A Different Virus - Laura's Story

Chapter 143

I was a bit tired after my late night, but I wanted to be awake for the bandits' attempt with dynamite. Even Trish was up as she sat beside me on the cliff. We were about a kilometer from the gate, just in case they did break through, but we could see well enough even without the binoculars.

I had never seen anyone turn a wagon into a turtle before.

The bandits really had some ingenious ideas. They had layered numerous shields on top of the wagon for protection from our arrows and cut a hole in the bottom of the wagon so a dozen people could push it from safety.

I watched as they pushed the elaborate construction towards our wall. The guards shot the occasional arrow to keep them nervous. I put my binoculars to my eyes to see things in better detail. The bandits dropped an entire seven stick bundle of dynamite against the one wall and started backing up while laying out a long length of fuse wire.

My heart started beating faster. I really hoped that Degan was right since I didn't know anything about dynamite, other than the fact that it went boom. Once they were over a hundred meters away, they lit the fuse and started pushing the wagon as fast as possible to get further away.

Amber was sitting on my other side and murmured, "Better plug your ears."

I lowered my binoculars and stuffed my fingers in my ears even as fired people all over plugged their own ears. I was nervous as I watched the smoke rise from the burning fuse as it approached the dynamite.

A huge boom rocked the area and sent birds fleeing. Ouch. That hurt even with plugged ears. Heartfire hearing was not always a perk. The area by the wall was covered in smoke. I held my breath as I waited for the lazy breeze to clear the smoke.

I exhaled in relief and grinned happily when I saw that there was only a small black smudge where the dynamite had sat. Degan had been correct. I glanced through my binoculars and started giggling.

Amber glanced at me, "What's so funny?"

I passed her the binoculars, "Look at their faces!"

She took a quick look before she started chuckling. The bandits looked utterly shocked and in complete disbelief. Their expressions were priceless and made me wish I had a camera. Amber shook her head in amusement as she kept examining the camp with my binoculars.

"Huh. They must have made more attempts to break in than I realized. There are about fifty graves dug."

Trish moved her binoculars slightly, "Perhaps they fought amongst themselves? I am sure that we didn't even hit that many people with arrows."

Another man commented, "They attempted to get to the gate at least five times last night and a few other attempts were done along the cliff. Some got away with just being pegged with rotten eggs or rocks. I suspect that most of the casualties were from those who entered the forest. The fighters left the bodies on the edge of the trees for them to collect."

Amber hummed, "That I can believe. None of ours have been hurt yet, correct?"

Brad shook his head, "No, one twisted ankle that already healed, but that was the idiot's own fault for trying to run at full speed with dimmed eyes." He looked at me, "Laura, do you feel like helping me today?"

I tilted my head in confusion, "What do you need help with?"

He grinned, "Your use of the rotten eggs last night gave me an idea, but I needed every rotten or old egg we can find."

Amber looked intrigued, but cautious, "Just what do you plan to do with them?"

He chuckled evilly, "I plan to load the catapult with them and pelt their camp tomorrow. It is close enough to the wall that they can't see the catapult and they have no idea it exists. Cleaning that up should keep them occupied for a few hours."