From Within

Like clockwork, the Empire's trebuchets started tossing rocks and flaming pots against the city walls. The dark night skies were lit up with fireballs and screams of the wounded and dying. One of the firebombs went up in a ball of greenish flames as it impacted against the Northen City wall's gate.

Dotla Saaker rosed from his prone position among dozens and dozens of refugees huddled together for warmth in the streets after he saw the green fireball in the distant wall. He carefully stretched his body, working out the kinks and knots of his toned muscles and covered himself up with a tattered bloodstained cloak.

He pulled the female beside him covered head to toe in similar outfit up and half dragged her along the dark streets. Their path illuminated by the fires burning on the walls and buildings that were hit by firebombs.

They kept to the shadows, making their way towards the North Gate. It was easily as the street was dark, the Grey Lord had issued an order that no street lamps are to be lit at night and all windows must be covered.

They barely met any patrols along the way as all the soldiers' attention were at the walls. Dotla stopped at the edge of a burnt down building and pulled the sleeve of the female he was dragging along up.

He pinched hard on the flesh of the underside of the female's arm and felt something hard and he pulled the object out. A glistering bone handle appeared and he slowly pulled it out from the flesh of the female who remained silent throughout the whole process.

The bone dirk came out slowly with a sticky wet sound and was covered in a thick sticky purple red blood. Dotla wiped the dirk clean with his tattered cloak and repeated the procedure on the other hand of the female.

He rubbed the ring on his finger and the female suddenly appeared to come alive, despite the glassy eye look reflected in the firelight and they waited in silence in the shadows. Dotla grinned in anticipation of the killing he was about to unleash upon the unaware city.

Not long, other shadowy figures appeared and gathered around Dotla who nodded in greeting to each party. "It's time to open the gates!"

The gathered agents nodded, as they have infiltrated into the city a week earlier by pretending to be refugees. The night where the Bronze men attacked the refugees gathered before the walls was a plan by The Rock to hide his own men with several Bronze men among the refugees.

Weapons were hidden inside the bodies of the Bronze men to avoid any suspicion and they were covered in blood as their skin tone were obviously very different from a regular person.

The soldiers who checked them when they were rescued from the attack fell for the lie that Dotla gave. The female Bronze man was his wife who had lost her mind in the attack. The soldiers seeing the lifelessness of the female and in the dark, could not find anything wrong and they let them in.

Other agents also entered in the same way and for a time they were watched by soldiers but as the siege intensified, their guards disappeared to fight at the walls.

The agents kept an alert eye out for the green fireball which was their signal. Seeing that, they were to attack the gates and hold it for the Empire forces to relieve them.

Doltar gestured the men forward and gave a mental command to his Bronze man partner. His ring has only a small bloodstone that can only control the female. His force consist of a dozen Knight ranked soldiers and six Bronze men.

They quickly formed up in two files and mimicked the Meccan patrol's marching style and in the dark with poor sight, they appeared to be a Meccan patrol with their dark cloaks. As they appeared the gates, hundreds of soldiers from Two Nation Alliance appeared but no one paid any notice to them.

It was till they were roughly 50 feet from the Gate did some soldier noticed something strange about this group of soldiers that appeared to be dressed like refugees. An alarm was cried out but it was too late.

Doltar and his men dashed forward, their speed enhanced by magic. They cut down the soldiers in their path and arming themselves with the fallen soldiers' weapons. The Bronze men formed the rear guard, punching and breaking bones of the soldiers who rushed in to fight with them.

His team split into two, with one heading to the Gate to remove the bars and obstructions that block the gate while the other heads towards the Gatehouse to raise the portcullis.

Doltar rushed up the tower next to the Gate which leads to Gatehouse on the third level. As the siege was ongoing, the men inside the tower couldn't hear the screams and yells happening in the courtyard.

Taking advantage of surprise, Doltar and his men killed their way into the Gatehouse before the general alarm was raised which by then was too late. Inside the Gatehouse, his men quickly worked on the winch that raised the portcullis up.

Shouts and alarms rang out as more and more soldiers rushed to the scene. The Empire agents cast a firewall spell that threw up a wall of fire that drove the allied soldiers back. Allied mages quickly responded to the attack and hurl lightning and fire at the Empire agents around the main gates.

The Bronze men smashed apart the beams of wood and steel that was propped against the gates. The heavy iron bars that required a wench to lift, used all six of the Bronze men's strength to lift and the bar weighing half a ton cracked the stone pavement when it was dumped to the side.

"Stop them!" A Meccan Officer yelled and the soldiers rushed forward, braving the firewall and leaped in to fight the Imperial agents.

The Bronze men started to push against the heavy steel and wood gates, opening the way for the Empire forces waiting outside.

-----

The Rock sat on his war dragon waiting in silence. The flames from the city cast an orange glow on his features and he suddenly yelled, "Advance! The gates are opening!"

