Chapter 102: The Siege of Northwatch Begins

Chapter 102: The Siege of Northwatch Begins

Before sunrise, the final sections of Vorak Thenn’s siege train began reaching the fields outside Northwatch’s provincial capital.

Catapults rolled into prepared positions behind infantry screens, ballistas were dragged onto firmer ground, and covered battering rams were assembled near the eastern approach. Siege towers followed more slowly, their wooden frames protected with wet hides while engineers inspected axles, ropes, and the heavy bridges that would eventually be dropped onto the battlements.

The camps surrounding the city had expanded through the night until nearly every major road was watched by Viridian troops.

Vorak moved between command posts while reports arrived from each sector. The northern roads toward Redhaven were under observation, the eastern approaches were fully secured, and additional formations were closing the remaining gaps to the west and south.

No major Caldris reinforcement army had been seen nearby, though scouts had detected small groups of messengers and scattered soldiers attempting to reach the city before the ring closed completely.

By the time the first light appeared, Vorak had made his decision. He had no intention of waiting outside the walls for weeks while Northwatch strengthened its defenses and neighboring provinces gathered reinforcements.

The siege equipment had arrived, the army was organized, and the city could now be pressured from several directions at once.

He spread a city sketch across a field table and pointed toward the eastern gate. "The east receives the strongest pressure, but it does not receive everything. Towers advance in the east and north, catapults begin in the east and south, and the west remains active enough that they cannot empty the wall and shift their forces."

One officer asked whether the first day’s goal was to force a breach. Vorak shook his head and answered that the army would take one if the opportunity appeared, but he would not waste thousands of soldiers demanding a breakthrough.

The first attacks would reveal where Northwatch had placed its professionals, how quickly reserves could move between sectors, and which walls or gates were worth greater pressure.

Inside the city, Governor Edric Vaelor was already receiving similar reports from his own officers. Viridian siege equipment had appeared on more than one side, and the defenders who had expected the eastern gate to absorb most of the attack quickly realized they would not be allowed to concentrate there. Edric divided his roughly twenty thousand defenders as carefully as he could, placing professional infantry around the major gates and vulnerable wall sections while militia filled secondary positions.

Crossbowmen occupied towers and firing platforms, defensive ballistas were turned toward the most likely siege routes, and several thousand troops remained in reserve near the city center.

The cavalry stayed below the walls, ready to move through internal streets if a breach appeared or, if an opportunity somehow presented itself, to attempt a sortie against exposed siege crews.

Edric looked along the eastern wall as laborers carried the last bundles of bolts upward. "Nobody abandons a sector because another side of the wall come under heavy attacks. The goblins want us running from one side of the city to another. We move reserves only when officers confirm the threat."

The first Viridian catapult fired shortly after sunrise. Its stone struck low against the eastern wall and broke apart without doing meaningful damage, but a second projectile landed closer to the gatehouse. More catapults followed as crews adjusted their range, and soon the sound of impacts rolled across the city from more than one direction.

Northwatch answered whenever Viridian crews moved within range. Defensive ballistas launched heavy bolts toward mantlets and siege teams, while crossbowmen fired at engineers who exposed themselves too far from cover.

Several goblins fell during the opening exchanges, and one ballista crew abandoned its position after two men were struck almost simultaneously.

Vorak allowed the bombardment to continue while officers recorded the defenders’ reactions. Viridian ballistas began targeting the battlements rather than the walls themselves, firing heavy bolts toward defensive towers, concentrated crossbow formations, and exposed command positions.

The intent was not to break stone but to make it increasingly dangerous for Northwatch’s soldiers to stand openly above the walls.

The defenders performed well during the first hours. Their fortifications were stronger than those of the towns Viridian had bypassed, and the reinforced gates showed no sign of failing under distant bombardment.

Edric’s officers kept their troops organized despite the noise, and civilians assigned to firefighting and ammunition hauling moved through the streets under supervision rather than panic.

Vorak waited until the defenders had settled into the bombardment before ordering the first siege towers forward. Two began moving toward the eastern wall while another advanced in the north, pushed and pulled by large teams protected behind mantlets. Wet hides covered their exposed sides, and water crews followed to deal with fire.

Northwatch immediately concentrated fire on the nearest tower. Crossbow bolts struck its wooden frame, while defensive ballistas attempted to damage the wheels and lower supports. Flaming projectiles followed, but the wet hides prevented several fires from taking hold. One eastern tower slowed when part of its wheel assembly cracked under a heavy impact, forcing engineers to rush forward under shields.

Edric saw the stalled tower and ordered more fire directed toward it. He also shifted several hundred professional soldiers toward the eastern wall because the second tower continued advancing and appeared capable of reaching the battlements.

At nearly the same time, a covered battering ram began moving toward the eastern gate. Mantlets protected the approach while crossbowmen and ballistas tried to suppress the defenders above. Northwatch responded with concentrated fire, striking the ram’s roof and killing several goblins whenever crews became visible beneath its protective frame.

Fresh soldiers replaced the fallen without halting the advance. The ram reached the gate and began striking the reinforced timber, each impact echoing through the gatehouse and the streets immediately behind it.

Edric received word that the eastern sector was under the heaviest pressure and released part of his central reserve. Professional infantry moved toward the gate and neighboring battlements, while laborers strengthened the secondary barricade behind the entrance.

Outside the walls, Vorak received the same information through his own observers. The defenders were reinforcing the east, exactly as expected, and he immediately sent orders toward the northern sector.

