Just as the defenders began hauling their supplies back up to the walls, a unit of Barbarian Cavalry charged toward the fortress.
Fortunately, a lookout had spotted the cavalry's unusual movements from the start and warned the squad gathering supplies below. The defenders on the walls fired crossbow bolts at the riders, covering their comrades' retreat.
With help from their fellow soldiers, the men gathering supplies soon rode baskets back up to the walls. Seeing this, the Barbarian Cavalry wasted no time and withdrew.
The defenders' detachment commander watched the riders throughout. From the way they shifted formation mid-charge to their composure under the rain of arrows from the walls, he could tell at a glance that they were elite cavalry of the Iron Bone Tribe.
With those riders nearby, there was little chance of hauling the logs and boulders they had dropped below the walls back up.
The commander had no choice but to order his soldiers to bring the remaining defensive supplies inside the fortress up to the walls first.
But no one expected the Barbarians' second assault to come so quickly. As soon as the Barbarian Cavalry returned to their lines, the Barbarian army sent another force to attack the fortress.
The fortress lookout rang the alarm bell. Under their officers' orders, the defenders hurried back to their posts, ready to meet the attack.
The commander watched the Barbarian troops surge toward them and slapped the wall in anger. "How are they back so fast? Where did they get so many siege ladders in so little time?"
He had good reason to be angry. The defenders had destroyed more than half the Barbarian army's siege ladders during the first assault. Yet now, after such a short interval, this new attacking force had even more ladders than before.