Chapter 003:

“What the hell is that?”

Anton had almost made it back to the main plaza when a large creature emerged from behind one of the buildings. It was twice the size but the same shape as a cow, yet it was covered in something like crocodile skin, truly a bizarre creature. Upon noticing Anton staring at it, the creature snarled and spat on the ground. A villager on the other side gave the creature a slap on its hide before grabbing a harness attached to its neck.

The harness straddled it, attached to one of the carts filled with scrap wood.

“That’s an Ix. Good labourer. Can get quite uppity though.”

The Ix passed by with more snarls, receiving the occasional slap on its thick hide to keep it moving. The cart clunked and rattled as it moved past.

“Can it do anything other than be a beast of burden?”

“Nah. They eat grass around the village and are good meat but you really don’t want to eat all your creatures an’ do all the work yourselves.”

“Hmm.”

“They won’t bite,” Right Jeff gave Anton a nudged with his shoulder, “'Less of course you really try to hurt them. Then they might bite your face off.”

Fantastic. I don’t think I’ll have much to do with them though.

“We keep them in one of bigger barns. They don’t like the cold.”

Cold blooded perhaps.

Anton saw several more Ix’s as they approached the main plaza all carting away more pieces of the barricades. He stopped by one of the creatures, it was cool to the touch. But what fascinated the harness, more advanced than just some loops of leather. There were metal clasps and clips, very intricate for a dying village such as this.

Anton was about to ask Right Jeff but decided against it, currently patting the creature with a stupid grin on his face. He would need to ask someone more intelligent.

When Anton arrived the main plaza had been cleared, all bodies were gone and the blood covered underneath new dirt, now an assortment of tables and chairs were in their place. His scorch marks were still embedded in the ground, the burnt dirt crunching lightly with every step.

Right Jeff led Anton to the centre of the plaza where his father, Chief Bertram, as Anton had decided to now call him, had set up at the largest table. It was a long rectangular wooden table with around 20 chairs, like the rickety ones in his room. The others had around 8 to 10 chairs, some already filled with expectant looking villagers.

Bertram directed Anton to sit at the head of the large table.

“It really doesn’t matter where I sit you know?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. In just a few hours you’ve been able to do more work than most mages do in their whole lives.”

“Dad’s right’, besides I think we can finally do some good, so we need to show people what you look like.”

Right Jeff was very insistent. He kept hitting the chair where Anton was meant to be sitting.

Anton eventually relented and sat. To his left sat Right Jeff and to his left sat Chief Bertram then Sybil. The rest of the table was filled with men, woman and children looking at him intently. He had never experienced such adulation from people but the desperate nature was very unsettling. Very quickly their expressions changed. There were mutterings and sharp gestures. Anton had seen this before: anger, distrust, and outright hostility, though there was something else hidden amongst them. Jealousy perhaps? It was hard to tell from this distance. At the centre of one of the distant tables, he saw Left Jeff, still having no better name, staring at him. He averted his eyes when Anton looked at him but returned the moment he looked away.

He looks like he could be trouble later. Better keep an eye on him, though I can’t ask these people yet. I don’t want to start setting up factions this early.

Everyone appeared to be in the like or hate groups. Thankfully, most people appeared to be in the like group.

Anton waited for a few minutes as more and more villagers arrived, finally filling every table and spilling out to sitting on crates and the dirt for some people.

“Bertram dear, nearly everyone that we could get out of their homes is here. Shall we start?”

Bertram began stroking his chin again. This would be an interesting lunch.

“Yes. Hopefully, everyone will think more clearly with a full belly.”

Sybil nodded to several other women. They entered the Main Hall and emerged immediately with several small bowls around the size of both palms put together, each one served to a single person.

The bowl clunked as it touched the wood. Anton touched it, pottery. These people did have some decent equipment but no cutlery though. He also noticed that all the other bowls had chips and chunks missing but his did not.

There was also the matter of the scale of the food. It looked simple and healthy; a piece of dried and salted meat, a piece of brown bead and a collection of what appeared to be carrots and peas. The others had this as well though once again it was noticeably less and of worse quality.

