Hours passed in uneasy quiet.
The raiders had stopped trying to force the keep entrance after the third attempt left a dozen of their own dead in the doorway, now they seemed content to wait, drinking and looting the courtyard while the defenders huddled inside
Jade sat with his back against the cold stone wall, his spear resting across his knees, the blood on it had dried to a dark rust color
He'd tried to clean it but gave up after the first attempt made him nauseous.
Around him the keep's main hall had settled into grim routine, the wounded were laid out on tables and benches, servants moving between them with water and bandages, the less injured militia members took turns watching the entrance or the arrow slits, reporting back if the raiders showed any signs of movement
Jade's crew had claimed a corner near one of the windows, all of them too wired to sleep despite exhaustion
Yuzon was cleaning cuts on his arms with a wet rag, wincing every time he moved too fast
Numerius had finally let someone wrap his head wound properly, white cloth stark against his blood-matted hair
Mataranas sat flexing his injured arm slowly, testing the range of motion
Nathaniel hadn't moved much, still clutching his sword and staring at the floor
"You should eat something," Jade said, nudging Nathaniel with his boot
"Not hungry"
"Eat anyway, we don't know when we'll get another chance"
A servant had distributed hard bread and dried meat earlier, their rations for the day, most of it sat untouched
Nathaniel picked up a piece of bread and nibbled it mechanically, not tasting anything
"I froze," he said suddenly, his voice barely above a whisper
Everyone looked at him.
"During the fight, when the raiders broke through the gate, I just froze," Nathaniel's hands were shaking, "I was in the front line and I couldn't move, couldn't think, I just stood there while people died around me"
"You're alive," Numerius said, "that's what matters"
"I'm alive because someone else covered for me," Nathaniel said, his voice cracking, "that farmer from the village next to ours, Gareth I think, he stepped in front of me when a raider swung at my head and he took the axe instead"
Silence.
"I didn't even know his name until yesterday," Nathaniel continued, "and he died protecting me because I couldn't move"
Jade didn't know what to say to that, what could you say?
"We all froze at some point," Yuzon said finally, "I was so scared on that wall I shot half my arrows into the dirt before I actually started aiming properly"
"I screamed and ran when that first raider got close," Numerius admitted, "didn't even swing my club, just turned and bolted, only stopped because I ran into Mataranas"
"Combat's not like training," Mataranas said, his slow voice steady, "nobody knows how they'll react until it happens"
"But people died because I didn't react," Nathaniel said
"People died because raiders attacked," Jade said firmly, "not because of you, Gareth made his choice, he was protecting all of us, not just you"
Nathaniel didn't look convinced but he stopped talking.
Jade checked his UI again, couldn't help himself
Jade - Level 3 Peasant
Health: 67/100
Vigor: 3
Control: 2
Endurance: 2
Cunning: 2
Social: 3
Intelligence: 5
Polearm: 45
One-Handed: 30
Athletics: 23
Leadership: 32
Experience: 28/300
The numbers had gone up but he didn't feel three times stronger than when he first arrived in Calradia, he felt tired and scared and like he wanted to go home
"How long you think we can hold out?" Numerius asked, breaking the silence
"Aldric said we've got a day's worth of supplies," Yuzon said, "after that it gets bad fast"
"Reinforcements are two days away minimum," Jade added, "so we need to stretch what we have and hope the runner made it"
"And if he didn't?"
Nobody answered that.
Through the arrow slit beside them they could see the courtyard, raiders had set up camp using the militia's own tents, fires burning where they roasted meat looted from the stores, some were passed out drunk while others sharpened weapons or tended to their own wounded
"They're not in a hurry," Yuzon observed, "they know we're trapped, probably waiting for us to run out of water and surrender"
"What happens if we surrender?" Nathaniel asked
"Nothing good," a voice said from behind them
They turned to see Torvald approaching, the old trainer looked like he'd aged ten years, his face haggard and streaked with soot
"Raiders don't take prisoners they can't ransom," Torvald said, sitting down heavily beside them, "and peasant militia aren't worth ransoming, they'd kill the men and take the servants for slaves or worse"
"So surrender's not an option," Jade said
"Wasn't planning on it anyway," Torvald said, "just wanted you boys to know what we're facing"
He pulled out a whetstone and started sharpening his dagger, the scraping sound methodical and almost soothing in its familiarity
"You five did good today," Torvald said after a moment, "saw you holding formation even when it broke around you, that takes guts"
"Didn't feel like it," Numerius muttered
"Never does," Torvald said, "first real fight never feels like anything except terror and confusion, but you didn't run and you helped each other, that's more than a lot of veteran soldiers manage"
He stood up, tucking the whetstone away, "get some rest if you can, next assault could come anytime"
He walked off to check on other militia members, leaving the group in contemplative silence
"He's right about the rest," Jade said, "we should sleep in shifts, two awake at all times"
"I'll take first watch," Yuzon volunteered, "not tired anyway"
"I'll stay up with you," Mataranas added
Jade nodded and lay down on the cold stone floor, using his pack as a pillow, it wasn't comfortable but exhaustion was finally catching up
He closed his eyes and tried not to see the raider's face when his spear went through the man's throat
Tried not to remember the wet sound it made.
Tried not to think about Gareth dying to protect Nathaniel.
Sleep came eventually, fitful and full of dreams that were more like nightmares, running through corridors that never ended, fighting enemies that wouldn't die, watching his friends fall over and over
He woke several times to the sound of shouting from outside, false alarms mostly, raiders getting rowdy or arguments breaking out among them
Each time his heart would race and he'd grab his spear before realizing it wasn't an attack
By the third time Numerius switched with Yuzon for watch duty, Jade gave up on sleep entirely
He sat up and looked around the hall, maybe twenty militia members were actually sleeping, the rest sat awake like him, staring at nothing or checking weapons compulsively
Captain Aldric was at the entrance talking with his soldiers in low voices, planning something
The servants had run out of clean bandages hours ago and were now tearing strips from their own clothes to treat the wounded
Someone in the corner was crying quietly, had been for the last hour
The keep smelled like blood and sweat and smoke, the fires in the courtyard sending acrid plumes through the arrow slits
This was their reality now, trapped in a stone box waiting for either rescue or death
"Jade," Yuzon said quietly, "come look at this"
Jade got up and joined him at the arrow slit, Yuzon was pointing toward the courtyard gates
"See that?"
Jade squinted, in the pre-dawn light he could just make out movement beyond the gates, more raiders arriving, maybe thirty or forty of them joining the force already there
"Reinforcements," Jade said, his stomach sinking
"Yeah, they're not taking any chances"
The new arrivals were being greeted by the others, supplies being unloaded from wagons, this wasn't a raiding party anymore, this was a proper siege force
"We need to tell Aldric," Jade said
They made their way to the entrance where the captain was still conferring with his men
"Captain," Jade said, "more raiders just arrived, looks like they're settling in for a long siege"
Aldric's face went grim, "how many?"
"Thirty, maybe forty"
He cursed quietly, "that puts them at close to two hundred total, we're down to maybe thirty-five militia and fifteen soldiers"
The math was brutal, nearly four to one odds
"Options?" one of Aldric's soldiers asked
"None good," Aldric said, "we hold the keep as long as we can and pray that runner reached the main fortress, if reinforcements don't come within two days we'll have to consider"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Didn't need to.
They all knew what came after two days without water and food.
Surrender or die.
And Torvald had already explained what surrender meant.
Jade returned to his corner where the others were now awake, watching him with worried faces
"More raiders," he said simply, "a lot more"
"So we're definitely going to die," Nathaniel said
This time nobody contradicted him.