A/N: Enjoy a super long chapter today!
***
For one moment, Tesyb thought of taking half the guards and riding ahead. He could reach the gate faster that way. He could help Hudan, Hyola, and the others. No doubt the redhead would already be shooting from her crossbow at the beasts.
Then he looked at the wagons.
Trevalo. The drivers. The horses. The supplies. The caravan they had been ordered to escort.
Leaving them here in the dark with only a few guards would be foolish. Worse than foolish. If an adzee came from the trees, they would die before anyone could return.
No.
They had to stay together.
"Tesyb?" Trevalo asked, voice tight.
“We’ll move," Tesyb said.
"In this?"
"If we stay here, we are just meat waiting in the dark. If we move, we’ll reach the village soon. I heard the sound of a horn earlier. Tiranat is not far away now.”
Another horn sounded, clearer now.
Tesyb raised his voice. "Lanterns high! Crossbows ready! Do not shoot unless you see the beast clearly. Drivers, keep the wagons close. If a horse panics, the men beside it grab the harness and keep it moving. No one runs ahead. No one falls behind."
One of the guards swallowed hard. "What if the beast comes at us?"
"Then we shoot it with crossbows to keep it away and continue moving. If it comes close, we'll fight with spears.”
That was easy to say.
It would be much harder to do.
The caravan started again.
The wagons creaked forward, slow and tense. The lead horse kept trying to turn its head toward the sound of the howls, but Tesyb kept his own horse steady in front of it. The animals followed the light and the narrow dirt road because there was nowhere else to go. The drivers spoke softly to them, hands tight on the reins.
The forest seemed too close now.
Every branch looked like movement. Every rustle sounded like claws. Tesyb kept his crossbow across the saddle in front of him, already loaded. He wanted to pray, but he needed his mouth for orders.
The road curved.
Then the trees thinned ahead.
For the first time since that night when half the village had been burned by that bastard Torhan, he saw firelight outside the village.
Not torchlight on the wall.
For a moment, he thought the village was on fire. He moved just a little faster to pass the treeline and see more clearly.
There was a fire. A large one, but it was burning outside the palisade, near the open ground by the northeast gate.
Tesyb frowned.
Why was there a fire outside the wall?
Then he saw shapes on the ground near it.
Large shapes.
His horse took a few more steps, and the firelight showed them more clearly.
Adzees.
More accurately, dead adzees.
Two of them lay lifeless ahead, one near the wall and the other near the fire, their huge bodies stretched across the dirt. Long scorpion bolts stuck out of them.
Tesyb stared.
Scorpions.
The baron had actually mounted scorpions on the watchtowers already.
Then the fire was not a mistake. It was there to give light to the guards using the scorpions. A way to make the beasts visible at night. Of course Lord Kivamus would think of that. Or maybe it was the former mercenary.
He grinned, even as his eyes kept moving around to see if there was another of the beasts prowling nearby.
A year ago, if even one adzee came to Tiranat, it could have killed a dozen people before anyone found a way to stop it. Back then there had been no village wall. The best they could have done was hide behind the manor palisade and pray the beast left before too many died.
Last winter, when a young adzee attacked, they had barely managed to kill it. They had the village wall by then, but no scorpions. Tesyb had been proud even then, proud that Tiranat had grown strong enough to kill the apex predator of this region.
Now there were two dead adzees in front of the northeast gate.
No. Three.
Another one lay closer to the gate, while a tall, bulky man—obviously the captain—and a group of guards attacked it with spears. The beast was still twitching when Tesyb first saw it, but the guards thrust down again and again, and the body stopped moving soon enough.
Three dead adzees…
That meant a full pack of adzees had come to Tiranat tonight, and the village still stood.
Tesyb looked up at the sky for a heartbeat. Thank you, Goddess. Thank you for keeping the village safe.
Then another thought followed it.
And thank you for sending Lord Kivamus here.
"Keep moving!" he shouted, knowing that three dead adzees could mean that a similar number might still be ready to attack the village.
Hudan turned at the sound.
The captain saw the caravan and immediately raised one arm, yelling loudly. "Hurry! Get inside! There are more of them out there!"
The gate guards were already moving long before the caravan came close to it.
The northeast gate opened just enough to let the wagons through. Tesyb rode ahead, then pulled aside inside the gate to direct the first wagon in.
"Straight through!" he called. "Do not stop under the gate!"
Trevalo looked pale as his wagon passed the dead adzees. The merchant stared at the bodies, then up at the watchtower, then back at Tesyb. He said nothing. For once, even Trevalo seemed to have no words.
The drivers hurried the horses through as fast as they could without causing panic. The wheels bumped over the road, one after another. Guards on foot moved beside the wagons, still watching the dark beyond the fire.
