The archers fired their initial rounds at various levels of the palace. They were immediately sheltered from the answering salvos from above by their fellow soldiers. Our bowmen fired back and we could see the fire spreading in various spots on the outside of the palace. As we watched the fires grow, soldiers appeared in the upper windows and started dumping buckets of water onto the flames below. A few of our archers fired regular arrows up into the palace, chasing the soldiers back. They reappeared moments later, out of range of the arrows, and continued to dump water onto the various fires.

One of the generals standing next to me, clapped me on the back, said something, laughed and walked off. I looked over at Inchwele for a translation and found him grinning, too.

"They waste water on fighting the fires," he told me. "All water into the palace must be carried in through the front gates. The more they use to fight the fires with, the less they have to drink later on."

After a couple more rounds of flaming arrows, the generals called for the archers to retire. The waiting game continued. Early in the afternoon, our archers let loose more salvos of flaming arrows, aiming mostly at the lower levels. This made the fires more difficult for the palace guard to extinguish and forced them to use more precious water. Our soldiers took turns resting and cutting dry brush from the jungle for use later on, if needed.

Around sunset, a small side door to the palace opened and a couple of guards slipped out. After much hesitation, they sprinted across the stone circle, only just barely escaping an arrow in the back from the archers higher up. After reaching the safety of our shields, they were escorted back to the village and imprisoned in one of the huts. Three of the generals followed a short time later to glean what intelligence they could.

Once the night was dark enough to cover them, several groups of soldiers crept forward, loaded down with the dried brush. They stacked it against the palace. While they were working, several more members of the palace guard were captured outside the walls and escorted back to the hut which housed the first prisoners. By talking to the prisoners and treating them well, we learned that conditions inside the palace were quickly turning brutal.

The majority of the soldiers had been sickened by setting fire to the huts housing innocent women and children and then watching them get shot down as they tried to flee to safety. The power was being wielded by King D'wala through his officers, which were the most rabid of his followers. Those still inside the palace were there under compunction and it was thought that they would not offer serious resistance should the castle be stormed.

New plans were discussed and put in place. At first light the following morning, the ground reverberated with the vibrations of hundreds of men marching in cadence to the palace under cover of the huge shields they used. The marching continued until a series of lines stretched from the palace to the edge of the stone circle. One of the older generals stepped forward under protection of his own shield to communicate with the denizens of the castle. He informed them that any man who threw down his arms and proceeded under cover of the shielded lines now in place would find safety and life back in the village. Those who remained inside, only death and destruction. Once again, arrows flew down from the upper windows, but they were much fewer this time.

After a few moments and much commotion, we saw several side doors open and palace guards come running out, seeking the safety of our lines. The few glimpses our soldiers managed to get of the inside of the palace indicated that there had been a tremendous struggle inside, as there were blood and bodies all over. Shortly before noon, we withdrew our soldiers and the archers stepped forward again. This time they aimed for the brush piles at the bottom of the palace and soon fires were raging all around its perimeter. The heat and flames ignited the dryer portions of the palace and within an hour, thick black smoke and sparks were billowing toward the sky.