H Warner Munn Merlins Godson

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Have you forgotten how Ovid, in speaking of the leaden missiles used by slingers, writes:
Hermes was fired, as in the clouds he hung; So the cold bullet that with jury slung From Balearic
engines, mounts on high, Glows in the whirl, and burns along the sky.
That gave me the idea, but the composition of the fiery material is old. Archimedes used this same
preparation in another form to inflame the Roman ships at the siege of Syracuse, and Hannibal used it in
still another form when he split the rocks of the Alps and let his armies and elephants through. No, it is
not new, only forgotten and that is well: else war might be too terrible.
Other missiles were now coming out of the fires, and the engineers began a persistent dropping upon the
North Fort. One by one, they flew and fell, these awesome dangerous products of Myrdhinn s
lore terrible, hairy stars, soaring in the black night sky, bringing death, terror and destruction in their
train.
The ground shook constantly, houses were blazing within, but the Mias steadfastly refused to give up,
and dawn came and found them still in possession and strong enough to hurl our attack into the ravine
again and pile it up there in confusion and utter rout.
At the same time, Aztlan, Nor-um-Bega, and a large force of Chichamecans charged across the plain
and reached the walls, but were forced to retire in a shower of arrows, atlatl darts and slingstones,
leaving many dead and most of their courage behind them.
Tolteca held the river safe and did not break ranks to attack, there being an almost perpendicular earth
wall before them which it would have been suicide to scale.
Now that daylight had come, we ceased throwing Myrdhinn s awesome missiles, though the ballistae
kept on pounding the works with boulders, knocking great holes in the palisades, through which those
arrow engines that could discharge phalaricas managed to place those flaming javelins with fine precision
into both the North and Middle Forts.
We left the South Fort mostly untouched, hoping to take the other works first and drive the defenders out
into the lower section where they would be compactly crowded and at our mercy.
Again night came, and again the fire-balls flew and burst and scattered death. Sometime during those
hours, the North Fort was quietly evacuated and at dawn of the second day of this new horror of war, I
launched a half-hearted sally, with what remained of my Valiants, giving Man-who-burns-hair the
command and allowing him to carry the bronze eagle of the Sixth, that they might know courage.
I really expected it to be thrown back again, but an attempt had to be made or the whole siege must be
given up. Myrdhinn s fire-balls were gone!
On the contrary, it reached and went over the wall without facing a dart or stone. I saw the eagle wave
violently as its bearer danced on the firing-platform of the wall.
My trumpet caroled. Answering brays went up, and Aztlan and Nor-um-Bega poured into the North
Fort!
By midmorning we had all the force which had held the plain placed to best advantage inside the walls,
had set up a pair of ballistae to batter away the resistance ahead and were ready to advance along the
isthmus.
As you can see by the map, two crescent-shaped mounds had long ago been built to barricade the
narrowest section of the isthmus and protect the Middle Fort. These had been recently joined by a log
wall several feet thick, its components inextricably tangled together, and sharpened stakes pointing out at
us from every cranny.
Here the Mian warriors defied us and our artillery. After an hour of stone-throwing which did little good
against this heap of splintered logs, we advanced, fought and retired with considerable loss.
Then I had a battering-ram constructed, but this only beat the logs more tightly together and our
adversaries laughed at us while they cut our engineers down.
I was wild at being held back by this paltry agger, and calling a meeting of tribunes, I asked for
suggestion.
Vicinius suggested using the testudo to reach the barricade and then a sudden sally. It seemed the only
/Thing to do. Nothing but a direct assault would carry it, for the position could not be flanked owing to
the steep declivities of loose and slippery earth which fell away on either side into the deep ravine.
So I instructed my picked Valiants, and in phalanxes three companies moved forward with shields hi
front, over our heads and at each side, all closely overlapping.
Above us, as we trotted, the boulders from the ballistae hummed and thudded into the twin mounds,
black with fighting-men.
Their darts and stones rattled on our tortoise sides like hail, but did little damage. Then, as we neared the
log wall, the engineers ceased firing lest we be struck. We charged, flinging down our shields upon the
spikes, and over this protection we reached the top.
Then the cry from our men might have been heard in Rome, as they broke ranks and, leaving cover,
came charging down to support us.
We desperately needed help, being greatly outnumbered. The fighting was furious. It was hack and kill,
pull out the blade and dodge, recover, poise and stab with pugio and gladius against the thrust of long
lances. Reeling under a rain of blows, we fought and fell. Vicinius died there, and Intinco the Caledonian
killed his slayer and fell dead across his friend s body and women were to mourn them both hi
Adriutha.
I had less than twenty men around me when our men came up the wall like a wave and, cheering,
surrounded us and drove the Mias back, back, fiercely contesting the way until they were pressed against [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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