Free The Silent Isle by Nicholas Anderson

sir," asked Kenzie, coming near. 
    Dane did not
answer right away.  He just kept listening.  Silence.  
Like the silence and stillness of the beach. 
    "I don't
know," he said finally, "But it could be a trap.  Tell Bailus's
men to circle their side and we'll meet them at the rear." 
    Kenzie slid away
to the edge of the road, where he gave a whistle that sounded like a birdcall. 
Dane, not watching Kenzie but the silent walls, started at the sudden
noise.  He turned to watch Kenzie communicate via hand signals to another
man across the road who he could not see from his
position.  I suppose that's what a deaf-mute would look like if he ever
tried talking to himself , he mused. 
    Kenzie came back
and nodded and Dane led his men around the western half of the settlement,
keeping an eye out for anyone on the wall or anyone lying hidden in the
woods.  They found and saw nothing. 
    They met up with
Bailus's squad on the far side of the compound.  A smaller gate, just a
single door half the height of the wall, stood open on that side.  Dane
crouched beside Bailus.  "I'll lead my squad in.  If I don't
signal for you to enter within five minutes, get back to the ship and get the
hell out of here." 
    "Better
that I go with you" Bailus said.  "If there's danger in there,
it'd be better to face it together.  And if it is a trap, for all we know
the ship’s already been taken." 
    Dane sat thinking
about that for a moment, then nodded.  "Alright."  
    Dane led his men
in a crouch quickly across the open space to the shadow under the wall. 
With his back pressed to the wall, he craned his neck to peer through the open
door.  Nothing stirred within.  Not a sound.  Dane studied the
compound for half a moment.  There were several freestanding buildings in
the center.  Modest one-story half-timbered structures
with pitched roofs.   The entire inside of the wall was lined with
buildings whose rear wall was formed by the palisade itself.  These had
flat roofs that formed a wall-walk by which a man could circle the entire
perimeter.  The outer wall rose an extra five feet (maybe fifteen total ) above the roof-walk to shelter anyone who stood
there. 
    Dane turned to
Bailus and nodded.  The men entered the compound. 

VI
Inside
Information
    Dane half expected the door to
slam shut behind them like the jaw of a giant trap.  But nothing
happened.  Nothing stirred.  Dane pointed to the closest of the buildings
built against the wall.  "Start searching those rooms," he told
Bailus.  "We'll search the ones in the center and then help
you." 
    Dane's men
approached the nearest building with their weapons raised, scanning the windows
for movement.  Dane kicked the door open and entered, crossbow at the
ready.  Something flew in his face and he fired.  There was a sound
of shattering glass as his bolt smashed through the window behind the
fluttering curtain.  Dane brushed aside the curtain, which had been shredded
(not by his bolt) and looked at the window.  The window was partly ajar,
which had allowed the breeze to stir the curtain. 
    That's the
second time I've been startled by a piece of cloth, today, he thought . 
Maybe there's nothing to fear here but my own imagination.  
    After loading
another bolt, he proceeded further into the building.  It appeared to have
been a house.  A large table with a runner hanging
lop-eared off one side of it occupied one side of the front room.   
Something crunched under his boots.  He looked down.  He was standing
on shards of pottery.  Plates.   A bowl.  
    Rooms opened on
either side.  He motioned to Rem Bodkin and Owen Manies to check one and
he checked the other.  A bunk bed had been overturned, filling most of the
room and preventing the door from closing.  One of the mattresses had been
torn and straw stuck out from the slits.  He stepped back to the front
door.  His men returned from the other room shaking their heads. 
    The other houses
were in