Free Shanakan (The Fourth Age of Shanakan Book 1) by Tim Stead Page A

Just one sword,” Wulf said.
    Panic was beginning to set in among the villagers. Some cried out that they should hide in the forest, others that they should try to appease the bandits when they came, and a few even wanted to fight. Tarbo held his hands up in the air, and after a minute they quietened down to hear what he had to say.
    “You know me, friends,” he said. “I’m not a man to fight when I can talk, and not prone to hasty council, so hear me out. It will be a day at least until they can return, I think. Those men had ridden long to get here, probably camped along the way. If they have friends it will take them many hours to reach them, and many hours for them to return. We have some time.
    “If we left now we could be twenty miles hence when they come to our village, but what could we take with us? All the food that we have gathered would be stolen or destroyed. In a few weeks we would begin to starve. Harvest is not for a hundred and fifty days. Nobody will help us because nobody can – we are too many.
    “If we stay and try to appease them they will take most of our food, and perhaps they will leave us enough to get through until harvest, perhaps not, but blood has been spilled, and these are brutal men. They will take your daughters and kill your sons. I for one will not willingly be party to that harvest.
    “We are here. All our food is here, our houses and gardens are here. We have many strong arms and something worth defending. We have time to prepare. I say that we fight.”
    The villagers all started talking at once. It was clear that many had been swayed, but it was still not all. Delf stepped close to Tarbo.
    “It will be difficult to hold this place,” he said quietly in his ear. “You will need to build barriers, cut off a section of the village, use houses as part of your wall, and make the rest as strong as you can.”
    “Yes, I understand. You will advise us?”
    Both Delf and Wulf had a good understanding of fortifications – what would inconvenience cavalry and infantry, what would break and what would hold. “For a while. I know where there are some weapons hidden and Wallace and I will go to fetch them quite soon. It will take us several hours, so we will have to leave well before dark.”
    “Can two swords really make such a difference?”
    “We need everything we can get,” Delf replied, realising that the old man had quickly guessed more about their past than he had ever said. Even three swords, if visible to the enemy, would signal to the bandits that there were fighting men here. It might well make a difference, even if it was only a deception. They would fear steel more than headcount.
    They walked back into the village, and the rest of the villagers followed, although they still argued among themselves. Like most people who weren’t used to trouble they wanted to avoid it, or at least have someone else make the decision for them. Delf picked a spot that looked defensible – a circle of houses where most of the outward facing walls were windowless or had only small openings. These he had blocked up as best they could. He set twenty men to building hurdles, and was only mildly surprised when they obeyed – starting with three pieces of wood tied together to form a triangle with plenty of points, then triangles raised to the vertical and themselves tied at intervals to three long poles so that they formed heavy spiked fences about five feet high. Supplies were carried into the area, along with all the hunting bows and every arrow in the village. Delf also had them bring in stones and long sharpened poles.
    By mid-afternoon things were well in hand and Delf took Wulf to one side.
    “We should fetch the swords now,” he said. “We might get back before nightfall.”
    Wulf agreed, and after a brief word to Tarbo they left the village and headed south. They half ran, half walked to increase their pace, and it was just over an hour before Delf stopped and looked around, sure