The Coastal Fortress of Wessex
Six thousand elite Eastern soldiers had already been butchered in the opening days of the siege, now, the remaining forty-four thousand imperial invaders had established a massive encampment several miles inland.
They had precisely calculated the maximum trajectory of the Iron Empire's heavy siege mortars and entrenched themselves just beyond that invisible boundary.
Looking down into the courtyards of the fortress, Ragnar analyzed the two thousand traditional Wessex infantrymen who had been mustered to defend their home. The sight deeply offended his sensibilities regarding resource management.
These local levies were a haphazard collection of undernourished farmers and desperate tradesmen. They wore hardened leather tunics that would barely stop a rusted knife, and they carried splintering ash spears or crude iron axes.
There was no uniformity, no standardized equipment, and absolutely no industrial efficiency in their ranks.
