"I know what you are thinking," the majordomo said quietly.
Kivamus did not look at him.
Duvas continued, "You are doing better than anyone here could have expected. Better than anyone could have imagined a year ago."
"A man is bleeding on the ground right in front of me!” Kivamus said, his nails digging into his palm with frustration.
"Yes," Duvas replied. "And that is still terrible. But people getting injured or dying is part of life in this world. You know that. I know you know that."
Kivamus looked at him then.
Duvas's face was tired, worried, and kind in a way that made the words harder to dismiss.
"In this world, in this kingdom,” the majordomo said, lowering his voice further, “an isolated village like Tiranat facing a pack of adzees would be helpless. We were not helpless. That is because of you."
Kivamus looked back toward Nurobo.
The medic was pouring water over the wound now, perhaps to see it more clearly without all the blood which was still coming out. Maran, the injured guard, shouted and tried to twist, but the other two held him down. Savomi held clean cloth nearby, ready for the next order.
Kivamus forced his fists to open.
Duvas was right.
But not right enough.
Kivamus still needed to do more.
The tenement blueprint was finished. The scorpions worked. Darora already had the lathe blueprint and would begin work on it once the immediate need for scorpions eased. Cedoron was producing steel now. Real steel. The village had already started to produce its own timber, coal, paper, soap and medicine, with more workers coming in every month which helped with the persistent labor shortage.
But it was still not enough.
There was another weapon in Kivamus's mind now. Something he had been putting aside because there were always more urgent projects, because the precision would be difficult, because the smithy and carpentry teams already had far more work than they could handle. But tonight had made one thing clear. If he wanted Tiranat to survive what was coming, he could not wait too long.
This one would be a smaller weapon, basically an advanced version of the crossbow they already had, and without any of the massive power provided by a scorpion, but it would be far more valuable against enemies who walked on two feet—humans. Specifically, mercenaries. He had postponed designing it until now because it could not be produced in any meaningful numbers without a lathe, but now that the carpenter would finish building the first lathe within a month, it was the right time for it.
He would start the blueprints soon.
Not tonight. Tonight his hands were too tense and his thoughts too scattered. But from tomorrow, he would give it every hour he could carve out around his other responsibilities.
Another horn sounded in the distance.
Kivamus and Duvas both looked toward the village beyond the manor gate.
No one came running in.
Kerel remained near the gate, jaw tight, watching the road outside. The four replacement guards had already disappeared into the dark toward the southwest gate to reinforce it. The remaining guards shifted uneasily, but no one left their posts.
Nurobo had already checked the leg and confirmed that the bone was not broken. He had cleaned the wound and pressed losuvil paste into it before beginning to bind the leg properly.
"Will he live?" Kivamus asked.
Nurobo did not look up. "If the bleeding slows and fever does not take him tonight, yes. But stop asking questions while I work."
A few people nearby went still.
Kivamus almost smiled despite everything. He didn’t care if the medic was too occupied to reply in a way which would suit a manor guard answering to his baron in public. All Kivamus wanted was that Nurobo would do his best to save the man’s life. That was the only thing that mattered.
"Got it."
Duvas gave him a sideways glance, and Kivamus could see the old man trying not to react.
At least the guard had a chance now.
Kivamus stepped back from the makeshift treatment space and looked toward the manor again. The midsummer heat, the smoke, the distant horns, the low voices, the prayers, the wounded man on the ground, all of it pressed together until the yard felt smaller than it really was.
He knew he could not be out there with Hudan or Feroy to lead the guards. He could not stand on a watchtower with Hyola or Isomi. He could not take the place of a swordsman in a melee.
His task was different.
He had to keep thinking. Keep planning. Keep building.
Because tonight Tiranat might yet survive, but survival was not enough. Not with the mercenaries due in a month, not with Torhan still alive, not with Zoricus waiting for any opening, and not with beasts strong enough to batter their way into the village by their sheer power.
Kivamus looked once more toward the dark village road beyond the manor gate.
He needed to do more to keep his people safe.
Much more.
***
The temple bell began ringing in the distance.
Kivamus counted each strike until the twelfth one faded over the village.
Midnight.
During the day, Father Edric and the other priests would use the temple sundial to keep a reasonably accurate count of the hours. At night, it was mostly their best estimate. He would have to do something about that at some point, but without any electricity available, and without any work going on during the nighttime, it wasn't a high priority to provide accurate timing during the nights.
Still, Kivamus had ordered the temple to ring the bell every hour for tonight until the danger had passed. The guards needed some way to judge how long they had been at their posts, and the sound also reminded everyone inside the longhouses that the village was still standing.
And it always will. I will make sure of it.
He was sitting on a bench near the manor entrance with Duvas beside him.
They had moved closer to the manor some time ago. Kivamus had spent hours walking between the gate and the servants' hall, and Duvas was far too old to remain standing beside him all night merely because Kivamus could not bring himself to go inside while the guards were still out, fighting the beasts.
The manor grounds were still busy, but the tension had eased slightly.
No horn had sounded for the past two hours. More importantly, no one else had been carried through the manor gate with blood soaking through their clothes. Some time ago, Kerel had sent the newly recruited guards who had been waiting in the manor to relieve the experienced ones who had been on duty since the evening.
