Use the wagon

“Flip that wagon back over and see if all the wheels are still working.” You tell your men and are pleased to see five men jump to the task. “See those doors?” you ask Antonios pointing to two massive doors into the walled estate across from you.

“Yeah …” He answers tentatively “…what about them?”

“How much trouble do you think it would be to knock them off their hinges?” You ask “And how long would it take?”

“I guess that depends a lot on how badly the owners want to keep them.” He says as he gets up “and there’s only one way to determine that.”

Turns out not to be as much trouble as it could have been. Any guards inside the compound were in the main mansion and not defending the walls at all. In about ten minutes the two massive doors had been chopped from their braces and mounted upright in a eight foot triangle. The heavy doors are held together at the top with the same hinges that had so recently held them to the walls. This cover will protect you from the damn crossbows, and it looks like any rocks that are dropped on the wagon will deflected to one side or the other. Of course, the top heavy wagon might be flipped in the process but there is no way that you can make the sprint to the door without cover, and none of your men know how to activate the alchemist’s magic.

“Any chance this will work?” Lethos asks you. You haul yourself to your feet and stand next to the wagon, and summon as much confidence as possible before you answer him, raising your voice so all your men could hear.

"Attach your grappling hooks here and here” you say pointing to the tongue of the wagon. “Sarge” you tell your second in command “If you can get the wagon to the base of the tower I’ll take care of the rest.” With a grunt you swing yourself into the wagon and hunch under the protection of the two doors. The crouching position sends a sharp pain up your thigh that grows and fades, but never goes away.

“You heard the Captain boys” Sarge says as he climbs into the wagon from the other end, grinning at your angry face as he yells out orders. “You get us to the tower and I’ll get Cap to the door. We’ll blow the gates off of this buggering Phallus.” Lowering his voice so only you can hear he adds “You need me at the tower Captain – you know it.” Grateful for his help even as you are annoyed by his not following orders you grin back at him.

“Serve you right if we both are crushed by a 500 weight boulder.” He laughs at your jest.

“Yup, but we’ll have the best fucking tale to tell Hades.” Sticking his head out of the wagon he yells to the rest of the men. “Drag us nice and fast boys, but use the ropes and don’t get too close to the tower.”

Slowly at first the men pull the heavy wagon around the corner of the ally, but as soon as they are on the main boulevard they head towards the tower. Shields held high to ward off the hail of missiles that is already raining from the tower the men pick up speed as they haul the heavy wagon directly at the massive stone building. Your thigh burns as the wagon picks up speed and bounces uncomfortably on the uneven paving stones. The last five seconds of the ride are the scariest. Heavy rocks from the tower fall all around you and some of the smaller ones bounce off the protective doors with loud thumps that splinter the wood over your head. Just before you get to the stairs at the base of the tower a giant rock slams against the door over your head knocking the door from its mate and sending the wagon rocking nearly out of control as it hits the bottom of the steps.

The ten steps leading to the tower doors seem much further than you had remembered them. From behind Sarge gives you a firm push and you half climb half fall out of the wagon just as another boulder even larger than the one before crushes the wagon’s front end. This will never work you decide, waiting for the next rock to crush you. Instead a loud ‘BANG’ is heard from above and you have the two seconds you need for Sarge to help you to the door without a single rock being dropped.

The metal tube sticks to the door with a audible ‘Click’ and you say the meaningless syllables that the alchemists drilled into your head over and over again.

“Let’s go!" you say taking a step to the side. Sarge comes with you using his shield to cover both of your heads. You take about ten more steps when suddenly Sarge’s shield smashes down on your head knocking you the rest of the way down the steps. Looking back you see your man isn’t so lucky, his head and shoulder are twisted at an odd angle as he lies sprawled across the steps. You have seen **** enough times to not let it slow you down. Getting back to your feet you hobble the last twenty feet to the corner of the tower reaching it just as the ground is rocked by a huge blast.

Smoke fills the air and you can’t hear anything but complete silence. Your men should be rushing the tower now if they remember their training, but the smoke is so thick you can barely see them.