The pause on the grand stairs lasted for only three heartbeats.
From the rear of the mercenary force, a harsh, whistling command echoed through the smoke:
“Bring up the battering engine! Clear the stairs!”
The crowd of river hired blades parted. That made way for a monstrous piece of siege equipment that had been dragged through the enlarged air-flow chimney pipes. A twelve-foot Precursor battering engine forged from solid star-bronze, shaped like the snarling head of a river crocodile, mounted upon an eight-wheeled carriage of heavy timber. Then it pushed by twelve heavily armored Foundation Establishment shock troopers.
The bronze snout alone weighed more than three thousand pounds, designed to shatter castle gates during country border wars. Its massive bronze jaws were fitted with jagged iron teeth. Its carriage was heavy with three-ply straps of cold-rolled steel. The thick axles were turned from cured iron-oak, greased with heavy rendered lard that dripped onto the stone tiles in thick, glistening beads.
RUMBLE-RUMBLE.
The twelve shock troopers leaned their shoulders against the carriage frame, their boots digging into the floorboards, speeding up the three-ton weapon across the black green jade floor directly toward the base of the stairs. The iron-rimmed wheels gouged long grooves into the stone tiles, spraying sparks and stone dust into the air.
