Chương 199: 196. Danger

For a moment, Kivamus thought about running to the northern gap in the walls to take a look, as well as to help the guards. But it didn't take him more than a moment to realise that he would only be a liability there, and would prevent the guards from fighting to their full capabilities. Thankfully, it was only around sunset now, so all the guards would be ready and alert at the time, including Hudan and Feroy, otherwise if this attack was around midnight or even later, it could have been much worse.

He just hoped that they would be able to kill or at least scare away the adzees without any loss of life. Duvas a lready seemed to be praying to the goddess, while Kivamus still couldn't sit idle, and started to pace inside the hall, waiting for any news.

~ Hyola ~ ~ A short while ago ~ Hyola was standing just inside the gap in the northern wall, where a gate would be built in the future. Although even with the gates not completed, the village was already a lot more secure than the limestone quarry had ever been, and yet she couldn't wait for the day when the gates were built, and Tiranat became a fortified village, even if it was only by a wooden palisade. It had been snowing continuously today, even though the snowfall was light at the moment.

But the guards who had to go for watch duty on the gates were the ones who were given the limited number of fur coats for their shifts, and that helped a lot to protect her from the freezing cold. A brazier was burning nearby as well, where the guards at the wall gap duty went to heat up their hands in turns. Of course, that brazier was kept nearly a dozen feet to the side of the gap in the walls, so that it wouldn't be easily visible from the outside, which would only attract more animals and wild beasts.

Hearing the sound of someone walking behind her, she turned around and saw Yufim walking towards her and the other guards on duty.

"What are you doing here?" she asked the young archer who had his long flaxen hair tied into a knot at this time.

"Aren't you supposed to be off duty right now?" Yufim grinned.

"I've also been posted to a wall gap for tonight, and it's only an hour until my shift starts."

"You could have been resting until then," Hyola muttered.

"Goddess knows we barely get any rest these days."

"Sure, I probably should have," Yufim shrugged, before he raised his eyebrows, "but I thought maybe you'd like to have another round of archery competition with me to see who is the better archer!" He grinned again.

"Of course, I already know I am the better one by a huge margin, but still, it wouldn't hurt to prove it to you again." Hyola laughed.

"What do you mean by again? I already defeated you last time!" Yufim huffed.

"That doesn't count! A dog had barked outside the manor walls right when I was going to shoot an arrow. So it's not my fault that I only hit the head of the straw mannequin instead of its eye!" Hyola snorted.

"You are just being a sore loser. Just accept that I am better than you!" Before Yufim could retort again, she heard the voice of Feroy scolding them from nearby, "Be quiet, you two!" Being completely surprised about when he had arrived to the northern gap, Hyola quickly turned her head to the South and saw that the ex-mercenary with a short beard was standing only a few feet away while glaring at them. She wondered if it had already been an hour since his last round to the village walls.

"When did you come here?" Yufim asked in surprise while looking at the new arrival. The other three guards at the gate, none of whom were new recruits, only glanced at them for a moment, before they turned to the north again to watch out for any dangers.

"I've been here for a while, kiddo," Feroy snorted.

"I was just seeing how long it would take for you two to shut up before I needed to do it myself."

"It's not my fault..." Yufim sulked.

"She's the one who keeps saying that she is a better shot than me!" Hyola just shook her head at the childish antics of the archer, who was probably a year or two older than her, while Feroy just pointed towards the north.

"You both can decide who is the better shot after your shift is over. Now stop your chit chat, and do your duty and keep watching out for any movement in the north." He smirked at the young archer, "Since you've been so generous to arrive for your duty an hour before you were due, consider this extra hour also a part of your duty tonight." This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"That's not fair..." Yufim whined. Feroy just pointed towards the north again without saying anything else. Yufim nodded reluctantly, and leaned against the log wall with one shoulder, with his other hand holding his warbow. Hyola turned towards the north as well, while thinking about these still incomplete walls.

Another guard of the manor had told her in the past that when he had visited Cinran a few months ago, he had seen that the much bigger town had huge stone walls all around the town to protect it from any raids from the neighbouring country of Binpaaz.

