Chương 330: 326. Speculations

Morning came gray and plain. Kivamus was sitting at the head of the manor table with Duvas, Hudan, Feroy and Gorsazo gathered around. The sunrise was only a short while ago, but everyone's faces already showed the strain of not getting a good sleep, or even any sleep in case of the guard leaders, but everyone's eyes were still alert.

"An y changes in the bandits' actions?" Kivamus asked.

"What were they even doing all night?" Feroy rubbed his jaw.

"I was awake most of the night. From what the guards observed, they didn't move much. They are still staying in front of the three gates, and keeping to their general positions. Once in a while, a man walks over to another group to talk, but mostly they seem content to just sit there and watch us while staying out of range of our bows and crossbows. It looks like they're delaying an attack, or waiting for something." Duvas folded his hands on the table with a sigh.

"The villagers are too scared to go to work today, and for good reason. They have already started gathering in front of the manor, waiting for orders, but I don't think more than a handful will be willing to leave the safety of the walls today." Gorsazo frowned.

"If the coal miners miss a day or two, we can take that hit. Our coal barns already have more of it stored than we can sell right now. The problem is sowing. We can't waste the limited days available for it." Duvas shook his head.

"I spoke with Pinoto last night. He thinks the weather will hold for a bit. Even if we miss a day or two, we will still have time to finish the sowing after that if we push." Kivamus leaned forward.

"A few men risking their lives for just another wagon load of coal won't help much. Make an announcement that nobody is to go outside the walls today. No one leaves until we've dealt with the bandits." Feroy looked up sharply.

"The bandits will immediately realize that the fields are empty then. If we wait too long, they might ride through the farms and trample them with their horses if they have brought 'em or even on foot. They certainly have enough men for that."

"I know," Kivamus sighed, "but it's a risk we have to take or our people might be killed or taken as slaves by these bastards." He turned to Duvas.

"How are our food supplies looking?" Duvas' face looked grim.

"If we keep feeding everyone two meals a day with just the wheat and the mushrooms and no new meat, we have about four days worth of food left. Of course, we still have some grain stored separately for sowing. If we use that too and feed people from it, it will add around another week. After that, we'll have to start butchering our animals or risk starvation." Kivamus drew a slow breath.

"I don't want to start killing the animals unless we absolutely have to. Four days you say...?" He thought about the problem for a while.

"If Trevalo doesn't arrive in the next three days, we'll stop the sowing. We'll send a caravan to Cinran ourselves to buy grain in that case. Of course, for that we need to deal with the bandits first. We simply can't send that many guards out to escort a caravan while these bastards are sitting outside our gates."

"It would really help if Trevalo comes back sooner..." Gorsazo said.

"We asked him to bring all the wheat he could. That would make a huge difference." Kivamus shook his head.

"No. I hope he doesn't come back for a few more days. If he runs into these bandits outside the village and gets killed, or even if he sees them and turns back to Cinran, we won't see him again for weeks. We can't afford that. We have to deal with the bandits before he returns."

"But how? With three hunting groups out, our numbers simply aren't enough to beat them in a swordfight..." Duvas said quietly.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Hudan growled.

"We can't just sit here hiding like cowards, hoping they get bored of us and leave!" Feroy gave a sharp snort.

"Oh, they aren't leaving. Torhan is here for revenge. He won't walk away until he's had it or he's dead. And he might have guessed that we came through winter with almost nothing left - he was the reason for it when he stole everything from the villagers in that very first raid. That means he must already be expecting that we've got little food left now. Even if he's just guessing about this, the fact is we really don't have enough food stored here, so we can't sit and wait for too long, you know?"

Gorsazo stared down at the table.

"The way those bandits are just sitting there instead of attacking makes it seem like Torhan's plan is just to force the villagers to starve. Or maybe he's hoping that the villagers will rebel against you if they don't have enough to eat, and open the gates themselves to welcome that bastard inside as a saviour." The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Kivamus shook his head firmly, already having that much confidence in his people by now.

"That won't happen. I trust the villagers." Duvas scratched his short white beard.

