Hudan glanced at the surroundings for a moment, before he stopped walking.

Kivamus came to a stop as well and waited for the muscular man to gather courage, which was a rare sight in itself.

The guard captain looked around them once again, but there was nobody nearby to hear anything, especially with the constant sound of water falling through that small gap in the dam. Eventually, the huge man took a deep breath and looked at him. "It's... It's just something I've been hearing the guards talking about during their meal times."

Kivamus nodded encouragingly. "What is it?"

"It's... it's about payment. I mean, their wages. Now that winter is basically over, some of them were wondering when they will start getting coins as their wages instead of the grain and coal which you provide to them." Hudan hesitated for a moment. "A couple of them were even grumbling that maybe you had lied to them about it, and didn't ever plan to pay them in coins."

As Kivamus' eyebrows rose in surprise on hearing that, Hudan quickly continued, "I mean, I know you have no plans of doing anything like that. I also understand that you have to save every copper right now to pay the tax collector, so I know why you haven't started it yet. But when some of them asked me about when they will get to see real coins in their hands, I just didn't have any answer for them." He shrugged. "It's just that... with everyone worried about a raid these days, some of them were wondering that after working for the whole winter as a guard for you, whether they would ever get to see a single copper in their hands from this job, in case they are killed by a bandit in a raid. In tense times like now, usually fighting men like us would go and drown our fears in the alehouse which would have taken the edge off their complaints, but the guards can't do that without any coin in their hands, not that I would even allow anyone to drink when we have to worry about that raid."

Kivamus exhaled loudly. "Yeah... I guess I should have expected some complaints coming about it by now, but like you said, we simply can't do it until we have managed to pay the taxes and the merchants have started coming regularly."

Hudan glanced at the guards once again, who seemed to be busy whispering to each other on the western bank. "What should I tell them?"

Kivamus thought about it for a moment. It was true that they were really short on gold these days, and couldn't really afford any expenses they could do without, but it was also true that the whole safety of the village depended on the guards doing their best and their morale being high instead of thinking about desertion or mutiny. That was a real possibility if he kept postponing giving them their long overdue wages. The same went for the servants, grooms and maids doing their best in their tasks, not to mention all the labourers of the village working without any pay for months.

Not looking forward to the upcoming conversation with Duvas about their finances, he began, "Give me a couple of weeks. We should have managed to deal with the tax collector by then, and the merchants should also start coming regularly by that time. We should be able to do something about paying wages by then."

Hudan smiled. "I'll tell them they can expect at least some payment in fifteen to twenty days, just so you don't have to postpone it again in case there are any problems. As long as the guards have a definite date to look forward to, they wouldn't complain about it. Not too much anyway."

"That's probably even better. We need everyone's morale to be high to deal with an attack by Torhan." Glancing at the surroundings once again, and wishing he would be able to show his newfound sister Astela this scene of pristine natural beauty in the future, he looked back at the guard captain. "Let's go now. It's only the afternoon, but I need to get back and talk with Duvas about some things." Google seaʀᴄh NoveI-Fire.ɴet

"As you wish, milord," Hudan nodded and they started walking again towards the western bank.

******

~ Hyola ~

Hyola was sitting on top of the watchtower in the southeast of the village, gazing at the dark surroundings ahead of her. It was a half moon night, with the moon hanging somewhere directly upwards in the sky. With the snow season over, the skies were clear these days, which meant there was nothing to stop the light of the moon coming down, but she still wished it was brighter here.

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Looking at the location of the moon, she estimated that it must be approaching midnight by now, which meant she still had more than half of her watch duty still remaining. She sighed. What she really wanted was to be asleep on the upper floor of the servants hall with other female guards at this time, since going out to the eastern stream and that newly built dam along with Lord Kivamus earlier in the day meant that she was feeling the tiredness in her bones by now. Still, it wasn't like she was going to complain about it. Being chosen as one of the personal protectors of the silver-haired baron - even for a single day - was a privilege, and it was the first time she had ever sat on the same wagon bed with a noble. Hah! She imagined what her past self living at the limestone quarry would think if she saw how far she had come from the hungry and fearful person she used to be there.

