Slow Fade

[DoS Archive]

From: novashayde@aol.com (NovaShayde)
Date: 27 May 1998 15:36:36 EDT

The death toll was high on the seventh day of the siege. Many of the weaker fighters had fallen that day. As with all wars, the weak are slowly weeded out in drawn out battles, and this siege was no exception. The city of SuhnSong, beyond the Wall of Shadow was divided by four smaller walls, each of which were built as points of strategic withdrawl in case of invasion. The day after the Wall of Shadow fell, the Wall of Hope was
sundered by the enemy, forcing the defenders, once twenty thousand strong, to withdraw to the third wall, the Wall of Despair.
This wall they held for three days, allowing citizens of the city to evacuate through the mountain passes. It was a long three days, as the fallen defenders that had to be left behind when the enemy broke over the wall were slowly tortured in plain view, a twisted taunt that the enemy would not be defeated. Not this time. The side of good will not prevail over perceived evil.
On the fourth day of the siege, as the sun had begun to set over the mountain horizons, the enemy once again broke through the wall, securing the gateway that once allowed access through the wall for everyday citizens. Many of those defending the wall were unable to pull back as the enemy swung behind them and the slaughter was horrible. The remaining defenders that managed to withdraw to the Wall of Renewed Hope, the next to last defense of
the city of SuhnSong, were forced to watch their friends die yet again, unable to do a thing about it.
Nova Grey Shadow arrived on the morning of the sixth day during a lull in the attacking. He had expected the enemy to be no farther than a bit past the Wall of Shadow, but his heart sunk as he saw his closest friend, Captain Hadrian WarSabre, standing on the ramparts of the Wall of Renewed Hope. Quickly he clambered up the wall to stand beside his friend, looking out over the horde of enemy soldiers camped out before the wall. This wall was
referred to as Renewed Hope because it was built to be the most defensible. The gateway beneath could be blocked by a stone plug, built specifically to block the passage before the city grew so far out as to require additional walls, why the concept wasn't copied with the newer walls is anyone's guess, but arrogance of architects could not be dismissed.
"We can hold this wall for another three days at most, Grey Shadow," WarSabre says grimly, foregoing a friendly greeting. He was always one to skip the small talk.
"How many defenders are left?" Nova asks quietly, he had already judged the number to be quite small. Three days, to him, would require a miracle in defensive strategy.
"Two thousand eighty-three. The hospital within the 'Keep is overflowing with injured men that will never fight again. It would probably be better to put them out of their misery now."
"That's a grim idea. We have no chance then?"
"Look around you, Nova," Hadrian's voice cracks as he turns to look at Grey Shadow... he seemed so old then, his eyes so utterly dull it seemed he was dead already.
"Two thousand men and women against that!" he swings an arm out to gesture wildly at the horde below, "their numbers must total twenty-thousand strong, with reinforcements waiting outside the city limits."
"No, Nova... we have no chance. We are already ghosts. The best we can do is hold this wall and allow the few citizens remaining time to get far from here."
With that, he stalked away. War can take its toll on a man, to say the least, but Nova had never even considered it would turn his friend, a man that was once so optimistic, into such a hurt soul. Nova Grey Shadow began to turn from the wall, but a great cry came up from the hordes beyond, and the battle was rejoined... with Nova in the middle of the fray.