by: Mudge Otter
It was early morning, the sun was lazily making an appearance upon the horizon. A thick mist covered the peaceful serine landscape. All was not as it seemed for hidden in the mist, lurked an ominous threat that marched steadily towards the slumbering populace of the GreyTower.
They woke from their blissful dreams to the sounds of alarms and shouts from the guards manning the battlements. Before they were out of bed, the first boulders struck the battlements shaking the GreyTower to it's core. Lady GreyWolf, White Raven and Lady Savanah were the first to arrive upon the scene of chaos, within the main hall. Raveneye and Lord Alex were next to arrive, already the wounded were pouring into the door. Mudge came up from the cellar carrying a crate of bottles for the bar.
"What's going on here?" " Someone started a party without me?" the otter asked. "We are under attack!" One of the guards yelled to him. Lady GreyWolf shouted as she crossed the room. "Dispatch the rest of the garrison to all the gates!" "Move people move!!" The other citizens of the GreyTower started to make an appearance as well.
"Raveneye and I will take Talia, Elbert and Thaine to the North gate." Lady GreyWolf stated flatly as she buckled on her sword. "I'll get Alex, Ragnar, Istar, and Connell to go with me to the East gate." Lady Savanah nodded as she rushed off to get the others. "I'll take Josie, and Jason with me to the South gate, HeartBeat will set up a hospital in the garden area behind us." With that said, White Raven transformed into a bird and flew towards the southern gate.
"Don't worry, Yojimbo, Mariner and I will protect the West Gate." Mudge shouted as the sounds of boulders crashing into the wall increased. Lady GreyWolf turned to him. "Take William with you!" Mudge shook his head. "William should stay with Ashley and Leiah. Someone needs to tend to the girls and the wounded." "I'll take fleckles with us if we need help. She can zip across everything and bring it." With a sound plan of action, everyone rushed to their battle positions.
No one could believe their eyes when they crested the battlements all around them as a sea of warriors surging forth ready to tear down the walls of the GreyTower. Heavy siege engines rained down boulders and burning pitch into the courtyard surrounding the GreyTower. Ballistas where being set up to shoot their tree sized arrow into the battlement walls. Where had this army come from? And what were they after??? There was no time for anymore questions as fires burned uncontrollably in every part of the grounds.
LadyGreywolf and Raveneye kissed one another as they separated at the North Gate. Thaine and Elbert aided a couple of guardsmen in getting the catapults set up so that they could return fire. Talia lead a few archers onto the battlements walls, then they filled the sky with arrows in attempt to slow the advancing armies. Lady GreyWolf was soon by Talia's side.
"Come on lads!! Aim True and Fire!!" Talia shouted. Lady GreyWolf instructed those within the foyer. "Extinguish the flames there and there,as she pointed. Bring up some pots of oil. We're not letting them have this Tower without a fight!!"
Raveneye saw to it that arrows and catapult loads were brought out as quickly as possible. "Let's go men!" "Take those loads over there!" "The archers on the left side of the gate need more arrows." "Move!! Move!! Move!!" Soon the catapult was assembled. It was quickly loaded down with shot and fired over the walls at the Tower enemies. The archers picked away at the tide of warriors everytime they surged against the battlement walls. The battle for the North Gate was in full bloom. The enemies army was concentrated here; they knew if the gate fell it would allow them to easily sack the rest of the GreyTower.
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Keir and Josie lead archers to the battlements as the first boulders started to crash into the Southern gate. Heart Beat and Jason tended to the wounded as they flooded in from different parts of the castle. White Raven smiled grimly this was her home and her friends, whom ever these attackers were, she would make them pay dearly. "Bring up water buckets!! They have set fire to the other gates. I will not tolerate it here!!" White Raven cried above the din of battle. "Get those wounded off the wall!" "We need more arrows brought up!! Come on!!" When she thought everything was running as smoothly as it could, White Raven transformed into a bird and flew over the battlefield beyond directing the archer to their targets. No heart at the Southern gate wavered as torrents of enemies poured against the walls. They all fought with the strength born from a knowledge that their home would never fall.
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All was not tranquil inside the Tower walls, as Lady Ashley and Lady Leiah gathered the children and led them to on eof the upper chambers. Amy, Heather, Gabby and Talon didn't really know what was going on, but with all the commotion going on outside, they knew that they were missing out on something important. William had the guard barricade the main hall to make it harder for anyone to get through, but allowing them to easily defend the area. Archers lined the stairs leading up to the private rooms. If it came down to it, this is where they would make their last stand. "I want the pike men over there!" William directed. "You archer make sure your arrow buckets are full. Send more blankets down to the Southern gate, they need them for bandages." He didn't want to be here when his friends outside risked so much more but he knew that someone had to make sure that what they fought for was well protected.