Work on the palisades had been a driven thing, something most tried to help with, simply because their continued survival hinged on it. Once it was done, that sense of urgency quickly died out. With a solid barrier between the villagers and the outside world, people began calming down. And a rising number even began doubting that an attack was coming at all. Gunnar and Birgitta did their best to keep everyone motivated, but for all their efforts they couldn’t stop progress from slowing down.

The only part of the defence that improved as time went by was the actual defenders. Birgitta had made sure that every pair of idle hands was practicing combat in some form, be it archery, sword or spear. All the frustration she felt at the decreasing support for defending the village had been poured into this, and she mercilessly cracked down on anyone who dared complain. A lot of the villagers had spent some time in the militia when they were younger, and in their case it was mostly a question of freshening up old skills. The rest was stuck solely practicing with the spear. Fighting with swords were too complicated to teach in a few days, and the village didn’t have enough swords to outfit everyone anyway. They didn’t have enough spears either, but making more was a small task, at least if they didn’t do them the way Hanna had been forced to. The untrained villagers hade no hope of becoming proficient spearmen in this small amount of time, but even a complete novice could be somewhat dangerous with a sharpened stick, at least if they gathered up next to others and kept the sharp end pointed towards the enemy.

Hanna had always envisioned bows as central for medieval battles, with clouds of arrows flying through the skies. That turned out to be a fool’s dream. A cloud of arrows could only be made from a lot of archers and would only be good against an enemy that was neatly gathered up in front of them. The village only had a couple of handfuls of bows, and about the same amount of people capable of using them. It was logical really, people didn’t spend their days practicing a tool that they would never use. The only ones who had a bow and knew how to use it were the ones who needed it to make a living. In the case of the village, that list pretty much began and ended with the ten or so people who regularly went out hunting. In the long run, that wasn’t something that Hanna would accept. She wanted her cloud of arrows, and the village needed them if it would ever become as defensible as she hoped.

Hanna and Birgitta had carefully arranged their forces in preparation of the attack. Everyone who had been training with Birgitta was given a weapon to keep with them at all times, as well as a clear instruction where to go when the enemy came. Life in the village couldn’t just be put on hold indefinitely until Josef finally came around, so they couldn’t keep the palisade manned around the clock. A small group of members of the militia was tasked with guarding the gate, and the people in that group was regularly changed to keep everyone fresh. Hanna had wanted to send out small teams to scout the surrounding region, but Birgitta had shot that down. The wildlife was simply too dangerous for that to be feasible. Recalling her run in with the bull, Hanna was quick to agree.

Everyone who wasn’t specifically guarding the gate was organised into smaller teams. Each team was a mix of a smaller number of swordsmen and a larger number of spearmen. Birgitta had done her best to distribute the members of the Regulars so that one ended up in every group. None of the groups had any archers, they were all needed on the palisade. At Hanna’ suggestion they had taken some of the newly made planks to create crude tower shields, which would be carried by people who hade the sole task of providing cover for the archers. It would totally suck if the few archers they had got sniped in the first minutes of the attack.

All in all, Hanna thought they had a rather solid plan for the defence. They didn’t have a lot of fortifications and the people guarding the village was far from well trained, but they had done as much as they could with the little they had. All that was left now as the long and agonizing wait.

Three long days went by were Hanna did nothing but spar with Birgitta. She had at first practiced with the others, but their low level of skill meant that they were constantly at risk of being hurt. Not because Hanna was way better than them, but because she could only hold back her strength so much, and if they failed to dodge something an injury was pretty much guaranteed. Hanna didn’t really mind the time spent with Birgitta. Her combat prowess was growing by the minute, and their spars were far from dull. The overhanging attack made Birgitta push Hanna harder than usual, and the fact that they didn’t have to worry about injuring her meant that the only difference between their spars and a real battle was that Birgitta didn’t actively try to decapitate or permanently maim her.

The only caveat Hanna had against sparring with Birgitta was the tense atmosphere that developed whenever something reminded Birgitta of her daughter. When Hanna with great dread had brought up her last run-in with Mud-girl, Birgitta had exploded into a confusing mix of reactions, alternating the ‘don’t tell me how to raise my kids’ with ‘shit, this needs to be dealt with’. Accepting that you were a shitty parent was probably a bitter pill to swallow, but it was something Birgitta simply had to do. They couldn’t afford having Mud-girl running around sabotaging things. Birgitta had seen that too after about an hour of screaming. Hanna had no clue how she had dealt with the problem, but it was obvious that something had happened. Mud-girl hadn’t been seen since then and for probably the first time in their life, the two sidekicks went about their daily business without the sage advice of their leader.

On the third night after the palisade was done, the time for preparations had run out. Hanna woke to the sound of bells ringing. It was what the village normally used to gather everyone, and it was what they had decided upon to warn everyone about the attack. Fighting away the confusion and grogginess from sleep, Hanna carefully put on her equipment. Time was of essence but forgetting something now could cost her dearly. Ideally, she would bring all her equipment: her crossbow, sword, spear and shield. But she could only fit so much on her body and she would have to forfeit either her shield, spear or her crossbow. It wasn’t much to think about. Since they were lacking in the ranged department, her crossbow was definitely needed. That meant that either her spear or the shield would have to stay, and she would be a lot more dangerous if she brought her spear. Who needed a shield anyway?

