From Londoner To Lord

~ Hyola ~

"It's nearly dark now..." Hyola muttered, while gazing outside the southwestern gate of the village. Although it wasn't really a gate yet with the carpenter still having it under construction, it would only take a day or two before this last gate was also completed. One side of the gate was already fitted to the wall, while the other side - which was nearly ready - had been put tilted on the log wall by the carpenter when he left for the day, before he started to attach it to the wall by tomorrow.

It was her time for watch duty, she being the only woman who was put on watch duty even on the village gates, unlike the other women guards who were put on duty only on the gates of the baron's manor. It had only been a few hours since she had started her watch, and she had a long night of duty ahead of her. Kerel was the other guard standing nearby, with his mane of iron grey hair, and a longsword behind his shoulder.

Snowfall had stopped for the moment, although there was nearly half a foot of snow gathered outside the walls, where people didn't trample over it all day. A brazier was burning on one side of the gates, and that's where she had been heating up her hands for a while before she came back to the gates and told Kerel that he could go to the brazier now.

Hyola looked at the older guard after he had walked away. "Shouldn't we close the gates now?"

She did realise that they couldn't really close the gates when the gate wasn't even completed yet, but since yesterday they had started to lean the other part of the gates on the gap between the wall and the already attached part of the gate so that there would be a semblance of security. It wouldn't really make them more secure, but it still felt better than having a completely open pathway into the village.

"Hmm..." Kerel muttered while looking at the darkening sky, with a faint sliver of the moon visible up there. "Nobody else is out on this side of the village, right?"

"One of the carpenter's apprentices had gone to take a leak earlier, but he returned a while ago, and he was the last one."

Kerel gave a nod. "Let's do it then." He walked to where the unattached part of the gate was kept leaning on the wall, and beckoned her over. "Come on, give me a hand here!"

Hyola started walking from her position on the other side of the gate to where Kerel was waiting, while casually glancing outside the gap as she crossed it. However, just before she passed the gap, she thought she saw some movement in the distance behind the closest trees, which were more than five hundred yards away - no, five hundred meters away. That was the new terminology Lord Kivamus was teaching to the villagers, and she had to try to learn it too. It probably would have been impossible to see any movement there only a short while later when it got darker, but with the sun having recently dipped in the west behind those trees, the western sky was still bright enough to silhouette any movement in that direction.

She squinted into the distance. Had she just imagined it? Who could be out there at this time anyway? She was pretty sure that there was no one else due to come inside from this gate. Maybe it was some wild beast?

Noticing that she had stopped walking while standing in that gap, Kerel looked at her. "Hurry up. I can't move this gate by myself. It would be difficult even with the two of us."

"Wait..." Hyola whispered towards him, while looking through narrowed eyes towards those trees. "I think there is something out there."

Immediately, Kerel left the unattached part of the gate, and walked towards her with his hands on the hilt of his sword. "What did you see?"

"I'm not really sure..." Hyola muttered, while pointing towards those trees. "I think there is something behind that tree - the one with the crooked branch. It could very well be a wolf, although it wasn't big enough to be an adzee or a bear."

Kerel walked outside the gap of the gate, with Hyola following him while taking her crossbow in her hands from the shoulder sling where it was normally hung. They kept looking between those trees for a while, and neither of them saw anything.

"Maybe I just imagined it," Hyola muttered. Perhaps she shouldn't even have mentioned it...

No! She still remembered the instructions all the guards had been given by Feroy. If any of them saw anything suspicious, they weren't supposed to doubt themselves. Even if it turned out to be a false warning, they were instructed to tell it to their superiors, or to whoever was nearby.

Eventually, Kerel gave a nod. "I don't see anything either. Let's go back and put the gate in place."

Hyola took a deep breath and nodded. Both of them returned inside the walls, with Kerel moving ahead towards the gate part, while Hyola followed him there. Just before she walked behind the walls, she took one last look towards the trees, and once again she saw something moving.

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"There! I'm sure I saw something this time!" she whispered urgently.

Kerel frowned, and gestured her to come inside, while putting a finger on his lips. Once she was also hidden behind the walls, he whispered, "It's difficult for us to see clearly because there is no source of light there, while whoever or whatever is out there can easily see us in the light of the brazier. This makes it more likely that there are humans there, not animals. Let me move the brazier away, and then we will be on equal grounds."

Hyola nodded while staying behind the walls on the right side of the gap, and before long, the older guard was back after putting the brazier a few dozen feet away behind the walls on the left side. "Now we won't be illuminated in its light," Kerel whispered from his side of the gap. "Keep yourself behind the walls and just try to peek from the side. This way whoever is out there is less likely to notice that we are watching them."

