I helped Trish collect chicken eggs. A huge booming noise made me jump. Everyone else in sight was also looking towards the gate in alarm. I had never heard such a noise before and it made my heart beat faster in fear and worry.
I watched in shock as huge clouds of black smoke billowed into the sky. No campfire ever made smoke like that, it was thick and oily looking. A few fired people were running towards the gate, but the guards on top were not sounding an alarm.
I looked at Trish, "Do you know what happened?"
She shook her head, "No, but I am sure we will find out soon."
We both jumped as another boom sounded. Even more smoke rose to the sky in an ominous cloud that dimmed the sunlight even more than the clouds normally did. We kept working while keeping an eye on the distant gate. The guards would sound alarms if there was even the smallest chance of them getting inside though.
It wasn't long before a fired person ran past and gave us an update, "A bandit tried to take a jerry can of gas into the forest, but our fighters shot it with a fire arrow. He didn't get close to the forest, so the fire is burning itself out in the damp grass."
Trish nodded and thanked him. He left to go let the others know the news. We relaxed and started working again.
Another fired lady beside us suddenly stood up and pointed to the sky, "Look!"
It took me a second, but I saw five pigeons flying through the thick smoke as they headed for the pigeon coop. I recognized the pure white one, it was one of the ones that had been sent to Wainwright Fort to carry the messages back to us. They had released five to ensure that at least one pigeon would make it, but it looked like all five had found their way home.
We no longer had to tolerate the bandits outside our gate. I really wanted to see them leave, the sooner the better.
Those in the forest must have also seen the pigeons. Twenty fighters had returned to Sanctuary and were in Roland's office as they discussed plans. Diane and Ace were in there as well since they were the fighting trainers.
I waited on top of the cliff for them to come out. I knew they wouldn't stay inside Sanctuary long since they would be eager to dissuade our unwelcome guests. They also wanted life to go back to normal. I tilted my head and quietly snuck through the trees as I moved to a better spot to eavesdrop on someone else.
"Are they mad? They want us to attack the bandits before they get here? Some of the fired fighters are still at Wainwright Fort, there is no way they can get here quickly."
"That is the message the pigeons brought back. That Base Commander knows we are a lethal force in the dark and is hoping we can take out a good chunk of their force with arrows before they start running. He is also asking us to trail them and pick off stragglers. Otherwise a force that large will likely attack another settlement and take it over once they realize that their own settlement was burnt to the ground."
"Ugh... I really don't want to do this, but the worst part is that I can see their logic."
"That is exactly why Roland has been cooped up in that office for over an hour. If they aren't stopped, then they will continue attacking settlements."
The two men walked off and I sat in silent shock. We were not just going to be chasing them away with glowing eyes and rotten eggs, people would be fighting. Even with a bow, there was a chance that our people could get hurt. Diane could get hurt.
I knew she was good at dodging arrows since I had seen her do it before, and she had even got me to fire padded arrows at her during practice, but this was different. The bandits' arrows would be meant to kill. I couldn't imagine Diane dead. It hurt too much.
If she was part of the fight, then there was a chance she could get injured or killed. She was a fighter trainer and had the most experience dodging arrows so she would likely be near the front of any attack. I slowly walked back to where I had been waiting for Diane in a daze. I couldn't help her from here and she wouldn't allow me near a fight.
I was still at a loss as to what to do when the people finally exited Roland's office. Most headed straight up the cliff and it was clear they had plans that they wanted to put into motion as soon as possible. Diane climbed up the ladder and came over.
I asked her, "Is it true that we are going to be attacking them?"
Diane sighed which showed that she didn't like the thought of attacking someone and took a seat on a rock, "Yes. Well, the trained fighters outside will be attacking them. Everyone else will be out of range of the fight."
I looked at her in worry, "You are going to be fighting, aren't you?"
Diane nodded slowly, "Yes, my archery skills are quite good and as you know I can easily dodge an arrow or two."
So, she was going to be in the middle of the fighting. I still had no real good plan. There was no way I could help her. Life with Diane had taught me one thing though, Diane always kept her promises, "Do you promise to come back?"
Diane gazed steadily at me, "As long as I still breathe, I will always return for you."
I could hear the honesty in her voice, but her words did not bode well. I frowned in concern, she had never reworded my request so much before. That worried me more than anything else I had heard.
"Can you promise to come back? That you won't die?"
Diane didn't answer immediately and gazed across the meadow to where the bandits were camped. She turned back to me, "I will never promise anything I cannot keep. I can promise that I will try my best to stay alive, but this will be a big battle. We will mostly be firing arrows from our hiding spots. Dying is at the bottom of my To Do list."
She had never mentioned the possibility of her dying before. This was the lady who had killed several Swifts and crossed the province on foot twice. But she could not guarantee that she would come back alive. I got up to move to her lap and gave her a tight hug. I couldn't stand the thought of losing her.
I knew I was useless in a fight, but that gave me a different idea. I looked over at Ace, "Can you promise to try and look after her during the fight?"
