The order was quickly written, and a new mage was called in to reinforce the barrier over the top of the Keep the moment that the guns started to fire.
For a few tense minutes, they waited, and then the barrage of cannon fire from the walls began. It was coming from all sides of the tower, letting Dominic know that while they didn’t report any attacks over the evening, the enemy had moved their forces to surround the city, and not just to focus on the North wall.
That was a questionable call if they didn’t know how many defenders were in Burton. But if they knew that they had a significant advantage, they might be hoping to spread the defenders so thin that they couldn’t effectively protect every front.
They should know that the gunpowder had been spoiled as well.
But that reminded Dominic.
"What did they do to spoil the gunpowder? They didn’t pilfer a portion of it to use against the Keep later, did they?" He asked.
The elder son of the Marquis shook his head. "No, it’s all there, and all the kegs were full. They poured them full of wine from barrels that were stored in the same area for soldier rations."
Princess Alexis made an annoyed sound, and then shook her head.
"The wine will take forever to dry out from the gunpowder, and I have no idea how bad the leftover product will be. I wouldn’t count on salvaging any of it. But that makes it even more important that we keep up the rotation of mages along the walls.
Let them think that we have more powder than they knew about, and that we’re not shy about using it.
If we’re lucky, they’ll think that their infiltrator lied to them and failed their mission, and that might change their plans.
The longer that we delay, the better. We’re still waiting on strategic reports from the rest of the Royal Family, and I expect that there will be multiple other attacks this morning.
When they tried to assassinate us last time, they hit all of us in the same afternoon. I would expect no less of them this time." She insisted.
The Marquis nodded. "They have been building their armies for some time. But my immediate concern is whether they’re acting alone. If it is just Dagos, there is some hope that we might be able to deal with them. If they have teamed up with West Keria, the number of troops that they will be able to field will be far beyond anything that we can hope to handle."
West Keria was a small nation to the east of Dagos, who shared a border with a portion of northern Cygnia. While they weren’t as advanced with their techno magic as Cygnia was, they were known to have a large number of mages and witches among their population.
And they had a much higher population than most of their neighbours.
"Are we not concerned about them teaming up with Axbridge? They might not share a border with us, but they have a large border with Dagos." The younger son asked.
Dominic shook his head. "No, I was there for a number of years. They took so many new serfs from Wavemates that at one point Dagos had to send envoys requesting that they stop accepting refugees from the former capital as it was becoming depopulated.
Things are tense between them, and I believe that Axbridge might be eyeing portions of southern Dagos for themselves. The locals haven’t been particularly welcoming to the northerners, and half of what used to be Wavemates is still abandoned a decade after the conquest."
The Marquis snapped his fingers. "So, that’s why they called you a criminal and wanted you turned over. You were an agitator within their new territories."
Dominic laughed. There were so many foreign soldiers in every former Wavemates village that survived the war that nobody even dared to breathe freely, much less openly rebel.
"No, they said that because I am a Wavemates Dragonkin, not merely because I’m from Wavemates." Dominic explained, with a tap on his short golden horns.
"Well, mostly. I am sure that they have at least a few reasons to call me a threat to society."
Like the day that Dagos invaded, the months after that as Dominic fought his way west into Axbridge, or just this last year, when he made his way to Cygnia. He had been caught more than once by soldiers, and he had exactly zero sympathy for them.
Princess Alexis kept her face carefully neutral as she listened to Dominic’s excuses. There was no doubt in her mind that those casual words covered up many brutal deaths, but he still looked so wholesome and innocent.
He really did remind her of a favourite protagonist in one of the Romance books she had read.
Such wonderful men only existed in books, but he wasn’t too bad, she thought. At the very least, he wasn’t a lecherous pig corrupted by privilege.
Plus, he blushed so adorably when you teased him.
Dominic had no idea that she thought such things about him, and assumed that her soft smile was a result of a mutual lack of concern for the welfare of Dagos occupation army soldiers.
The Marquis, on the other hand, had taken the interaction in a completely opposite direction, and thought that Dominic’s vague description and Princess Alexis’ amusement paired to mean that Dominic really was guilty of war crimes too unspeakable to be brought up in decent company.
It wasn’t unheard of for Nobles to do horrible things for the good of their nation, and Dragonkin aged slowly.
It was better not to ask, he decided.
Slowly, the sound of cannons was met with the sound of returned fire, as the Dagos occupation force realized that their attempt to settle this without a battle had been denied.
Flaming boulders and clay casks full of burning oil were lobbed into the city, and the locals sprung into action, using bags of sand to douse the fires on clay tiled roofs before they spread too far.
But that would not last long. Fire was pernicious, and eventually, it would find a foothold.