Warhorns blew, following his order and the Empire Legions stormed forward. The Bronze men took the front, they weathered the storm of arrows and bolts as the defenders shot at them when they came into sight.

A ballista bolt fired from one for city towers impaled two of the Bronze men as they approached the slowly widening gates. The bolt almost as thick as a tree trunk nailed both Bronze men together, their limbs twitching as they tried to move while their purple red blood splattered all over, but the rest continued on without a care.

"The gates are opening!" Someone cried in horror, and the defenders pushed harder against the small group of Imperial agents. "Kill them!"

The Imperial agents were all Knight ranked and they easily cut down any soldier that came close, while exchanging spells with the mages. But soon they turn pale when they saw hundreds and hundreds of soldiers approaching from all sides. Quickly they mentally commanded the Bronze men to attack the soldiers.

The Bronze men stopped their work and turned to face the coming soldiers. They charged into the surprised ranks of soldiers, who stabbed their spears with no effect on their bodies. The Bronze men smashed away the spears thrust at them with their bare hands. They plowed into the soldiers, breaking bones and crushing armor, throwing the ranks of soldiers into panic and fear.

Spells hammered at the Bronze men without much effort despite a lightning bolt blew off one of the arms of a female Bronze man. She kept on throwing herself against the raised shields of the Two Nation's soldiers, gorging flesh and raking eyes out with her sharp nails.

Suddenly a flying wedge of heavily armored soldiers smashed through the thin line of Bronze men and Imperial agents. The Bronze men rein back from the sudden charge and took a few seconds to reorientate themselves before they threw themselves against the shield wall.

-----

"Fireball!" Doltar flung a ball of fire out from the narrow doorway he was defending from. The flaming ball exploded into a shower of flames that blind and burnt the cluster of Alliance soldiers, one of them even did the ritual burning dance before flopping down unmoving.

Doltar laughed as he watched the dancing soldier and charged up another spell. The soldiers seeing him getting another spell ready, retreated in fear, giving Doltar and his team some breathing room.

"Where are the Legions?" Doltar asked as he threw the spell at the backs of the retreating soldiers.

"They are coming up by the main road now!" One of the agents peered out from an arrow slit. "They are coming!"

"Good! Hold the Gatehouse with your lives! If the portcullis comes down, the Legions will be trapped!" Doltar yelled to his men. "Hold this room at all cost!"

-----

The Rock urged his mount forward on a quick trot, following beside Legion I. The flaming pots thrown by the trebuchets that were burning on the walls provide more than ample light for his soldiers to make their way over the fields and towards the North Gate.

"Signal the Dragon Corps," He ordered. "They are to focus on the West Gate."

His runner nodded and ran off to carry out his orders. "Signal the good Admiral, Tell him to attack the South Harbour now!"

Another runner ran off with his orders while he smiled while watching the first rank of the Bronze men reaching the ajar Gates.

-----

Borse reloaded his crossbow, grunting with the effort to lock the crossbow arms back. Suddenly a draconic roar erupted from the night skies and he jerked his head up. "Whose dragons?"

"Not ours!" Taris yelled from his side. "Sounds like an Imperial heavy weight!"

"The gods be damn!" Borse cursed, "Runner! Inform the wall commander that the Imperial Dragon Corps are attacking the walls! Go!"

Borse turned back to the skies and raised his crossbow up, trying to catch signs of the Imperial dragons and he wasn't disappointed. Dozens of dark shadows appeared out of nowhere from the starry sky and resolved into draconic shapes.

------

The Imperial dragons started to spat fireballs down, hitting at the battlements and forcing the defenders to run for cover. The gunners on the ballista towers quickly swerved their weapons and pointed towards the attacking dragons, firing bolts of dragonlance.

Meccan mages flung balls of lights into the skies and turned the night to almost day bright. The Imperial Dragons scattered as their cover of darkness was broken and the numbers anti dragon ballistas towers that were riddled all over the city fired at the panicking dragons.

Dozens and dozens of Meccan and Foralian light and medium weight dragons took off from the Grey Castle towers, making their way towards the Imperial Dragons to engage them in aerial combat.

The disciplined Imperial dragons flew out of the city's anti dragon ballista range and formed up in a tight formation, their crew armed with crossbows and waited for the Alliance dragons to come.

The Alliance dragon riders whooped and raced each other in their effort to reach the heavier and slower Imperial dragons, each rider wanting to make the first kill and be a hero.

The Alliance light and medium weights each carried two to three riders each armed with a crossbow or throwing lance. The Alliance dragons were easily highlighted by the city, allowing the Imperials to fire their crossbows with accuracy.

The volley of bolts tore wings membranes and dropped riders, causing panic among the flyers which the more experienced Imperial dragons took advantage off by closing in while constantly firing bolts at the shattered Alliance dragons.

Roars and screams echoed down from the skies as dragons and their riders wove a deadly dance of death in the skies above the city while thousands and thousands of soldiers wage a land battle below.