The northern ballistas increased their rate of fire while a second siege tower began advancing beside the first. Infantry carrying ladders moved behind mantlets toward the wall, forcing Northwatch’s defenders to prepare for a possible climb even before the towers arrived.

Edric received reports from the north within minutes and reluctantly sent another portion of his reserve away from the center.

The pressure then spread south. Catapults began firing more heavily against the southern wall, while infantry formations advanced with ladders and shields before stopping short of a full assault.

The movement was enough to keep militia and crossbowmen in position because nobody inside the city could know whether the southern attack would remain limited.

The western wall received less attention, but Viridian ballistas and crossbows fired often enough to prevent Edric from stripping it of defenders. Small formations approached, tested the range of the battlements, and withdrew whenever the defensive fire became too concentrated.

By midday, Edric understood the problem clearly. Vorak was not trying to win one battle against one gate. He was forcing Northwatch to respond across the entire city, and every response reduced the number of troops Edric could keep rested in reserve.

The most dangerous moment came at the eastern wall when the advancing siege tower finally reached the stonework. Its heavy bridge dropped toward the battlements under a storm of bolts, and Viridian infantry surged through the upper levels toward the defenders waiting beyond.

The first goblins onto the wall met spears and shields almost immediately. Northwatch professionals had been concentrated there in anticipation of exactly such an attempt, and close fighting erupted around the bridge. Several goblins gained the battlement, but they could not create enough space for the soldiers behind them to spread out.

Defenders used hooks and poles to interfere with the bridge while crossbowmen fired into the tower’s upper opening. Burning material was thrown against the wet hides, and although the tower did not ignite fully, smoke began gathering around parts of the structure.

After several minutes of fighting, the Viridian foothold collapsed. The surviving goblins were forced back across the bridge, leaving bodies on the battlements while engineers and soldiers below struggled to protect the damaged tower from further fire.

Some Northwatch defenders cheered when the last goblin disappeared from the wall. Edric allowed the cheers to spread because the soldiers needed confidence, but he did not share their relief.

Vorak did not immediately order another assault against the same point. He told the eastern commander to pull the tower back far enough for engineers to inspect it and ordered the officers to record how quickly Northwatch had reinforced the sector. The failed foothold had revealed the strength of the eastern defenders and the speed with which professional troops could be moved there.

"Do not feed soldiers into a spot simply because the bridge touched it," Vorak said. "We know more now than we did this morning. Use it."

As the afternoon continued, Viridian formations that had spent hours operating rams, mantlets, and siege towers began rotating away from the front. Fresh soldiers replaced them while Northwatch’s defenders remained spread across the same battlements they had occupied since sunrise.

The eastern ram continued striking the gate in intervals. The outer timbers began showing visible damage, though the internal reinforcement still held. Edric ordered additional beams placed behind the entrance and had more rubble prepared for a deeper barricade if the outer gate eventually failed.

His officers brought less encouraging news from outside the city. The remaining roads had now been occupied by Viridian formations, and the encirclement was effectively complete. Any Redhaven troops or central reserve forces still marching toward Northwatch would no longer be able to enter freely. They would have to fight their way through the army surrounding the capital.

Edric listened without interruption before giving orders to conserve ammunition wherever the attack remained light. The city had survived the first day so far, but he could already see exhaustion spreading among militia units that had been shifting between threatened sections.

Vorak received confirmation of the completed encirclement shortly afterward. With every major road controlled, he no longer needed to worry about a large reinforcement column slipping directly into the city before scouts could react.

He ordered the assaults reduced as daylight began fading, leaving only controlled bombardment and ranged pressure in selected sectors.

The decision surprised some officers who expected him to exploit the army’s numerical advantage with a night assault. Vorak rejected the idea immediately because darkness would weaken command, increase confusion around the siege equipment, and erase much of the advantage gained from the day’s observations.

"Repair the towers, replace the ram crews, move stones and bolts forward, and rotate the infantry," he ordered. "Tomorrow we pressure more parts of the wall at once."

His assessment of the first day was straightforward. The eastern gate was strong but had begun taking damage, the eastern wall held many of Northwatch’s best soldiers, and the northern sector had required rapid reinforcement once the pressure increased.

The southern wall appeared to contain more militia and fewer professionals, while the western defenses remained uncertain because Viridian had not yet pressed them hard enough.

Inside the city, Edric walked along part of the eastern battlement after sunset. The walls still stood, the gate remained closed, and Viridian had failed to establish a permanent foothold. By the simplest measure, Northwatch had survived the opening day.

The cost of that survival was visible everywhere. Exhausted soldiers sat beside ammunition crates, wounded men were carried toward makeshift medical stations, and officers were already requesting replacements for defenders who had spent the entire day under bombardment.

Across the fields, fresh Viridian formations were moving toward the siege lines while tired troops returned to the camps. Engineers worked under torchlight on damaged towers and rams, and wagons continued delivering stones, bolts, timber, water, and food toward the front.

Edric watched those movements and understood that the city had not exhausted its enemy. Northwatch had repelled the first attempts, but the army outside still contained thousands of soldiers who had not fought at all.

Far away in Eastwatch, Rakhar received confirmation that the siege had begun and that Vorak had completed the encirclement. Redhaven and the central reserve were continuing north, while Valemar had already released forces in response to the crisis.

The southern army remained quiet under Rakhar’s orders as the remaining days of his timetable passed. Northwatch’s walls still stood after the first day of siege, but every formation drawn northward brought the second offensive closer to the conditions Rakhar had wanted from the beginning.