Servants and maids continued moving between the manor and the servants' hall, speaking quietly as they worked. A few still glanced toward the manor gate whenever footsteps approached, but they no longer stopped at every distant sound.
Near the servants' hall, Syrene and Leah sat together on a wooden bench beneath a hanging lantern. Leah held a piece of cloth across her knees and was showing Syrene how to guide the needle through it. Syrene watched with the same concentration she usually gave to her research, though the uneven row of stitches on her own sample suggested that sewing did not come as naturally to her.
Madam Helga and Gorsazo had remained inside the manor hall with Lucem and Clarisa. The children had fallen asleep a few hours ago, apparently without understanding how much danger had been facing the village. Kivamus was grateful for that. There was no reason for them to spend the night frightened when the adults around them could prevent it.
Smoke had been rising from the clay ovens beside the servants' hall for some time now.
Madam Nerida had begun preparing another round of food nearly an hour ago. Fresh bread was baking inside the ovens, and steam rose from a large iron pot of chicken stew near the kitchen entrance. In the light of another lantern, two servants were finishing the work of plucking freshly slaughtered chickens nearby for another stew pot which had started bubbling. A pair of maids sat nearby, chopping up some vegetables to add to the stew.
The returning guards would be exhausted and hungry. Nerida had apparently decided that the lack of new horns was enough reason to begin feeding them before the fighting had officially ended.
Kivamus hoped she was right.
After a while, the manor gate opened.
He stood immediately.
Captain Hudan entered first, with Tesyb beside him and a group of tired guards following close behind. There was dried blood on Hudan's spear and more across the front of his clothes, though Kivamus could not tell how much of it belonged to him.
The captain crossed through the gate, raised one fist above his head, and shouted, "Victory for Tiranat!"
For one brief moment, the manor grounds went quiet.
Then the guards behind him answered.
"Victory for Tiranat!"
The shout spread through the yard. Servants and maids joined them, some cheering and others clapping loudly. Leah rose so quickly that the cloth slid from her knees, and even Syrene began cheering beside her.
The change in the mood of the courdyard was immediate.
People who had spent the entire night waiting for another horn were smiling now. A maid ran toward one of the returning guards and wrapped both arms around him. Another guard was pulled into an embrace by his older brother before he had taken more than three steps through the gate. More servants and maids hurried forward as they looked for their husbands, wives, siblings, and friends among the men and women returning from the walls.
Kivamus felt some of the tension leave his chest.
Feroy came through the gate soon afterward, followed by Levalas and another group of guards. More men and women continued entering behind them in smaller groups as the fresh shifts sent by Kerel took over at the walls and the watchtowers.
Feroy stopped long enough to speak with Tesyb and Levalas.
"You have both done enough for one night," he told them. "Go eat and get some rest."
Tesyb looked as though he might argue, but one glance at Feroy's face changed his mind.
"Yes, sir."
Levalas merely nodded. He looked exhausted, and there was dried blood across his hands and sleeves. Kivamus was glad that the noble-in-hiding was trusted as much by the guards as they did anyone else here.
Hudan had already turned toward the servants' hall.
"Where is Maran?" he asked.
"Inside," one of the maids answered. "Nurobo is still with him."
The captain hurried away without waiting for anyone else.
Feroy watched him go, then walked across the yard toward Kivamus and Duvas.
Kivamus met him halfway, and some of the maids and servants also came to stand nearby to listen.
"Is it over?" he asked.
"The immediate attack is," Feroy replied. "The guards will remain on watch until morning, but I do not expect the rest of the pack to return tonight."
Duvas lowered his head and quietly thanked the Goddess.
Kivamus exhaled loudly, then took his first relaxed breath in a while. "How many adzees?"
"Five confirmed dead," Feroy said. "Another was badly wounded but ran away before we could kill it, and two more that escaped without any wounds we could see."
"Eight beasts?” Kivamus exclaimed.
"At least eight. It was a medium to large pack. Bigger packs can reach around ten, sometimes more, but this one was still large enough to be dangerous."
Feroy pointed toward the northern side of the village.
"Three were killed near the northeast gate. Hyola and the other women on the watchtower struck all three with the scorpion. Hudan and the ground guards finished the ones that reached the wall."
Kivamus looked toward the servants' hall, where Hudan had disappeared.
Feroy continued, ”At the southwest gate, Isomi's crew and Levalas's guards killed one more. They wounded another adzee badly from what I heard, but there wasn't enough light to be sure of whether the wounds were fatal."
"It still escaped?"
The former mercenary nodded. “Levalas decided they could not risk following it or go too far from the walls."
"Good choice."
Kivamus had no desire to lose guards because they had chased a dying beast away from the only safe position available to them.
"The forest would have been too dangerous in the dark," Feroy continued. "Once the guards left the wall behind, they would no longer have the scorpion crews supporting them. If another adzee found them among the trees, they might not have made it back."
"What if the wounded one remains close to the village?"
"I will take Tesyb and a full group southwest after sunrise. We will follow the blood trail and make certain it is dead. If it still lives, we will finish it."