Anton had a small issue with this.

“You know that you can just give me a regular portion.”

“As a mage, I remember being told that it’s important to keep well fed and rested, although…”

“A regular meal will do fine. I can feel my mana recovering pretty easily. If I could have one of those Karak fruits instead of the larger portion that would be better.”

Bertram looked at his son with a surprised look.

“I’m surprised you let anyone else eat them. You keep a pretty close eye on that tree. Besides, how did you know that a mage would need it?”

Right Jeff shrugged dismissively.

“That lady mage you knew. When I was a kid, she talked about it. Gave me the seed to grow, something about needing it later. I dunno, I remember her bein’ very pretty.”

Bertram nodded.

“Well, my son aside, the fruit…Sybil?” Sybil perked up, “Could you please get someone to get a Karak fruit from behind the Main Hall please?”

Sybil turned to a young woman beside her, who nodded and quickly departed.

Still need to find that tree. Might want to get an orchard going.

“So,” Began Anton as he started to nibble on the dried meat. It tasted something between pork and beef, “What was the big thing that you were going to mention?”

“Personally, I didn’t think that I would be alive today. So, I’m going to do everything to stay alive. And for that reason, I’m deferring control of the village to you.”

Anton coughed, almost choking on a large chunk of meat.

“I’m not really that good at leading. I feel that I did the best when allowing to help the group rather than lead. I must decline.”

Bertram smiled but it was one that looked genuinely happy.

Perhaps he thought he should offer before it was demanded.

“That being said if I think something is wrong I will say so. I do have some ideas on how to improve the chances of this village and maybe get everyone through the next few days at the least.”

All three leaned in, as well as most of the other people on the table who had been listening in.

“We’ve got around 1,000 people and a very large and exposed area to defend. There’s no way that you can last much longer whilst stretched so thin. On the way out this morning, I noticed that almost half the houses were damaged and burned.”

“Yes. No-one lives in those anymore.”

“Well, we need to get the outside ones pulled down and use the material to rebuild a wooden wall. I saw the attempt at building the wall but you’ve got far too much area to cover. Using the recovered materials you can then build a more complete wall and in less time.

“How will that help?” asked Right Jeff.

“Couple of ways; firstly the Yellow Goblins won’t be able to sneak up through the houses and secondly you’ll actually have a wall to defend. You’ll also have spare wood…which could be useful somewhere.”

Anton thought it started well but fell down near the end but judging by the looks of the villagers they seemed to like this idea.

Plus it’ll keep them busy and not thinking about their death. I hope it’s enough of a start.

The young woman returned with a small basket filled with Karak fruit. She held the basket out to Anton, shaking ever so slightly. Anton had the chance to properly inspect her, she was a plain but honest looking woman. She had cuts and scars over her exposed face and hands, the rest of her body was covered by thick clothing.

“Thank you”

“It, It is an honour, my lord.”

The woman was blushing quite allot though it drained when Anton scowled slightly after being called a lord.

“I’m so sorry…”

Anton waved away her concern.

“It’s fine. I just don’t feel comfortable being called that.”

The woman smiled slightly before returning to her seat. Anton turned his attention to Bertram.

“I know I asked for it before, but do you have that map?”

Bertram shuffled through his clothes and pulled out a large crumpled roll of paper. He moved the food from the table and laid it in front of Anton. It was a rough map of the area with points of interest.

Atros was central to the map with three roads leaving in the East, South and West. To the west, there was the forest and to the north was the mountain. Aspire though that name appeared to have been lined out and replaced with Yellow Goblin Mountain, perhaps more appropriate at the moment.

Other marks were of little importance right now; a lake to the South East and something like grain stalks throughout the rest of the expanse, but there was something important within two hours walk. It was a drawing of some square rocks jutting out of the ground.

“What does this say?”

Bertram leaned over.

“Amsore Quarry. Can you not read?”

“Apparently not. Though I can understand you just fine.”

“Well, it’s an old stone quarry. Right now it’s probably still infested by the Rock-Rats. They do like to burrow in areas like that.”

