Brayden grimaced as he watched his plan flower and wither in a matter of moments, he should have been watching the enemy falling to the ground right now, bleeding and bloodied with a mass of arrows in their corpses but no, instead it was the Nashaki forces losing ground and men. He sighed, his jaw clenching as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his clenched fist, being pressed into service for an army that appeared rife with incompetent to Brayen did nothing for his mood.
“Your men are useless” He noted, through yellow, gritted teeth as he turned back to the now helmet-less officer. He could smell the thick smoke from the burning bridge flood his nostrils and the order to abandon the exterior ring out along the bridges and walkways. Any man on the ground, under the glare of the unrelenting desert sun. Lets hope they cook in their metal armour Brayden thought grimly as he considered his options. He could hardly defect, deep in the ranks of the Nashaki forces, he would be cut to ribbons before his second breath. And he could not retreat, he had no problem with the concept but currently the only entrance to this god forsaken fortress was filled with enemy troops.
A growing whistle from the sky derailed his train of thought, as a hot stab of pain erupted from the side of his head as a shining arrow head flashed by, taking a chunk of his right ear with it as sickening warm blood ran down the side of his face. The mercery cried out in pain, spitting every curse under sun he could imagine, promising death upon every archer and their unborn children. “Argh… Bloody, fucking, son’s of whores...” He shouted in a furious tirade that seemed unending amongst the chaotic battle that raged around them.
“You wanna know what to do now!?” He yelled, pointing a gnarled finger accusingly at the officer who had yet to say a word after Brayden’s ridiculous stunt with molten glass. “Focus on every bastard of an archer out there, any moron with a bow is a target” He declared as bloody leaked through a dirty hand that he now clamped around the remainder of his ear “If this is gonna be a fight for this piece of crap for a fortress, I don’t want to have to worry about get a dozen arrows in my arse!”
He didn’t wait to see if the officer would listen, or that the men would follow his order, he didn’t really care either way. Instead he stormed off, heading further back along the walkways, his shield raised as he walked amongst the tiring ranks of archers, he had was keen to avoid any more encounters with arrows. Once bitten, twice shy. “Aim for their archers” He shouted sporadically as he stumbled through the crowd, his eyes fixed on the second bubbling cauldron, his mind fixed on watching more of the enemy burn.
This cauldron felt like it had been heated even further, he felt its presence before he had even stepped close to it, the dry heat sapping the moisture from his body, if he survived this battle, he could find himself with aching bones, a throbbing head and a mouth drier than a desert itself. “More glass” He barked at the soldiers charged with operating it.
“Its already full, there’ll be too much in it” One of them stated, point to the bubbling surface that wasn’t that far from the brim of the cauldron but that’s what Brayden desired.
“More glass!” He ordered, this time they obeyed.
He had only planned to burn as many as he could but as he waited for the for the new glass to melt, he watched the Empire’s forces begin to sling ropes across the walkways, attaching them to the horses below. So, they want to take our only advantage Brayden noted, as he thought about what he could do next. The cauldron wouldn’t hold enough molten glass to cut off under normal operation, even filled to the brim, but perhaps he could make it spread further. He crouched down, looking at the cauldron. The entire base of it was built into the stone building with no means of removing it, he couldn’t remove it but that the poles that the actual cauldron was mounted on on either side looked like they could be slid out, with enough force. He let out a long sigh, it was times like this that he wished he did had a god to pray to.
With cauldron filled dangerously to the brim, he ordered two troops either side of the siege cauldron, he tone was one thick with threats as they looked nervously at each other. His hands still gloved with the thick leather, he rested it under the lip of the cauldron and bent his knees. He winced, cracking under the heat of the cauldron as he order them to pull. His fingers struggled to meet his ambition as he yanked with all his strength that his body could muster. The poles shifted, albeit agonizingly slow as the veins on Brayden’s neck bulged furiously, his expression was reminiscent of a man bound to a commode after a heavy meal. “Pull them harder!” He screamed out in frustration. There were no guarantees here, the cauldron could fall sideways and bathe them all in a fiery inferno, the force of the of cauldron hitting the battlefield below might not be enough to send spray of molten glass he envisioned in his mind far enough to cut of the horse and leave them tot he mercy of Nashaki’s archers, or it might just might send a torrent of it back up onto Brayden.
He felt the poles shift further from the cauldron, the cauldron was tipping forward, he couldn’t not see the small stream of molten glass running down the other side of the metal pot. A voice cried out in protest from behind him “Some of our men are still down there”. Brayden summoned the rest of his strength from his tiring arms, he didn’t need to tip it over completely, just guide it forward enough. With a loud bang the cauldron slipped free of its support, a fersome slight spray of molten glass erupted in front of Brayden’s very eyes as he gave it one last pull upwards. The shifting fluid did the rest as the cauldron shifted forward, slipping over the edge with a slow grace.
What happened down below was out of the mercenary’s hands now, only one thing was certain to him.
“I don’t care about your men.”