Dimitri knew that the final moment was coming.

Now Wright, with a thick bandage on his head, sat on the edge of a low wall and fell asleep.

In the early hours of the morning, the soldiers once again repelled the Kujit attack. The Kujit knew that the people in the castle were about to run out, and the frequency of attacks increased, sometimes more than two times a day.

Shortly after the end of last winter, Fort Lundia was besieged. For the first month, the Kugit postponed their attacks after repeated attacks had been repulsed. One morning, probably one day at the end of March, Dimitri woke up to find most of the Kugits in the open. The Kugit drove their cattle and their people to the west, and Dimitri knew that they had bypassed the fort of Lundia and headed inland.

After dozens of days of delay, the people in the rear must have known about the Kugit invasion long ago. Moreover, since the beginning of the war, General Clyde, the commander of the garrison at Fort Lundia, ordered a large amount of animal waste to be set off every day, causing black smoke to rise into the sky. Before the war, the soldiers had tried to see the black smoke on the high ground in the Amir Forest when the weather was good, and Fort Lundia set up several observation posts in the forest, once these outposts saw the black smoke, they would send people to reconnoiter the situation of Fort Lundia, and if there was any change in Fort Lundia, these people would immediately notify the villages and towns along the way to fortify, and report all the way back to Dehrim.

When the Kugit appeared, the soldiers were waiting for spring to come. At that time, the pastures were already green, and the sky was high. The temperature is starting to get warmer, and an afternoon of sleep at the base of the sunny wall is a rare pleasure. Farmers would set up makeshift tents on the edge of the castle to sell some of their new produce. Wright went back and bought some freshly brewed cider and cheap game when he was fine. In order to obtain the care of the officers, the peasants gave a fair price.

A black mushroom from the forest was a favorite of the soldiers, and it was stewed with meat for an afternoon, and the aroma could drive everyone crazy. When Dimitri was in his hometown of Ilindaha, he often went to pick the mushrooms in early spring, and Dimitri, who had not been cared for since childhood, practiced good cooking skills by himself. Dimitri always looked around when he and Wright were fine, bringing back everything that could be turned into something delicious.

One day, a farmer bribed Wright with a smoked ham. Wright pretended to push back, but the light food in the army made Wright beat like a drum, and finally he gave dozens of copper plates to take the ham away. Such a cheap price is almost equivalent to giving it away for nothing. Wright bought sun-dried turnip slices, some delicious stalks, and some small dried fish from the merchant all the way, and hurried back to the castle. The people of Letto told Dimitri: "Come back quickly, there is something important to discuss".

Dimitri knew that Wright was on good terms with my father, and thought that something had happened to Roddock, so he immediately ran back from the handover. When Dimitri pushed open the door out of breath, Wright was adding firewood to a hanging pot that was boiling. Dimitri anxiously asked Wright what was going on. Wright didn't look like he had something important, and said it wasn't a big deal, just invited Dimitri over for a meal. Dimitri's face was full of helplessness: "I'm on duty today, I thought something important happened, I said that I left my post early because of a back pain, if the general sees it?" What is it? ”

Dimitri approached curiously, and his eyes suddenly flashed with longing: he saw a table full of fresh vegetables, a basket of white bread, a few pieces of butter, a cheese party, a full wine bag, and a ham that looked great.

Wright was busy: "Hurry up, I've done my best to get these things done, and I'll leave the rest to you"

Dimitri didn't speak, took off his helmet and leather gloves, and picked up the wooden spoon on one side to stir the contents of the pot. Dimitri brought salt and some spicy spices from himself, and soon the two of them ate by the boiling pot.

Just after eating for a while, General Clyde's voice rang out from the door: "Sloin. Wright, I heard you have a cold, hell, the soldier also said that Dimitri was sick today, too, and I came to see you both. Dimitri was not in his room, some people said that they saw him go back and came to you again", Dimitri and Wright were dumbfounded, and before they could react, the door was pushed open, "Wright, are you there?"

The general was stunned by the two young officers who were feasting, and the three fell into an awkward silence. The general's brows furrowed, and he walked over step by step, kneeling over the heads of the two young men and staring carefully at the contents of the pot. Dimitri thought to himself, this time he was killed by Wright. General Clyde has always been strict in administering the army, and although he is very kind in private, this time Dimitri and Wright left their posts without permission, and no one would say a word more when they were punished. The general seemed to be thinking about something, and he looked deeply at Dimitri and Wright, the two young men ready for all punishment.