Kivamus nodded.
A badly wounded beast wandering near the farms, mines, or dam site could be even more dangerous than a healthy one. Pain might make it attack anything it encountered.
"What about the other walls?" Duvas asked.
"One more adzee was sighted near the northwest side," Feroy said. "There is no scorpion covering that section, so the guards did not waste arrows provoking it. It circled toward the western wall and eventually disappeared into the dark."
That accounted for one of the unwounded beasts.
"At the southeast gate, my group killed another," Feroy continued. “Darora had taken the third scorpion there after dark, but he decided there was not enough light or time to install the mount. He fixed it in place with a temporary support instead, saying that it will last till the morning but no more. It could not turn as far as it should have, but it held through the fighting and gave the watchtower crew enough range to help us bring the beast down. They managed to strike it thrice with the scorpion before it reached the wall, and then we went out to finish it off. We saw one more near the tree line, but it never came close enough to attack. It withdrew after the other one had been killed."
Five dead. One badly wounded. Two that had escaped untouched.
Kivamus looked around the manor grounds again.
No bodies were being brought through the gate. No maids were crying beside dead husbands or brothers. There would be injuries, perhaps serious ones, but no one had died.
A year ago, a pack this large could have broken through Tiranat without much difficulty. The village had possessed far too few trained guards, no walls, and nothing capable of stopping an adzee before it reached the defenders. Dozens of people might have died before the beasts finally retreated—if they even did.
Tonight, Tiranat had killed five of them.
"Are you certain they will not return?" Kivamus asked.
"As certain as I can be," Feroy said. “I've fought packs of adzees before, when I was still travelling with the mercenary band. Once a pack loses this many adults in one attack, the survivors do not usually return to the same place."
"What happens to them?"
"They will probably leave this territory. Another stronger pack from the southern forest will likely merge with the survivors, assuming they don't just move far away to easier hunting grounds. Either way, what remains of this pack will remember the walls, the fires, and the scorpions. Especially the injured one, if it manages to live long enough.”
Feroy looked toward the manor gate.
“So unless another pack captures their territory immediately, we should not have to fear another attack for a few months. Autumn may be safe. By winter, another pack would likely move into the area. Possibly the same one which merged with the survivors of this one.”
A few months was not as long as Kivamus would have liked, but it was far better than another attack tomorrow.
Duvas looked troubled. “Wouldn't it be a very large pack then?”
Kivamus looked at the majordomo. “We’ll be ready for them by then.”
***
A/N:
Hey everyone!
I hope you all are doing well.
After thinking about it for the past few weeks, I have decided to do something extra for the readers supporting the story through the King of Reslinor tier. Yay!
Until now, the readers on the Kings tier got the same benefits as the lower tiers despite paying more, and I always felt bad about it. So I have decided to do something to fix it.
You all already know that with the increase in chapter lengths, even though the story is still 50 chapters ahead of RR, the actual word count by which the story is ahead is actually increasing every week.
At an average of 1800 words per chapter, the Dukes were 90,000 words ahead of RR in the past (1800* 50), but with the increase in average chapter lengths to 2500, the number of words they are ahead from RR will slowly increase to 125,000 (which is 50 chapters * 2500 words) by the time the longer chapters reach RR. That means the benefits for every tier have already increased by around 40% compared to what it was in the past (based on the number of words they are ahead of RR), despite being the same number of chapters ahead.
Hurray for that!
That being said, it never felt right to me that I'm not giving anything extra to those supporting the story more through the King tier, so I decided that I should do something about it.
Nothing is changing for the the Baron or the Duke tiers. Barons will continue at 20 chapters ahead, and Dukes will continue at 50 chapters ahead, with three long chapters uploaded every week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The same as now.
But whenever I manage to write more in a week, I’ll upload those drafts for Kings as an extra thank-you for their support.
The reason for it is that occasionally I manage to write more, and that serves as my backup to continue giving the chapters regularly. So I usually have a few extra chapter drafts written ahead as backup, which wait for another round of editing before I upload them here. So instead of just letting them sit on my computer, in the future I will upload them here for the Kings instead.
Keep in mind that King of Reslinor is not becoming a new regular tier, and there won’t be any fixed target of a higher number of additional chapters ahead or a separate schedule for them.
Three chapters every week will remain the regular schedule for every tier, while the extra King chapters will only appear if I manage to write more in any particular week. That means, occasionally Kings will get a fourth (long) chapter in a week, but on other weeks, it will remain the three regular chapters.
As you can guess, it means the Kings will slowly get further ahead from RR, compared to the 50 chapters ahead they are now. And that feels right, because they are paying more, so they should be more chapters ahead compared to the other tiers.
I don’t know yet how many extra chapters this will eventually become, and I don't have any fixed target of that in my mind. I just wanted to give something extra to the people supporting the story at the highest tier as a thank-you to them.
Of course, the Kings will always have full access to any other story I publish in the future (*hint hint).
That is all for today. I hope you all have been enjoying the adzee defense arc.
Thank you, as always, for supporting the story!
I'll see you on Wednesday. Take care!