Toqa-Timur POV
Nine days.
The ditch in front of the south gate had not changed. Six meters wide and two deep, the sides cut straight down into packed clay.
The south walkway had between thirty and forty archers at any given hour. The towers above the gate had four men each, and they had been watching the perimeter since the first morning of the siege.
The sorties were what kept Toqa from sleeping cleanly.
The garrison attacked them twice a day, alternating the east and west postern doors so the siege could not settle into a rhythm. Each one came out in a group of around thirty riders, hit a section of the perimeter at close range, and pulled back through the door before the riders on either side could close.
Three minutes from the door opening to the door closing.
Every time, Toqa's men lost three to five. Sometimes more.
The count across nine days was seventy-three dead, and twice that wounded.
