Multiple authors story - write one paragraph each

[Rodion Romanovich]

48

I sighed. What could we improve in the coming few days, before Attila appeared? Reinforcing some key parts of the wall with wood, perhaps. Repairing a few of the wall-mounted ballistae. But the by far worst problem was that there were too many easy approaches to the city. Too long section of wall to defend. By noon I went outside the walls to scout the surroundings alone, while the rest of the garrison stayed inside, temporarily under the command of the governor.

To the north, there was a long grass-covered field, ideal ground for a fast attack. To the east, the ground was hilly, and also covered in grass. Also that a good approach for attackers, maybe even better, at least for infantry, as it allowed them to stay in cover while approaching the walls. To the south, there was a steep slope downwards very close to the wall. The enemy would not attack there, because of the danger of ladders being tipped over falling a very long distance. Finally, to the west, there was a muddy swamp area. The enemy would not attack from there either. Thus we could concentrate the defenders to the northern and eastern walls, but that was still a too long distance to cover.

There was no time for rearranging the ground too heavily. A few pits could be dug out, maybe some small rocks and broken glass thrown out over the northern field. But we wouldn't be able to change the eastern approach. Maybe we could use that to our advantage instead? If the eastern approach was the best approach, the enemy would try to attack from there, and do so in the morning, putting the sun in the eyes of the defenders. But the enemy did not know a relief force was on the way. While this would make our struggle to defend the city hopeless, it would, if the relief force arrived in time, in the end enable us to surround and destroy a large portion of the hunnic army before it could retreat to safety and regroup. But the garrison inside the city would not like the idea of that plan, so it had to remain a secret until the last minute. But how could I order the garrison to help me chop up the ground at the northern approach without making them realize what was about to come, making them want to desert? I realized that I had to choose between better defenses and a smaller garrison, or worse defenses and a larger garrison. It was not difficult for me to make up my mind - the germanian guard alone with good defenses would do better than the full garrison without proper defenses. I would tell the garrison the truth, order them to help me prepare defenses along the northern approach, then give those who didn't dare defend the city permission to leave, but only if they helped us prepare the defenses. I would treathen that any regiment who tried to escape before that, would see their regiment decimated, but I doubted I would be able to carry out such an order - but the troops didn't know.