The Tower's north doors shook as some tremendous force struck them from outside. Doors that had required two men each to move shuddered and rattled on their massive steel hinges like window shutters in a hurricane, making everyone in the hall jump in alarm and terror. “What in the name of...” began Balvern.

     Before he could complete the sentence the doors shuddered to another blow even mightier than the first, and that was followed by a third and a fourth. A regular pounding as something was hammered against the doors from outside.

     “They're using something as a battering ram.” said Amberley. “Something heavy...”

     Captain Machett edged warily to one of the tiny peepholes in the doors, ready to jump back if there was a Radiant there waiting to cast a curse on him. He put his eye to it, watched for a moment, then jumped back, his face red with outrage. “The Greene Cannon!” he said, spitting the words like a curse. “They're using the Greene Cannon!”

     Everyone in the hall shared his fury. Of course, there was nothing else it could have been. The Greene Cannon was one of the very first cannons to ever be made, shortly after the invention of gunpowder, and had been used by Field Marshall Montgomery Greene to deliver a decisive victory against the armies of Belaxia two hundred years ago, when Marboll had been a regional capital of Carrow. Ever since then, the cannon had been on display in Victory Park, two miles to the west. A war memorial and a tourist attraction on which half raised animals had climbed and on which pigeons had left their droppings.

     The art of metallurgy had been in its early days back then. Steel had been brittle, less resilient than the metal used to make modern artillery, which meant that the Greene Cannon had had to be three times the size and weight of a modern cannon hurling a ball of the same size. A modern cannon, used as a battering ram against the north doors, would have taken all day to break through them. The Greene Cannon would be able to do it in much less time.

     “This is an insult!” cried Machett, his hands balled into fists by his sides. “A deliberate humiliation! To use a symbol of one of our greatest victories as a weapon against us...”

     “It really doesn’t matter what they use to kill us with,” replied Amberley. “They probably don't intend for it to be a humiliation. For them, it’s probably just the most convenient tool.”

     “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

     “It's still going to take them a while to break through,” said a member of the Tower garrison. “Those doors are eighteen inches thick.” He kept glancing over at the King as if he couldn’t believe they were going to die together. He, a common soldier, and the King! His face was glowing with pride as if he couldn't imagine any greater honour. “We've probably got hours yet...”

     Even as he spoke, another tremendous blow struck the doors, and this one caused the bolt at the top of the left hand door to burst out of its mounting with a shower of tiny chips of stone. Freed from its restraint, the top of the door was visibly pressed inwards and a groan came from the huge timber barring them closed, along with an audible crack as something began to give. The next blow caused the bottom left bolt to shift, one of the mountings pulling half an inch from the wall, and another cracking sound came from the timber.

     “It's not the strength of the doors themselves that matters,” said Amberley matter of factly. “It’s the strength of their hinges and mountings.”

     “Brace them,” ordered Leothan.  “Find something to brace them with.”

     “What with?” asked Amberley. “Tables and chairs? There's nothing here that’s anything like as strong as what's already holding the doors in place.”

     Leothan could only stare at him. “I had no idea they'd get through so fast,” he said.

     “None of us did. It never occurred to anyone. At least there’s only one Greene Cannon. They'll be using lesser means to get through the other doors, which means this is where they’ll get in first. Majesty, I must now insist that you retreat further into the Tower.”

     “Why? Once they're in, they’ll sweep through every level of the tower, root us out wherever we hide. I'm staying right here. I'm going to face them when they break through, and I'm going to get Radiant blood on my blade before I go down.”

     His inspiration gave heart to the others. Men whose courage had been wavering found the strength to stand firm, and hands clutched weapons with new determination.

     “It's been a great privilege to have ruled over such fine people,” said Leothan, fighting to keep his voice from breaking with emotion. “Helberion is the greatest country in the world. What we’ve achieved will awe and astonish the rest of the human world when they hear of it, and our final end will not detract from that. This is our end, that is certain now, but it will be such an end that, no matter what happens after, this moment will live on in history for as long as mankind survives. And when history fades, we will live on in legend and folklore. Today, we become immortal.”

     To his surprise, a cheer rose from the other people on the hall. “Three cheers for King Leothan!” cried Amberley, brandishing his sword above his head. “The greatest King ever to have worn a crown!”

     The hall shook with the cheers that rose in reply, and to their astonishment there was a pause in the blows shaking the doors. They all fell silent as the assault faltered and Machett took a chance, running back to the peephole to take a quick glance outside. “They're just hanging there!” he said, laughing as he ran back to safety. “I think the cheering surprised them. They don't know what to make of it.”

     A moment later, though, the door shook to another blow as the assault resumed. “Looks like they’re over it,” said Amberley. “Ballista crews, the moment you get a clear shot at a Radiant, take it. Don’t wait for the order. Then reload as quick as you can. The record is forty three seconds. I expect you to beat it.”

     The crewmen nodded back, and the men holding the smouldering tapers edged closer, ready to light the bolts.

     The right hand door was holding firm, but both the top and bottom bolts of the left hand door had failed and it was now being held closed only by the bar, which now had a noticeable bend to it. Splinters were breaking out in the middle, looking like the fangs of some wild monster that gaped wider with each new blow. The sound of piping could also be heard as one of the Radiants came closer to the doors. The sound rose in pitch, and then momentarily stopped before resuming at its customary low tone. It had just cast a curse, they knew, on the off chance that there was someone within range on the inside.

