The Horde had retreated. The casualties were very low, but then again, the Horde had not attacked with much force. The Borials and the Virgos continued their long walk to Noran.
The next morning: at last! There it was, the city of Noran.
The Virgos and their Borial hosts had marched a long way to reach here, and it had cost them. There were several dead among the Virgo crew, most notably among the Starfleet Marines, who had always been at the forefront of the fighting. Many more were wounded. Dr. Nori and the rest of the medical staff had been busy patching them up.
On a much happier note, the ranks of the Virgos had increased by one. Baby T'Lan had elected to join them at this time. It may have been because of his Klingon blood; he was eager to join the fight.
But there was the city on the cliff above them, and it looked every bit as impressive as the Borials had been describing it. No, that wasn't true. It was much more impressive! Nothing could have prepared the Virgos for the sight.
True, the jaded Federation people were used to seeing single structures the size of entire cities, of gossamer bridges spanning impossible gulfs, of spires that seemed to scrape the veritable belly of heaven, but nothing could prepare them for the sight of the city of Noran.
Noran wasn't the size of a modern city, and its bridges were plodding behemoths, its spires fell short of heaven, but it was still the most impressive sight they had ever seen.
Perhaps it was because the entire, colossal edifice was made from dark gray stone. Not metal and polymers: just stone. Maybe it was the impossible height of the walls, the perfectly square towers, the crennelated walls, the green and yellow banners that fluttered proudly in the breeze above the battlements a thousand feet above their heads.
The city certainly seemed impregnable. It was situated high on a cliff top. On three of its sides, unscalable rock walls rose from the surrounding terrain five-hundred feet to the base of the city walls, themselves a hundred feet tall. On the fourth side, the cliffs below the city walls plunged straight into the angry sea and the rocks below.
The only access to the citadel was a narrow switchback that wound its way up the southern side of the cliff. The road was barely wide enough for three men to walk comfortable abreast. This way, any enemy would find it all but impossible to storm the gate; there was no room to charge, and any approach could be easily seen and defended against by warriors along the walls.
The Virgos slowly wound their way up the zig-zag path toward the main gate of Noran. The way was quite steep and the going was slow. The men were tired.
As the gates were reached, more detail of the city could be seen. It was ancient! In the extreme! The stone of the walls seemed to be composed of some sort of volcanic rock, obsidian perhaps, but even this element had been worn down by time.
On either side of the gate was an enormous statue of a noble monarch sitting on a throne recessed into the city wall. Their all-seeing gaze seemed to bear down in grim judgment on any who passed beneath them.
It was impossible for the Virgo crew to go through the gates without cowering in terror, or at least cringing in fear.
But at last, they were in Noran!
From this vantage point, the city was beautiful! The mesa sloped away gradually to reveal the city's residents in all their glory: a shopkeeper hawking his wares, a housewife sweeping off her front porch, a group of soldiers marching to their post.
Eventually, the terrain sloped upward again at the center of the mesa. The city streets gave way to a moat and the walls of the inner Keep, where the Borial central government had its headquarters. The walls of the Keep were even higher that the walls of the City. This would be the Borial's last stand, if events came to that.
The Virgos were still marching through Noran towards the Keep.
As the column passed, local citizens waved handkerchiefs and rags in celebration. They knew their saviors had come.