Chương 46: Chapter 45: Early Warning

The road remained empty. More than two weeks had passed since the messenger left, and there was still no sign of the knights. Ren looked down the road one last time from Elna's arms before turning his attention back toward the village. And Little Yara had surprised him again. His Master made more than just the magical grenades. She had also given them another type of warning. Her alert charms had been placed beyond the village along the approaches Hadrik expected the goblins to use.

The guards still kept watch, and the horn would still carry the warning once danger was spotted. Yara's charms simply pushed that warning farther out. When had she even found the time to craft the alert charms? He suddenly felt guilty again. That's a lot of work for a single person, even if the System was helping her too. But that feeling warred with Ren already liking them more and more, every time he thought about them. The previous attacks had taught him how quickly a few minutes could just disappear.

Someone saw the goblins, the warning spread, and the horn sounded. Families abandoned what they were doing and hurried toward the church while the guards gathered. None of that happened instantly. And as the earliest loops had shown him… could also happen far too late. And now Yara had bought them more space between the first sign of goblins and the moment those goblins reached the village.

More time for the horn to sound, for people to reach the church, and for Hadrik to put everyone where he wanted them to be before the battle even had a chance to start. That made Ren feel considerably safer. … Or it would have, if one of the charms had not just fired. Mana flared somewhere beyond the western side of the village. It was distant enough that Ren caught only the disturbance through Mana Sense, a brief surge that vanished almost as soon as he noticed it. He froze.

Then another signal sounded from farther out. Ren cursed the timing. Where was the help when they needed it?! Two weeks and two days and the knights were still not here! Another signal answered from closer to the village, and a moment later the sounds of the warning bell carried the warning over the rooftops. Ren's stomach tightened at once. The goblins were coming. Elna shifted him more securely against her and called for Tessa, who hurried out from the house while Bren reached for his spear.

Around them, the village reacted to the alarm bell in the same way it always had. Families gathered their children and started toward the church, while the guards and those helping with the defense moved toward their assigned positions. Ren turned in Elna's arms and looked toward the western side of the village. The goblins were still far enough out that there was no movement between the far away trees yet, which meant the warning had reached them before the attack reached the village itself.

That was the advantage Yara had given them. People could start moving while there was still distance between them and the goblins. The families heading for the church were already on their way before the western edge of the village came under pressure. Ren felt some of the tension leave his chest as he understood exactly how much those few extra minutes mattered. The horn did not need to sound for immediate danger, and everybody had time to gather.

Then Bren finished gathering what he needed and took up his spear, and Ren's attention shifted back to a much less comfortable problem. His father had trained for this. Hadrik and Tovin had worked with him for days, and the bruises Elna kept treating had become smaller even as Bren pushed himself harder. Now he was actually going to use what he had learned. Elna stepped close and wrapped an arm around him.

"Come back."

"I will." Tessa hugged him next, holding on until Bren crouched in front of Ren. He had been completely clear about what he intended to do if the goblins reached the village, and Ren had watched him prepare for it every day since. Knowing did not make Ren want to let him go. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He grabbed two of Bren's fingers.

"Come back." Bren squeezed his hands gently.

"I will." Ren held on for another second before releasing him, and Bren rose to join the guards moving toward the western side of the village. Ren watched until his father disappeared among them, then Elna turned toward the church with Tessa staying close beside her. The bell sounded again. As they moved, Ren took what might be his last proper look at the preparations before the fighting began. The village looked different now. Better prepared than what he remembered.

Several of the smaller routes between houses had already been blocked with timber, carts, heavy furniture, and whatever else could make passage difficult. Other barricades were still being finished as the warning spread, and Ren watched people haul another length of timber across a narrow route while a cart was shoved sideways behind it. Hadrik had changed the defense once he understood how large the goblin force was.

There were nowhere near enough people to properly defend every road and passage through the village, so trying to spread everyone across them would only leave each position weak. Instead, he was shaping where the goblins could move. Most of the easier routes were being blocked, leaving only a few approaches open enough for a large group to advance through. If the barricades did their job, the goblins would be funneled toward those chokepoints instead of being able to spread through the village from every direction.