He looked deep into my eyes for a few moments before nodding solemnly. I relaxed a bit. Ace was faster than Diane, and I was sure that if she missed anything that Ace would warn her. Diane stood up with me in her arms as she gave me a hug, "Please remember your promise. The thought of you down there when those bandits might find you would distract me too much. Promise me that you will remain in the gated area until the battle is truly won or they somehow break in and it is no longer safe here."
I returned her tight hug, "I promise."
I had promised her earlier and I planned to keep my promise as much as I would rather try to help her instead. Diane put me down on the ground before heading over to the ladder that dropped to the forest below. Most of the others had already climbed down or used a rope to rappel down the nearly vertical surface.
Diane started to climb down, "Be good for Trish. I have to go now, but I hope to be back sooner rather than later."
I nodded slowly and responded, "I don't care how soon you return as long as you return safely. Stay safe."
I heard her faint chuckle as she dropped out of sight. I looked back to where Trish and Nathan waited. Cathy was strapped to Trish's back since she needed her hands to climb the ladder up. At least we could use the zipline to get back down.
I looked at Nathan, "I forgot to ask, what are their plans? Are we making our eyes glow tonight?"
Nathan looked amused, "Well, my eyes certainly won't be glowing since I am not fired, but yes, around midnight they will be getting those who are fired to make their eyes glow when they hear the gate guards sound off on three horns."
I climbed into the zipline as Trish got in behind me. There was just enough room for Nathan to squeeze in. Trish looked towards the distant bandit camp, "I am wondering how long it will take them to wonder if our big gate with the thirty guards is just a ruse and that everyone is actually hidden deep in the forest laughing at them for trying to get past the gate."
I giggled at that thought. Over half of the population was either down at Wainwright or in the forest around us. Nathan shook his head, "It is an unlikely thought considering they can see a hundred people or so on the cliffs. Besides, they would have been able to hear the cattle occasionally lowing and know our supplies and livestock are inside the gated area. That is what they are really after. Well, that and they want the meadow for themselves."
Trish cleared her throat and glanced pointedly at me. Nathan stopped talking and I pretended to be interested in the group of children on the playground. Sometimes Rick's lessons worked in my favor as people thought I knew less than I actually did.
I looked back at Nathan, "They seemed to be in a rush to leave and go back into the forest."
Nathan glanced at Trish before sighing, "They are going to set a small trap and see if they can't lure in some bandits. We want to keep them distracted so they don't have as much leisure to make their own plans."
"What are they going to do?"
Nathan paused long enough that I knew he was editing the truth, "They are going to have a few fired women walk along the treeline. We are hoping a few bandits will try to catch them and the women can run into the trees. They are fired, so the men have no chance of actually catching them, but it will lure them in close enough for the archers."
I shook my head in confusion, "That seems like a really dumb idea to me. They would have to know it was a trap and why would they chase after a few people anyways? Wouldn't they just try to shoot them?"
Nathan turned a bit red in embarrassment, which didn't help my confusion any. Trish cleared her throat, "Uh, they will likely try to catch those women as hostages to try to force us to open the gates. They will probably threaten to harm them if we don't listen. But they are fired, so they are much faster than any of those bandits. The bandits just don't know that yet."
Trish was turning a rather surprising shade of red. It usually meant she was embarrassed or uncomfortable. I wasn't sure why she was blushing so hard. Perhaps she had volunteered to help and had been turned down because she wasn't fired. I doubted Nathan would let her volunteer for such a task when other fired people were better suited to running away. I could outrun Trish easily, so she was obviously not cut out for that task.
I shrugged, "How about we go brush those alpacas?"
Trish brightened at that idea, "That sounds good to me. I was starting to run low on their wool."
I nodded, but I didn't mention that I had a hidden objective. Once Trish had a big bag full of wool, she would be itching to start spinning it into thread. It would be much easier to go on top of the cliff without her following.
Nathan had guard duty shortly, so that meant I could sneak through the trees on top of the cliff to watch the bandits. I highly doubted that any of them would fall for such an obvious trap. We clearly knew they were there and a bunch of our people would simply not just 'forget' and happen to walk along the edge of the trees where our fighters were hidden. The fighters had shot enough bandits that they knew we had quite a few archers hidden in the trees.
Trish would think I was just on top of the cliff helping others ensure that no bandits tried to climb up. It wasn't as if I was all alone up there. There were a dozen others, but unless I approached them and offered to help them, they wouldn't pay much attention to me. I would just be a child playing in the only trees that I could safely play in.
Diane or Ace wouldn't have been so easily fooled, but most others wouldn't realize that I simply didn't play games by myself if there was any potential option of playing with someone else. Anyone who knew me well enough was currently in the forest and Trish was rather easily distracted. It wasn't as if I was doing anything bad either, I was just going to watch the trap they were setting up from the safety of the cliff top.
The cliff was our main escape route, so I was halfway there and no one would really care as long as they didn't see me on the cliffs that were beside the walls since that was too close in their minds. I didn't need to go that close since I had my binoculars though.