Chapter 101: The Walls of Northwatch

Chapter 101: The Walls of Northwatch

The gates of Northwatch’s provincial capital remained open long after they should have been closed. Wounded soldiers arrived in scattered groups, some limping beneath the weight of damaged armor while others rode exhausted horses that could barely keep moving.

Wagons carrying the injured clogged the road leading toward the eastern gate, forcing guards to drag broken carts aside so that more survivors could enter. What had left the city as a field army now returned as fragments, and Governor Edric Vaelor watched from the wall as those fragments continued coming.

He had expected losses and had even prepared himself for the possibility that the field army would be forced back toward the capital. What he had not expected was the complete absence of cohesive formation among the men returning.

Crossbowmen arrived without their officers, militia without their standards, and cavalry units without the infantry formations they had been assigned to support.

Some survivors still carried weapons, but others had discarded shields and spears during the retreat and entered the city with nothing except whatever equipment remained strapped to their bodies.

Edric descended from the wall before the next wagon passed through the gate, and his senior officers followed him into the courtyard below.

Healers and servants were already separating the wounded from soldiers still capable of returning to duty.

"I want every surviving officer identified before nightfall," Edric said.

"Professional infantry are to be reorganized by regiment wherever possible, crossbowmen are redistributed to the walls, and anyone still capable of holding a spear should be reintegrated."

One adviser hesitated before stepping closer. "My lord, we still have time to withdraw. Redhaven remains open behind us, and the goblins have not yet surrounded the city. If the provincial government leaves now, Northwatch could continue fighting from deeper territory."

Edric turned toward him and answered without hesitation. "And what happens to this city after we leave? The governor runs, the army runs, and every town still resisting behind the goblins learns that the capital surrendered before its walls ere even breached."

The adviser fell silent, but Edric continued before anyone else could support the suggestion. The provincial capital contained the largest granaries in Northwatch, the main armories, military records, workshops, warehouses, and administrative offices that connected the province to Redhaven and the royal government.

More importantly, tens of thousands of civilians had already gathered inside after fleeing the countryside. Abandoning the city would mean abandoning the center of the province and telling every remaining garrison that Northwatch had ceased to exist as an organized territory.

"We hold," Edric said as he looked toward the gates. "If the city falls, then it falls only after forcing them to take it. Until that moment, Northwatch still has a capital and still has a government."

The preparation orders had existed for days, but now everything accelerated. Carpenters reinforced the gates with additional timber while laborers constructed secondary barricades behind the main entrances. Stones were hauled onto the battlements, barrels of water were positioned near likely fire zones, and containers of oil and pitch were prepared for use against siege towers and battering rams.

Defensive ballistas were moved into firing positions, while crossbow bolts were distributed to wall companies already being reinforced by survivors from the field army.

Buildings closest to vulnerable sections of the walls were cleared where possible, and civilians were assigned to firefighting teams, medical stations, food distribution, and ammunition hauling.

Wells inside the city were placed under guard so panicked crowds could not interfere with military access, while granaries were sealed under provincial authority. Edric ordered every district commander to begin ration planning immediately because no one yet knew whether the siege would last days or months, and he refused to let disorder inside the walls become as dangerous as the army outside them.

The returning soldiers were reorganized with equal urgency. Professional infantry were gathered into reduced companies under whichever officers had survived, crossbowmen were sent to reinforce sectors where their weapons could be used most effectively, and cavalry was kept inside the city rather than wasting their effectiveness on the battlements.

Some riders would serve as messengers until the encirclement became complete, while the rest remained available for possible sorties against exposed siege positions.

By late afternoon, Northwatch could still place roughly twenty thousand defenders around the city when militia and wounded soldiers capable of limited duty were included.

Only a portion of that number consisted of experienced professionals, and many survivors of the field battle were exhausted or injured.

Even so, the capital was far from helpless, and its walls were stronger than those of the towns Vorak had bypassed during the advance.

A messenger from Redhaven arrived before the outer gates began closing. Governor Seraph Dorne had accepted Edric’s appeal and ordered troops north, but the first significant formations were still several days away.

The central reserve created by the eastern governors had also begun shifting toward Northwatch, though its commanders were moving according to reports already outdated by the time they received them.

Edric read the message twice before handing it to his chief officer. "They are moving, but the goblins are moving faster. If Vorak reaches us before those columns do, they may find themselves trying to break through an army instead of entering an open city."

Another courier arrived from Valemar less than an hour later. Governor Lucan Merrow had agreed to release some cavalry, crossbow formations, engineers, and supplies, but the commitment was far smaller than Edric had requested.

Lucan had refused to strip his southern defenses while the full strength and intentions of the Viridian army remained uncertain, and Edric could not entirely blame him despite his frustration.

"He still thinks he has time to watch what happens here," Edric said while folding the letter.

"If these goblins break this city, he will discover how quickly that time disappears."

The greatest problem was no longer simply manpower. Information moved too slowly, and orders issued yesterday were reaching formations today even though the situation they referred to had already changed several times.

Reinforcement columns were marching toward positions the goblins might have passed hours earlier, while commanders outside the capital had no reliable way to know which roads remained open.

That became painfully clear when another group of survivors entered shortly before evening. They had withdrawn from a fortified town farther east and reported that the goblins had not stopped to capture it.

A large detachment had surrounded the walls while the main army simply marched around the settlement and continued toward the capital.

Edric stared at the officer giving the report. "They left thousands behind and continued?"

"Yes, my lord," the soldier answered. "We expected the main army to remain for a siege, but most of them kept moving. The town still holds, yet it cannot send troops anywhere because every gate is watched."

