Unnerve Endings
The wailing just never ceased.
The fourth day of the siege at Ironshade Citadel had drawn to a close with the fading light, but the screaming continued all throughout the night. Not the pained cries of injury and aid, though those were indeed plentiful. Nor the searing shriek of magic or siege engine, for the absence of any moonlight hampered long range tactics. Not even the common epithets and threats shouted from ramparts and across battle lines were expressed, for any such attempts were lost amid the endless cacophony. The screaming, the incessant wailing, came from the rocks themselves, the very stones which were crafted into the bulwarks of the Citadel, and the energies behind the rock wailers were malicious indeed.
The concept was cunning, and the timing defined perfection. The Ironshade spellshapers had ordered silence across the ramparts and the defensive positions of the Citadel instead of the usual caterwauling and taunts. The studied minds professed that a single, well placed diversion could swing the entire tide of battle, perhaps even break the siege. The only concern lay in the quantity of arcane force invested into the unique defense with no guarantee of effect upon the invading forces. The spellshapers watched with varied degrees of angst as the invaders roared toward the walls on that first morning of the siege.
Whatever doubts they may have entertained dissolved the moment the first catapult barrage crashed into the ancient fortress. The agonized shrieks of the stonework blasted forth into the charging ranks of the attackers with more potency than the magi dared hope. Almost the entirety of the surging force hesitated, stuttering in their advance with flinching surprise. The initial impact was momentary, but the effect cascaded throughout the advancing army. Front lines faltered and were shoved and trampled by the charging horde. Siege towers skewed as the shrieking from the walls continued, now amplified by the cheers and jeers of the defending soldiers.
The first wave of invaders was decimated, but the siege continued. So did the screaming. Each time a scaling hook or ladder was thrown up, each time a siege payload was delivered, the walls crowed and cackled their responses. The spell shapers had even gone to great lengths to vary the auditory assault. Pained screams, the wailing of children, lustful moans, curses thrown and barked insults were among the cadre of verbiage hurled at the attackers, and a great many of them were in their own tongue!
No rest from the relentless assault was evident, and the effects were visibly demoralizing the siege. As the army withdrew from the walls on the fourth evening, their spirits were great distances from the heart of the battle. The people of Ironshade knew that such tactics would not hold out forever, nor likely ever work as well again, but for now, the battle was won, and they hoped to turn the momentum of the rock wailers outward from the Citadel and push a new wedge into the heart of the great war.