Anton continued to look intently at Bertram who took the cue.

“Oh, they look like smaller rat versions of the Yellow Goblins, about the same size but just a rat fur and face. Very stupid but oh how they breed, even more ferocious than the Yellow Goblins.”

“Hmmm…How many are there now?”

“Pfff, around 500 or so last time we checked, though that was some months ago. Once they reach a certain size they split to find a new nesting site after growing too large.”

“Well, I’m going to use my new position to ask for something…”

“Go ahead.”

“Tomorrow, I want around twenty or so volunteers. We’ll all head over to there. I want to see how well the villagers can fight with each other and their teamwork. I also want the walls to be built with stone outside of the wooden wall.”

Bertram leaned back into his chair and stroked his chin. This appeared to be his thinking face.

“20 isn’t enough to fight that many, though I suppose that you have some idea…or at least you can use the Thunderous Roar again. I’ll add it to the announcements. Anything else you’ve got in mind?”

“Why do you keep calling it that?”

“The magician showed me some books when I was younger, she showed me a book of magic. There was an illustration of lightning being used that way. I don’t know where that book is but I’ll look for it.”

Now it was Anton’s turn to lean back and thought.

“Thank you. I need to have a proper walk around to get a better idea of other things that can be improved. Also, I’ve been thinking about how you people get this food. I’ll need to extend the talk afterwards, it looks like everyone else had finished.”

The other villagers had finished. Anton had been watching them in his peripheral vision scoffing down the food, they had obviously been very hungry. Bertram saw this too, signalling to Right Jeff. He stood up and coughing very loudly. Any hint of noise stopped instantly. Everyone was looking at Bertram expectantly. They were expecting something brilliant.

Bertram stood as best he could, cleared his throat and began.

“Everyone…Thank you for coming. I know that it has been trying times of late. Now, we have a decision to make. Anton, as you probably now know, is a mage with no knowledge of his past. He has decided to stay and help for the foreseeable future.”

The villagers started murmuring amongst themselves and nodding. This was good news, though there was bound to be a downside.

“However…”

There it is.

“He cannot win this alone. I have just finished speaking with him and he has some significant plans to help Atros and get us out of this mess. This means that we will ALL be working quite hard every day, no more hiding away and allowing ourselves to wallow in self-pity and despair. We have a chance now and I, for one, intend to use it to the fullest. Those who want to help come near here, the rest of you…those who want to hide away from reality and hope this somehow gets better can stay in your homes and not get in the way. You’ve all had your meals and we don’t know how much longer we have so we’re going to start right now.”

With that Bertram sat back down. Shock and murmurs of disbelief began to run rampant amongst the villagers. Bertram must have never been this firm or brutally honest before.

Over the next few minutes around a hundred people left. Surprisingly some appeared to be quite young, Anton had suspected that the older villagers would be stuck in their ways. Almost 900 people had swarmed the large central table. They were men and women of all ages, some of the younger children had managed to sneak their way through the people and found their way to the front.

Bertram gestured for Anton to stand on the table and address the crowd.

“Can everyone who’s strong raise a hand?”

Around 400 people did so. Most were big men like the Jeffs but around 100 were women. However, he couldn’t see Left Jeff. Anton scanned the backs of those leaving and could see Left Jeff. He mustn’t have left a good impression on him.

“You’re the Construction group. Forgive the name, can’t think of anything better. Can you come with me for a minute, the rest of you just wait a moment and I’ll get back to you.”

Anton led them to a table near the edge of the plaza. After telling those at the centre to stand lower to allow others to see he began to explain his plan.

“Those houses that are burned near the edge of the village need to be torn down and the wood collected.”

Anton had a rudimentary map of the village focusing on the distinction between damaged and non-damaged buildings.

“I want you to use clothing of some kind to protect your hands but work as quickly as fast as you can. Once you’ve got as many as you can they need to be loaded up and brought to the layer of houses that are undamaged. I want a wall to be hammered in as best you can around those houses to form a wall, focus on the areas to the north where the Yellow Goblins attack from.”