That report explained the speed of the advance more clearly. Northwatch’s defensive plan had assumed that every major fortress, fortified town, and prepared position along the roads would consume time.

Even if those places eventually fell, they were supposed to delay the enemy long enough for the provincial capital to gather soldiers and receive reinforcements.

Edric looked down at the campaign map and finally understood how Vorak had destroyed that assumption. "He is spending soldiers instead of time," he said, and his chief officer followed the line of roads leading toward the capital before replying.

"And he has enough soldiers to spend," the officer said. "Every fortress still holds, but none of them are stopping him from reaching us."

The first warning bell sounded from the eastern wall before Edric could answer. Guards began shouting from the battlements, and officers rushed toward the stairs while civilians below looked upward in fear. Edric climbed back onto the wall and followed the pointing hands of the sentries toward small figures moving across the distant road.

Goblin scouts remained well beyond crossbow range and spread across the fields rather than approaching the gates directly. Some observed the roads leading north and south, while others moved toward nearby streams and low hills overlooking the city. None attempted to fight, and their deliberate movements made their purpose obvious.

"Close the southern gate after the next friendly unit enters. The western gate remains open for messengers until sunset, and after that nobody leaves without my authorization."

More Caldris troops arrived during the next hour, but they came in groups too small to change the balance. Some were survivors of the field battle, while others had withdrawn from roadside positions after realizing the Viridian advance had passed them. Every report carried the same description: goblins continuing forward while separate formations remained behind to contain resistance.

The final large group entered shortly before sunset, and the eastern road remained empty for only a short time afterward. Dark shapes began appearing beyond the distant fields, first as isolated banners and then as entire columns.

Infantry formations marched in controlled blocks while scouts spread ahead of them, and more troops continued emerging over the low rises farther east.

A murmur passed along the battlements as the scale became clear.

Vorak had left thousands behind during the advance, yet the army arriving outside the capital was still enormous.

The Viridian formations did not immediately approach the walls. Instead, the leading units spread outward, occupying roads and open ground around the city while officers selected positions for larger camps. From his own command position outside the capital, Vorak studied the walls through a field glass taken from Eastwatch stores and quickly confirmed that this was not a position he could simply bypass.

The provincial capital sat at the center of Northwatch’s government, communications, and supply network. Leaving it intact behind the advance would create a threat far greater than any isolated fortified town, which made it exactly the kind of objective Rakhar had ordered him to strike directly.

"North road first, then the western approaches," Vorak told the officers around him. "I want every road toward Redhaven watched before darkness is complete, and nobody places a camp close enough for their ballistas to reach it."

One officer reported that the main siege train was still several hours behind. The catapults, ballistas, battering rams, and siege towers had moved more slowly than the infantry during the rapid advance, while additional supply wagons were following even farther back. Vorak showed no concern because he had never intended to assault the city the moment he arrived.

"We do not need them tonight," Vorak replied. "Surround the city first and let the siege train catch up. The walls will still be here tomorrow, and I would rather attack them properly than waste soldiers simply because we arrived early."

Viridian formations continued moving around the capital as darkness approached. Camps appeared beyond defensive range, positioned to control major roads and open ground, while engineers marked suitable areas for siege towers and artillery.

Scouts examined the walls for weak masonry, shallow approaches, vulnerable gates, and sections where the defenders would have difficulty shifting reserves quickly.

Vorak gathered his senior officers before the last light disappeared. "Eastwatch taught us what happens when an army cones prepared. When the siege begins, we pressure several sections at once. Towers on more than one wall, artillery wherever the ground supports it, and rams against any gate worth testing. If they move reserves toward one breach, another section becomes weaker."

The officers acknowledged the order and returned to their formations. Vorak had no intention of repeating the costly eastern gate assaults from Eastwatch, and Northwatch would instead face pressure across a broad perimeter. The army’s size would allow multiple attacks to develop at once while substantial reserves remained available to exploit whichever section began to fail.

Inside the city, Edric watched campfires appear across the plain. One line of fires became three, then five, and more appeared near the northern road and farther west as the encirclement continued growing. The city was not yet completely sealed, but the remaining gaps were shrinking with every passing hour.

Edric dispatched his final messengers before the western gate closed. One rode toward Redhaven carrying a warning that the capital had been reached and that incoming reinforcements needed to move quickly or risk finding every road blocked.

Another carried updated instructions toward the central reserve, warning its commanders that the situation had advanced beyond the reports they had received earlier.

After the riders disappeared into the darkness, the western gate closed behind them. Edric remained on the wall while defenders below strengthened barricades and soldiers above watched the distant fires. No assault came that night, but nobody trusted the silence because the goblins had reached the city far sooner than Northwatch’s planners believed possible.

The heavier silhouettes of siege equipment were already beginning to appear along the eastern road. Catapults rolled slowly behind draft animals, siege towers followed in sections or on reinforced wheels, and long trains of supplies continued approaching the camps that now surrounded much of the capital.

Far away in Eastwatch, Rakhar received word that Vorak had reached Northwatch’s provincial capital and begun the encirclement.

Redhaven troops were moving north, the central reserve had shifted in the same direction, and Valemar had already released part of its mobile strength in response to the worsening crisis. Rakhar kept the southern timetable unchanged because every additional day of quiet along the Valemar frontier strengthened the belief that Viridian had committed its next major campaign entirely to Northwatch.

Across the dark fields surrounding the city, more Viridian campfires continued appearing until much of the horizon seemed lined with them. Edric watched those fires from the battlements and understood that the battle he had hoped to delay for another week had already reached his gates, while somewhere beyond the southern roads Valemar still waited behind a silence whose purpose had not yet been revealed.