Bel-Heshti and Halli jostled for a place as the General’s elite bodyguard quickly gathered around the standard. The Baru, contemptuous of safety, ignored the trenches and marched on level ground almost to the foot of the wall. Two engineers with curved wicker shields rushed forward to shelter him, but he waved them back. Behind him, Assyrian archers, still strapping on helmets and stringing their bows, filed into the trenches. Sappers, holding shields above their heads, ran forward to the shelter of the covered battering-rams.