“Why do want us to use clothing on our hands?”

One of the larger men asked this. He looked almost like a bear, covered in hair so thick it was almost like fur.

“Because tomorrow some of us are going on the attack and I’ll need all of you at your best. If your hands hurt you’ll just be dead weight. Plus, I think all of you want payback.”

The man-bear nodded and offered no further words despite being given time to speak.

“Alright, you’ve been given your orders. Hurry up and carry them out!”

“Right.” “Yes, Sir!” “Okay.”

The group bounced and jostled as they quickly left, some even ran towards the edge of the village. Within moments Anton could already hear human groans and shouts as they began to tear down the burned buildings.

The remaining villages looked surprised at the burst of enthusiasm, matching their growing sense that they can survive.

He looked over the reaming 400 or so people. Most were the elderly, children and sick. Anton quickly told the sick to not work, rest and gets lots of sleep, water and food. Those 40 or so that were sick looked relieved that they were not going to work, though they were surprised that Anton told them to stay outside. He explained that he felt that most of their buildings are quite stuffy, even his room was somewhat stuffy. After taking some of the chairs and tables into the shade they laid down and slept. Anton hoped that they would get better and if not they would not get in the way nor forgotten if they get worse.

There was also the issue of collecting the crops that had grown. If the Yellow Goblins decided to burn the crops the village would begin to starve in a few days.

“Bertram. I’ll need you to organize the storage; boxes, bags and barrels for the food. This may go on for some time. The rest of you, you’re the Harvest group. Gather all the food you can as quickly as you can and get it inside. All right, let’s go.”

Bertram nodded and Sybil began issuing orders to the remaining villagers. Most of the children ran off with a frightening speed towards the outside of the village, while some headed over to the barns to get them organized under the guide of some of the elders. The elderly and the rest of the adults divided and began their tasks.

Anton was surprised that these people took his orders so quickly.

Guess I’ll need to put in a lot of effort myself.

---[]----

Anton was back at the patch of dirt that was now his training field. Villagers worked behind him but they were far more interested in collecting the crops then watching Anton in his meditation pose. He felt it was more important to properly use his magic, far more beneficial to everyone than an extra hand being added to their efforts.

After half an hour of feeling and controlling the flow of mana, he felt that he had a decent understanding, more than enough to begin experimenting with his power. At the moment he only had a decent understanding of the lightning glyph so it was the best place to start. He really didn’t want to set the village on fire.

He formed the image of a lightning bolt in his head, fueling the image with his mana. Small sparks erupted from his hands, arcing and bouncing between his hands. He fed more mana, changing the shape from a bolt into a ball.

The lightning moved from his hands and coalesced into a ball suspended in the air, slowly writhing and twisting on itself. It grew larger as he fed more mana until it was the size of a soccer ball. It continued to spark and flicker randomly, as if it was a swarm of angry insects trying to escape from a net. The tiniest amount mana still flowed into the ball but it was negligible. It stayed there as if it was waiting for an instruction.

He removed his hands and the orb remained stationary. He placed his hand on his knees and pushed the ball away with mana. As he pushed it away the amount of mana being drawn by the ball grew and grew until it was drawing more mana than it took to make it. 30 meters away he used his mana again to stop its trajectory. The ball was draining a huge amount of mana every moment it existed. He pulled it closer to check, the mana drain lessened.

Back at 30 meters, it was now bubbling and shaking violently, throwing off large sparks scorching the ground.

Anton was starting to feel the dizziness that he felt on the village roof after the lightning storm. He decided that it was time to end it. He ceased the flow of mana. The ball expanded, contracted, then exploded in a blinding and deafening explosion.

It was though a lightning bolt had struck his body; eyes and ears rendered inept by the blast. He recovered after a few seconds, realizing that he had been blown over and was lying on his back.

Once he righted himself he could see the damage; a crater a meter burned into the grass with vein-like scorch lines radiating another few meters out. His ears were still ringing when he realized that some of the villagers where approaching.

“Are you okay?!”

