Ch 5 All the King's men
:Elspeth: Elspeth rolled over and bumped into Darkwind. :Wake up:
"I'm awake, what is it"?
:I've heard from Rolan, they're sending three heralds with foresight.
They should be at the border in two days: "Two days, That's faster than we thought".
:They all got visions and met together to wait for their orders:.
"I'm glad that the spell connecting the Herald's to the heartstone held up through the mage storms"
:It is convenient : Gwena thought to her chosen.
"Well, I'm sure Tremain doesn't want to wait for this information". Elspeth sighed as she shook Darkwind's shoulder to wake him, if she had to get up he might as well also.
Lysander rubbed his eyes and looked at the map in the great room of his new house. Gherin the mayors oldest son and some from all of the raiding parties sat around the table as well.
"Are you sure the river curves that way" he asked the young man who had been giving him the lastest report.
"Yes, the bank rises into a wide cliff above the river, that's why no one crosses there" he said.
"Are the trees large up on the cliff" Lysander asked him.
"Yup, both sides"
Lysander grinned "We can make a kind of bridge I've seen in the Empire". "It's made from rope and boards, the best thing about it besides the ease of making it, is that it's easy to destroy if an enemy finds it".
"Rope bridges" a man from the back asked "How can rope hold a man".
"Very well, The ones I remember were even used by traders with their wagons and horses. Though we don't need to build one that big"Lysander said.
The man looked unsure but he didn't say anything. Over the last couple of weeks Lysander had brought many new ideas and so far they had all worked fine. Even the new wall around the village was made using one of his ideas.
The fact that Raver had seen that they were in danger helped him get his projects through without too much protest. It also helped that everyone was eating now.
Lysander was distracted from his plans as he felt the presence of Carra. He knew she was there before he turned. She had taken to lurking in the background during the many planning sessions Lysander had organized in recent weeks.
Gherin turned to look as he did. He smirked as he caught sight of his sister. He knew what Raver's vision of her future had been and had been there for Carra's reaction to it. It was highly entertaining to see her mooning after the newcomer now.
He liked Lysander and he thought he would be good for his sister. She darted a quick glare at her brother before walking towards the group. She ignored her brother as she turned to Lysander.
"The northern scouts sent word that a group of men are heading in this general direction".
"How big, and are they more of Tremain's soldiers" Lysander asked.
"About 15, and I doubt that they belong to Tremain, Jadrick said they look more like bandits".
Lysander thought for a moment. "It could be a trap, Tremain's men haven't shown that much cunning, but I don't want to take a chance".
"Gabe send more men out to the scouts and warn them to look for trouble, I'll check out this group and see what they want".
He turned to Gherin "Want to come, this could be interesting". Gherin nodded and grinned following Lysander as the group broke up, he signaled his men to follow as they made way to their horses.
Lysander hoped this was another bandit group hoping to join. As much trouble as some of the men could be, he knew he was going to need as much manpower as possible before he confronted Tremain.
He knew the only way to protect these people was through a position of power. He had to be a big enough thorn in Tremain's side to be impossible to ignore but not enough of a threat to have to be crushed.
The meeting with the new group was almost anticlimactic. The bandit group was almost pathetically eager to join forces with him.
As a precaution he scanned their minds. He stiffened slightly as he came to one of the men, a spy for Tremain. He chuckled to himself, this could be useful. He needed a way to get Tremain's attention.
"Gherin" he said quietly. "We can't let these men know where Newhaven is, we'll have to take them to the southern camp".
"Why" he asked.
"One of them works for Tremain". Gherin's eyes widened, he knew about Lysander's gift.
"Which one" he growled.
Lysander grabbed his arm before he could turn towards the new group "We need him, but don't let him know, we know he's a spy" Lysander said quickly. "It'll work better if he thinks he's reporting things he's found on his own".
"Why would you want Tremain to know anything about us" Gherin asked.
"We're too big for him to ignore, I'd make an educated guess that the reason his men have been searching the countryside reciently is that he's already looking for us in particular"
Lysander sighed and went on. "It's only a matter of time before he finds Newhaven. "We need to control how and when it happens"
Gherin looked worried. "Don't worry I have a plan" Lysander said.