They emptied the castle's veins to stop them.
From the high, fractured walls, the defenders shot arrows, hurled stones, and threw anything that could maim, slow, or kill the relentless wave advancing toward the fortress's doom. They even copied the invaders' own instruments, raining down pots of oil on the massed bodies below before lighting them up, watching the slick human forms writhe into charcoal sacks after a shrilling dance.
But just as the defenders learned a better way to oppose them, the invaders never stopped shoving a new spike into the wheels of the defense.
The first day, the attack ended only when the demoralized assaulters became too scared to extinguish the flaming siege stakes, fearing the arrows and stones coming their ways.
