Chương 194: 191. Vigilance

He didn't know how long they kept waiting, but it couldn't have been more than five minutes. Before long, there was another sound of a howl, but this time it felt like it was coming from farther away. Hudan seemed to be listening carefully as well, then he nodded to himself, and ordered loudly to everyone, "We have to ride fast now. Let's go!" Kivamus wanted to ask a lot of questions, but this time he listened to the guard captain's orders, and they all started galloping towards the west.

Thankfully it wasn't completely dark, or there would be no chance for them riding this fast. But not being habitual of riding like this, it didn't take long before Kivamus' whole body started to ache from trying to hold on to the horse, especially on such an uneven terrain. Soon, he saw the guards in front of him turning sharply left, and only then he realised that they had reached the northern road to Tiranat.

He followed them as well in turning to the left, along with Hudan and the two trailing guards, and before long they saw the three guards on watch duty at the gap in the northern walls. Reaching closer, they started to slow down, and he noticed that after seeing them arrive in such a hurry, the gate guards seemed alert and ready for anything with their swords already out. Once they reached the gates, Hudan looked at the standing guards.

"Be alert! There is a pack of adzee roaming in the east of the village," Hudan told the guards at watch duty, a flicker of fear easily visible over their faces.

"I'll send more guards to back you up soon, but be ready for anything until then." Then the guard captain looked at the other riders.

"Three of you ride to the other village gates and alert the guards there, and stay there until I send someone to relieve you." Once they had nodded, he continued, "Tesyb, you will stay here for now to support them.'' Once everything was arranged, Hudan looked back at him.

"Let's go back to the manor now, it's not safe enough for you outside the manor walls." Kivamus just nodded, his heart slowing down only now from all the adrenaline rush. They moved at a slower pace now, and it didn't take long until they were passing through the gates of the manor, making him give a sigh in relief. They had survived. For now anyway.

A short while later, Kivamus was sitting inside the manor hall, trying to reassure his former teacher that he was fine. Duvas had looked worried as well, but he seemed satisfied after verifying that he was unharmed.

"I'll still say," Gorsazo said with a shrug, "despite the nobles in the Ulriga Palace likely being as dangerous as venomous vipers, at least we didn't have to worry about adzees or Goddess-damned bakkores in that place, or even about wild beasts like those vesorions south of the Nisador Mountain Range. Even in the village near Ulriga where my family used to live, there was never any real danger of these beasts coming there."

"That's probably because Ulriga is far away from the Southern forests of the kingdom," Duvas explained.

"This barony - or maybe even most of the domain of Count Cinran - isn't called the most dangerous region in the kingdom without a reason. Apart from the risks of wild beasts' attacks and bandits' raids in these forests, Cinran is the closest town to the heavily contested iron mines of the Tolasi Hills, and it's also close to the border of Binpaaz as well as Girnalica. Of course, Tiranat is even closer to the borders, not to mention being located in the middle of these forests."

"Yeah..." Kivamus sighed, "Gorsazo told me about this when I was coming to Tiranat." He muttered, "My brothers sent me here for a good reason, didn't they?" Nobody gave any reply to his comment. Before long, Hudan walked inside the manor hall, while accompanied by Feroy. Taking a seat on an armchair near the fireplace, the guard captain began, "That wasn't an isolated howl that we had heard earlier.

The guards at the western gate - or the western gap, as it stands right now - had also heard the howls of an adzee, while a few workers who were working to clear land in the South even claimed that they had seen an adzee in the forests nearby. It was getting dark by then, so they couldn't be sure, but the foreman Pinoto had to order everyone to return back inside the walls." Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"Nobody was hurt, right?" Duvas asked with worry. Hudan shook his head.

"Not today at least, but you know very well that if an adzee had attacked a worker, he wouldn't be just hurt. We might be burying him by now in that case." Kivamus exhaled loudly. While the adrenaline rush was over for him now, he still seemed to have a sheen of sweat on his forehead. It was a close call for him and the guards as well. Nobody knew what could have happened if that pack of adzees had attacked them between those hills.

Feroy, who had been leaning against the wall nearby, spread his hands wide as he spoke.

"Either way, this means there is at least one adzee near the village, and possibly even a whole pack of them, since you all heard the howls near the hills nearly at the same time when the workers heard it in the west."

"That's true," Hudan agreed. He looked at Kivamus, "I kept telling you that we had to leave earlier... but at least it turned out fine for us..." Shaking his head, he added, "You don't know how glad I am that the village walls have been completed by now, otherwise I have no idea how we could possibly defend against the adzees at all. Just having three gaps in the walls to defend is a lot easier than defending the whole perimeter of the village." Kivamus looked at the majordomo.

"If the adzees are this dangerous, how did you ever defend against them before the walls were built?"

"It is very rare for adzees to come so close to the village," Duvas explained.

"They have been known to stay away from any human habitations. It has only happened a couple times in the past that anyone has even heard the howls of them near our village. So we didn't actually have to defend against them until now."

"It's wintertime though," Feroy said with a shrug.

"With a shortage of animals to hunt, the adzees might be roaming farther away from their usual hunting grounds. It is also likely that their dens might have been disturbed because of the forest clearing around the village."

"That's not possible," Duvas said with a frown.

"Their howls are loud, and somebody would have noticed if there was a pack of adzees living so close to the village."

"No, you misunderstood," the ex-mercenary replied.

"Any animals which might have been living in the forested area which we have been clearing might have moved further into the forests in search of new places to live, and eventually, they could have reached the area where these adzees might have been living."

"Anyway," Feroy continued, "most likely the adzees will just move on when they realize that there are so many humans here. They hunt at night, so there shouldn't be any risk of an attack on workers in the day. But we still have to be careful, just in case." Hudan nodded.

"I'll arrange our guards to be on constant patrol around the village on horses during the day wherever the villagers are working. For the nights, it is good that everyone will be inside the walls, and as strong as those adzees are, they can't break our walls. So we just have to be vigilant and ready at the gaps."

"They can still jump over walls, you know?" Feroy muttered.

"The walls surrounding the manor are only ten feet high, so with a running start, it might have been possible for a strong adzee to jump over them. Thankfully, our new village walls are fifteen feet tall, and I don't think there is any chance of them being able to jump that high."

"That's good to know," Kivamus said with relief, "but we still have to be careful about defending the gaps in the wall."

"Certainly," Hudan replied.

"I've already put four men on duty at night on each gap by pulling extra men from watch duty at the manor gates and by calling up our off duty guards. They were grumbling about it, but when they found out the reason for it, every single guard volunteered for extra duty, since nobody wants an adzee to enter inside the walls or it wouldn't end well for anyone. I'll keep this new watch duty arrangement for the next few days, until we are sure the danger has passed and the adzees have moved on."

"Good thinking there," Kivamus commended.

"Even though the guards just keep their swords with them on watch duty, I've also given spears to those of them who have been posted at the wall gaps," Feroy said, "since fighting an adzee from a distance is the only safe way, if there is a safe way at all against those menacing beasts." He added "Unless someone is fighting in a knight's armour, it is best not to let an adzee come to a sword fighting range, otherwise you can consider yourself already dead.

That's why our crossbow - even the single one we have - will be very helpful for this, so I have also given it to the guards at the northern gap. Apart from a bow, that's probably the best weapon to fight an adzee."

"But we don't know which of the gaps in the wall an adzee might attack from," Kivamus muttered.

"It might just happen from the southern or the western gaps..."