Some of the elderly villagers approached as fast as they could. They looked worried, obviously concerned that their mage may have just blown himself up.

It felt like I just used about a fifth of my mana, I would guess. It’s not an exact science, feeling out mana. Still, it’s nice to know that I can use more mana, though the speed at which I recover is quite odd.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just trying to “experiment.”

The villagers didn’t look convinced that this was just an “experiment”. After telling them numerous times the villagers finally accepted that it was part of his magic training and returned to gathering food after promising to be more careful. Anton was about to start training again when he noticed that two of the villagers hadn’t returned. They were not that old compared to some of the other villagers, probably around 50 or so.

“I’m sorry if it seemed like I was endangering anyone, including myself, but I need to do this in order to find out what I can actually do to help.”

The pair didn’t accept the answer, continuing to fidget. This brought a frown to Anton’s’ face, causing the woman to tense slightly.

“It’s…It’s not about that,” began the man, voice wavering and shaking with every word

“Well?”

The old man shuffled again.

“We…We used to have help doing this work, a man and a woman, but… they died the other day near one of the barns. And…”

They must have been the ones that died in front of me.

“I’ll help.”

“Really?” Both wore stunned expressions.

“Yeah. I need to pitch in. I just want to finish up here.”

“Oh, Thanks!”

The elderly couple bowed slightly and left. Anton wanted to try something, something that hopefully won’t try to kill him again.

He formed a lightning ball again, much smaller this time, around the size of a tennis ball. He moved it slightly to the side and formed another one. They floated in the air around a foot apart. With a small amount of mana, Anton fueled one orb to extend and touch the other. Both grew a flickering lightning line that grew and joined in the middle. It appeared stable, continuing to flicker and twist like a live snake.

Anton stood up and walked a step away. The mana demand grew slightly but it was still less than what he could feel coming in.

There was a fist-sized rock on the ground. Anton picked it up.

I wonder…

He tossed the rock onto the lightning tether. The rock exploded into tiny flakes and dust before slowly falling to the ground. The lightning tether disappeared along with the rock yet the balls remained. With an injection of mana the tether returned. Anton found another small rock and tossed it at the tether again. The rock exploded and the tether disappeared and regrew with a little mana again.

Hmm, I wonder what would happen if some meat fell in-between that. I am not feeling very tired and I haven’t lost much mana and it’s recovering faster each time I use magic. Still doesn’t explain what my limits are.

Though this did leave a small problem. The lightning balls were still there and the last time it would have killed him if he cut the mana if they were this close. This time, he slowly reduced the mana supply, the lightning balls reducing in size accordingly. Eventually, he stopped the flow of mana, the lightning balls sizzling out of existence.

He practised again and again, creating and linking more lightning balls with their tethers. By the end there were twenty balls linked in a mesh, yet they drew far less mana than Anton was expecting.

They could be summoned from nearly any distance, but anything more than a meter away and the mana required rose exponentially. The balls themselves could be moved safely to around 30 meters away before they started to lose their form and explode after 35 meters. If the mana was cut abruptly they would explode, even the smaller ones still having quite a nasty explosion. When they were linked together they used less mana, so the 20 linked balls felt around 10 balls.

The villagers had stopped working, probably concerned that Anton was letting off the lightning balls for practice. His mana was starting to get quite low so he cancelled the lightning balls, all fizzling out like before. He turned and left his training patch, feeling mentally tired but satisfied that he could gauge his limits, at least when using lightning.

Anton let out a sigh of relief. Later he would need to find out what he could do with the fire and prayer glyphs. They had been ignored as of late and it may not be a good idea to disregard the gods that gave him their blessings. He made a mental note to try the fire glyph tomorrow, the glyph tingled and heated for an instant as he did so. Perhaps the gods could hear him?

---[]---

“Thank you for helping us.”

All the fruits and grains had been harvested. Anton had no idea on how to harvest the grain. The villagers appeared to use a sickle of some sort, so they directed him to work on the fruit trees. These were not the Karak fruit trees, looking more like an apple tree. The fruit were almost identical in every way, even the taste. Anton asked one of the villagers, much to his surprise they were called apples in this world.

