When capturing a fortress through direct assault proved too difficult, the classic strategy was to surround it and starve the defenders into submission.

But for Rodrick’s army, even that option was out of reach. Their supply situation was so dire that they risked starving before the defenders did. All the provisions they desperately needed were locked inside the very fortress they sought to retake.

The surrounding vassal lords had already been stripped bare. There was nothing left to plunder, and the only way forward was to reclaim the fortress at all costs.

“Find a solution! Anything!” Earl Glasgow barked, his …