Harry’s efforts had not borne fruit - within the week Black had sent them to Salisbury over Mr Grey’s protests. Ostensibly they were there to begin the defensive work since the engineers had begun the more delicate stages of the repairs, but they knew the truth; that this was a punishment for speaking out, even more so than for the incident with the recruit Yellow.

He at least was on the mend. His new magically enhanced wooden leg was a cut above the replacements relied upon by many of the Great War’s casualties, and he was back in training again just over a month after his injury. Whether he could fight on the front lines remained uncertain, but there were plenty of roles available in a support capacity.

Supervision of the ongoing repair work occupied most of their time. They had to watch from a distance as the Ministry of Works were officially in charge of the restoration and were unaware of the true purpose of the ongoing activities. The Society’s barracks and facilities were over a mile from the stones, allowing them to do their magical training without being overlooked.

In public, the authorities described the repairs as a necessary measure to preserve the ancient monument for the good of the nation. Only a select few understood the method by which they had selected the stones for repair, and fewer still knew of the risks to humanity if they could not complete the work. How long this state of affairs might continue was the subject of many wagers. Opinions varied about the nature of the first incursion, whether the civilians would witness it, what their reaction might be and even what ‘cover story’ the powers-that-be would expect them to peddle.

So far little supernatural activity had occurred around the site. Despite Jacob & Harry’s fears they were being sent unprepared into a powder-keg primed to explode, most days involved peering through telescopes disguised as surveying equipment looking for signs of anything unnatural.

With the start of the new year more men had arrived, and they had made a start on their surreptitious training exercises. Harry believed it was better Black had exiled them, as here they could train the men without Grey & Black peering over their shoulders. Even Jacob brightened as he began to see the potential in guiding the young men under his command.

Today the pair had arranged a dozen men in two ranks of six, out of sight of the stones, and had set up a few stakes in the ground a hundred yards away to serve as targets. On command the front rank would kneel and form a defensive wall while the rear rank fired over their heads towards the stakes.

“Last time,” Jacob reminded them, “you used lightning to drive back and defeat the ‘enemy’ before you. Today we shall use indirect fire. Yes, I chose that term deliberately as you will lob fireballs up and over; not too high though - we don’t want them visible over the trees there,” he gestured to the edge of a forest a quarter mile away, “or we’ll have a lot of explaining to do!”

“Front rank,” Harry shouted. “Prepare your shield!” Then in a quieter voice: “remember to extend it back over your heads this time, there will be a lot of heat flying about.” Once the invisible barricade met his satisfaction, he raised his voice again. “Rear rank, one volley only, ready!” The men brandished their staffs. “Aim!” As one unit they each braced one leg behind themselves, grasped their staffs in both hands and planted them into the ground, angled towards the target.

“Fire!”

Six balls of flame the approximate size of cricket balls arced over the kneeling men and impacted at various distances from their source. One man had come within a few feet of the nearest stake but most had fallen short. The closest had fallen just twenty yards away from its caster.

“Cease!” Jacob shouted, then “Stand easy!” The men relaxed, and the front row dropped their shield. “Not bad,” he offered, and the men smiled and started to congratulate each other. “Not good either,” he added.

“For a first attempt, that was adequate,” Harry said, “your balls were all of a similar size, stop sniggering Turquoise, and had enough energy to do some damage if they’d not hit wet grass. But I can see we have some work to do. Mr Brown?”

Jacob nodded and stepped closer to the men. “Front rank, fall out and follow Mr White. Rear rank, stay where you are. You’ll work with me.”

With the men a safe distance apart, Harry & Jacob got to work. They encouraged each man to fire three shots in rapid succession without worrying about distance. “Consistency first,” Jacob explained, “Once you can send it to the same place each time we can worry about where that place is. But far enough away we don’t lose our eyebrows, if you please.”

Harry smiled to hear this, glad that his friend had found purpose in the training. He turned his attention to his own recruits. “Right then Aqua,” he pointed to the shortest, thinnest man in the group. “Up you come and show us how it’s done.” Aqua sidled up beside his mentor and braced himself on his staff. “Off you go,” Harry urged.

The man’s slender arms were no thicker than his staff, and he jumped as each volley fired. To his clear astonishment, all three fireballs landed within a two-foot radius of one another, and he grinned at the half-hearted applause of his colleagues.