Tesyb stayed near the gate until the last wagon entered.
As soon as the final wagon cleared the gate, the caravan guards and drivers broke into loud cheers. After the long road through the dark, they were finally back inside Tiranat’s walls. The guards stationed at the gate answered with cheers of their own, several of them clapping as they welcomed the caravan home.
Tesyb wasn’t surprised to see Hyola leaning over the watchtower parapet, cheering with the other women on duty up there.
“Three of them, Tesyb!” she called down, a broad grin on her face. “We put a scorpion bolt into every one!”
"As expected!" Tesyb called back. "Yufim will ask for another archery match after this."
"Let him!" Hyola shouted. "I have a scorpion now! I can shoot farther than he can!"
Tesyb only laughed, knowing the guards would soon have another shooting contest to watch.
Then he rode back outside the gate a short distance, crossbow ready, to where Hudan stood with blood on his spear and sweat on his face.
"Captain!" Tesyb called.
Hudan looked him over quickly. "Any attack on the road?"
"No. We heard the howls nearby and pushed through."
"Good choice," Hudan said. "Get the caravan inside and secure the gate. Then send your guards to me. We may still need them. You come back too.”
Tesyb nodded at once.
He looked once more at the dead adzee just outside the gate, then at the other two bodies near the fire. Huge beasts. Beasts that would have been almost impossible to face on open ground, no matter his bravado in front of the merchant to keep up the morale.
Now the beasts lay dead outside Tiranat's wall with scorpion bolts in their bodies.
The village had become stronger than he had realized.
"Tesyb!" one of the guards shouted from the gate.
He turned back.
The last wagon was inside now. The gate guards began pushing the gate nearly closed, leaving just enough space for Hudan and the guards outside to return.
Tesyb rode through the gap, then dismounted as soon as he was inside. "You two, stay with the wagons and get them to the manor safely. The rest of you, with me. Crossbows ready."
The gate remained partly open behind him, its bar still raised.
Outside, Hudan and the guards were still in the firelight, making sure the last adzee was dead.
Tesyb lifted his crossbow and led the remaining caravan guards back through the gap to help them.
Tonight, victory would belong to Tiranat.
***
- Kivamus -
Kivamus was pacing near the barred gates of the manor.
He had tried standing still. He had tried sitting on the bench beside Duvas. Neither had lasted long. Within moments, he had been back on his feet, walking the same short stretch of packed ground again and again while the night pressed in around the manor walls.
It was close to eight bells now. The heat of the day had faded, but not enough. There was no wind in the yard, and the lanterns placed around the manor only made the air warmer. Sweat gathered under his collar and along his back, and every breath tasted faintly of smoke, cooked food, and the sharp smell of boiled water from the medic's corner.
Another horn sounded somewhere outside the manor.
Kivamus stopped.
Everyone in the yard went still for a moment.
Then no second horn followed, and no guard came running through the gate.
Kivamus exhaled and resumed pacing.
This was the worst part. Not knowing.
On Earth, he would have had radios. Phones. Some way for one group to speak to another without sending a man running through the dark. Here, every message had to come by foot or horn. A horn could say danger. It could say sighting. It could say attack. But it could not say whether Hudan was safe, whether Feroy had reached the southeast tower in time, or whether the adzees were dead or still circling the walls.
He hated it.
Near him, the manor yard was full of people who were trying to stay occupied.
A group of maids sat close together near the side of the servants' hall, hands clasped, heads bowed. Some were praying under their breath. Some only stared at the ground. Madam Nerida was not sitting with them. The plump old head maid moved from one place to another, her gray hair pinned back tightly, her voice sharp as she found small tasks to assign.
"You, move those empty bowls away from the walkway. If the guards come running in, do you want them tripping over them?"
"Put that cloth with the used bandages, not with the clean ones."
"Stop staring at the gate and go fetch more water."
At first glance, it looked like ordinary irritation. But Kivamus had lived in the manor long enough now to understand her better. This was how she kept the maids from sinking into fear. If they were carrying, cleaning, sorting, or obeying orders, then they were not sitting helplessly and imagining those giant fangs and claws outside the walls.
Most of the servants and maids had family among the guards. Some by blood. Some by marriage. Some only by months of living and working together until the differences no longer mattered much. The manor had become a crowded place, and crowded places made people close. Tonight, that made the waiting harder.
Kerel stood near the manor gate with nearly a dozen guards nearby. His sword was at his side, his shield and spear nearby, and his gaze kept moving from the gate to the yard and back again. His responsibility was clear. He was to keep the manor and the baron safe if the village defense failed. But from the way he stood, Kivamus knew Kerel was ready to send men out or go himself if any gate needed reinforcement badly enough.
