was unmistakable, emerged from the kitchen with another pitcher of ale.
Conversation immediately ceased at the table where the elderly lady and the couple were speaking. She immediately noticed who was sitting at the table. It seemed as if she stiffened ever so slightly.
Three pairs of silent eyes watched her as she crossed the room to where Riyan and the others sat. Without a word, the girl placed the pitcher on their table and quickly returned to the kitchen. No sooner had she disappeared through the door than the elderly lady and the couple resumed speaking.
“Wonder what’s going on?” Riyan asked. His eyes were on the door through which the girl had passed.
“None of our business,” Bart said.
Riyan moved his eyes to Bart and saw the seriousness of his expression. “Don’t worry,” he assured his friend, “I don’t plan on doing anything.” Bart held his stare until Riyan finally looked away.
He was very curious about what was going on, though. Over at the other table, the three of them were whispering with heads held closely together, just soft enough so Riyan couldn’t make out what they were saying. From the looks each would cast to the door leading into the kitchen, it wasn’t hard to figure out about whom they were talking.
“I think she has a boyfriend they don’t approve of,” Chyfe said.
Seth nodded. “So it would seem.”
Soth looked to his brother and grinned. “Remember that time you were seeing Gleara?”
Seth’s face turned into a frown and he failed to answer.
“What happened?” asked Chyfe.
“She was the daughter of a merchant,” Soth began.
“Do you have to tell this?” Seth asked.
“No,” his brother replied. Then he grinned, “But I’m going to anyway.” Seth sighed and didn’t look very happy.
“Anyway, Gleara was a beautiful girl whom my poor brother was smitten with,” he began. “Every chance he had, he would visit her and usually brought along a gift of some sort. One day when he was on his way to visit her…” He trailed off when he saw someone rushing in through the front door. The others, who had been intent on his tale didn’t take notice of the new arrival until Soth had stopped talking.
“Kiera!” the man hollered as he rushed over to the table where the elderly lady sat talking with the couple. Every eye in the room turned to watch his hurried stride to their table.
Coming to her feet, the elderly lady asked, “Jake, what’s wrong?”
“Raiders have been sighted,” he exclaimed.
“Where?” demanded the man with whom Kiera had been speaking.
“An hour to the east,” came the reply. “Cain was checking on his herd when he saw them crossing his lands. They were heading this way.”
One of the men sitting at another table leaped to his feet. “How many were there?” he asked.
“Cain said there were at least a score,” Jake replied. “Maybe more.”
Riyan and Bart exchanged worried glances. The last thing they needed was to be caught in a Raider attack.
Others began entering the inn, men bearing swords and bows. One of them, a grizzled old soldier said, “No sign of them in the immediate vicinity.”
The door to the kitchen cracked open and Riyan saw their serving girl peer out.
The old soldier signaled to a younger man bearing a bow. “Take the others with bows and get on the rooftops,” he said. “Holler if you see anything.”
“Yes sir,” the bowman said. He and the other two men with bows soon passed back out into the night.
As the bowmen were leaving, the old soldier glanced over to where Riyan and the others were seated. Moving their way, he said, “You fellows look like you’d be handy in a fight.”
Bart glanced to Riyan who nodded. Standing up, he faced the old soldier. “We can hold our own,” he replied.
“Good,” he said. “May come in handy should the Raiders attack.”
“Do you really think they will?” asked Soth.
“You never know son,” he replied.
More people were coming into the inn. It looked like everyone in the immediate vicinity was congregating there. Some were entire families carrying sacks and packs full of belongings.
“Did you send someone for help?” asked Chyfe. “We met a band of soldiers on the way down earlier this afternoon.”
The old soldier snorted. “Wouldn’t do any good even if we could find them in the dark,” he said.
A man dressed in leather armor entered the inn. After spying the old soldier by their table, he hurried to his side. “Men are on the roof and everyone’s inside,” he reported.
“Good,” the old soldier replied. “Bar the doors and station men at windows on the upper floor. I want to know the instant they appear.”
“Yes sir,” the man said. Moving to carry out his orders, he soon had half a dozen men in tow as he headed for the stairs.
The old soldier turned back to Bart. “They may not come this way,” he told him. “But it’s always wise to be cautious. Stay inside and keep your weapons nearby.”
“We’ll do that,” Bart assured him.
Nodding, the old soldier returned to the table where the elderly lady Kiera was speaking with half a dozen locals.
“Rather efficient isn’t he?” questioned Seth.
As Bart sat back down, he glanced to the locals seated around them. Most had a calmness he thought was a bit out of place considering a Raider attack may be imminent. “Everyone seems rather calm,” he stated.
“Maybe this happens quite often,” suggested Kevik.
“It does,” replied a farmer sitting the table next to his.
“More often than it should,” his wife added.
“Do they attack?” asked Riyan.
The farmer shook his head. “Not since we started gathering at the inn when they’re in the area. Once in a while a farm might lose some livestock and a house ransacked, but no one’s been killed in years.”
“Makes sense,” responded Chyfe. “Taking this inn wouldn’t be worth the risks.”
“That’s the idea,” the farmer said. “Better to lose some livestock or goods than your life.”
Bart turned to the farmer and said, “On the way in we saw headstones in your graveyard that looked rather new.”
“Oh,” the farmer replied. “That was from something else.”
At that time, the serving girl appeared from the kitchen carrying a tray bearing a dozen mugs in one hand and a pitcher of ale in the other. Moving from table to table, she passed out the mugs and filled each from the pitcher.
For the next hour, Riyan and the others remained in the common room, expecting to aid in holding off a Raider attack. During that time, the people who called Marl Crest home acted as if this was nothing more than a big social gathering. Riyan was surprised that there wasn’t even a minute trace of underlying fear. It was almost as if they were simply going through the motions without really expecting an attack to manifest.
So when a girl’s scream split the night, the townsfolk froze in shock. Riyan, Bart, and the rest of their group on the other hand were not so handicapped. Immediately springing to action, they leaped from their seats and raced for the door leading out back to the stable. For that had been the direction from which the scream had originated.
Bart was first to the door and was through in a flash. By this time, the townsfolk had recovered from their shock and were in motion too. Out back, Bart quickly took notice of light coming from within the stable. Shadows wielding swords could be seen moving about.
“Kevik!” hollered Bart as he raced for the stable. “Light!” A second later, light sprang from his staff and flooded the rear courtyard of the inn.
“In the stable!” one of the archers stationed on the inn’s rooftop hollered to them.
With a dart gripped in one hand, Bart raced for the stable door. Behind him he heard the old soldier shouting
