FLTL Ch. 325. Observing

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Kivamus had been tossing and turning all night, but sleep just wasn’t coming. He had told the guards to wake him immediately if there was an attack, but the horn had never sounded.

All night he had kept thinking about what he could have done differently. If only they had more grain stored in the barns to withstand a siege or longer... But as it stood, they only had a few days’ worth of food left, apart from what was set aside for sowing. He wished they had bought more from Cinran in the past weeks, or that more merchants had come so they could have traded coal for it. 

He hoped the wheat prices had been lower which would have allowed them to buy more, and that made him wonder once again about why the prices had gone up so much? Compared to last year, the cost was at least thirty to forty percent higher. That was an astronomical increase for a single year. He didn’t believe the harvest could have been that bad. Something else had to be behind it.

Then he stopped himself from brooding about it. It didn't matter right now. Grain prices in Cinran were out of his hands anyway. He had to focus on defending the village.

Still, he couldn’t help thinking of other things he could have done. Perhaps he could have kept the hunters from leaving for a few more days, which would have given them enough swordsmen here to take out the bandits directly. Or perhaps he could have made more crossbows to equip every guard with them, so they could thin out the bandits' numbers even in a frontal assault. 

Maybe he could have told Darora to build the scorpions first, since they were powerful enough to reach the bandits easily, and Nokozal had no way of telling Torhan about it, but there was nothing that could be done about it for now...

He finally sat up on his bed, giving up on getting any more sleep. He was feeling exhausted right now, but there was no way he could calm down his mind enough to get any rest. Expecting to hear the horn throughout the night had worn him out too much. He had braced for it again and again every time he heard a creak of the wooden wall from the wind, expecting it to bring bad news, but nothing... 

He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the window of his room, and only saw darkness at the edges of the wooden panes. It was still night, but morning had to be close now, even though there was still no sign of an attack. Just what were those bandits waiting for? Shouldn’t they have used the cover of a moonless night to attack?

He sat up, deciding to take a walk for now. Pulling on a robe over his tunic to protect against the night chill, he left his room. The manor house was quiet, other inhabitants probably asleep at the time. Or maybe they were also turning around restlessly like he had been.

Reaching outside, he saw that the sky was still dark, although he could guess that dawn was probably less than an hour away. A few guards were standing near a brazier kept next to the servants’ hall, talking in hushed voices.

“Tesyb,” Kivamus called out, spotting the burly guard.

The guards straightened when they noticed them, and Tesyb jogged toward him.

“Where are Hudan and Feroy?”

“Captain just went out to take a round of all the village gates again,” Tesyb replied. “Feroy’s been staying up on one watchtower after another, observing the bandit groups.”

Kivamus nodded. “Come on. I want to take a look too,”

Tesyb hesitated. “The captain told us to stay here and protect you...”

“It’s fine,” Kivamus said. “You all can come with me then.”

Tesyb looked at the others, then nodded. “As you wish, milord.”

The four guards, each carrying a sword, a shield, as well as a dagger, came along with him as he left the manor and walked toward the northeastern watchtower.

As Kivamus walked past the longhouse blocks, he saw many of the well-built villagers sitting outside the gate with nervous expressions. Some had machetes in hand, others held knives, daggers and even axes. They straightened when they noticed him, giving nods or small bows.

He raised his hand in return, feeling a swell of pride. They weren’t just leaving the defense to the guards. He had no doubt that the villagers trusted the guards to do their job properly, but these men were still willing to sit awake all night to protect their families. If the bandits broke through a gate or managed to set fire to a section of the wall and came inside, the longhouse gates would be the last barrier protecting their families. Their narrow entries - easy to hold - would buy enough time for the guards to come to their aid. Their wives, children, and the old folks inside would have a chance because of them.

He kept walking north until he reached the northeastern gate. Just inside the gates, there were two swordsmen sitting on a makeshift bench made from a fallen log. A brazier was burning next to them, which the guards were using to warm their hands over the sawdust briquettes. On the watchtower platform above, two crossbow women and another guard had trained their eyes into the darkness outside the walls.

