After enjoying the spectacle, Keledu went back to rest. But events took a turn he hadn't expected.
Heshima had nearly been struck by an arrow. He escaped unharmed, if shaken, but one of his trusted Commanders of Ten Thousand had fallen to an arrow from the Border Fortress.
His beloved bearskin cloak had also been taken back by the Former Tribal Alliance, and his Dire Wolf Guard had suffered heavy losses. Heshima was furious and eager to vent his rage.
So Heshima abruptly moved up the assault on the Border Fortress. He had intended to wait for the Faith Order's craftsmen to build more siege engines, but now he refused to wait.
As far as he was concerned, the Faith Order had already built plenty for the Iron Bone Tribe. Catapults, siege towers, battering rams, and all sorts of other contraptions he couldn't make sense of had been brought along with the army.
To him, that was more than enough for the Barbarians. With the earthen ramp already in place, their warriors would surely surge onto the Border Fortress's walls like a flood.
Then he would wipe out the armies of the Southern nobles who had humiliated him. He would march into their lands and kill, burn, and plunder his way through Two Rivers County, destroying the Northern Frontier nobles who had humiliated him and their families.
Heshima smiled smugly at the thought, as if he could already hear their agonized screams.
He immediately ordered the entire army to prepare for an early assault. The whole camp sprang to life as everyone readied themselves for battle.
When Keledu heard the assault had been moved up, he went to see Heshima that very night, hoping to talk him out of it.
But Heshima had once again become deaf to advice. Seeing