While Baron Hanrahan seethed in anger at the way Loman had turned everything on its head, he was at least warm and well fed, which was more than the men standing guard in the watch towers could say.
Everyone was nervous about demons, and the sudden winter storm had only made matters worse. Now, at a time when the Hanrahan soldiers should be drawing lots to figure out which unfortunate bastard would have to spend a night in the cold watch tower, their captains had ordered whole squads to venture out into the cold, standing watch over the dark, silent forests that overlooked the brightly lit town at the bottom of the valley.
"All right, ye sodding idiots," a shivering sergeant groused as he descended the spiral stairs from the top of the bell tower, slamming the wooden door shut behind himself before the warm air inside the tower could escape into the cold outside.