Hanna let her hands wander over her equipment one last time. Her sword was there, her knife was in place, the crossbow was on her back, her spear was leaning against the wall. Everything was tight and fitted properly. For the millionth time Hanna wished she had some proper armour instead of the plain clothes she was wearing. If nothing else, it would give her a much-needed feeling of security. The only thing left now was something she had been dreading to do and had put off for a while. Cutting her hair. It was definitely not the best time to do it, but it needed to be done. Hanna gathered her hair in a makeshift ponytail and resolutely cut it off with her knife. It would look like shit but she needed that piece of headwear that she had stolen earlier. Hanna looked at the pile of hair that was by her feet with a small feeling of remorse. Then she took a deep sigh and put on the helmet. It was time to do this.

Outside, the village was in a state of confusion. People were running around everywhere. It was a far cry from the orderly process that Hanna and Birgitta had imagined, but it was to be expected. This was just a normal village and the people running around weren’t soldiers. They weren’t trained for this, and a week or so was not enough time to remedy that. Hanna sat out in a quick jog, ignoring the confusion around her. She couldn’t do much to help them and she had places to be of her own. A minute or so later she met Birgitta in front of the palisade. Gathered around Birgitta was the various members of the Regulars, who would be acting as squad leaders. Hanna was one too, despite her protests. Hanna did not like the idea of being in charge of a group of villagers that might very well refuse to listen to her, especially not if the first time they worked together was in the middle of live combat. Birgitta had met her halfway, tasking Hanna with leading some of the archers. Hopefully they would stay out of close combat, meaning that if discipline broke down they could just continue shooting, without risking death just because there were conflicting opinions. The rest of the archers would be in another group on the other side of the gate. Björn led those, and Olof would be there as well.

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Birgitta finished up her little rally. Hanna hadn’t listened too closely, it was just a summary of where everyone was going, something she knew well enough since she had helped decide the details. The archers she would be with were already on the wall and Hanna climbed up the unsteady ladder to join them. Most of the archers were sitting down in the cover of the palisade next to their designated shield-bearers, only occasionally risking a peek at the enemy. Hanna put down her spear so that it was easy to reach and unslung her crossbow. She too took a look at the enemy and was happy to see that the attack was still some time away.

Josef and his men must have expected a less organised defence. They were too far away too be targeted by arrows and seemed to be in the middle of some heated discussion. The cocky bastard had probably just approached the village expecting an easy battle, and then encountered the newly built palisade. Attacking a prepared and fortified village was something entirely different than just running in among the houses and killing some chocked villagers. Hanna glumly realised that despite this, victory was far from guaranteed. He had brought a lot of men. Counting was hard in the dim light but they were probably more than a hundred. That was a lot more than the number of defenders, and most of his guys were probably seasoned warriors. That was far from what could be said about the villagers, not even all of the Regulars had been in a proper battle.

On the ground outside of the village, the Wolves were preparing for an attack. They had stopped quarrelling and had formed up in a somewhat orderly fashion. Hanna had no clue on how they planned to bring down the gate. A battering ram might work, but she didn’t see anything that looked like one. Ladders might also work, but she saw none of those either. What did that leave them? Axes and torches? The Wolves probably had plenty of those, and there was definitely something burning down there already.

The enemy began moving towards them. As they got closer Hanna saw that the front rows were all shielded. It was to be expected, they would just have to shoot at them anyway. Some arrows might get through. The front line took its time walking and Hanna just sat there watching their approach, until she realized that the time for waiting was over. The enemy was close enough to shoot at, and now she was expected to tell the people next to her to start trying to kill people. Hell, she needed to do the same. Hanna brought her crossbow to her shoulder and steadied herself against the palisade. The crossbow was loaded and she had one of the enemy squarely in her sights. Just a small twitch from her finger now and someone might die. There were two very distinct groups of people, Hanna reckoned. People who had never killed, and people that had. You could debate morals all you wanted, there would still undoubtedly be a huge divider between the two groups, and Hanna was only inches from making the switch. Now wasn’t the time for hesitation though, and it was with a surreal feeling that she heard herself speak.

“Archers! On my mark… Fire!”

Her crossbow recoiled in her hands as the bolt sped away. All around her similar sounds echoed. Far down on the field was the man she had aimed at. One second he was fine, and the next he was on the ground. The bolt had cut cleanly through his shield. Most of the other arrows hadn’t been as effective, but one or two had done its job. Hanna loaded the next bolt with a mechanical detachment and considered her feelings. Someone down there was dead or not far from it, and she was the cause. That ought to mean something. But it was as she had feared: she didn’t feel shit. She had spent her whole life feeling distanced from other people, jacking it up to some mental deficiency that left her unable to empathize properly. And now she had crossed that ultimate divider and actually killed someone. Should she be happy or sad that she had been right? Was it better to believe you were broken or to know for sure?