Nurobo sat on a bench not far from the gate, but he did not look relaxed. The former archer had a large pot of boiled water beside him, with bandages, clean cloth, losuvil powder, and other supplies arranged on a low table. Savomi and two other men training as medics stood nearby, waiting for his orders. They had cleared a space with extra lanterns and braziers around it so there would be enough light if they had to treat someone quickly.
Kivamus hoped the space remained unused.
He knew better than to expect it.
Duvas sat on the bench near the gate, hands resting on his knees. The majordomo had been praying on and off, though he did it quietly. His eyes followed Kivamus for a while, then returned to the gate.
Gorsazo and Madam Helga had taken Lucem and Clarisa inside the manor house some time ago. Clarisa had started crying after one of the howls sounded too close, and Lucem had gone pale enough that Helga had not waited for anyone's permission. She and Gorsazo had taken both children inside. Kivamus was glad for that. They did not need to stand in the yard and listen to adults pretending not to be afraid.
Syrene stood near the servants' hall, speaking quietly with Leah.
Leah had stayed in the manor tonight even though Cedoron was still at his forge. The burly blacksmith had apparently insisted she would be safer here. Knowing him, he was probably still working on something just to keep his mind busy. Syrene and Leah both looked worried, but not panicked. They spoke in low voices, sometimes glancing toward the gate, then toward the medic's corner.
Kivamus's thoughts went to Darora again.
Had he managed to mount the third scorpion on the southeast watchtower in time?
The young carpenter had promised to do it by seven bells, but darkness had come fast, and the work could not have been easy. Mounting a weapon like that properly in daylight was one thing. Doing it in the dark, while everyone waited for an attack, was another.
If it had not been mounted in time, the southeast tower would have had only crossbows and bows.
At least Feroy had gone that way. If anyone could keep those guards from making a bad decision, it was the ex-mercenary. Still, leadership could not replace the protection provided by a heavy scorpion bolt striking an adzee before it even reached the wall.
Another howl rose beyond the village.
Distant, but clear.
Some of the maids pressed closer together. Madam Nerida snapped at a servant to stop blocking the path, though her own hands had clenched at her sides.
Kivamus looked toward the sky, but the manor walls and roofs cut off most of the view.
The mercenaries would arrive in about a month.
That thought came at the worst possible time and refused to leave.
They had enough gold to pay them, yes. That was the good part. But if the mercenaries got greedy, if they demanded far more, or if they decided the village looked rich enough to take by force, Tiranat was still not ready. Having the palisade was better than nothing. The guards were better trained now. The scorpions had changed things against beasts. But against a large, disciplined group of armed men, especially experienced mercenaries, the village was still weaker than he wanted. Much weaker.
A shout came from the gate.
Kivamus turned at once.
The manor gate was opened after confirming who it was.
Two guards came in first, carrying the front of a stretcher between them. Two more held the back. It was not a proper stretcher like those on Earth, only two strong wooden poles tied with rope and old thick cloth, but it did the job.
A man lay on it, teeth clenched, face pale.
There was blood on his leg.
Too much blood.
Kerel was there immediately. "Report."
"Southwest gate," one of the guards said, breathing hard. "Adzee wounded by the scorpion. Levalas took us out to finish it. We killed it, but it caught Maran's leg before it went down."
"Any more beasts?"
"Another sighted in the distance. Isomi says they will try to shoot it from the tower. Levalas requests replacement guards."
Kerel turned toward the guards behind him. "You four, southwest gate. Move. Tell Levalas I will send more if needed."
The four guards ran out at once.
Nurobo was already on his feet. "Bring him here. Not too fast. Keep the leg steady."
Savomi moved to the cleared treatment space. "More light on this side."
One of the other medics shifted a brazier closer.
"Not that close, fool," Nurobo snapped. "I need to see, not roast him!"
The wounded guard groaned as the stretcher was lowered. Blood had soaked through the cloth wrapped around his thigh. Nurobo cut at the binding, examined the wound for only a moment, then started giving orders quickly.
“Hand me some boiled water and a clean cloth," Nurobo ordered. "Savomi, feed him a good amount of losuvil powder. And keep the losuvil paste ready too.” He knelt beside the wounded guard and looked at the men around him. "You two, hold his shoulders. Someone else take the leg and keep it still."
Nurobo reached for the cloth. "Do not let him kick when I start cleaning the wound."
The guard on the stretcher was breathing hard through his teeth.
Kivamus stood a few steps away, his hands clenched.
He wanted to help. He wanted to do something. But he would only get in the way. Nurobo knew this work far better than he did, and Savomi had learned enough to assist properly. All Kivamus could do was stand there and watch one of his men possibly bleed to death because the village still did not have enough weapons, enough scorpions, enough trained guards, or enough of anything.
Duvas came to stand beside him.