Chapter: Prepare for War

The next stop was the smithy.

Erik saw the smith sitting outside puffing on his pipe as he watched the guards training in the yard and the people moving around the town. He seemed to have a simple and carefree life.

Erik knew that was about to change.

"Smith Taran!" Niemm called out.

"Hey-o," Taran said, waving at them as he got up, he frowned slightly as he looked at Erik.

"You are the one in charge of the town now?"

"That's correct, I would like to ask you if you can make crossbows?" Erik asked.

"Crossbows? I can, but I can only make one of them a day," Taran said, feeling the serious atmosphere that had descended.

"What are the components to the crossbow?" Erik asked.

“There are three components, the mechanism, the body and the string." Taran said.

"How long would it take for you to make just the mechanism?"

"Just the mechanism? Well I could make ten of them in a day."

"Good. Niemm, I want you to find people that would be able to carve the bodys for the crossbows, no less than ten per day. Get multiple people if need be, as well as people to do the same for the bow string and another group that will be in charge of putting all of the parts together," Erik said.

"Yes, sir," Niemm said.

"None of them have the expertise though!" Taran said, in a state of shock.

"Well, they will have to learn won't they? We don't have much time and I want to get as many people with a crossbow as possible in the time that we do have," Erik said.

"So, there really is a threat to the city?" Taran said, tapping his pipe out on his leg.

"Yes," Erik said, not hiding anything.

"Then I will do my best to make as many mechanisms as possible," Taran promised.

"Good man, I'll make sure that you have all of the materials that you need."

Taran grunted and headed back into his smithy as he started to stoke the flames once again.

Erik moved to the barracks and looked over the guards that were there.

They were level eight, with their commander being a level nine. If this was before Erik had left the Chonlgu City he might think that meant something. Now, it wasn't much compared to the people and beasts that he had gone up against.

Even if they were level twelves, up against a horde, they would need to fight against tens or hundreds each. It was hard to fight a few opponents, but fighting an army of them they'd get overrun.

Still, they were much stronger than the level fours and fives that made up most of the town's population.

"Captain Glosil at your command," a thin looking man said, smacking his foot into the ground as he did his best to come to attention.

They might be lacking in skills, but they didn't seem useless.

Erik looked over them all, analyzing them with the eyes of a man that had trained hundreds of soldiers throughout his life.

"Well, it looks like you're all that I have, so we'd damn well best make use of you!" Erik said, sinking back into his role as instructor as he moved across the front of the ranks.

He pulled out a man's sword and examined it closely seeing spots of rust.

"Have you never heard of maintaining your weapon?" Erik's voice rose until it was a yell, the guard nearly taking a step backwards.

The man's mouth opened and tried to form words but he didn't know what to do.

"Do you see this!" Erik held up the blade and pointed to the faint rust on the blade.

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"Yes, sir!" Erik's eyes thinned but he didn't say anything, these guards didn't know any better.

"What is that?" He demanded.

"It's rust, sir!" The guard said in a panicked voice, his eyes darting around.

"They're not going to save you! Is this their weapon?"

"No?"

"Well, is it or isn't it?" Erik's voice rose into a roar once more.

"It's not!" The man said, shaking now.

"Then it must be yours, is that correct?" Erik asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Were you not taught to clean your weapon?"

"I was taught sir!"

"Then I'd better never see this rust again in my life!" Erik yelled.

"Sir!" The man said, jerking to the side, afraid to do anything.

Erik threw the sword to the side, moving down the line. All of the men were looking at Erik sideways out of the corner of their eyes, fear in their expression as he went through them, picking out the smallest flaw in their gear or the way that they were attired.

Erik finished and moved to the front once again, their armor had been pulled apart, their weapons thrown and they looked terrified and angry.

Erik restrained the smile that threatened to form on his face.

I might be able to make something out of them yet.

"We have a week and a half until a beast horde arrives at Alva town. The defense of this town, the defense of the people you care about, will be on your shoulders. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. We will fight to defend this town with all that we have. There will be patrols out every night, there will be attacks on the animal hides in the area to reduce the number that can attack us and you will be a part of this. I hope to raise your levels and increase your fighting capabilities. Listen to me and I will turn you into soldiers," Erik looked at each and every one of them.

"I ask but one thing: carry out my orders. If you don't then it might be your family, or your buddy, that will die and there is no room here for people that are not willing to follow my simple orders. If you do not think that you can be commanded by me or listen to my orders," Erik waved to the door of the training courtyard. "There's the door."

The guards looked from the door to Erik.

"This will be the only chance I will give you, leave now, or stay and fight."

Erik's voice was no longer commanding, but calm.

Three of the guards moved for the door, taking off their leathers and gear, talking about the unfairness of it all and how Erik was overreacting.

Erik stopped Glosil who was about to yell at them.

"Let them go," Erik said.

Another couldn't take it as they dropped their gear and rushed off.

"No one else?" Erik asked, looking at them all.

Seeing none of them move Erik clapped his hands. "Alright, get you gear cleaned up and I want you to have all of your gear in order for tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we will assemble in the main courtyard outside of the town hall to speak to the people and tell them what is coming. During the day, you will be working with the farmers to help harvest the crops outside of the town. From there we will work on our defenses. Questions?"

"The crops haven't been fully grown yet, how can we harvest them? Why would we need them?" A guard asked.

"I have something to improve the rate that the plants grow. In a siege, the biggest factors over time is not how big your walls are, instead it is how much food and water you have inside the walls," Erik said and looked to another man with a question.

"I thought that the enemy was only coming in two weeks”, the guard asked.

"They're supposed to be here in two weeks but the one thing you'll learn, the enemy, even if it's a damn beast is never predictable," Erik said.

There was no more immediate questions so Erik dismissed the men, including Niemm and pulled Glosil over to his side to have a quiet talk.

"Let's take a tour of the walls," Erik said.

"Sir, for the guards earlier I can only submit myself for punishment, as you saw their abilities were weak and they were not keeping with a unit that should be ready for battle," Glosil said.

"This is a rural town and there are few threats around, it makes sense that things have slackened. We will have to make sure that they don't degrade further," Erik said seriously.

"Yes, sir," Glosil looked relieved, but Erik could see the shame underneath at his guards not being the best he believed they could be.

Erik didn't offer anymore words, he needed someone else to push the guards as well.

"My plan is simple, we will look to pull the people into the town and I will be looking to the people in the town hall to organize that. You and your men will be focusing on training people on how to use crossbows, building new walls, creating layered defenses and traps in the farmlands. Each of your men will be in charge of five to ten of the villagers to create rotating defense teams when the actual fighting comes," Erik said as they made it to the wall. It was a simple construction of mud and straw.

"I will not let you down, sir," Glosil said, as the reality of the situation seemed to fall on his shoulders. Erik knew that the true fear, the true weight wouldn't become real until they saw the first enemy.

"I hope not," Erik said, looking Glosil in the eyes before he looked over the wall.

He smacked the wall in a few spots and pressed his hand on it.

Glosil frowned and winced as Erik moved down the wall towards the gates.

The guards stood taller and straighter as the two moved past them and to the outside of the wall, checking it over.

"I am sorry, that the walls are not that thick, sir," Glosil said in a faint voice.

"Mud walls shouldn't be underestimated, I've seen them stand up to a hellcat missile before," Erik said. "Once we harvest the wheat we can used some of the straw to toughen up the mud and thicken up the walls. We'll need to thicken up any holes and have barriers to put behind the gates. Any modifications we make to the walls will have to depend on what Rugrat and the hunters find out on their outing," Erik said, looking to the forest that surrounded the city.