“Archers!” Hanna loaded another bolt and took aim. “…Fire!”

A few more of the enemy went down, including Hanna’s target. Perhaps her detachment was simply because she was so far away from the kill, Hanna comforted herself. The Wolves were running know, probably wise since they were losing more and more people with every volley.

“Fire at will!” Hanna ordered. They wouldn’t have time for any more volleys anyway. The closest of the enemy was practically upon them. Hanna loaded another bolt and shot at the closest enemy. The bolt went straight through his shield and threw him to the ground. Hanna found herself smiling. She loved this, the power that started with the initial kickback from crossbow, transferring into that devastating impact… Empathy or not, that was an awesome feeling.

An arrow whizzing by her head brought back her focus to the battlefield. Hanna ducked down behind the cover of the palisade. ‘Arrow to the head’ was definitely on her list of injuries that she didn’t want to test if her healing could remedy. Some of the Wolves had stopped a distance from the wall and had begun shooting back at them. They were turtled up behind a wall of shields and only popped up when they were ready for another shot. Hanna told the archers next to her to do the same, that was what their improvised shields was for anyway.

The time spent covering for arrows had stopped her from getting off anymore shots, and by now some of the enemy ought to have reached the gate. Hanna threw caution to the wind and leaned out over the palisade, confirming her suspicion. The lack of an overhang meant that they couldn’t shoot freely against the Wolves once they had reached the foot of the palisade. Hanna had no clue how they were going to take it down, but leaving them there to do whatever they were planning wasn’t sustainable. She consider arranging some of the shield-bearers to cover her so that she could shoot at the attackers without becoming a pincushion, but things escalated well out of hand before they could set it up.

A giant ball of fire erupted from the base of the gate, and in only a few seconds the fire was roaring. The Wolves must have brought something flammable with them for the fire to progress that quickly. The answer became obvious seconds later when she spotted what looked like a burning jar sailing over the palisade. It was fucking Molotov cocktail. Hanna cursed at herself for not thinking about it, but in her defence there hadn’t been many of them in the mediaeval games she had been playing. She would need to start thinking a bit more outside the box from now on, Josef certainly was. A Molotov cocktail probably wasn’t that hard to create, it was just a matter of finding a suitably flammable substance and a fragile container to put it in.

The one that had sailed over the palisade had hit the roof of a nearby house. The villagers that was behind the palisade were desperately trying to put it out, fetching water from the creek. If the gate went down now they would not be prepared to meet them. Hanna took a quick check of the situation, popping her head out of cover again for a second. Only the turtled-up archers were left a distance away from the palisade, the rest of the Wolves had gathered up in front of the gate, ready to charge in the moment it went down. She didn’t see Josef anywhere.

Practically none of the defenders were shooting at them, the general carnage of the fire and the risk of getting shot kept most of the archers on the palisade from daring to stand up. Given the size of the flames, the gate wouldn’t hold much longer. It might even fall apart right now, it was probably just the heat of the fire that stopped the Wolves from taking it down. Something needed to be done.

Hanna turned towards the villagers around her. They looked worried and afraid. They were probably right to be.

“Guys, we need to move”

The villagers looked at her, but none answered.

“I know this looks like shit at the moment, but I have a plan”, Hanna continued.

One of the shield-bearers scoffed. “Is it any better than this palisade of yours? Cause that sure worked great.” Hanna shot her a murderous glare.

“Can it. If I hear another protest from you guys, I’ll kill you on the spot”, she said and reached for her sword to put some weight behind her words. The woman paled, but she kept her mouth shut. Maybe being labelled as an inhuman freak wasn’t all bad.

“You see the house over there, with the stack of firewood next to it?” Hanna asked and pointed to a nearby house. Hanna was expecting snarky remarks about the sanity of seeking up piles of firewood when they were fleeing a fire, but it seemed her threat had done its job. Most of the villagers just nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“Keep your heads down and leave the palisade. Don’t let the enemy see you regrouping. I want you guys to climb the firewood so that you can get up on the roof. Put the shields up like a wall and be prepared to fire. The moment the gate falls, I want you to shoot like mad into the opening. Don’t bother aiming, just fire like crazy. They will be too crowded for you to miss. Just keep shooting like your life depended on it, because it fucking does.”

“Where will you be?” The shield-bearer from before asked. She had regained some of her colour and Hanna thought she saw a spark of determination in her.

Hanna smiled. “I’ll be down there, keeping them from entering the village”. Hearing it out loud, her plan seemed a good deal more reckless. Judging from the looks the villagers were giving her, they were of a similar mind.

“Don’t worry guys. We can do this. We’ll show those fuckers not to mess with us.”

The villagers nodded along, looking a bit more enthusiastic. Hanna gave the word and they started crawling down to the ground. Now all that was left was for Hanna to join Birgitta by the gate. And to start believing her own lies.