Chapter 354: Inevitable Collapse

In the garden of Tourn, a group of men stood before an open grave, a priest stood before them quietly chanting for the man lying in the casket. Snowid stood, still as a statue, looking down at his dead friend. Touching Konrad’s head, he closed his eyes and deeply breathed. "You’re a fool." It was all he could say before turning around. Looking around him, Snowid saw the end of his reign.

His right hand and only friend in the world was dead, killed in his own home. Aleksander had vanished and was either dead or with the Empire. The Empire had taken his daughter hostage. All that remained was himself and his son.

The enemy stood outside the gates, ready to break in, and there was no sign of reinforcement. The moment of hope he had gotten from the Church’s arrival was all but gone. Shaking his head, Snowid didn’t look back at Konrad as he was lowered into the grave.

"Father." Lesezek ran up to Snowid and walked by his side, "What shall we do?"

Snowid sighed and stared up into the sky." Leave the city." Snwoid said hesitantly, confusing Lesezek.

"What...What do you mean leave?"

"What do you not understand?" Snowid stopped and stared at him, "The war is lost, Lesezek. Our enemy is outside the gates. Is it so strange I want you to run?" Lesezek looked up into his father’s eyes and bit his tongue. Shaking his head, he walked on.

"No. There’s no point, Father. I don’t want to be chased away from my home. Live at best as a source of amusement for a foreign noble or king and at worst as a beggar. I’m sorry, but just like you, I wish to die in my home." Snowid watched his son go back and smiled, nodding in silence. Walking behind him, the father and son slowly planned in their mind how to make the assault as painful for Alfred as possible.

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"Shall we begin?" Marcus said to Charles and Henryk, the two men nodding with a small smile. Marcus nodded and grabbed his helmet, leading the two outside. All around, soldiers ran, getting into formation, as siege equipment was dragged forward with exruciating effort.

A small fortification had been set up around each target of the siege to protect against any reinforcement. Along the wall, all three men could see the Commonwealth defenders readying their weapons. Each side knew that the small ceasefire they had been following until now was over. The cries of the people in Tourn who couldn’t leave in time were deafening, being heard by the assaulting force, but no one could afford to care.

"Get into positions. No one deviates from the plan unless ordered." With the order from Marcus, Henryk and Charles ran off. To those around, it was a strange sight to see the two men following the orders of someone younger, especially when they were both proven leaders on a battlefield. But with a single order from Alfred, they had no way or reason to fight against it.

Marcus watched as the siege equipment got closer, finally coming to a stop. The beams of the Trebuchets slowly lowered in sync with each other, as men loaded them with large boulders. The world was silent as everyone waited. Five trebuchets surrounded Torun. Along the walls of Zaraslava, men stoically watched what surrounded them. Thousands of soldiers in neat lines, artillery, and siege towers. They had seen it all before, but never to this scale.

Some felt a strange sense of excitement seeing it all. Even if the battle was lost, they could tell it would be one remembered in the future. A legendary siege. They would be a part of it. It was the motivation some of them needed.

The silence in the world lasted for a few more seconds until Marcus raised his hand. Those operating the siege equipment watched Marcus and, seeing him lazily flick his wrist forward, launched the boulder.

All around, the other segments saw the assault begin and did the same. The wind sounded like it was being torn open, and after a few minutes, loud explosions rang out across the city. Some missed flying directly over, while other parts hit the wall.

Satisfied with the results, Marcus turned around and returned to the camp. The siege had begun, but he wouldn’t be needed until the next day. Making his way to Alfred’s tent, he stopped just before it. "Your Majesty. It is Commander Hardly."

"Enter," With his approval, Marcus walked in and saw Alfred sitting cross-legged, reading a book. "What is it, Commander?" Alfred paused and grabbed the pen next to him. Dipping it in ink, he scribbled out something in the book and smiled happily.

"The siege has begun."

"Is that all?" Alfred asked disinterestedly, picking up the pen again, scribbling and writing something new. Alfred could feel Marcus watching him and lowered the book and looked at him, "Are you interested, Commander?"

"Of course not, Your Majesty." Despite his words, Marucs kept looking at the book, wondering what it was Alfred was reading so intensely.

"There is no need to lie." Alfred looked back down at the book and continued what he was doing, "It is something I am working on." Alfred felt nostalgic doing his work. On earth, he had written numerous books and reports on different parts of history. He had forgotten how much he enjoyed it, and whilst a lot of the stuff he planned to write in the future would be ideas he plagiarised from others in his old world, he still felt some joy in it.

"This will become important for the future of the Empire. My works will be the ideas taught to me by... Sol." Marcus noticed the slight pause in Alfred’s words but ignored it, knowing it was better to be ignorant in some situations. "I don’t mean to talk as if it’s all an ego, but this book I am writing will change the future of the world. So, unless a situation arises where I am needed or until we begin to scale the walls, leave me be."

"I understand, Your Majesty." Marcus bowed and left the tent. Standing outside and watching the distant siege, he wondered what Alfred was on about. Part of him wanted to rip the book out of his hand and see where that confidence came from. It was beyond arrogance to say that he could change the future of the world with a few books, but Marcus could tell Alfred believed it.

Was it delusion, or was there truth to it? Marcus wanted to know. He needed to.’He hesitated to say Sol. Why?’It was the other thing on his mind. Aflred had always used his status as a Blessed One to justify anything he did by saying it was Sol’s knowledge given to him, but maybe it wasn’t the case.

’He’s hiding something. Something that can only be explained by using Sol’s name.’It was intriguing to know his Emperor was hiding a secret, one that could only be protected by invoking the gods’ names. Marcus shook his head and cleared his mind,’Don’t try to find out. If he has gone this long without anyone knowing, he will do anything to protect it. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.’Marcus walked forward, suppressing the desire to find out the truth. He had a job to do.

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All around Tourn, hidden in the deepest parts of the slums, men and women walked around carrying small amounts of flammable material they could gather. They didn’t need much to kickstart the fire, especially in the slums.

They were easy to find. With many of the city’s residents rushing to flee, houses, businesses, and warehouses became prime locations from which to steal. The men on the walls had no clue what was happening, as houses hidden away were doused in oil. Without care for whether anyone remained inside or how the fire would spread, they were set alight as the perpetrators ran off.

It started small. Some were unable to spread and died out, burning a single home, but slowly the fire spread, catching onto anything nearby. Throughout the city, numerous fires apperded, unnoticed by the defenders on the walls who focused on their enemy outside.