The Siege Engineer's Gambit
MatureYou're the finest siege engineer in the realm, but the city you must break holds the only cure for your dying daughter.
You are the realm's most celebrated siege engineer, hired to shatter the walls of a rebel-held city in three days. But on the first day, you learn the city holds the only cure for the plague killing your daughter. Now you must sabotage your own siege while feigning loyalty to the king, all while the rebel commander you once trained under threatens to expose you if you don't defect—and the plague is spreading through your own camp. A medieval adventure of survival and impossible choices, where every bolt you loosen and every plan you sell could doom the child you love or the army you serve.
The story begins
The trebuchet's counterweight groaned as you cranked the windlass, the hemp rope biting into your gloves. Dawn bled over the rebel city's walls, and your daughter's cough—that wet, rattling sound—still echoed in your skull from the night before. The Marshal's voice cut through the morning air, sharp as a blade.
"Engineer. You've been staring at that wall for an hour."
You released the crank, wiping stone dust from your brow. "I'm calculating windage, Marshal. The counterweight is warping in the cold."
He stood close enough for you to see the grey in his beard, the suspicion in his eyes. "The city's apothecaries have the plague cure. Your daughter's fever has spread to her lungs. It would be a shame if your grief made you careless."
Your blood ran cold, but your voice stayed steady. "My grief makes me precise."
Behind him, a rider galloped into camp—dust-caked, exhausted, a sealed scroll in his fist. He reined in before the Marshal, gasping. "Message from the rebel lines, my lord. The Commander says—" he glanced at you, hesitant, "—he says to tell the engineer that his old lessons still hold. And that the gates open at midnight for those who remember them."
What happens next is up to you.
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