The Siege of Feathered Serpent City, A Sustained Siege Battle

Buzz—boom! Boom!

Rows of catapults shuddered outside the eastern and northern walls, letting out thunderous roars as they hurled burning fireballs. More than twenty fireballs flew like whistling meteors across two hundred paces and smashed down hard inside the western wall of Feathered Serpent City. As the fireballs fell, burning charcoal and sulfur scattered in an instant. Great sheets of flame rose with them, billowing out rolling black smoke.

Over a thousand Tlaxcalan warriors shouted harshly, holding fast to their positions atop the walls, suffering amid the drifting smoke. Thousands of city-state militia hurried back and forth, using baskets of earth to smother the fireballs and put out the raging flames. Acrid poison smoke rushed into their faces, carrying the dreadful breath of a volcano. Many were smoked black across the face, their hair singed into disorder, coughing again and again as if they would cough out their lungs.

The lord of Feathered Serpent City, Quiahuiz, stood on high ground within the city, watching the battle before him, silently tightening his right hand around the snake-patterned Divine Staff.

Feathered Serpent City Quiahuiztlan, Quiahuiztlan, was one of the four core cities of Tlaxcala. It had been built for the shortest time, only about a hundred years, and lay at the northernmost point among the cities, controlling the northern mouth of the valley mountains. To guard against the Mexica People, the walls of this strong city had been reinforced many times and stood fully seven or eight meters high. The outer layer of the walls used local material, piled from volcanic stone, while the inner layer was thickened with earth. Both layers were bonded with mortar, making them hard to dig through or destroy.

The entire Feathered Serpent City was not large, only around three square kilometers. Though called a city, it