Arrival

"Get the wounded down immediately!" Sylvanas pointed at the Dwarf before her, one of whose arms had been blown off by artillery fire. He screamed, his face a bloody ruin. The Female Elf had seen far too many scenes this horrific. The instant she turned her gaze back to the battlefield, Sylvanas gritted her teeth, twisted aside, and narrowly dodged another deadly arrow.

"Prepare boiling oil and logs! The Horde is about to reach the walls."

"General! Firebombs!"

A startled cry made the Ranger-General look up. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of spinning shadows were flying toward them.

"Intercept them!" Sylvanas ordered at once, hoping as many people as possible could hear her, whether they were mages, archers, or riflemen.

Fortunately, quite a few people reacted in time, and most of the bottles filled with incendiary liquid were shot down.

"General!"

Sylvanas heard Lansber's voice. Her adjutant was running toward her through the disorderly passage atop the wall. In the Ranger-General's sight, a firebomb shattered not far behind Lansber. Flames rapidly spread toward a cannon. The Female Elf saw with her own eyes that the gunner operating it had, at some point, been shot through the head by an arrow. Worse still, several shells were piled beside the corpse.

"Idiot, get down!" Sylvanas rushed over. The fuse on the shells had already been lit, and there were so many people nearby... The Ranger-General's heartbeat seemed to freeze in that instant.

A thunderous explosion shook the surrounding buildings. Screams and cries of agony scorched Sylvanas's mind like flames. She had no way of estimating how many had died in the blast. Even she was dizzy and deafened now.

With great difficulty, Sylvanas pushed herself up, coughed a few times, and shook gravel from her body. Dust, bright blood, and fragments of skin were