Interlude (part 1)

"Is this the place? "A deep, overbearing voice asked curtly.

"It is, Your Highness. Durn Gurum, the only remaining Throsgen stronghold that still stands against us. " Another voice answered distinctly with extreme deference.

"Let us take this city and go home. " The first voice said.

"It will be done according to your will, Your Highness..."

*****

A few hours later, the bloodiest and most decisive battle since the beginning of the War against the Throsgenians was in full swing. Durn Gurum was besieged on both sides, with the great gates blocking access to the heart of the city already completely destroyed long ago by the empire's rams.

The Throsgenian capital had nothing grand and would have been considered little better than the slums of Heliodas. The three-meter-high terracotta wall resembled the creations of a kindergarten child playing with clay and most legionaries were able to leap over it in a single leap.