Ren had heard enough of Hadrik's planning from his father to understand the advantage. A few people could watch each barricade and call for help if the goblins tried forcing their way through, while most of the defenders stayed concentrated around the routes Hadrik actually expected the enemy to use. A large goblin force was still a large goblin force. But letting all of them fight all at once was optional. A large group spilling through every lane at once could overwhelm the village.

The same group forced through a handful of chokepoints had to squeeze itself into something the defenders could actually face. And Hadrik did not have enough people to fill every barricade with guards. Now most of them did not need that. His respect for the old soldier only grew, but so did the importance of knowledge and clear communication. Ren studied one of the finished barricades as Elna carried him past. It was crude, built from whatever the village could spare, but that did not make it any less useful.

Over the last few days, Hadrik had taken the same approach to nearly everything: use what they had, put it where it mattered, and make the goblins work for every advantage. Yara's warning charms had already proven their value. The barricades and chosen chokepoints would shape the fighting. Medicine waited for anyone who came back hurt, and Bren was going into the defense with at least some real training behind him. And only now did the horn sound. The last, and most immediate warning.

It meant the goblins were nearing the village. Ren looked toward the road when the angle between two houses gave him another clear view. Still empty. … The knights had not made it. He had kept hoping they would appear right up until the horn sounded, some part of him stubbornly expecting armored riders to come around the bend and make the rest of the preparations feel excessive. That possibility had not disappeared completely, but Ren could no longer hope for it. Their own preparations were everything they had.

He looked across the village once more and hoped it would be enough. Another signal sounded somewhere behind them, and Elna picked up her pace toward the church. The extra warning did not make the evacuation orderly. People were frightened, children still had to be gathered, and mistakes still happened. Someone dropped a bundle and doubled back for it, while another family slowed long enough to help an older relative keep pace. This time, they had enough room for those delays.

The goblins had not reached the village yet, so a frightened child could be caught and pulled along, and a few lost seconds did not immediately become something worse. Ren watched family after family moving toward the church while that extra time continued doing its work. By the time the building came into view, people were already passing through the doors in steady numbers. More families arrived from the other lanes, and Elna kept Tessa close as she carried Ren through the church doors with them.

Ren twisted in her arms to keep watching the entrance while another group came through behind them, followed by several more. They were making it. The realization settled slowly. In the previous loops, warning, fear, movement, and fighting had all crowded together until there was barely any space between one problem and the next. This time the extra preparations and Yara's charms had stretched that space open enough for the village to use it.

The goblins were still coming, Bren was still somewhere outside with the guards, and none of the danger had actually disappeared. The difference was that families were reaching the church before that danger reached them. Ren stayed near the entrance in Elna's arms and watched the flow continue. He did not bother trying to count households he barely knew; what mattered was that people kept arriving, and that the church was already fuller than it had been at this point in the previous attacks.

That was enough to make the extra warning feel worth the effort. Tessa pressed closer to Elna's side, and Ren reached down for her hand. She took it without looking away from the doorway. Another horn call sounded outside. Ren looked past the entrance toward the narrow slice of village still visible from inside. One of the blocked lanes lay within sight, timber stacked across the route with only a few people stationed behind it while most of the defenders had moved toward the open approaches.

Beyond the rooftops, the chokepoints Hadrik had chosen were hidden from view. His father was somewhere out there. Ren's fingers tightened around Tessa's. He wanted to be useful to Bren, but this was not a problem his current training could solve. Mana Sense and Mana Manipulation had grown enormously, yet neither turned him into someone who belonged in a fight against armed goblins. So he stayed with Elna and Tessa while the last families came in. … Waiting was still miserable. But it was all he could do now.

Now the rest belonged to Hadrik, Tovin, Bren, and everyone standing with them. The road beyond the village was still empty. No knights. Ren had wanted more help than this. He would always want more when the lives of his family were involved. But this was the best-prepared village he had seen in any loop, and as the doors began to close he stared through the narrowing view and hoped that, this time, it would be enough even without them.