A hazy morning dawned. Wenzel had been awake for some time already, but had forced himself to lie down for a while longer. He had actually always been able to sleep well over the past year since he always had his soul with him. Today, however, he had had trouble sleeping, given the fact that their greatest task to date was now imminent: the capture of the enemy capital. The lad got dressed and finally stepped out of his temporary quarters in the encampment in full armour. Everywhere was already bustling with activity and the noise of siege equipment being built could be heard. The morning air was fresh, but filled with an abundance of unpleasant odours, which was only logical in the current situation. Brahm was here too, of course, and said to him, "Let's see what we can do to help." Together they made their way to the army leaders' tent. Neither Theodor, nor August, not even Ulrich, were there. So, he went up the small hill right next to it, from where he could look out over the wide plain around the city.

  The operation was in full swing. The men were busy digging trenches on all sides, zigzagging their way closer and closer to the stone walls. These "passages" served as protection from enemy archers and began just outside the range of enemy fire. They also built wooden palisades alongside them to provide additional protection. In his right field of vision, Wenzel saw how Tassilo had the cannons they had dragged along brought in. They were quite a lot. At the same time, the powder kegs were unloaded and prepared. To the left, the wizard saw the master builders and carpenters at work. They were building trebuchets, catapults and siege towers. "What a huge undertaking!" the lad thought to himself, but understood that there was probably no other way. His two bodyguards were also impressed by the sight that presented itself to them. When they spotted where the others were, they headed in their direction.

  Ulrich was busy checking the construction of the siege engines and was discussing something with those in charge. Theodor had just returned from his ride to the men at the inner siege ring, which was being erected. He rode up to them, becoming slower, and then got out of the saddle. "Morning, lads!" - "Morning!" Brahm didn't beat about the bush. "What tasks can we take on, Field Marshal?" He thought for a moment: "You and Wenzel? Hmmm, I don't know." Then August suddenly burst into the conversation out of nowhere, wherever he had come from: "Wenzel better stay in the background. We can't risk anything happening to the Chosen One." They had the impression that Theodor agreed with him. What he was saying did make sense after all. Nevertheless, Ferenc took the floor for once: "The boss certainly wants to help in some way. Besides, I think he is allowed to make his own decisions." - "He's still a child! It's our job and duty to protect him," replied August.

  Then Theodor signalled with his hand that he wanted to say something, and everyone cowered. He turned directly to the boy: "What do you want to help with, Wenzel?" The mage thought about it for a moment and then replied: "I want to help our troops in some way. Perhaps I'd like to be part of a strike force that is sent to repel enemy attacks." The field marshal laughed. You could see that it was actually joy on his face and not malice. "There’s just no way!" August complained, of course. But Theodor replied: "I can see that his heart drives him to be a leader. If that's the case, I won't stand in the way." Enraged, August replied in a loud tone: "That's completely irresponsible, Theodor! I know that's the way you are and think, but the boy is not a warrior like you. The risk of him dying is far too high!" The leader calmly replied: "If he really has been chosen by God, then he won't die." With that everything had been said. August gave up and limped away in a huff.

  "Don't get too worked up over it," Brahm then said to the boy. "August only means well. Besides, from what I've heard from the others, he's apparently got pretty big problems with his leg. They say it's causing him a lot of pain. I don't understand why he would want to put himself through this by coming along anyway." Wenzel didn't know what to say to that. A few days later, the three of them were part of a cavalry troop that was to intervene in an emergency. A lot of time passed. First it were days, but they soon turned into weeks. Bit by bit, the soldiers worked their way closer and closer to the fortress city, while the siege equipment was completed. A few times the defenders rode out of the city and attacked the besiegers who were digging ever closer to the walls. However, apart from a few casualties, these attacks did not achieve much. They took place further to the north, at the übel Bastion, so Wenzel's troop was not sent there. For the time being, our mage had little to do and could only watch as the siege became ever tighter and the defenders' forces ever weaker. There was also another attempt by relief troops to break through the siege from the outside. However, this also took place in the north-west and had absolutely no chance of succeeding.

  Finally, all hell began to break loose. As soon as the besiegers were within firing range of the ramparts, the endless bombardment with arrows, but also with the oh-so-rare firearms. "Boom, boom!" the first cannonballs crashed into the Martyrs' palisades. Or not really, to be precise. They had all this work done by the "people's army", while the fighters of the Martyrs' Brigades were held back for the really important tasks. Their army, which had now also positioned all its cannons, returned fire. 80 cannons, as he had been told, were now firing non-stop at the walls of the city. It only had a limited effect. Unfortunately. The reason for this was the massive bastions, which could not be brought down so easily. Tassilo focussed the barrage fire on the Lion Bastion, which suffered increasingly massive damage over time, but still could not be "conquered". The stench of gunpowder and blood filled the air. Even the trebuchets and catapults were now hurling stones endlessly at the wall or directly into the city itself! The battle continued. Every day now, the loud thunder of cannons could be heard everywhere from both sides, while the tunnel diggers were now working their way intensively towards the wall. There were not one or two, but countless tunnels being dug at the same time.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  On the south-west side, the siege towers had finally been completed. These were pulled towards the Zeer Bastion with oxen. Progress with these was very slow. The siege towers actually served the purpose of being able to fire at the enemies on the walls, not necessarily to storm the wall with them. But this idea failed miserably. When the towers were close enough to the ramparts, the defenders hurled some kind of liquid at the towers. It was oil! Then they shot them with fire arrows and you could guess the rest. The siege towers were alight like torches. More weeks passed after that and both sides slowly began to run out of black powder for the cannons. What the Martyrs didn’t run out of, however, were the soldiers, who continued to advance, in spite of some heavy losses. They would soon be under the city walls. The end was in sight.