Of course, Tiranat's wooden walls couldn't even be compared to those sturdy stone walls, but once the gates were built, they should be more than enough to protect the village from any wild beast attacks, and even from a bandit raid - which she had found out had become very common in the last year. As she saw the sun begin to dip under the horizon in the west through the leafless Fedarus trees found everywhere, she thought about her previous month here.

When she and the other stonecutters had arrived at this unknown village, she had no idea how her life was going to turn out in this place. She didn't even know if they would really be treated as free people instead of as slaves, and yet, everything that the guard captain had claimed at the quarry had turned out to be true. By now, everyone had settled very well in their new home at the western section of the first longhouse block, and surprisingly there was more than enough work for everyone.

Most of the former stonecutters now worked as labourers to cut trees in the north, or to clear fields in the South, but some of them had even been recruited as specialised craftsmen, including one of them as a fletcher. Her good friend Darora had even become a full-fledged carpenter of Tiranat, and he already had his own workshop near the market square along with a couple of apprentices, even if the land and the building was owned by the baron.

Of course, she was also a manor guard now, who got better wages than the labourers, even if it was only in the form of food and lodging for now. She couldn't wait for the day she would get her first real wage as silver and gold in her hands. That would be the first time she would have ever earned even a single copper in her life - since she had been sold as a slave when she was still a child, and she certainly wasn't paid any coin as a slave.

Wondering where she would spend that coin, since she had already seen that most of the shops in the market square were still closed these days, but the alehouse was always open, even with as few customers as it got these days. If nothing else, she could treat Calubo to a meal and a drink there once she got her wages in the future. Thinking about him made her smile again. He was on duty at the western gap in the walls in this shift, but she couldn't wait until her shift ended and she could meet with him again.

Their daily meal time together in the servants' hall - which was where she lived too, on the upper floor - had already become her favourite part of the day by now. She just wished time would pass faster and her watch duty would end soon.

Since the time they had found out that there was a pack of adzee nearby, Hudan had extended their working hours from eight hours earlier to twelve hours now, until the danger of an adzee attack had passed so that they could man all the gates with enough guards at all times, especially since she was the only woman to be actively posted at the village walls until more crossbows were built. That had easily led to none of them getting enough rest in the past few days.

As she was thinking about what they would get to eat tonight, there was an adzee howl from somewhere in the distance. Immediately, she saw the other three guards at this gap became alert, with their hands on the hilts of their swords. Of course, there were a few spears kept next to the walls as well, but it seemed like the guards were more habitual of using their swords instead of the spears.

She heard the sound of someone running from behind, and saw that Feroy - who probably hadn't gone too far by now - was jogging towards them after hearing the howl. Reaching closer, he shouted at the guards in a low voice, "How many times do I have to tell you all that if you hear the howl of an adzee you need to get ready with spears! Your swords aren't going to do a damn thing against those vicious beasts!" Immediately, the guards scrambled to pick up a spear each, while Feroy took one himself as well.

Yufim had already taken his warbow in his hands, ready with an arrow in his other one. Taking their lead, Hyola also picked up the crossbow which had been tied to her waist, and began to load it, just in case. Hopefully, it would turn out to be a false alarm again, just like many times in the past few days. Once she had the crossbow bolt loaded and ready to shoot, she gazed outside the gap in the walls towards the north, and all she saw was more trees in the fading light of the sun.

Even when she had heard the howls in the past few days, the adzees had been far enough that she hadn't actually seen them here, and hopefully, this time would be the same as well. Before long, there was another loud howl, this time from much closer, and it chilled her to the bone, making her heart pick up speed. That pack of adzee couldn't be coming towards them, could it? Just the simple thought of facing an adzee made her freeze right where she was standing.

They were a tense few moments, as everyone gazed into the north, trying to look for any hint of an adzee prowling there, and yet there was nothing. Hyola's racing heart was just beginning to slow down, when she saw some movement in the trees ahead.