Cyrdic would agree with the old fashioned way of siege warfare. A good fire and some boiling oil would do nicely here. Though they would also need some cauldrons and some heavy gloves to wear to pour it with. And then he had a thought. Had Camilla been in a siege before, or had she read of it? He'd heard of Tilean wars from rumors. They didn't fight beasts or great creatures often, but city state against city state. He wanted to ask her about it, but he hardly had the breath for it. 

As he went to lift the next stone, Camilla laid her hand on his arm, and he stopped. His face full of youth once more, with how he looked at her, though his features were still quite rugged. She had a way of calming him and making him weak with a whim, and if she wasn't someone he trusted, he would be annoyed at it. But actually, he felt warmly of it. "You got it," he grunted, dropping the rock. The heavy object cracked into the ground, and he drank the water they had greedily, stopping reluctantly after three gulps. 

He was also reluctant to break away from her. Her kiss sent sparks through him, and he wrapped his strong arms around her as he kissed her back. Until he heard the roar of beastmen, and he gave her a lopsided smile. Funnily enough, he felt like telling the Beastmen to fuck off so he could have some alone time with Camilla, as if they'd listen or dare incur his Ostland wrath. But since that wasn't going to happen, the next best thing to do was kill them. 

He would enjoy that too. 

"It's the life we've chosen," he said with a shrug, and pressed his forehead to hers for a warm moment, before the two broke away and gathered up what weapons and tools they had. 

When the first Beastmen emerged from the forest, they ran out into the clearing only to slow down slightly, as the old tower looked abandoned, not a human in sight. Cyrdic had suggested they hunker down for a bit until the beasts loped past the treeline to make them easier, less suspecting targets. Camilla gazed through a hole in the stonework, and at her mark, Cyrdic would lift himself up with his long barrel pistol, and fire into the mass of confused chaos spawn. 

There were dozens of the beasts, with Elk heads, Bear muzzles, Wolf ears, and mixtures in between. Horns jutted and swayed like trees in a hurricane above the throng. Some had human skulls on their necklaces, and others had ears twined in string. 

Cyrdic's first shot punched through a deer headed Ungor, the beast dropping, its jagged spear falling out of its nerveless fingers. Cyrdic quickly went to reload as the horde cried out in outrage and bloodlust, and tramped up the hill in a howling wave, brandishing weapons and third arms. 

"Where do you want to go after we take the vial to Altdorf?" Cyrdic asked. He smiled grimly from behind the wall. Having reloaded, he jumped up again and took a chunk out of the chest of a gor. The soldier was speaking as if them leaving here alive was a foregone conclusion. Perhaps to keep Camilla's, and his own, spirits up. "Nuln? Marienburg?" He said. "I've never been south of Talabecland. Maybe take a ship?"
[@Penny]