The general's throat moved, and it seemed that he had decided on a course of action. Dimitri prayed in his heart that it would be better to be punished for a vigil or something, and if he was punished with a public cane, he would be disgraced.

The general took a deep breath and said to Dimitri: "Is it enough for three people?" ”

That evening, the medic approached General Clyde: "Your Excellency, I have heard that you have been unwell this afternoon, and after inspecting the young officer's quarters, you have gone home to rest. It's still a cold spring, and I'm really worried about your health, and I've heard that the reason why you went to inspect the officers was because of the symptoms of typhoid fever among them. I hope to increase the amount of meat in their meals to strengthen the physique of young people, and this is my heartfelt advice, and I hope you will take it."

General Clyde thanked the medic for his loyalty, but did not agree to increase the amount of meat in the meal, "As far as I know, these little cubs are not very short of meat."

General Clyde slept comfortably, and in the evening, General Clyde, who had drunk wine, felt very thirsty. He got up and fumbled for the kettle, when suddenly he heard a panicked roar from the battlements in the distance, and it grew louder and louder. Clyde went to the window and saw that the lights were constantly turning on in the barracks below him, as if something had happened.

By the time the herald slammed open the General's room without knocking, General Clyde was already in uniform and waiting for a debriefing.

"General, the steppe people suddenly began to attack, as if they had come out of the ground."

Clyde had warned the prairie people who were roaming the border line a few days earlier. Clyde told them that if within a month there was still a tent on Fort Lundia, the Swadia patrol would look at every steppe man and arrest him. Clyde also wrote to several Kugit outposts on the border to get rid of the steppe people, but the Kugit border guards were slow to reply.

General Clyde summoned the scout captain: "How did the steppe people come here, didn't your people find out?" ”

"General! Since last month, there have been horse teams roaming around. These people come and go like the wind, and besides, we are only a mile from the border, and it is too easy for the Kugit to come here. My soldiers have a lot of information. Now it seems that nine times out of ten, those migrating steppe people were disguised by soldiers."

General Clyde had heard of this, too, and he expected the steppe people to have ill intentions, but he thought that these people were just exiles who had been harassed by the order of the Kugit Khanate, and did not regard them as regular troops.

Now, General Clyde is suddenly under siege. The Kugit were as swift as the icy wind on the steppe, and wanted to destroy the fort of Lundia in one fell swoop.

The sturdy and tall walls of Lundia came into play at this point, although the Kugit were miraculously equipped with a large number of siege weapons. For a long time, General Clyde wondered if the Roudoks were helping the Kujits, because the Kujits were carrying a large number of siege engines in the Rhodok style. It wasn't until Wright came over to report to Clyde about his year in college in Djerkara that Clyde felt sorry for Kujitt's scheming.

"There may be your classmates in there!" , Clyde said as he looked at the dense Kujit people under the city.

Fort Lundia was completely cut off from the surrounding villages and towns. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the fort of Lundia set off an alarm flame: in the highest tower of the fort, a pyre was lit, and the dazzling light pierced the deepest part of the night. Hopefully, the surrounding villages will react when they see the alarm.

The Kugit took advantage of the first night's attack, and the unprepared Swadia defenders were taken by surprise. Some of the sleepy night watch soldiers were killed in the outposts below the city before they could react. The Kugit must have been prepared, and their siege equipment may have been hidden in the surrounding forest in sections, improvised at night. Some sections of the battlements had even been controlled by the Kujits, and if it had not been for the timely arrival of reinforcements and the drive back of the Kujits, the walls of Lendiya Fort would have been taken almost as soon as the battle began.

After a night of hard fighting, the Svadias held the Kugit back at the cost of ninety casualties, a huge loss for a fortress of less than a thousand soldiers. The surrounding villages may be able to mobilize the same soldiers, but it is not around the autumn harvest, and no one would have thought that the Kugit would choose this time to attack. It would be nice if a thousand militiamen could have 200 people cross the siege and replenish the castle troops.

The Kugit took part in the assault with more than 900 troops, and this was only the vanguard. The dawn of the day was shattered by the sound of the hooves of the Kugit horses. The whole plain trembled under the obscenity of the Kujits. Wright suddenly felt a surge of excitement, especially when he saw a steady stream of Kugit cavalry converging in the distance.

At that time, a blood-colored morning sun was rising.