork and waited while one examined the bank beneath the arch.

Tarin remained inside the channel marker, with Snap sheltered behind it. Ward kept pressure on the outer obstruction, requiring attention from the crew at the braces. Taking Tarin’s recess would need more than a quick rush down the step.

The companions turned back toward the upper marker.

For much of the phase, the arch crew stayed. Each time one approached, Tarin met it at the narrow bank. Snap did not fire again. Its claw remained lowered while the binding held the damaged side against the stone.

Vesper’s next gate advance brought two defenders forward together. She withdrew along the approach while Mistwhisker stayed close to the wall, ready to follow her back in.

Then Greave’s arch crew began leaving the channel boundary.

Two moved toward the gate. The others checked the beam fittings before stepping back onto the inner path. The obstruction remained between Ward and the hold, but there was no longer an opposing entrant within the channel marker.

Ren’s color filled its boundary. His holding-time counter began running, well into the phase.

Tarin kept the spear across the approach instead of following the departing crew. Ward stayed outside, controlling the water entrance. At the gate, Vesper eased the pressure once all the defenders were back in position.

The three markers remained divided that way until the signal: Greave at the gate and upper rise, Ren at the channel.

— • —

Three points each across the two phases.

The result sheet included every marker’s uncontested time, including the gate Ren had held before losing it in his defence and the channel Greave had held before the breach.

Ren followed the recorded intervals. His gate had fallen relatively early in the first phase. During the second, Tarin’s presence had denied Greave the channel, but the crew’s continued occupation had denied it to Ren as well. Ren hadn’t begun earning holding time there until their late withdrawal.

Vesper’s brief gate contests had reduced Greave’s total. They hadn’t erased his advantage.

Two other Lords had also finished Siege on three points, with shorter uncontested holding times than either of them. No one had scored four. The confirmed order put Greave first and Ren second.

Eight championship points for Greave. Seven for Ren.

The group totals appeared beneath the round result.

Tomas Greave: 22.

Ren Valis: 22.

Ren looked back at the arena. Vesper had withdrawn from the gate and was waiting with Eira for the return route to open. Tarin stayed beside Snap while Ward held outside the arch, ready to receive them when the phase barriers were released.

He checked the two totals once more. There was one group round left, and Lordless War placing came first in the overall tiebreak. Finishing ahead of Greave in that round would settle their order.

The attendant placed its notice beside the standings.

Ren read the opening condition. Each Lord could make one final transmission before the signal. Afterward, Lord communication would be cut for the entire round. The squad’s field commander and internal networks remained available.

After the signal, the plate would stay dark.