“But they’re not fighters,” protests James. “Against a real adversary, they’d be slaughtered.”
“True,” agrees Roland. “But by them being around, there will be fewer attempts like the one that succeeded in getting to you. Their mere presence will keep most of them from even happening. If something major should happen, then they will be able to give you and us warning to come to their aid.”
“The whole point is not to be caught unawares again,” interjects Jiron.
“Did you tell them of the danger?” James asks.
“Yes, and their families,” Roland replies. “We’re also paying them each two coppers a day for their services. Around here, that’s a lot of money.”
“How are we to pay for all that?” he asks.
“That’s something I need to discuss with you later,” Roland replies.
“Oh, one other thing I should mention,” Jiron adds.
“What?” asks James.
He glances to Roland who grins at him and then returns his attention to James. “They stumbled across your glowing crystals out in the forest,” he explains.
“And?” prompts James.
“And, they mentioned it to their families,” replies Jiron. He gives James an amused smile as he continues, “It seems your reputation is growing even faster because of it.”
“What are they saying about them?” he asks with trepidation.
“That you’ve captured evil spirits and imprisoned them,” he explains.
James’ jaw drops open and he exclaims, “That’s absurd!” he says.
“I know, but rumor has a life of its own,” he counters. “Especially when you’re not here to squash it.”
Sighing, James says, “I suppose so.”
Illan begins laughing.
“What’s so funny?” he asks him, annoyed.
“It’s just the way with all things that can’t be explained,” he says. “Everything must be explained, one way or another. If the truth is unavailable, then good old imagination will have to do.”
“Do you plan to explain it to them?” Jiron asks.
“No,” he says. “I don’t dare. Can’t have anyone knowing what I’m doing.”
Ezra pops in and announces dinner will be ready in several minutes.
Getting up, James says, “I’m going to go out and check on the crystals, then I’ll be back in for dinner.”
“Yes, sir,” she says before returning into the kitchen.
Jiron gets up and says, “I’ll come with you.”
They leave through the front door and walk around the side of the house. “One lad is stationed out at the road to announce anyone coming,” he explains. “He blows the horn and several riders who are waiting here spring into action and ride out to meet whoever is coming. Two notes indicate the sentry doesn’t feel it’s a threat, one note and everyone comes running. So far, we have had only one instance when a single note had been blown. Orry said that he blew two notes, but no one believes him. Yern made him practice blowing two notes for a whole hour.”
“So Yern is in charge of our irregulars?” James asks.
“He’s taken charge, yes,” he replies. “I didn’t want the job and he seems a natural at leading and organizing them. But now that Illan’s here, he’ll probably take over.”
“How many do we have?” he asks.
“Eight,” he answers. “They rotate in their jobs. One stays out at the lane, another three patrol the woods surrounding us. Each of those in the woods has a horn as well. Four stay by the house with horses ready to go to someone’s aid at a moment’s notice.”
“Seems you have it well under control,” he says.
“After the last two fights we’ve had here, it became evident we needed help,” he says.
Passing by the workshop, they enter the woods and James heads toward where he left the crystals. He first goes to the area with the two that had been simply sitting and were no longer leeching from their surroundings.
He finds them still resting on the ground though they look as if they may not be in the exact same location as he left them. “I think the kids have been touching them,” he tells Jiron. Glancing at him, he says, “You probably better tell them it may not be safe to do so.”
“Alright,” replies Jiron, “I’ll do that.”
He bends over and picks up the crystals, both still have a red glow within them. Both glows look to be the same intensity. One had a deeper glow than the other the last time he checked them. Perhaps the stored power dwindles to a certain point, and then stops. Interesting.
“What?” asks Jiron when he sees the perplexed look.
“Just that I thought one would have a darker glow than the other,” he explains. He puts them into his pocket and then makes his way to the area where he put the four crystals that were going to continuously maintain a full capacity by leeching micro amounts from their surroundings.
He almost doesn’t realize he’s reached them until Jiron points one out to him. Smiling in satisfaction, he goes over to it and sees a soft red glow forming within its center. A careful examination of the surrounding vegetation shows only the slightest signs of withering. He’s actually not entirely sure if it’s a natural occurrence, or was caused by the crystal’s leeching.
Checking all four of them shows the same result. Each has absorbed magic from their surroundings in such small, micro amounts that they haven’t significantly affected any living thing near them. Nowhere near capacity yet because of the slow process, James is confident that given enough time, they will be able to reach and sustain full power.
Standing up from where he had been examining the last of the crystals, he gives Jiron a wide grin. “Things going okay then?” Jiron asks him.
“Couldn’t be better,” he says. “Let’s go have dinner.”
On the way back, James asks, “If all the kids are working during the day, what do you do at night?”
“They take two hour shifts,” he explains. “One night on, one night off. Two are patrolling at any given time during the night. Plus, Yern and I have been taking turns keeping an eye on them, at least until they’ve proven themselves.”
“I see,” James says.
They round the workshop just as Ezra opens the back door, “I was just about to holler for you two. Time to eat.”
“Thank you,” James tells her.
She opens the door wide for him as he enters. Going over to the washbasin, he cleans himself up and then takes his seat at the head of the table.
Dinner is good, as always. The kids are not eating. They inform him that Ezra sends meals out to them and they eat outside. “Too many in here if I allow them to eat with us,” she explains.
With all the additional mouths to feed, he’s glad he made provisions for a large kitchen area in the new estate house he’s having built. She may have to prepare meals for an army before too much longer. Luckily she has Tersa to help her. He may have to get even more help if the number of people here continues to rise.
After dinner, they adjourn to the front room for ale and evening conversations. Jiron and Yern remain outside with their new charges, keeping an eye on them.
James finds it hard to keep from yawning after awhile and excuses himself, saying he needs to get some sleep. Once in bed, he has a hard time falling asleep even though he’s very tired. His mind continues thinking about Lord Colerain, wondering if he’ll stop his relentless attempts to capture him. And just what is it that he’s supposed to have stolen? Will he ever know? Eventually though, exhaustion wins out and he slips away to sleep.
Chapter Eight
“ Steady now.”
A voice from outside his window wakes him up. “Hold it steady,” the voice says again. Getting out of bed, he goes over to the window and sees Illan there with the eight recruits. Each of the recruits is holding a sword in their right hand at exactly a forty five degree angle. To his surprise, one of them is a girl. As he watches for a moment, one of them lets their sword droop a fraction. Illan notices and gets right in their face.