96 They had little success on the walls, either.
After three hours of desperate effort, they withdrew. The Children of
Spirit decided to reset their traps.
97 "They're not going to be this stupid forever," remarked Swift Sword.
"Sooner or later they're going to bring shields out onto the walls to
protect themselves and advance on the ground below more cautiously."
98 His words proved true. The enemy's next attack did not come until
the following morning and this time he used his brains. They came upon
the walls with tiny ramps that they must have hurriedly built in the
night. They sat up shields to protect them from the rain of arrows,
descended the walls, and dropped down shields for their bow people.
This time they had cover for their charge.
99 They assaulted the roofs with ladders. As brave as the defenders
were, the numbers were against them. The enemy finally topped the wall.
But even this was planned, for to the enemy's horror, he found that
behind this wall the next row of houses was gone, and that the
defenders fought for every inch of roof just as hard as they fought for
the walls. But this time the enemy was not going to withdraw. They held
stubbornly, to what little they had taken, and fought to take more.
100 "Damn them!" cursed Swift Sword. "They might be the enemy, but you
have to respect their courage. We're cutting them to pieces, but they
won't give up!"
101 The enemy had little success on the walls. He pushed The Children
of Spirit back from one position only to find them ready to fight in
another. As they finally took the roofs off the first row of houses and
gained a foothold on the second they found every street barricaded
behind them, and defenses on every few rooftops.
102 When they finally did manage to enter the