     The next blow momentarily pushed the door far enough inwards that the creature was able to push the tip of a tentacle through in an attempt to lift the bar. Someone shot an arrow at it. The tentacle tried to pull back but it was held fast by the door closing on it. It had to wait until the next blow from the Greene Cannon before it could free itself. Several of the defenders chuckled at the faintly ridiculous sight, and Leothan hoped it had hurt the creature, even if only trivially.

     The light hearted moment was soon forgotten, though, as the next blow caused the loudest crack from the bar so far. A crack that allowed it to bend considerably. This is it, thought Leothan. The next blow, or the one after that, and they’ll be through. He glanced at the ballista crews, standing tense and alert. “You, the crew on the left,” he said. They looked across at him. “You hold fire. Let the other crew fire first. There's no point in you both hitting the same creature. Crew on the right, you hit the first Radiant to come through. Crew on the left, take the second one. Also, wait until they’re actually in the tunnel. Maybe we can block it with their corpses.”

     They both nodded. Amberley leaned closer to the King so he could whisper quietly to him. “They're called crews one and two,” he said.

     “Right,” said Leothan with a rueful grin. “I'll remember that for next time.”

     Another blow hit the door, and the bar finally gave way, the left hand door flying open to admit the Greene Cannon, hanging suspended in the tentacles of three Radiants. They dropped it onto the drawbridge with a loud crash and the creature that had been loitering just outside launched itself forward on its thickest tentacles. There was a thud from ballista two and the bolt flew, flames trailing from its tip. It struck the Radiant cleanly in the buoyancy sacks and it burst into red fire. Leothan’s arm flew to cover his face as a wave of heat swept over them, and when he looked again the other Radiants were already dragging their fallen comrade away by pulling on its trailing tentacles. A second Radiant lurched forward and the second ballista bolt flew, causing it to also explode in flames.

     The two crews hurried to reload their weapons, but the Radiants were already clearing the tunnel again and a third was preparing to enter. Its piping was rising as it prepared to cast a curse, and this time everyone in the hallway would be in range. Leothan knew he only had seconds of humanity left and he decided to make the best use of them. He ran forward to the sound of gunshots as soldiers fired at it and swung his sword as hard as he could at the nearest tentacle.

     The blade cut cleanly through the luminous flesh, spraying him with green blood, and the creature spasmed. The King prepared to strike again, but someone had grabbed his arm and was pulling him back, away from the creature. Leothan shook him angrily off and prepared to make another lunge at the creature, but he stopped, frozen in astonishment at what he saw.

     The Radiant appeared to be having some kind of seizure. Its body had landed on the floor, its tentacles no longer able to support it as they thrashed wildly at the air around it. It looked comically as if it were trying to drive away an attacking swarm of wasps. “What’s wrong with it?” he demanded.

     “Maybe one of the bullets hit its brain or something,” said the member of the Tower garrison who'd pulled him back to safety.

     “We tried that, didn’t we? We decided that their brains were distributed throughout their bodies. Not all in one place, like ours are. Something like that. Isn't that right, George?”

     Ballista crew two, meanwhile, had finished reloading their weapon. “Back away from it!” shouted the Sergeant, and then he pulled the trigger. The flaming bolt flew and the agonised creature burst into flames. The other ballista crew finished reloading their weapon a moment later and prepared to shoot at the next Radiant to try to enter, but the doorway remained empty.

     “Someone tell me what's happening!” demanded the King.

     “Don’t know,” muttered Amberley. He tried to edge his way towards the door to see out, but the flames of the burning Radiant were too hot. Fortunately the fire began to burn low very quickly, and then Machett edged carefully past it along the tunnel until he could see through the open door. “They're leaving!” he said in amazement.

     “What do you mean, leaving?” said Leothan, thinking he must have misheard.

     “They're all up in the sky, all of them! Not just the ones attacking us. All the Radiants in the city! They're all leaving! Fast!”

     Leothan went to join him, stepping out onto the drawbridge, where he was joined by the others. He was right, the King saw to his astonishment. The sky was full of Radiants, apparently gaining as much altitude as they could and summoning a gale to carry them out of the city.

     “What are they doing?” asked Balhern. “They'd won! Why are they going?”

     “Where are the scientists?” asked Leothan as a glorious possibility occurred to him.

     “I sent a man to fetch them. They should be here, in the Tower somewhere.”

     “Did you see them get here?” He turned to Machett. “Did you see them arrive?”

     “Well, no, but things have been so crazy...”

     “We have to get to their lab. Now!”

     He hurried towards the carriages, but Balhern and his men ran to overtake him and the head guard held his hand out for the King to hang back while he checked to make sure it was safe. “Clear,” he said after a moment. “No enemies.”

     The King stared up at the departing Radiants, now nothing more than tiny motes of light, just visible above the wall. The air was fresh and cool and he breathed in deeply, his whole body trembling as the adrenalin rush began to wear off. The carriages were still intact, he saw, although the horses had been unhitched and had long since fled. They would still be in the Tower grounds somewhere, though. It probably wouldn’t take long to find them and get them hitched up again. “Get these carriages ready to move out as soon as humanly possible!” he ordered.

     “The Electric Messiah!” said Amberley as men ran off to obey. “Is that what it is?”

     “Let's go find out,” said the King.