Feroy shrugged. "Can't say, milord. I had taken all the precautions that I could think of while I was on the road with the caravan." He added, "Pydaso and I made sure to buy everything from a few different vendors and shopkeepers in Cinran, instead of buying everything in bulk from a single merchant, so that the quantity of our purchases wouldn't be noticeable easily. We also staggered the arrival and departure of the wagons in the caravan when entering and exiting the town, in a way that at most only two of our wagons would pass the gates at one time, with the rest of the wagons in the caravan continuing through only after some time."

He continued, "This was to ensure that any observers would think that those wagons were led by different people, and would likely be going in different directions, instead of them realizing that it was a single caravan which would be traveling through these treacherous forests. But even then," Feroy added with a shrug, "those town merchants like to talk, you know? It's one of their favorite pastimes in the bigger towns and cities. So any news of a big purchase still gets around, which means that despite all our precautions, someone might still have realized that it was a single person making those purchases. And that would make the caravan and probably even the village a target for bandits."

"That's very concerning..." Duvas muttered with a frown.

Feroy nodded. "That's why I was expecting an ambush on every return journey of ours, but as you know, nothing like that happened." He added, "However, in our last journey, while we were on the road when returning from Cinran, I thought I saw the glint of a sword in the east, a few hours after we entered the forest in the light of the setting sun. Although I'm not very sure about it..."

"Oh..." Gorsazo whispered. "You mean the caravan might really have been ambushed in the forests?"

Feroy gave a slow nod. "Possibly. But still, we weren't ambushed there, or anywhere else, for that matter." He continued, "The reason might simply be that those bandits - assuming they really were there - were simply unwilling to attack such a big caravan."

He explained, "While it would have seemed like a very juicy target for them, they would also have seen that we had fifteen well-armed swordsmen and archers protecting it. That would mean that our ruse had worked and the caravan did appear very well defended from the outside, and that is why those bandits didn't attack us at that time. Or maybe... It was just my usual paranoia and I was imagining things. That means it could have been just something shiny on the forest floor which caught my eye, and not the sword of a bandit." He shrugged. "We can't be sure about it either way."

Kivamus gave a slow nod. "That's true. Either of these things are possible..." He muttered, "Now I can't help but be worried about this."

"Exactly, milord," Feroy continued. "Since that time I've always felt that something wasn't right, but I didn't have any real reason for it, you know? That is why I didn't mention it until now. However, when I combine my suspicions with the fact that that laborer might have seen someone in the northern forests, it might just be that there really is a group of bandits hiding there, just waiting for a good opportunity to raid the village." He added, "Now whether they got the news from a Cinran merchant with a loose tongue, or whether they just heard that the village was already raided successfully a month ago, and that's why they want to raid Tiranat too, we can only make guesses..."

The ex mercenary continued, "But this still leaves open the possibility of a bandit raid in the near future. And if it is going to happen, I'd say it'll happen soon - maybe even in the next couple of days, since winter is here now, and those bandits would like to raid as soon as possible to stock up on food grains and maybe even slaves, before the snow slows down travel everywhere."

Kivamus frowned after hearing Feroy explain it so well. "That does make a lot of sense, but how do you even know that much about the thought process of bandits?"

Feroy hesitated for a moment. "I'd rather not talk about it, milord..."

However, he gave a sigh soon after that. "But you already know about my past, so I guess it's okay." He added in a voice barely above a whisper, "Let's just say that my time with the mercenaries came to an end because they had forgotten that they were sellswords, and not raiders and looters. But it still took a while for me to make the decision to quit that group, you know? And during that time, I found out a lot about how a bandit group operates..."

Duvas looked repulsed on hearing that, especially with his usual hesitation in trusting the ex-mercenary, but Kivamus realized how difficult it was to survive in this brutal world, especially for commoners. So instead of thinking that Feroy was still not trustable, he thought it was courageous that he made the decision to leave that group after that. And if Hudan - someone who had been training to be an honorable knight - trusted the ex-mercenary with his life, then so could he. So he just gave a nod to feroy, and decided not to ask too much about his past. For now anyway.

