An Affordance

Rokas had been allowed to sleep longer than he had expected. It was well past the appointed time when he was roused. Standing was difficult for the sluggishness of sleep and the soreness the prior day of hiking had inflicted upon his unaccustomed legs. Sleeping that much after having been up an entire day did not offer him an immediate recovery. He still needed a moment to recollect the prior day's events and remind his body that he expected a certain level of functionality from it.

Both of Dalma's attendants remained upon the hilltop and the one named Emer approached him when she noticed that he was awake.

"The Priestess and your companion agreed you should be allowed to rest more. The Blessed one bid me to tell you that she wanted you to remain upon the hilltop until this was over." The woman said. "Are you hungry? We have provisions if you would like to break your fast."

The smith took a short time to acclimate himself. From his vantage upon the watch post he looked about the hilltop and then over the town itself. The watch post only retained a handful of the crowd of people it had accommodated earlier that day. Rokas noticed that most of those who remained with him there were armed with bows of some sort. From this hilltop a shot could reach much of town and it made a lot of sense to take advantage of this fact.

The defenses upon the hilltop had grown since Rokas was last awake. The edges of the hill were lined in most places with upright stakes of wood and in others pushcarts and scrap lumber had been combined into a makeshift defensive line. Down in town it was a similar story. The trees which had been felled earlier made up the bulk of the defensive line, but between houses and in alleys smaller barricades were also now in place. Additional downed trees had been placed as well, and though the defenses were not all-encompassing it was a much more formidable line than had been there hours before. In places it looked like some furniture had even been added to the defenses, the smith was relatively certain that a dining table now spanned the alley by Fionn's shop.

"Where is Oona?" Was the first thing Rokas asked.

The attendant pointed down towards a home near the center of town that rose proud of most others as it was one of the few with two stories. "She and our Priestess wait there along with some members of the militia. They are hoping to surprise the enemy when he commits to a line of attack. You really should have something to eat, there might not be time later."

"Thank you, I would take some food now." He said.

He had to fight the urge to join Oona there, but she had asked that he stay here for a reason. It would not do to get in her way in the fight which seemed sure to come.

Thought it hadn't come to his attention in the morning, he took note of the make of Emer's equipment. At a glance he could tell that her breastplate was of good construction, a solid but simple design that had been embellished upon. On the planes of its front was a triptych depicting three of the Anticipations. The Wolf, The Tiger, and The Dragon were there, painted by a skilled hand and making menacing poses. His recollection told him that these were the three most often associated with martial pursuits. Rokas wondered if this marked her as a member of some militant order, but if there was a significance beyond the fearsome imagery it was lost upon him. The armor had faulds which would cover much of her hips and groin from strikes and tassets which hung lower still.

She beckoned him to follow her to a small fire near the center of the hilltop, there was a barrel of water suitable for drinking and a few bags containing bread and dried meat. It would do. He was quite hungry.

"Are you to remain here for the fight as well then?" Rokas asked the attendant.

She nodded, "This is to be the last place to fall back upon should the battle go ill. Our Priestess wanted to make certain it would be held and so assigned us here. I am reluctant to leave my charge like this, but she is with the Blessed one and I must trust that she will be safe."

This was a feeling that Rokas could relate to. He had to trust that he was put here for a reason. It would be a serious bow to the defense if this hill were taken by the enemy. While it was the most readily defended place in town, it would also be a site from which the enemy could rain fire down upon the defenders if they were to seize control of it.

"Is Dalma of much use in a battle?" he wondered aloud. Magical healing was not something he had experienced first-hand, but it also was not unheard of in battlefield clinics or among the wealthy in the cities. Truly powerful magic users were rare and capricious if the stories were to be believed, only sometimes aligning themselves directly with more worldly powers and concerns. They kept their secrets to themselves and their followers.

"The Priestess has many skills. Between her and your companion Hearth has more protection than it seems." The attendant said.

