Dwarven cannonballs whistled overhead, arcing over the gray banners of the Baron's retinue before impacting against the walls of Castle Bathory with a thunderous crash. Waiting in the middle of the main thoroughfare running through the city up to the citadel's northern gate were Ulrek Bathory and his knights, riding out at the very front of a massive army snaking through the main road all the way back to the city's gate. Within shouting distance of the citadel's walls, Ulrek and his retinue watched the cannonballs crash down. Dust and bits of stone scattered from the impacts and shouting could be heard from the battlements. "Fill up that breach, men!" "Give the Usurper another volley!" Archers on the walls of the castle drew longbows and loosed a small volley of arrows at the Baron's army. Some forty or fifty arrows arced up into the sky and fell well short of Baron's forces, falling harmlessly upon the main road. The bodkins bounced and scattered across the cobblestones, with a few coming to a rest just a few paces from the hooves of Ulrek's horse. The vampire's armored mask fell to the ineffectual arrows at his feet, then back up to the walls of the Castle some two or three hundred yards ahead. "Still too far!" An archer cried. "Bastard's just out of arrow range! Save your arrows!" Through the veiled eyes of his somber-faced mask, Ulrek scanned across the ramparts of the castle. The citadel's walls were thicker still than the already-redoubtable outer walls surrounding the city. Even so, Lord Goutfoot's guns had already punched a sizeable hole through the upper portion of a segment of the wall near the gate, leaving a scree pile at the base of the wall that ran up close to the breach. The defenders had no intention of surrendering this wall, and even now busied themselves piling heavy stones and rubble up into the hole to close up the breach. Edward's forces had congregated around the gate and the damaged segment of the wall in anticipation of the inevitable offensive through the breached walls, though archers and token forces could be seen all along the ramparts in order to deter attackers from using ladders to scale undefended sections of the citadel. "Won't be long now," Kharald Halfbeard noted over the report of another round of shots from the cannons. "The defenders are making a worthy effort trying to plug up that breach, but without mortar it'll be easily dislodged. The ogres will break through easily and make a terrific mess of the shield wall waiting for us on the other side. My men will follow them through and after that, this becomes a hunt for Edward in the castle. I'd advise sending men up to guard the high windows and the spires; we wouldn't want Edward trying to throw himself out of a window once he sees all is lost." Ulkrek watched another pair of cannonballs impact. One cannonball sailed over the wall and crashed into the castle, punching a hole into the main tower of the citadel, the other found its mark against the wall and pulverized a battlement and the guards positioned behind it. An avalanche of bloodied rubble tumbled down into the scree pile. "Goutfoot's aim leaves much to be desired," said Ulrek, noting the damage the last volley caused to the castle. "The moment you are able, begin the attack. I do not trust the Dwarf lord to leave the castle standing for much longer." Before Kharald could respond, the wind kicked up again, sending the banners of Ulrek and his retinue into a furious flutter. As the wind tugged at the capes of Ulrek and his retinue, the knights' horses suddenly to whinny nervously. The knights looked around, trying to see what had startled their steeds, and then noticed yelling and shouting from the rear of their army. "What's gotten into them?" Asked one of Ulrek's knights. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlsmTkWnyyg]"GOD WILLS IT!"[/url] Out of the side streets and alleys radiating out from the main road erupted a teeming and furious mob, immediately surrounding Ulrek and his knights. Halfbeard and the Baron's knights drew their swords and engaged the frenzied attackers, pouring out of tenements and shops and immediately charging headlong into the horsemen without any regard for their own well-being. Daggers, kitchen knives, sickles, sharpened trowels, and all other manner of improvised weapons flashed out from the hands of the attackers. Halfbeard and the knights could barely draw their swords before the mob was upon them. Unarmored and poorly armed and trained, the knights cut the peasants down easily enough. But their fearlessness and numbers were alarming. Ulrek watched an old woman armed with a sharpened fire iron charge through a pair of knights and thrust the iron into the chest of another knight's steed. The horse collapsed with a gurgling scream, sending the knight tumbling down onto the cobblestones. A wounded attacker, already bleeding out from a wound sustained by Halfbeard, crawled over to the unhorsed knight and plunged a fork down into his throat. The same savagery was taking place all along the Baron's path through the city. Farther back, the yeomen and levies were taking the brunt of the assault. Every other shop or house was suddenly disgorging several enraged paupers, attacking the nearest soldier with such fervor and hatred. From the second and third floors of shops and tenements, burning furniture was cast out down onto the Baron's forces below. Even the infirm who could not fight participated by casting heavy objects down on the heads of soldiers from second story windows. The entire city had been turned against Ulrek. Pressing the paupers into such a spirited and effective ambush was incredible feat - a feat that Ulrek would have never imagined his brother being able to accomplish. Perhaps Edward was a more talented tactician that Ulrek had given him credit for. Or, as Ulrek was beginning to suspect, perhaps this counterattack was [i]not[/i] the work of Edward Bathory. "Your majesty, our levies are being overwhelmed! If we do not go back and support them, they will break!" Ulrek looked back at his army winding out behind him. Savage fighting was occurring all throughout the city in a hundred ugly skirmishes along the main road. The fighting was intense, far more intense than untrained peasant levies could be expected to be subjected to and survive. The knight was not mistaken; the levies would soon rout if they weren't slaughtered outright first. But Castle Bathory, just two hundred yards ahead of him, was irresistible. Levies be damned, Ulrek would have his justice. "Leave the levies," Ulrek ordered, drawing Pthaalma from its sheath. "Send the ogres and ladders and everything else against the castle walls at once." "To the wall, men! To the wall!" "Ladders boys!" Halfbeard shouted to his mercenaries. "Time to earn those golden vespers!" A tide of mercenaries coursed around Ulrek's horsemen, crushing the hundred or so maddened citizens attacking the front of the army. With shields raised over their heads and wooden ladders in tow, they charged toward the walls of Castle Bathory. As the ogres lumbered up toward the walls and renewed arrowfire from the defenders rained down, Ulrek raised his sword and pointed it at the castle, directing his knights to charge after them. The battle for control of the Lands Under Shadow had begun in earnest.