Hist. Ref. - Summer 1006 - The Battle of Arx 1

{221Hist. Ref.{_-{_{222Summer 1006{320{_-{_{540Siege of Silence - The Battle of Arx 1{n{n

{c{221Hist. Ref.{_-{_{222Summer 1006{320{_-{_{540Siege of Silence - The Battle of Arx 1{n{n|/|/|/|h|!WThere's no sound. The experienced at war are used to drum beats. Shouted orders. The clamor of those building their courage and seeking to gain some advantage of the enemy and test their nerve. There is none of that. The Silent Army has labored in the past weeks building the siege towers, and now as one they stand and turn towards Arx, the tens of thousands of shavs arrayed in a great line that stretches from the beaches of Arx to past the far western wall of the city. And they start to march.|/|/|-|h|!WSlowly, at first. Scores of siege towers leave the treeline, the dozens of the towers all slowly, steadily rolling towards different parts of the wall from the Ward of House Valardin to Redrain to Thrax, with a sizable body slowly marching along the narrow strand to come towards the Seawatch Gate. Not in range yet, but soon, and with them walk tens of thousands of archers, a promise of a volley to come. Minutes will creep by, in steadily building anticipation as the only sound greeting the defenders are the barely audible protests of the wood of the siege towers rolling forward.|/|/|-|h|!WThere's no sound. The experienced at war are used to drum beats. Shouted orders. The clamor of those building their courage and seeking to gain some advantage of the enemy and test their nerve. There is none of that. The Silent Army has labored in the past weeks building the siege towers, and now as one they stand and turn towards Arx, the tens of thousands of shavs arrayed in a great line that stretches from the beaches of Arx to past the far western wall of the city. And they start to march.|/|/|-|h|!WSlowly, at first. Scores of siege towers leave the treeline, the dozens of the towers all slowly, steadily rolling towards different parts of the wall from the Ward of House Valardin to Redrain to Thrax, with a sizable body slowly marching along the narrow strand to come towards the Seawatch Gate. Not in range yet, but soon, and with them walk tens of thousands of archers, a promise of a volley to come. Minutes will creep by, in steadily building anticipation as the only sound greeting the defenders are the barely audible protests of the wood of the siege towers rolling forward.|/|/|-|h|!WFire begins to come from Arx, from ballistae, catapults and trebuchets. In the Ward of House Valardin, Fiachra manning a catapult scores a solid hit on siege tower, and directed commands from Prince Edain and Valerion manage to land successive follow up blows that collapse it. Princess Katarina helps direct two teams who together shatter a second, the tower falling with the eerie silence and lack of expected screams. House Redrain fares less well, but still manages to land a hit through Tallius and the direction of Darren, not destroying a tower but damaging one enough where it might be stalled, and shavs pour of it to make repairs. House Thrax has mostly frustrating misses, until Duke Harald Grimhall, possibly from pure intimidation, inspires a catapult team whose boulder hits dead center of a siege tower, shattering it and almost certainly crushing ever shav inside.|/|/|-|h|!WThe fire from the eastern gates is heaviest, with perhaps the greatest concentration of forces as the point attacked before. Calypso and Maude each directing teams that bring down a tower each, with Ywaine firing a ballista that damages another under Niccolo's direction.|/|/|-|h|!WBut still, they come on. A number destroyed or damaged, but scores remain. Dozens, maybe hundreds of shavs killed, out of tens of thousands. And now they are walking into arrow range, and a storm is likely to follow.|/|/|-|h|!WShavs start to fall, likewise soldiers begin to fall from the walls from shav arrows, though losses are particularly light in Redrain's walls under the direction of Anze's infantry acting as shieldmen. The fire from House Valardin's ward is a bit poor, not properly accounting for the sudden high wins, and the siege towers draw ever closer. House Thrax's fire directed by Harald is effective, and another tower goes down, though oddly it seems as if most of the towers are now avoiding the Ward of House Thrax- they seem to be splitting their forces to mass towards the western towards in Redrain and Valardin, possibly on account of the poorer fire, and towards the seawatch gate. Perhaps a thousand are still coming towards Thrax, which looks intimidating to defenders, but to those further in the rear and watching the flow of the battle, Donella Thrax notes the disposition against the Thrax Ward is unusually light.{n