"And they trust you, that much is clear to all of us here. But Torhan doesn't know that... In his mind, you're a new baron, barely here for a few months. He'll think the villagers haven't had time to form ties with you, even if you were a benevolent leader, which most nobles are not. Either way, he might be assuming that if the villagers are hungry enough, they'll rebel and overthrow you. Remember—he may be a bastard, but he's still a bastard of the Baron of Kirnos. He knows how nobles' politics work."

Gorsazo's eyes turned wide.

"That must be it! I think I know why those bandits aren't attacking us. That bastard might really be playing the long game here. His half-brother Lanidas is the rightful heir of Kirnos, so maybe Torhan is thinking he can make himself the Baron of Tiranat instead." Kivamus snorted.

"Tell him to get in line. He's hardly the first man who's wanted to kill me or take this village from me." Hudan frowned.

"Wait, how would that even work?" Gorsazo explained, "I think Torhan might be thinking that by forcing our villagers to stay inside, he can stop any new food from coming in—no merchants to bring grain and no hunters to bring meat. And the longer his men sit in front of the gates, the less food the villagers get. Eventually, he might be hoping that the hunger would make the villagers turn on Lord Kivamus.

Then he shows up as their savior, probably with some food he had already brought for his own bandits, and takes the place of the baron. If he can present that as having popular support to our superiors in Cinran, he could be made the Baron of Tiranat. If he's really a bastard, he does have some noble blood running in his veins, after all." Duvas shook his head.

"That's not how it works at all... Nobody can become the ruler just by having the support of the public." Kivamus coughed suddenly to hide his laughter. So much for democracy. Gorsazo shrugged.

"Obviously, I know that, but remember, he is a bandit leader who rules by force. As long as the majority of the bandits support him remaining the leader, there will be no threat to his power. He might be using the same logic here." Hudan's jaw tightened.

"To hell with it! In my eyes, anyone who even thinks about overthrowing Lord Kivamus is no more than yesterday's trash to be dumped out! If he ever comes inside the village, I'll cut him down in half!" Duvas chuckled.

"If Gorsazo is right, one small upside is that even though Torhan wants to kill our guards in revenge, he is unlikely to use fire arrows on us, since he might want the village intact to take over, and burning it before he became the baron would be counterproductive. That's probably why they didn't use any fire arrows last night, even though it could have made our situation much weaker." Gorsazo nodded.

"That former slave Joric said that Torhan's own compound just had some piles of branches stacked together as a makeshift wall. So maybe he's thinking that if he ever gets to capture our village, he can use these walls to defend from any immediate attacks to throw him out of here." Feroy laughed harshly.

"The balls on this guy! If that's his real plan, he's either insane or a braver man than anyone I've ever met." Kivamus shook his head.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We have no way to know what he's really thinking. And whatever Torhan plans for later doesn't change what we have to do now. We need to find out if the bandits are just sitting there to siege Tiranat—perhaps waiting for reinforcements—and to prevent anyone from leaving and entering the village to push us to starvation, or if they intend to attack soon. Either way, we can't wait too long.

We risk losing the proper window for sowing seeds, and merchants like Trevalo and others may see those bandits and turn back. We can't let that happen." Kivamus looked around the table.

"Most of us were up all night. Let's take a few hours' rest, have some breakfast, and meet again after that—and see if anything's changed. We'll decide what to do after that." They all agreed and the meeting broke.

Nine bells had just rung when Kivamus finished a light meal and waited for the others to return. Gorsazo had once again gone to the longhouse blocks to teach the kids with some of his learning games to keep them occupied. Today he'd also taken Syryne along with him, saying that helping to teach the kids will help her learn more as well.

Duvas had gone to talk with Madam Nerida about the situation of their food stores and to discuss if there was a way to extend their supplies further, while Feroy was taking a nap in a chair nearby, half-crouched. Hudan still hadn't returned after he had left, saying he needed to meet with the watchtower guards to find the current status of the bandit camps. Kivamus had used the wait to run through his thoughts, thinking about what could be done about the bandits.

By now, he had the rough outline of a plan that might work - but he needed the others' input before he decided on anything.