Free Dragonfly Falling by Adrian Tchaikovsky Page A

of it. They had their men flying
over the wall amidst the rocks.’
    ‘Sounds risky for the
men,’ Salma said, studying the tents, making out what he could with his keen
eyes.
    ‘A good few of the
incomers got squashed, no doubt, but nobody seemed to care on either side,’
Parops confirmed. ‘They were frothing mad, attacking everything along the
length of the wall itself, or just charging off into the city in bands of eight
or ten. Shields and a chitin cuirass was all they had, most of them, and
javelins, and that fiery thing they do with their hands. They didn’t seem like
proper soldiers, to be honest – more like a rabble.’
    ‘A rabble is what they
were,’ Salma confirmed. ‘The Wasps call them Hornets, but they’re just Wasps
really. We saw a lot of them in the Twelve-Year War when they invaded my own
people’s lands. They’re from the north-Empire, nothing but hill-savages. Your
average Wasp is a touchy fellow at the best of times, but the Hornets are
downright excitable.’
    ‘And clearly
expendable,’ Nero added.
    ‘Right,’ confirmed
Salma. ‘So what happened?’
    ‘Well, we had
crossbowmen on the walls, and line soldiers defending the artillery,’ Parops
explained. ‘Their first charge, coming with all that rock and lead, took its
toll, but we knew they were a flying kinden, so we had ranks of crossbowmen
stationed beyond the walls as well. Any that lingered on the battlements or
tried to press into the city were picked off. We think the toll was about four
hundred of them, in all, and just thirty-seven of ours. Most of those fell to
their artillery and first charge, too. After that we were well dug in.’
    ‘And are you calling it
a victory?’ Salma asked him.
    ‘Opinion is divided,’
Parops admitted. ‘Some who fought on the walls say it was, but I, who was just
watching from inside here, say not. They had their tacticians out, carefully
seeing how it went, so I’m suggesting to my superiors that they’ll do better
next time.’
    ‘Wise man, good advice,’
the Dragonfly told him.
    ‘So what are we supposed to do in the meantime?’ Totho asked. ‘We can’t
just sit here. We have to get word to Stenwold.’
    ‘The city is sealed,’
Parops said sadly. ‘That’s the one thing we and the Wasps seem to agree on, as
we’re not letting anyone out, and neither are they. If you left without
permission from the Royal Court you’d be shot by our crossbows, and even if you
weren’t, they have flying patrols on the lookout all the time.’
    ‘They’ll try to recover
the broken engines after dark,’ Totho said suddenly. ‘They’ll send slaves to do
it, probably.’ He had taken Salma’s place at the slit window. ‘Your
artillerists should keep the ranges, and keep watch.’
    ‘Night artillery’s
always a challenge,’ Parops said. ‘I’ve said it, though. Let us hope they take
it up.’
    Totho frowned at that
‘I’ve said it,’ and then realized what the man meant, remembering the mindlink
that the Ancestor Art gave to all Ants. It united them within their own walls
and equally divided them from their brothers in other cities.
    Skrill finished another
mouthful of bread, and took a swig of beer from the nearby jug. ‘I ain’t
fighting no siege,’ she said.
    ‘They wouldn’t have you
anyway,’ Nero told her.
    ‘Now I ain’t good enough
for your siege?’
    ‘We fight together, as
one,’ Parops explained. ‘Foreigners on the walls would only get in the way. No
offence, but that’s how it is.’
    Skrill shrugged.
    ‘On the other hand,’
Nero said, ‘if the walls do come down, then we’re all invited.’
    ‘Did their engines break
through anywhere, when they turned them on the walls?’ Totho asked. He closely
examined the arrowslit, seeing how its flared socket was set into a wall three
feet thick at least.
    ‘A few stone-scars but
nothing structural,’ Parops said. ‘They’re going to need a bigger stick to get
through these walls. Nero tells me my kinden