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Coming back to the present, it still meant that there might be a bandit group waiting to raid the village. But without more information, there wasn't much he could do about it other than to try their best to boost their defenses.

He looked at the guard captain. "Hudan, while we don't know anything for sure, there is still a serious risk of a bandit raid in the near future. So we still have to take some precautions. For the next few days, I want you to utilize all our guards for the defense of the village. Take all the on-duty and off-duty guards and after properly arming them, put them to patrol around the village. Give them the horns - the ones which we were planning to use on the watchtowers - so that if any of them comes in contact with any bandits, they should blow the horn immediately, and that should be the signal for the rest of the guards to become ready for an imminent attack."

Seeing Hudan's nod, he continued, "According to Feroy, such a raid would be less likely after snow starts to gather on the ground, which means the guards would not have to pull double shifts for long. Just tell them that the next few days would be critical for us, so we need everyone to pull more than their weight if we want the village to come through this unscathed."

"Of course, milord," Hudan said while standing up. "I will alert every single guard immediately," he added, and left the manor hall.

Feroy stood up as well. "I'll be leaving too, milord. I'll try to see if I can find some more information from the other laborers who have worked in the north. The feast is still ongoing, so some of them might be eating outside even now."

"That's a good idea," Kivamus said to the ex-mercenary, and then Feroy exited the hall as well.

Duvas said, "While it shouldn't be more than an hour or so until the feast is over, I should also go and keep an eye there until then." He stood up, and started walking towards the door, but then paused and looked back at Kivamus. "Should I also alert the servants and maids about the threat of a bandit raid?"

"No, not until we have definite information about it," Kivamus replied after a moment. "It would only cause unnecessary panic at this time - especially with the villagers already gathered in a crowd outside. I don't want to start a stampede there."

He added, "Truthfully, we don't even know yet when that raid will happen - or if there is going to be a raid at all. And being on edge for days would only exhaust everyone. Hudan has already gone to tell the guards to increase the patrols and to be more alert, so let's wait to tell other people about it for now."

"Of course, my lord," Duvas said. "Then I'll just go and take a look at where the feast is happening." And with that, the majordomo also exited the manor hall.

That just left Gorsazo and Kivamus inside for now. He asked, "Should I also go out there, to keep an eye on the villagers and the feast?"

"I don't think it's a good idea, my lord," Gorsazo replied immediately. "Your safety is the most important thing for the village right now, and with Hudan and Feroy busy with other things, it might be very unsafe for you if you exit the manor gates right now. Let's not give a third chance for any assassin to succeed where they failed the first two times, alright?"

Kivamus took a deep breath and nodded. "That's true enough, Gorsazo."

He gave a sigh before adding, "We can only hope that everything goes well in the coming days, otherwise it really might be the end of this village, since we can neither send any more caravans to Cinran for food, nor can we afford to buy more of it now."

"Don't worry, my Lord," Gorsazo tried to reassure him. "We have to trust that Hudan and Feroy are competent enough for this. Otherwise, may the Goddess save us..."

*******

~ Calubo ~

~ Somewhere in the forests surrounding Tiranat ~

It must have been around an hour or so since the fatso and the other bandit had started their watch duty, although the passage of time was very hard to tell in the night, especially with the moon hidden behind the clouds.

The other bandit's tale about the village feast had ended a while ago, but the fatso had started getting sleepy after that, so he had asked the other bandit to keep speaking about something else. That had led to nearly an hour of the other bandit regaling them with bawdy tales of the time he lived in Cinran and when he used to go to a particular inn there, which was famous for its pretty serving-maids.

Calubo couldn't believe how easily they could talk about such things, when they were going to loot and even kill people soon after this. Perhaps that's how people became after living a bandit's life for a long time, but it didn't change the fact that many people in Tiranat were going to die in the next few hours. And if the bandits were successful in looting enough grain from the village, most of the people here wouldn't survive the winter.

As he looked at the rope tying his hands, he was reminded that it was his mistake which had led to Nokozal coming here to raid Tiranat.

He prayed to the Goddess that somehow she would give him a chance to do something to redeem himself, and to thwart the plans of these bastards. If only he could find a way to warn the village...