"What? The gate's about to fall?!"
Colonel Bernal listened to the messenger's report in astonishment, scarcely able to believe it. They were falling far too quickly. I only just sent a second lieutenant and twenty crossbowmen down there.
The gate area wasn't spacious. Even if it was going to fall, it shouldn't have happened this quickly.
Colonel Bernal walked to the railing of the arrow tower's firing platform and looked down outside.
Scattered points of fire covered the slope before the fortress. Routed soldiers had already fled to the foot of the castle, shouting for the gates to open and let them in.
Opening the gates before dawn was absolutely out of the question. No one knew whether those men below were truly routed soldiers or enemies in disguise.
Colonel Bernal's original plan had been to use the gate area as bait, luring the enemy into the narrow "passage." Then all his hidden troops would emerge, first retaking the stone bridge before attacking from every side and wiping them out.
He hadn't expected Captain Motley at the gate to fail in his duty. He had only held his position for a short while, and already he was about to lose it.
There was nothing for it. They would have to spring the trap early.
"Strike the copper pipe three times. Tell the knights to execute the annihilation plan!"
Colonel Bernal gave the order. The guard beside him nodded, turned, and picked up an iron pipe, then struck a copper pipe running down through the floor three times.
The copper pipe had originally been installed so the archers in the tower could communicate with those below. By speaking into its hollow, horn-shaped mouth, they could make themselves clearly heard at the other end, even a hundred meters away.
To prevent the