The palisade looked taller from up close.
Lux had seen it from the road yesterday, a simple wall of sharpened logs that surrounded Bracken Vale like a rough circle drawn to keep death out. Now, standing at its base, he could see the marks of repairs. Fresh wood hammered into older wood. Dark stains where pitch had been smeared to seal cracks. Cuts and dents where claws or blades had bitten in the past.
Trial climbed the stairs to the gate platform without hesitation. Lux followed more slowly, careful with his leg. The steps were uneven, worn from boots and time, and the height made Lux's stomach twist. He was not afraid of falling. He was afraid of being exposed.
From above, the world looked wider.
The forest line stretched like a dark sea around the valley. Wind moved through treetops in soft waves. A thin mist hugged the ground in the distance, and beyond it, hills rose gently under the morning sky. Lux could see the road that had brought him here, snaking between trees like a scar.
Trial stopped at the top and rested his hands on the railing.
"Look," Trial said.
Lux did.
At first, it was just trees. Just distance. Just a peaceful landscape that could fool a man who had never been hunted.
Then Lux noticed the details.
The way birds avoided certain patches of forest. The way one section of trees looked slightly darker, as if the leaves there never fully caught the light. The way the road dipped into a narrow stretch where the undergrowth grew thick and close, perfect for an ambush.
Lux swallowed.
Trial watched him, not the forest. "What do you see," he asked.
Lux hesitated, then answered honestly. "Places where something can hide."
Trial nodded once, satisfied. "Good."
Lux kept his gaze forward. "How often do goblins come."
Trial's expression tightened. "Often enough," he said. "Not every day. But more than last year."
Lux turned slightly. "Why."
Trial's eyes stayed on the treeline. "If I knew, I would already be solving it."
A gust of wind carried a faint smell up to them. Sap, dirt, and something else, subtle, like damp metal.
Lux's stomach tightened again.
Trial noticed. "You smell it too," he said.
Lux nodded slowly. "Like blood."
Trial's mouth became a thin line. "The forest carries stories," he said. "You learn to read them. If the air changes, if birds vanish, if deer stop coming to the river, something is moving."
Lux stared at the distant trees, trying to imagine things moving unseen.
In the office, danger was loud and obvious. A mistake. A complaint. A deadline. Here, danger was quiet, patient, and hungry.
Trial spoke again. "Kad told me you fought a brute."
Lux did not look away from the forest. "Yes."
Trial's voice stayed flat. "Brutes are not common near Bracken Vale. When they appear, it means nests are growing."
Lux's fingers curled against the railing. "So there are nests close."
Trial's gaze flicked to Lux now. "Yes," he said. "And that is why you are standing here."
Lux frowned. "To watch."
"To learn," Trial corrected. "To understand what you stepped into. You saved Kad, so I am giving you a lesson instead of a rope."
Lux's jaw tightened. Trial's words were harsh, but Lux understood. In a small place like this, caution kept people alive.
Trial leaned forward slightly. "If goblins want to raid, they do not come from open ground," he said. "They come from that forest line. They come at dusk, when tired men make mistakes."
Lux followed Trial's finger as it pointed toward the far left side of the valley, where the forest dipped and thickened.
Trial continued, "We have three watch points. This gate. The east platform. The river stake. When one sees movement, we signal."
He pointed at a rope tied to a small bell and a wooden horn resting on a hook.
"Bell means close threat," Trial said. "Horn means raid."
Lux nodded, absorbing it like a manual.
Trial's eyes narrowed slightly. "Now tell me," he said. "If you were a goblin, where would you come from."
Lux stared, thinking. He forced himself to imagine being small, quick, and cruel. He thought of ambush points. He thought of shadows.
He pointed to a section where the road curved near dense brush. "There," he said.
Trial looked where Lux pointed and grunted. "Correct."
Lux's brows knit. "You already know that spot."
Trial's gaze stayed on it. "Yes."
"Then why do you not clear it," Lux asked.
Trial's jaw tightened. "Because the forest does not end at the brush," he said. "Because we are a village, not an army. Every man I send out is one less man on this wall. And if they die, the wall becomes a grave."
Lux stared at him.
Trial's voice lowered. "People from cities always think the answer is to attack. They have soldiers. They have coin. They can replace losses. We cannot."
Lux felt the weight of that truth.
A small group of villagers working fields. A few guards with spears. A palisade made of timber and will. Against monsters that did not tire.
Lux looked back at the forest.
Somewhere beyond that line, nests grew.
Lux's mind drifted to the symbol in his pouch. The carved lines. The feeling of intent behind them.
Trial spoke again. "The headman allowed you three days. That is generous."
Lux glanced at him. "You disagree."
Trial did not deny it. "I do not like mysteries," he said. "Mysterious men. Mysterious power. Mysterious arrivals."
Lux's shoulders tightened. "I did not choose to arrive."
Trial's eyes held his, calm and hard. "Maybe not. But you will choose what you do now."
Lux had no response.
Trial turned back to the valley. "Tomorrow we test you," he said.
Lux's stomach tightened. "Test."
Trial nodded. "Not outside the wall," he said. "Not yet. But there are tasks that show me what kind of man you are."
Lux's fingers tightened on the railing. "What kind."
Trial's gaze remained forward. "The kind that follows orders," he said. "Or the kind that endangers others because he thinks his blade makes him special."
Lux's mind flashed to the road. To his reckless charge down the slope. To the moment he had nearly died because he had moved without a plan.
Trial was not wrong.
Lux swallowed. "I will follow your rules."
Trial glanced at him again, as if weighing the words. "Good," he said.
Silence stretched between them as they watched the valley.
Then Lux noticed movement.
Not close. Far. Near the forest line where the river cut through reeds. Something small darted between shadows, too quick to be a deer. A second shape followed, low and hunched.
Lux's breath caught.
Trial's posture changed instantly. He leaned forward, eyes sharp. "Where," he asked.
Lux pointed toward the reeds.
Trial's hand went to the horn, but he did not lift it yet. He watched for several seconds, tension tight in his shoulders.
The movement stopped.
The shapes vanished into the undergrowth.
Trial's jaw tightened.
"Scouts," Trial said quietly.
Lux stared. "Goblins."
Trial nodded. "They are watching," he murmured. "Just like we are."
Lux felt cold spread through his chest.
The goblins were not just raiding. They were learning.
Trial turned toward the stairs. "We go," he said.
Lux hesitated. "Should we signal."
Trial's eyes were hard. "Not yet," he said. "If it is only scouts, we do not waste fear. Fear spreads faster than fire."
Lux followed him down, heart still pounding.
As they reached the ground, Trial paused and looked at Lux again.
"You saw them," Trial said. "That is something."
Lux swallowed. "I have good eyes."
Trial's mouth twitched slightly, almost a smile but not quite. "No," he said. "Good eyes are common. A mind that accepts what it sees is rarer."
Trial leaned closer, voice low.
"If they are scouting in daylight," Trial said, "then something has changed."
Lux felt the symbol in his pouch like a weight.
He did not know what had changed.
But he had a feeling it was connected to him, whether he wanted it or not.