It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust, and once again Hyola saw some movement behind that tree with the crooked branch. "Do you see it now?" she whispered towards the older guard. "There is definitely someone behind the tree I pointed out earlier."

"I see it," Kerel murmured after a while. "That isn't anyone from our village, or they would have no reason to hide there."

"Then could he be a bandit?" Hyola breathed. "Why would a lone bandit try to attack a village by himself?"

"He could very well be a scout..." Kerel replied. "We need to tell this to someone." He looked behind them, with the last houses of the village around a hundred meters behind the walls. "With only two of us here, it's not a good idea for one of us to leave, which would leave the other alone. It seems like there's only a single scout out there, so there is no emergency of an imminent attack right now. The mounted guards on village wall patrols should be passing from here soon. We can tell them to let others in the manor know about this. They can get the news out faster on their horses than we can do on foot."

"Yeah, let's do that," Hyola muttered, while squinting her eyes towards those trees in confusion. She had seen some movement behind another tree which was some distance away from the first one. Wasn't that bandit - or scout - or whoever he was, supposed to be behind the tree with the crooked branch? How had he moved so far without them seeing anything?

Suddenly, she saw some movement behind another tree which was on the opposite side of the one with the crooked branch. Wait... Had the scout moved his place once again without her noticing it?

She kept looking towards those trees with concentration, when suddenly she also saw movement behind another tree and she blinked her eyes in surprise. No man could possibly move that fast. The meaning of seeing movement behind many trees chilled her to the bone.

"Goddess save us..." Kerel mumbled. "That's not a single scout! There's a whole gang of bandits out there!" He looked back towards the village with a huge frown. "Where are the riders when you need them..."

"Shouldn't we blow the horn now?" Hyola asked in fear. "Those were our orders."

"We don't have a gate here which we can close after blowing the horn," Kerel whispered furiously. "We only put that slab of wood so any wild animals wouldn't sneak inside in the night. It won't do anything to save us from bandits! For now they seem content to watch from a distance, but if we blow the horn they will realize that we know about them and will attack immediately, and we can't possibly take on that many men by ourselves!"

"You're right," Hyola nodded, before she realized Kerel was looking outside and wouldn't see her nod. "It's probably better to wait until the riders on patrol are here, or until we see these bandits moving towards us."

"Yeah. But if the riders still aren't here after a while, and we see the bandits coming to attack, then you will run fast to the manor to get help, while I will try to hold them on as long as I can."

Hyola immediately realised what that would mean for Kerel, but orders were orders. It would never feel right to her to leave her watch duty partner in case it came to an attack, however, Kerel was her superior, and was only behind Hudan and Feroy in the hierarchy of the guards. That meant he knew what he was talking about.

"Okay," she whispered reluctantly before she nodded and steeled herself for a fight, just in case. She didn't know when these bandits would decide to attack or when the guards on patrol would be here.

Hyola was still standing behind the walls and trying to make up her mind about whether she could leave Kerel to his fate if it came to the worst or if she would support him in resisting the bandit raid. She exhaled loudly. This was going to be a difficult night.

Suddenly, Kerel looked sharply at her. "Run! Run to the manor immediately!" The older guard had brought his sword in his hands, and used his other hand to bring the horn to his lips before he blew loudly on it.

Her mind having gone blank by the sudden order as well as the loud sound of the horn, it took a moment for Hyola to understand what was happening. She peeked from the side of the wall to confirm it for herself, and what she saw sent shivers down her spine - and it had nothing to do with the weather. The bandits were coming out of the trees in droves, with something metallic glinting in the hands of them in the moonlit night.

"Hyola! Run to the manor right now!" Kerel yelled once again as he moved to stand between the gap in the gate.

"But..." she hesitated. If she left, that would mean Kerel would be by himself, and most likely wouldn't survive the night.

"Hyola!" Kerel bellowed. "You need to get help or the village will be defenceless if they get past me! I will be fine until you bring the other guards, but you have to go immediately!"

Blinking her eyes which had suddenly gotten wet, Hyola gave an uncertain nod, before she suddenly got an idea, and handed over the crossbow and the quiver of bolts to the older guard. It wouldn't help much, but it was better for Kerel to use it here than for her to take it to the village.

The older guard gave a nod of thanks, before he turned towards the west to make his last stand. "Go!"

Hyola nodded once again with blurry eyes, and turned around before she began to run faster than she ever had in her life. She had to bring help and save him! Kerel's life was in her hands now...