That's when he spotted Hudan approaching with another guard in tow from the west. When the guard captain drew close enough to see his face, his brow furrowed. “My lord, you shouldn’t have left the manor! It’s not safe for you here...”

“I just couldn’t keep sitting inside,” Kivamus grunted. “I needed to see things for myself." He glanced at the watchtower again. "I want to take a look from up there. Think the platform can hold more men?”

Hudan snorted. “The old carpenter knows what he’s doing. The tower’ll take seven, or even eight men easily.” He jerked his chin toward the ladder. “I’ll go first. You can follow when I give the all clear.”

The burly guard climbed steadily up, the wood creaking, but easily supporting even his weight. Reaching the top, he leaned close to the guards, speaking in low voices, before gesturing down for Kivamus to join them.

Kivamus grasped the ladder, every step making him wonder if an arrow might come out of the dark at any moment and end his short journey in this world. But no shafts flew, and soon he was pulling himself onto the platform, followed by Tesyb behind him.

The guards there gave short nods of respect, shifting to give him space. He turned outward, peering into the night. For a moment he saw nothing but the faint shimmer of stars. Then his eyes adjusted, and shapes began to form. A cluster of figures sat on the ground in the distance - somewhere around three or four hundred metres away.

Squinting his eyes made him wish he had a pair of binoculars here. Even a set of primitive lenses would have made a difference, but that was just wishful thinking at this point. "Anything of note in the night?"

Hudan gestured to one of the crossbow women. “Isomi. Report.”

The woman stepped closer, voice low. “They’ve been there since before nightfall. Sometimes one or two wander off - likely for the bushes, or maybe to meet with the other groups - but that’s all. Otherwise, they've just been sitting there, like they’re waiting for something.”

Kivamus frowned. “They can’t be delaying the attack to get more men, can they?”

Hudan shook his head. “It's not likely, but I wouldn't count out anything at this point. Torhan has already brought thirty men when we thought he had twenty at most. Still, I don’t think they can get any more reinforcements without direct help from Baron of Kirnos, and Sir Duvas said that wasn't likely.”

Kivamus nodded as he kept looking out into the dark. “Are they really out of Yufim’s range? Did he try again?”

Hudan snorted. “Oh, he tried, alright. He had taken it as an insult to his pride that these bastards were just sitting there lazily, so he shot at them many times from each of the watchtowers in front of the three groups. Of course, they were just blind shots in the dark, aimed in the general direction of where the bandits were sitting, but there were no cries of pain or any sudden movement to show they'd been hit. Either he couldn't aim close to them, or more likely the arrow didn’t reach the bandits, since they had learned their lesson to stay away when one of them got shot in his arm in the evening.”

Tesyb growled from where he had been leaning on the parapet. “I just wish we had even a single scorpion up on the towers! I’ve never seen one of 'em, but from what you said, it would have covered the whole empty ground till the forest. We could have taken out this whole nest of rats with it!”

Kivamus sighed. “It wouldn't have helped that much. One scorpion can only cover one gate. The other two would still be free for the bandits to sit in front of without any fear. Scorpions will only be helpful when we can cover all the directions from them.”

Tesyb’s jaw tightened. “But we can’t just sit here watching them enjoy! Like they are having a... a... noble's barbecue on a leisure hunting trip!" He clenched his fists. "These are the bastards who burnt my home! I want to go out and kill them right where they are sitting! ”

Kivamus met his eyes. “I know how you feel, and trust me we'll make them pay. But we have to wait for a good opportunity for this. If we rush in without thinking of a good plan, we'll lose far more than we'll gain. We need to wait for an opening where we can make it count, even with our lesser number of men.”

Tesyb frowned but didn’t argue further. Around them the guards shifted, all of them gazing into the darkness. No one spoke after that for a while.

Kivamus watched the forms in the distance a little longer, thinking through the options he could think of, then nodded. “I’m going back for now. Report to me at once if anything changes.”

He climbed down the ladder, putting his feet on each step carefully. Once Tesyb had followed him down, he started walking back to the manor with the other guards, thinking about whether there was any way they could take those men out without risking the lives of their guards any more than what would be needed.

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A/N: Have a nice weekend everyone! I'll see you guys on Monday.

Next chapter: FLTL Ch. 326. Speculations