Amid the rain of arrows, dozens of Easterling soldiers strained to push a hide-covered Siege Ram along Ironwall Town's former road. Ignoring the corpses beside it, they slowly advanced toward the castle gates.
At the same time, four Siege Towers skirted the obstacles the Northern Men had placed before the walls, crossed several trenches filled with corpses and dirt, and came within two hundred meters of the walls.
Behind these siege engines marched ranks of infantry wearing simple Leather Armor and carrying brand-new wooden shields. Their right hands tightly gripped Iron Weapons. These were crude implements: most soldiers carried short spears suited for thrusting, while only a few held oddly shaped scimitars or Straight Swords.
They numbered over a thousand. It was not that Ashur could not send more soldiers, but the terrain before Ironwall Town only allowed that many to deploy. More troops would merely deepen the formation and make easier targets for the defenders on the walls. Ashur had not had enough time to waste preparing a shield for every soldier under his command.
The Northern Men defending the walls would naturally not stand idle while their enemies approached. More than three hundred keen-eyed archers repeatedly drew their Firwood Bows, sending sharp, deadly arrows from the walls toward the advancing enemy.
Flecks of fire glimmered amid the rain of arrows. Ironwall Town's defenders were trying to set the wooden Siege Towers and Siege Ram ablaze.
Ashur would never allow that to happen. He had prepared thoroughly for this assault, not only covering the Siege Ram with hides, but also hanging water-soaked cotton cloth over the fronts of the Siege Towers. All of it had been plundered from the Northern Men anyway, so he felt no pain in using it. Even afterward, plenty of people would want it if