For a brief second, I thought this was a "Fetchez la vache!" moment :)
> Just a small herd. Usually resident on the plain of course, dragged
> into the city and given the very best accomodation (as is only
> fitting) when the Lunars first approached.
The Lunars did not begin their attack too early in Sea Season, which would have really caught the Heortlanders off guard (Lunar logisitics being what they are, it is possible they could have 'done a Louvois' and attacked while the grasses are not fully grown, using arsenals and depots to the north, while the Heortlanders assumed the grass would be too short to feed an invasion--moonboats not withstanding).
So there may well have been a fair amount of time to bring in the herd and also collect some of the fairly rich forage. Actually, when are cattle normally let back into the fields after Darkness Season (he asks ignorant)?
Magic can naturally preserve and strengthen the supplies that were made available. For how long, and what alternative ways suggest themselves to supply a small number of cattle make for interesting conundrums...
But I like this especially for one reason: cattle can feed without being killed. I'm sure many of us are familiar with the Maasai method of withdrawing blood and combining it with milk for a novel and nutritious milkshake.
There must be some Storm myth wherein someone was forced to such to survive a great peril, a myth the besieged can re-enact in this crisis. Such magical correspondences might feed the sinews of the defenders far longer than any stocks of food, and confound the ideas of the besiegers.
All the best,
Stu.
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