They slide a large bronze shield - actually, two, hammered together off of the hole, and an X of wood firmly planted into the dirt on each side has two well-like winches, spaced apart. They raise up one, slowly, then when she's done with it the other.

"We lost three men making this, and another the first time we tried to transport it here. Please be careful."

"I've heard of manure igniting and setting straw aflame, if you leave it piled up and undisturbed too long. Something like that, but faster with the other half?"

She doesn't touch it, of course. And backs away promptly.

"Not quite? I think that's compost- A billion tiny specks of life writhing and feasting and heating everything up as they do, in case you needed more impetus to wash your food and self. I'm not sure at all what's going on, chemically speaking, in that. Some sort of energetic decomposition maybe. High-energy chemistry is dangerous."

"Hmmm." He slowly traces a large sigil, then peers at it.

"Hard to see much, these winds blow away magical currents as much as mundane ones, but I don't think the ammonia has magic in it. Which would be the obvious reason for it to work in ways you didn't expect."

They'll lower this and bring up the oil at her word.

"Oil. Mostly carbon. Maybe that provides the material for ammonium nitrate to decompose into? I didn't study chemistry, especially. Nitrogen likes to form a lot of things that burn quite energetically, I recall..." She shrugs. "I don't need to know everything, and going Sparky to figure it out would be very stupid, and I'm kind of tired."

"This one's magic," Lantry adds. "Fire, I think. Odd that it's stable - maybe harvested from Edict remains?"

"Stable magic is uncommon, is it?"

"Sigil magic doesn't last. Even rituals expire, though you can have them last a good long while; the Forge-Bound need to refresh their heat source, the Sages needed to reinforce the anti-decay spells on our scroll racks. Artifacts are usually stable, but breaking them down usually breaks the enchantment. Archons are self-replenishing, probably, and Edicts keep going, but mostly magic is short-term."

"So if anyone is going to use sigil magic for infrastructure, it needs to include sages or similarly educated people as part of the plan, an ongoing long-term process. That's not necessarily a show-stopper. Everything needs maintenance except, apparently, spires. I'm going to need to make and teach at engineering schools. Even the oldwalls crumble under time and invaders eventually..."

"I've heard there's a fallen Spire on the far north coast, where the land got worn away from under it, so maybe even Spires. For simple things repeated many times, you don't need much education, you can teach rituals by rote. Sage education usually didn't stop there, but that was enough to be useful protecting the stacks from time and decay."

"They say even stars die eventually, where I'm from..."

She carefully backs away. She's done here. All that's left is worrying about the... Assault, and checking over the Tallboy again for anything she's forgotten.

Much like everyone else. There's some discussion of who will be on which side for the fighting (Unbroken will be slightly ahead on the left, Disfavored slightly behind on the right), how to attempt negotiation, and how they'll cross (depends on the Insignia's reaction but they have a good guess).

Then it's restless sleep in cramped, noisy lean-tos and 'tents'. Kohl and Barik are up at first light with the Steadfast Insignia, to test the space it clears for him. It's a wedge, slightly tilted by the wind but mostly like a boat's wake, petering out about five paces behind him. They'll do two trips; spearhead and Mattias, then the Unbroken and Disfavored. Barik will carry the wall-breaker in the second pass. They probably won't use it immediately.

"Do you want to be in the spearhead, or the second trip?," Kohl asks Walta, "The first is most visible but the second will still show you off and has less chance of you being pressed into the thick of combat."

"-Sssecond wave. I don't think I should be relied on in the thick of combat, I just hope I can be - usefully imposing or come up with something handy." She grimaces.

He nods. "Good to know your limits."

And then it's time to go. Kohl's squad assembles in a wedge, and he raises the Insignia high. It flashes, and a circle of air around him calms. He strides forward and pins it to his chest, and the wedge forms behind him. In about a minute, the wake passes and the stormwall closes behind them.

In the half-hour before they return, the waiting Unbroken pull the wall-breaker up to the top of the pit, so that they can transfer it quickly when it's their turn through the storm.

They're nervous. They try to cover it up by cheering that "Today the coward dies" and "Stalwart's people will be avenged", but it's not all that helpful.

"All you can do is your best," is her contribution.

They've been doing their best for a year now and were never sure it would work out, this doesn't help much.

Then the stormwall parts again, with Kohl and Barik emerging.

"Some stood down, but not the gate. Let's go."

The wall-breaker comes out of the hole and entrusted to Barik. They form a rounded wedge; Disfavored on the right, Unbroken on the left, and a large space in the center for Walta, between Kohl and Barik.

Is she going to be called upon to - try and ascend the gate? Or just to protect others with Tallboy's bulk? Either way. All there is to do is look like you know what you're doing. Battery power, on. Walk forward steadily, with power and at least a hint of graceful control.

Mostly to be intimidating. And noticeable, not that he mentions that part out loud.

When they cross into the eye of the storm and everyone is through, Barik moves the wall-breaker up to below a tower on the battlements.

"The gate is no obstacle. We'll go through when this blows," Kohl says, and takes Barik back to his usual party to the west. The two squads prepare to attack through the breach, still flanking Walta.

And then it explodes.

The dust clears and reveals a tiered inner keep, with squads of Unbroken with burgundy uniforms not washed-out by wind and hard living.

The attacking squads surge forward to fight.

She's honestly kind of terrified. The shade - or shard - or whatever kind of ghost it was, that was one thing, but these are people. She can see the fear and determination in their eyes.

Did she really think she could get through all this without hurting anyone? No. She told herself that. She'll suffer in order to achieve her goals. The mantra that's becoming a little bit hollow, that doesn't quite apply here, a little bit of a mental crutch: Not choosing is also a choice.

So she grits her teeth and lurches Tallboy forward, joining the charge. Hundreds of pounds of metal at the sprint. She runs for the blasted-open gate, making to kick at the defenders with a spiked iron 'foot'.

What the hell is that? It's huge! An iron giant!

A few soldiers break and run. The rest look a lot shakier. And the Citizen Unbroken are charging in her wake, the Disfavored behind them.

From another angle, Kohl and the brute team are also charging. Then they hit the Regnal Unbroken and the blood starts flowing.

But now he's in sight of everyone except Herodin and his personal guard. He raises a sword high and bellows "FOR THE CITIZENS OF STALWART AND KYROS!", and a wave of mental energy flows out around him in a huge circular wave, battering at the confidence of everyone standing against him.