  Wenzel, however, had completely different thoughts about all this. Many of their projectiles flew over the wall and destroyed the buildings behind it. He was worried that this could damage or even destroy the library, where the knowledge of magic collected by the Melgarions could be found. He had also had a conversation about this with Theodor himself, but there was nothing the man could do to guarantee the safety of a building in this scenario. Consequently, the wizard had the idea that he could fly over the wall unnoticed at night and either check whether the books were safe or perhaps even take them with him. After all, he had the ability to simply levitate them and take them out of Greifenburg by air. A daring idea, but in Wenzel's mind a good one. Of course, he wouldn't tell anyone about it or ask for permission. This mission would probably be too dangerous for the others and they would forbid it. He would simply go through with it without telling anyone.

  That night, however, the boy had a dream. He flew over the gigantic walls of Meglarsbruck. Everything was dark and only the firelight of the guards' torches could be seen. It was really cold and he couldn't see exactly where he was flying to, let alone where the library was. Then it shot through him like a bolt of lightning! "Ahh"!" he cried out as a sharp pain passed through him. An arrow had hit him in the body and he began to tumble down into the dark alleyways of the town. He slowed his fall, but still hit the cobblestones of a street with a bang. Then he grabbed his wound and realised that it was bleeding profusely. He was in shock. Was that it? Was he going to die like this? Then it was suddenly over. Wenzel woke up from his sleep and knew immediately that this was another one of his detailed visions. Therefore, he decided not to attempt flying over the city wall.

  The next day saw his first mission. As he was sharpening his sword on the whetstone, Brahm came rushing over. "Enemy attack at the Lion Gate!" Wenzel jumped up and hurried off. Their troop immediately set off and galloped towards the regime's raiding party attacking her men in the trenches. They were there in no time at all and started being fired at from the walls. Their cavalry troop crashed into the enemy with mounted lances, causing them to suffer a couple casualties. However, they did not give up immediately and a skirmish ensued. Wenzel was further back and not directly in the fight. He took on the task of deflecting as many of the arrows, that were fired by the archers from the battlements, with telekinesis. This was the first time anyone from the enemy had ever seen anything like it. Finally, the royal troops began to retreat, which was also the signal for Wenzel's troop to turn back. But when they rode back, the lad was not alert enough. He only heard a brief hiss and then it had happened. An arrow had pierced his lower leg!

  He pulled himself together and rode the rest of the way back himself. A worried Ferenc and Brahm got him off his horse and had him treated by a doctor straight away. The doctor said that the injury wasn’t serious. According to him, the muscle would heal again. A few minutes later, August showed up. Wenzel was incredibly pleased to be able to listen to his expected lecturing.....not! "Didn't I tell you! Well, you're lucky nothing worse happened. Better leave it alone now!" The mage at least gave in to the latter. For the rest of the siege, he would just sit by as a spectator until his leg had healed. Nevertheless, he hadn’t received a particularly bad wound. The reason why Wenzel had convinced himself, that he had to be involved here in some way, was that he felt the urge to make his own decisions and not always be dictated everything by others.

  Then the long-awaited day finally arrived. When the men had sufficiently undermined the wall between the Lion Bastion and the Iron Bastion, they set fire to the wooden supports and made their escape as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the best units of the Martyrs were on standby, ready for battle. Smoke rose from the tunnels, the defenders on the ramparts shouted and became anxious. Finally, it happened. The ground beneath the thick wall gave way and it collapsed.

  Immediately afterwards, the Martyrs’ Brigades rushed to the wall, led by the field marshal himself. The pile of rubble on the wall was low enough to be overcome, but the regime soldiers had not yet given up. Many fled, but a very large number still remained at their posts and continued to fire down from the bastions. The Martyrs climbed over the remains of the wall and were immediately greeted by a group of defenders. Victory had to be hard fought! The men let out a war cry and, following the man with the bear helmet, threw themselves into the fray. It was a bloody battle and many good men fell. But eventually the ranks of their opponents began to give way. More and more pressure was applied and more blood flowed, until finally it could no longer be held and the defenders who were still left retreated and then fled. Some of the archers on the walls were still not letting up, but an increasing number of them ran away when they saw the rest of the besiegers' forces approaching to march into the city.

  It was done! Greifenburg had fallen. It would still take a while before all of their forces had surrendered, but the entry of the revolutionary forces could no longer be prevented. It was a hard-fought victory with many casualties on both sides. And yet again, Theodor came out of the fight completely unscathed. This man was invicible!