Once every member of the company had reached the island and were drying off, Lanek called Pharaoh, Sanguineus, and Kazuma to him. The trio arrived and looked at him expectantly.

“Alright, guys. I need you to start buying us some time once you’re rested up. I want the three of you to pick off the groups trying to join the main gaunt horde following us. I trust the three of you to come up with your own approach, just please be careful and do not attack the main group. Understood?”

Pharaoh nodded while Kazuma and Sanguineus pushed their heads into Lanek’s hands for some pets. “Good, now go eat and get some sleep.” Pharaoh lingered after the other furballs left, deliberately looking toward the forest and ignoring Lanek. With a chuckle, Lanek reached out and scratched Pharaoh’s head and ears. Pharaoh began purring before flying to the island with a smug look on his face. Wings or not, a cat’s a cat.

“What do you want us to do now?” Kinat asked as he approached.

“Not much, it would be too dangerous to have you guys head out at night. We can’t afford to get picked off by gaunts or whatever else might be in these woods. In the morning, I want your hunters to start bringing us as much game as you can, we’re going to need the food and materials.” Lanek said.

“We can do that. Do you want us to keep an eye on the gaunts?”

“No, Pharaoh, Kazuma, and Sanguineus will handle that. Their abilities make it safer for them to observe the horde than it would be for you or the other hunters. Besides, my connection to them means that they can let me know the instant the gaunts start moving against us. I am open to suggestions, though, if you have any ideas.” Lanek responded.

“Hmm… Well, everyone in my group knows how to make traps. How about we scout out the forest while we hunt and set traps at what we think will be their most likely path?”

“I have no problems with that, but I need your people to remember where every trap is placed.” Lanek said.

“Of course.” Kinat looked offended. “We wouldn’t leave armed traps behind when we move on. We’re not monsters, we’re not going to leave something behind to kill an animal when we aren’t in the area to utilize the animal afterward.”

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to offend. I just wanted to avoid any issues later.”

“Apology accepted.” Kinat said, calming down a bit. “The only other suggestion I have is to find all of the people with Fisher that you can and get them to work. I’m no expert, but I imagine that an island in the middle of a river would be a good place to catch a lot of fish.”

“Thanks, I’ll ask Duristor to look into it. Get your people some rest, they did a great job today but tomorrow is going to busy.” Lanek said. Kinat saluted in the manner that he had seen the orc bodyguards did, his fist over his heart with the fingers facing inward.

A moment later, Cagan approached. “My khan, we need sentries. With your permission, I will take on that task.”

“Of course. Feel free to recruit some of the other people with combat classes if needed, I don’t want your people exhausting themselves by doing guard duty alone. Just leave the hunters out of it, they have their orders. I plan on having Maximilian and Yuri guarding the ford.” Lanek explained.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Yes, my khan. We’ll get to work.” With that, Cagan and the rest of the bodyguard followed Lanek across the river and then split off to discuss the guard rotation.

“Duristor!” Lanek called out as he approached the dwarf. “Do you have a minute?”

“Aye, I do. Please, sit down.” Seeing the serious look on Lanek’s face, Duristor gently pushed his son, Astor, toward the rest of the children, telling him to go play a bit before bed.

“Thanks. So, let’s start with the easy thing first. Can you find out who the highest level Fisher in camp is and have them gather everyone else with that class?”

“Shouldn’t be hard. We were all from coastal villages, so there are probably a lot of them. Some of the fighters probably have it as a subclass as well. So, I’m guessing we’re going to be here a while?” Duristor asked.

“Yes, we can’t run from the gaunt’s forever and this is the safest place we are likely to find. I want us to get as much food as possible so everyone can get their strength back and so we can have plenty to smoke.” Lanek explained.

“A siege, then?”

“Hopefully not. If we get stuck here for a long siege, we’ll die. The gaunts will overwhelm us or starve us out eventually. But, if we can get a large supply of travel rations while we have the opportunity, we can move faster once we leave the island since we won’t have to worry about hunting as much.” Lanek said.

“And possibly make it to the Liv’s people quickly enough to avoid any more attention.”

“Exactly. Now, on to the more difficult conversation. Let me preface this by saying I don’t like this idea, but I don’t have any alternatives, so jump in if you have a better one.” Lanek said quietly, continuing only when Duristor nodded in agreement.

“We have a problem. Less than half of the adults in our group have a combat class. That’s not something that can be allowed to continue. I know everyone went through hell on that ship, but all of them are in their prime or damn close.”

“That’s because everyone else died.” Duristor said darkly.

“I know and I am sorry for how things turned out. But, if we are going to survive, everyone who can fight will need to fight. The children are obviously exempt, but no one else is. Things would be different if we were in Caelis where the city walls and our warriors can protect them, but that’s not the case.” Lanek said regretfully.

“I don’t like it, but I see your reasoning. What do you propose?”

“I don’t plan on meeting the gaunts in open combat. I want to fortify the island and allow those without a combat class to fight from a protected position and be overseen by our higher level warriors. If a gaunt goes down but doesn’t die, I want our warriors to let the weaker individuals finish it off while they focus on those still attacking.” Lanek said, laying out his plans.

“That could work against the lesser gaunts, but what about the evolved ones?”

“My companions and I will focus on the evolved forms, leaving the lesser ones for everyone else. I don’t expect someone without a combat class to try and fight a bulwark or impaler. Also, since everyone trusts you, I’m going to need you to find out what everyone’s stats and classes are.” Lanek said.

Duristor whistled. “That’s a big ask, a lot of people don’t like talking about it.”

“I know and I hate to invade people’s privacy, but it’s necessary. Once I have that information, I can get the most skilled fighters to train the rest under Garik’s supervision. Hopefully, we can unlock some combat classes before the gaunt’s arrive, especially if those skilled fighters can identify which of our people are best suited for which weapon or potential class through their stats.”

“Garik has a trainer class?” Duristor asked.

“He does. His class lets people who train around him increase their weapon proficiency at a faster rate.”

“Useful, and it should unlock a few classes pretty quickly. Should we focus on any particular classes?”

“No. Let people choose their own classes. If someone’s stats are suited for learning how to use a spear but they want to learn how to use a sword or bow instead, let them.” Lanek said.

“Good, I think that will take the sting out of having to learn a combat class in the first place. We are limited to knives, spears, and bows, though.”

“I can provide training weapons, just figure out how many we’re going to need and what types.” Lanek said.

“Can it wait until morning?”

“Yes, everyone is tired and cold, let them rest for now. The work can begin tomorrow. I also have a job for the children.” Seeing Duristor’s concern, Lanek quickly placated the dwarf. “It’s not dangerous, I just want them to scour the island and collect seeds for me. I’ll need them for the fortifications.”

“Ah, yes. That’ll keep them busy and out from underfoot. So, when do we tell everyone about the gaunts?”

“Tomorrow. No need to make the night worse for them.” Lanek bid the dwarf goodnight and walked to where Liv had set up their bedrolls. Liv was already sound asleep as Lanek opened the store and spent every one of his reward stones on his spirit attribute. He closed his eyes and felt the new power flood through him, his skills strengthening his body even as his mana pool increased.