She thought about the baron of the village. Lord Kivamus had been... different. She had seen him from afar and he had even talked with him once in the past, but sitting on a wagon for an hour-long journey along with him and the other guards meant that they got a lot more chance to interact with him today. She had expected him to stay broody and complain that he had to sit on the same wagon as lowly guards, but he hadn't spoken about that at all. He had spent most of the time watching their surroundings, with who knows what going on in his head, while the rest of the time he had been talking to the guards, asking if they needed anything, and looking for their opinions on how to improve the village's defences.

She had immediately suggested that if guards were posted in pairs on top of the watchtowers, with both of them having crossbows, it would make it much easier to stay awake in the night and to deal better with any attack. He had agreed to it, but right now they simply didn't have enough guards for that, especially since three more watchtowers would be built in the coming weeks, and then it would be difficult just to man them with a single guard for all three shifts. Still, she had been happy to see that her opinion was valued by the lord of their village.

The dam had been a surprise as well. She had never seen something that big which had been made by humans, nor had she expected to see such a large amount of water in one place, apart from the ocean in the west, of course. It had immediately made her want to swim in that reservoir for some reason, not that she even knew how to swim.

Coming back to the present, she looked ahead of her from the watchtower platform, and wished there was a way to see in the dark, which would make it easier to spot any approaching wild beasts, or even any bandits. Hah! Like she was an owl!

Feeling a sudden pang of loneliness, she turned around and looked at the village, which was nearly as dark as the surrounding forest in the light of the half moon, with only a few flickering fires burning in braziers in some places to give light.

Turning around to look at the forests once again, she wished Calubo was here. She grumbled thinking about that idiot, wishing he would man up one of these days. He still hadn't popped the question, dammit! If anything, he seemed to be avoiding her these days. It couldn't be that he had found someone else, had he?

Nah... that wasn't very likely. He knew very well that if he even thought of cheating on her, she would stab him with his own dagger. No, it couldn't be that. Maybe he was just too scared to ask her to marry him? Aargh... she growled. It wasn't like she could ask him the question herself, damn it! She was a woman and it had to be him who asked her! That's how it worked!

Grumbling about scaredy-cat guards, Hyola turned her gaze to the right, and what she saw there sent a sudden chill down her spine. Immediately, she stood up with her loaded crossbow in her hands, and walked closer to the outer parapet to check if she had imagined it or if there really were some people hiding in the forests there. She squinted in that direction for a moment, feeling glad that there was no fire burning up here to silhouette her and make her an easy target for any archers. She didn't have to wait long before she saw the glint of metal reflecting in the moonlight.

That had to be a bandit! And there were many of them out there. Her heart started beating faster expecting a raid of the village, and she quickly looked down to confirm that the crossbow was loaded.

Wishing she had a horn right up here as well, but understanding why it couldn't be so, since unless there were two guards on the watchtowers, Kerel didn't want to risk the lone guard being taken out by an archer and not being able to blow the horn. That's why the horn was always kept with the night guards who sat safely inside the gates, and couldn't be taken out by a single arrow. She still thought it was a foolish order. In this case they should keep a horn in both places! Leaving the thought of whether they even had enough horns for that, she focused on the present and saw some more movement towards those trees under the moonlight.

Immediately, she walked to the other side of the watchtower platform, and leaning over the parapet, gave a quick whistle in a low voice, not wanting to speak any more than she had to, so she wouldn't become a target of the approaching bandits. Without wasting a moment, the guard sitting on duty just inside the barred south-eastern gates jumped from his chair and looked at her. She made a certain gesture from her hands - which the guard captain had taught everyone to describe there was danger nearby in case they couldn't speak openly - and then jerked her thumbs towards the direction where she had seen the reflections.

The guard nodded, and immediately picked up the horn which was kept hanging right next to the gates, and blew loudly on it. Knowing she barely had a moment before the bandits realised they had been spotted, she quickly walked to the other side of the tower platform and squatted down, with only her head and her crossbow visible above the parapet. Of course, the bandits would have heard that horn as well, but by now she was well prepared for arrows coming towards her, while the village had also been alerted. Now she just had to hope that help came fast.