There was another fruit, the tree only had a straight but fat trunk with small branches with small rounded leaves from which the fruit hung. It looked like a grape bunch but was one solid fruit. The older man said it was called a Rock Grape. Apparently, it came from a faraway Kingdom that thrived in the cooler climate. They had a slightly nutty taste, though they apparently numb the mouth after a while.

The other vegetables from lunch had been collected by the other villagers. They had several woven baskets full of each type. Most he recognized but there were still some that he didn’t. The villagers assured him that they were all edible but Anton was a bit hesitant to try all of them right away.

“It’s no problem.”

Anton had two buckets full of apples and rock grapes.

“How long will these last?”

“Oh, a couple of weeks easily. They’ll have set fruit again by then.”

Say what?

“Come again?”

“They grow in a few weeks.” The old man looked as if this was common knowledge. His expression changed, remembering that Anton had no knowledge of the world or its ways. “The mana in the soil and earth allow them to grow so quickly. The less earth mana the slower they grow. Unfortunately, it seems to make the monsters grow equally fast.”

He looked like he knew more than he was saying but Anton didn’t push the issue. He needed more friends before anything like that and if he interrogated everyone it would become exceedingly difficult.

They reached one of the larger barns whilst Anton had been internally thinking again. Villager children were still running about, their energy and enthusiasm were infecting the others who now moved with purpose. Some of the villagers who had walked away had decided to help. An eye would need to be kept on them but Anton hoped that it was a good sign.

By the time they were finished, it was quite full. The villagers were remarking that it would last them many months.

Night was beginning to come in as well. The light had dimmed noticeably and the few villagers still working were dawdling.

Anton arrived back at the main plaza where two groups were loudly arguing with one another. Between them stood the bear man desperately trying to keep them apart. They weren’t the group that left to mope, all were from the construction group. One side had weapons, spears, pitchforks and hammers while the others did not.

“What’s going on?” Anton demanded as he approached. The farming group stayed back, the children being held back by the elderly.

“About time you got here,” replied the bear-man. The two groups stopped arguing and turned their attention towards Anton. “These group of idiots want to go and fight the Yellow Goblins right now and I’m trying to stop them and so is everyone else.”

“Dammit Zac,” began one of the armed villagers, “We’ve got a mage now. They won’t stand a chance now.”

Zac, the bear man, threw his arms up in resignation. Obviously, they had been down this road before.

“I know that you’re frustrated but you can’t let this get to you now.”

Anton shuffled uncomfortably, nearly 800 people looking expectantly at him.

“But…” began the armed villager.

“This is going to be hard to hear, but what you’re planning to do is utterly stupid.”

The armed group looked quite offended but didn’t offer any rebuttal.

“Firstly, it’s getting dark. It’ll take you what, four to five hours to get there?”

“What’s an hour?” One of the children from the farming group asked.

“Oh, it’s…”

Everything was going so well I forgot about that possibility. And I’m not meant to have any memory.

“I think it’s a unit of time, but look. You won’t reach the mountain before dark at the earliest, right?”

All the villagers nodded, the armed group with the least enthusiasm.

“So you’ll be fighting in the dark in a place you don’t know. When I had a look at the Yellow Goblins up close, their eyes are really big, like they can see in the dark. Probably why they attack during the night, and you’ll need torches just to see, which they will obviously see.”

The armed group began looking more dejected, their weapons become less tightly held.

“And potentially worse still, after you all get killed fighting against a superior force, Atros will have lost around 200 or so good fighters, which will pretty much be the end of this place.”

The armed group lost their will. They put down their weapons in a mark of surrender.

“We…just got so frustrated…and…”

Anton shrugged.

“I like your enthusiasm though. Tomorrow, I’m going to need around 50 of you. We need stone for the wall and I’ve been told there’s a deposit that’s being held by something called Rock-Rats. The other 150, I want to start guard duty. We’re all working together so we need to start looking out for each other and this will be a great way for you. Besides, when they come again you’ll get to kill them. Probably not the best plan but it’s one where we don’t all die.”

