Chapter X: The Noose Tightens

Fall of 1104 to Spring of 1105

Opimius paced inside the Tribunal late that night. He had petitioned Magnus VII for support against this vile barbaric conqueror months ago and had received no reply. At first, he thought the message had not made it to Magnus, but after 5 more couriers were sent, he began to think that Magnus himself had no interest. After reports of Pomerlane himself going to Kalmar filtered in, now he was convinced that Magnus had betrayed him and left him to his fate. The fall of the Western Cities, the destruction of Posiedonia, and the surrender of Tsunami weighed heavily on his mind. Now, Atalanta herself was invested on land completely by a contravallation facing the city and a circumvallation protecting the rear of the besieging army. Every attempt at a raid on Pomerlanian strong points had come up short thanks to the brilliance of Pomeclius. In particular, the siege had nearly been broken during the winter of 1103 by a major attack on the Scylla Redoubt, only for Pomeclius to personally rally the men and drive the Republicans back across the river under heavy fire. The horrific losses suffered then had thus prevented any other such large-scale attacks.

It's not like all was lost, however, as the fleet would stop any attempt on the walls of Atalanta and that he had greatly improved the city's defenses during this time with counter batteries and reformed the army into a largely gunpowder-based role, a far cry from the outdated army that was destroyed at Pelusium. Every man in the city was now a soldier and every woman and child contributed to her defense too. He had also received nominal support from the Archduchess of Eliria, who was worried over the events in Feeshland.

But none of this was good enough to break the siege. Opimius lamented to his friend Narses "I do believe we will hold out indefinitely, but we will be left with more of a city state than the Republic we once had." Turning to look out the window "That is unacceptable, and we must find a way to drive this savage from our lands"

Example of what an investment looks like from another siege. Note the inner and outer walls protection the besiegers from attack in both directions. The Contravallation and Circumvallation at Atalanta was anchored by redoubts at key positions as well. Pomerlane always stressed the importance of having both Contravallations and Circumvallations at every siege, regardless of whether or not there was an active threat to his rear because it was always worth the extra effort to ensure the safety of his army.

On the other side of the river, Pomerlane was left in a similar position. Previous attempts at trying to sneak across the river at night had all ended in failure, as had attempts to bombard the city into submission. He had heard of the reports and had during his short time at the siege tried several of these efforts himself, but even with him there to direct it; they always failed. He had grown to admire Opimius, whom he had served aside when he worked as a mercenary for the Tarquinii years before. "This man is a lion! Any other of the Ryuguards would have given up or been duped by now, but Opimius stands like a hawk, ready for anything that comes his way." he remarked to his generals one day.

But Pomerlane still believed that conquest of the city was possible at this point and kept up optimism within his camp about the siege. Over the winter, he devised a plan with his chief engineer, a certain Marcus Lutatius Majorianus, to break the siege in an unorthodox way. Majorianus proposed that by diverting the Vesta river towards the north by the means of dams and sluices, Atalanta could become accessible by land. Majorianus told Pomerlane that this would be a time consuming and major engineering project to accomplish this feat, but his certainty about it's success convinced Pomerlane to proceed with the project.

A fictional representation of Pomerlane and Majorianus devising engineering plans. This likely isn't depicting the Siege of Atalanta but a future siege given the presence of Pomeclius and Sergius Cato and the women.

As Pomerlane was with Majorianus finishing the exact plan, an envoy from Eliria came in. "Pardon me, your Excellency, but her Imperial Highness has requested an audience with you at Pendoria whenever you can make it. She is much intrigued by the affairs taking place here and wishes to see her beloved cousin again." Pomerlane turned to the envoy and said, "You may tell the Archduchess that I will be there at once." Nodding his head, the Envoy left the tent. Pomerlane turned to Majorianus and said, "Majorianus, you have done a fine job with this plan, and I request you direct its construction personally with my cousin Pomeclius for now. I shall return shortly." "Yes, as you wish master." said Majorian as Pomerlane left the tent to inform Pomeclius about what was happening.

The next day, Pomerlane would ride to Pendoria, which wasn't far from his siege lines. He wondered what his cousin wanted with him and kept in the back of his mind that he would have to regretfully overthrow her soon because of the deal he made with Magnus. He was rather fond of his cousin Emylia and the two wrote to each other often so it would be a great pleasure to see her after many years.

To be Continued.