“Well done,” Harry encouraged. “Now, let’s make it a little harder, shall we?” With that he grasped his own staff and launched a missile of his own. It landed fifty yards away and began to emit a sickly green smoke which coiled in place, rather than drifting in the light breeze. “See if you can hit that,” he grinned.

Aqua swallowed hard and returned to his braced position. Squinting he fired a single shot which landed ten feet from the target, and he adjusted the angle before the next try. This time he was inches from the sinuous writhing smoke, and his third shot hit it dead on. The smoke disappeared in a greasy flame, and the men cheered.

“They’re doing all right, aren’t they?” Jacob asked Harry later that night. They were on one of the regular patrols of the perimeter, and safe from being overheard. It was a bitter, moonless night, and storm clouds gathered in the distance.

“Not bad,” Harry agreed. “And I think the drills we’re running should prepare them pretty well.”

“Better than we were,” Jacob added. “I just hope it’s enough.” He strengthened one ward near the main road. While there was no real danger to members of the public during the restoration activities, it was prudent to keep them a safe distance away. The advance team had set a circular limit out beyond the stones, with spells to deter anyone who came too close. Anyone straying into the area by accident would find their feet steered away imperceptibly until they had circled around the site. This could not deter someone striding in with a purpose, though, and the wards Jacob was now checking were positioned to add a second line of defence.

“All good,” Jacob reported, and they moved along. Thunder rumbled on the horizon, and he hoped they’d make it back to camp before the rain started. Bad weather always made his shoulder ache.

If someone passed this second perimeter, he would gradually grow more and more tired as a chill wind bit him even on a warmer day. His mind would wander away from his purpose there and distract him before a growing discomfort would send him home. It was inspired by fairy magic, designed to hide a location in plain sight and repel curious interlopers.

Jacob had felt this too was not enough, and agitated for a third ring of more forceful defences. However Black believed that since the greater danger to those on the site came from within the stone circle itself, it was unnecessary. He even pointed out it might be counter-productive if it prevented reinforcements reaching the location. Harry had kept an eye on Jacob’s wards since then, just to make sure he wasn’t beefing them up beyond what they had prescribed.

“You realise some of them are already better than you,” Harry teased.

Jacob grinned. “You know I’ve always seen myself as more of a leader, guiding the talented but sadly slow-witted in their efforts.”

Harry’s mock offence masked his relief at seeing a glimpse of the old Jacob. “Who are you calling slow-witted?”

“If you have to ask…” Jacob said, then stopped walking. He gestured into the distance, and he & Harry crouched low.

“What did you see?” Harry whispered, covering the lantern he held to hide them from sight.

“Not sure, just a glint of something. Might be nothing, but there’s not much light about.” They squatted and watched the darkness. Harry had seen nothing, but now his eyes ached with the strain of trying to penetrate the night. It was so dark without the narrow beam from their lantern he blinked just to check if his eyes were open.

The plain was silent around them. While it was the middle of winter, shouldn’t there be a few animals? Rabbits, at least - or did they hibernate? He wasn’t sure.

Gradually a sense came over Jacob of being watched. He turned on the spot to check the darkness behind him. Nothing there either, at least nothing he could see.

He returned to face front again for a few minutes, until their legs burned with the effort of squatting above the damp grass.

Just before Jacob was ready to give up waiting, a sheet of lightning inside the clouds overhead illuminated the ground; nothing was there. “No, false alarm,” he said, stretching. “Sorry.”

“No problem, better safe than sorry.” Harry uncovered the lantern, and the light dazzled after their time spent in pitch blackness. “How many wards is that now?”

“We’ve checked three, one to go. Wish we could check in with the other teams, I don’t enjoy having to trust they’re doing their sectors properly.”

Harry agreed, but stuck up for the men anyway. “They’re a good bunch, you know. But if it worries you, we can swap sectors each night. That way you can check their work and even if they missed one it’ll not be too weak by the time we get to it.” Jacob made a sound of agreement. “Or we could split up and take a team each - that way one of us would cover two of the four sectors each night.”

Jacob weighed this for a moment. “Nah, I like these little chats. And besides, who said I trust you?”

“Come on, let’s go get that last one before it pisses down.”

Jacob checked his compass by the lantern’s light. “This way,” he gestured, and they set off walking, slowly enough to avoid twisting an ankle in an unseen rabbit-hole, but quickly enough they hoped to avoid the imminent downpour.

The clouds burst when they were still a half-mile from the shelter of their camp.