The armed villagers looked much happier. They were nodding and forming little groups amongst themselves.

Right Jeff emerged from the other group, pushing his way past and bringing Zac to Anton.

“Never thought you’d be able to talk ‘em down.”

“We just needed to give them some hope.”

“Not false hope?”

Zac frowned.

“No. I’ll be getting up early in the morning and leading the 50 or so people to attack the stone mine to the south-west. How good are you at fighting, both of you?”

“Terrible.” Replied Zac, “My hands are for building not killing.”

Anton wasn’t sure if that was true or he just disliked the concept of fighting.

“Pretty good. Got into a lot of scrapes when I was younger…You got an idea?”

“Yes. I want you, Zac, to be in charge of building in the village and Jeff here, will be a commander, rank to be determined later. Speaking of which, how did the construction work go?”

Zac was still a bit shocked from getting promoted.

“Um, Yes. We got quite a bit of the buildings down on the North side, got some of them built like a wall. It’s only around waist height and only for a bit of the northern section but it should help. We should have got more done but…we got distracted.”

Zac looked a bit embarrassed.

“It’ll have to do. How do you feel about helping with tomorrows attack, Jeff?”

“Great.”

Right Jeff didn’t say anything else but looked extremely happy.

---[]---

The rest of the afternoon was relatively uneventful and so was dinner. This involved mainly a vegetable and grain-based mix. Anton hadn’t been a vegetarian on Earth but this new lifestyle wasn’t too bad.

The group that decided to wallow in despair still came for dinner, though they were treated with contempt by those that had worked for their survival. Left Jeff appeared to have become the leader of that group, now about 70 or so people. Throughout the day some had come out and asked to help out, so their power and influence was dropping, but it was when something was wounded they were at their most dangerous and unpredictable. Anton tried to get more information about Left Jeff but everything appeared very normal. Perhaps far too normal, not a single bad rumour. No one was completely free of issues, Anton had even heard that Bertram was a ladies man when he was younger, getting many hits from Sybil when he went too far. It was almost as if he was incredibly deliberate about the way he was perceived. Anton was concerned but needed more support before he could get more aggressive. Nevertheless, Left Jeff and his group had decided to not interfere so far.

The armed group had divided itself into the right number of people. They appeared very eager to fight and Anton wasn’t about to let it go to waste. By the end of the dinner, they were already starting to organize their patrols with very little intention.

Bertram accepted Zac’s new position but had reservations about Right Jeff actually going out and fighting. Right Jeff had managed to convince his parents that he would be safe but they still had concerns.

Now, it was late at night. A single giant white moon and millions of stars illuminated everything below. Torches were burning throughout the village with patrols of five people regularly combing the village. Some other torches had been placed around the village to spot any Yellow Goblins approaching. Anton was surprised at how quickly they had organized a decent defence.

Anton had been allowed to stay in the same room as before. He had asked to keep the map so he could study before going to sleep. There weren’t many points of interest but Anton felt like he could still get a feel for this place.

The chair and everything else creaked as he breathed. He lent back but the creaking continued. It was coming from outside. Quickly coming to a halt once Anton noticed it. Fearing it could be a goblin or a potentially hostile villager he pretended to remain oblivious. He folded the map.

Anton turned to face the window, the creaks started again. Without warning, he charged at the window. The creaking became tumbling of wooden crates. He quickly ran to the window and looked outside. With the light as bad as it was he couldn’t see anyone but could see crates having been overturned. There were sounds of footsteps running away but he couldn’t see the source.

A group of villagers were on patrol. Anton waved them over.

“What’s up?” asked one. He brandished an iron pitch-fork, the most common weapon Anton had seen.

“I just heard something crash through here. Seen or heard anything?”

“No. We’ll keep a lookout though.”

“Thank you very much.”

The villager nodded and indicated to his comrades to move on. Anton shut and jammed the window shut as best he could, lest something get him as he slept. He did not sleep soundly that night.