"You seem certain that we will come under attack. Is that based on what Oona and I found, or do you know something else?" Rokas tried to not put the tone of accusation into this statement. There was much he still wondered about with regard to the priestess.

"The priestess is careful in who she takes council with. I would not venture to speculate on what she knows." Was her reply. Rokas almost rolled his eyes at the vaguery of the statement.

Dalma was unusual and the more he considered what his companion had told him about The Temple functioning as spies the more he considered her past conduct. She had sought to involve herself in Oona's life almost immediately upon the Pact-Barer's arrival to town. Though it is clear that Oona saw through this quickly, the priestess was able to keep track of her. Dalma had, by her own admission, reported upon Oona's presence to powers in the Compact, presumable military leadership. She had also said that they were happy that Oona had returned to civilization, but was that all that they said? There would be a tactical advantage in having someone like his companion living in a place on the frontier and it might be part of why she was given her contract in the first place.

Then there was the cryptic meeting he had with the priestess after the attempted poisoning. It was not yet clear how much Dalma had known going into that meeting and what she had held back telling him. It could be that she was hoping that he and Oona would uncover what was happening on their own. If citizens brought this crisis to the town's attention rather than the Temple it would help avoid unwanted attention.

She was a priestess, but also a magic user capable of healing and a spy. It seemed unusual to Rokas that someone with this specific set of skills would be sent someplace so remote as Hearth unless there was the expectation of conflict well before his own arrival. Oona's being here as well might just be a happy accident, but in the past few days the smith had come to hold such coincidences as suspect. It seemed likely to him that this entire circumstance was planned for at least to some extent. Someone in the Compact was moving people around like pieces on a game board.

Oona's departure from service had been permitted and perhaps it was as she said and she was no longer obligated to fight. After seeing what she could do in the skirmish in the woods and, even more so, how she could organize a defense it did not seem to him that she was the sort of person that would be given up on easily. Even exhausted she commanded more aptly than he would have thought possible. Dalma had contrived to force her to assume the role against Oona's preferences.

Anger was blooming in him at all this needless subterfuge. If Dalma had been more forthright Rest might still stand today. He chewed unhappily upon the food he had been offered, having no further questions for the attendant.

The Battle of Hearth was not recorded in many of the notable histories of the time. It was but one skirmish in a troubled time. The belligerents did not number in the hundreds and few notable figures were in attendance.

The first exchanges were in the woods surrounding Hearth. It was near the evening when the initial sighting was made. The local hunters and woodsmen had laid in ambush for the oncoming enemy and made a fighting retreat upon meeting with the foe. These defenders were greatly outnumbered in the woods they called home, but surprise and greater familiarity with the terrain allowed them to fire upon their enemy before retreating to the relative safety of town.

The approaching soldiers were caught off guard. The defenders did not have the numbers to meaningfully press this advantage, but small losses and injuries were inflicted upon the enemy. Not all the scouts from Hearth withdrew immediately and some remained in positions to harry the oncoming force. Though this strategy found some success, one hunter was surrounded and caught before he could escape. This was the first loss for the protectors of Hearth.

Rokas saw much from his perch and so he was among the first to notice the returning scouts. It was not long before the shouts reached his ears. The excitement he heard on the voices told him that the first ring of defenses must have performed as intended. Those who returned to Hearth now traveled in pairs. When each group reached the blockades they paused and were challenged by the defenders. There must have been a password established as after a reply they were allowed admittance.

The other of of Dalma's attendants, Alva, had taken a position upon the watch post as Rokas left it to eat. She now rang the bell for a few seconds, paused, and then repeated the ringing. This signaled the foe had been spotted in the north of town. There were only five signals, one for each direction of the compass and one to signal a retreat to the hilltop defenses.

Rokas hoped that, whoever this enemy was, they had received an unpleasant surprise in the woods around town. Perhaps enough losses that they would reconsider their assault entirely, but he doubted the town would be so lucky.

"They sound boisterous down there." He said.

The Attendant Emer nodded, "A good start it seems. Hopefully we have some word of the enemy's numbers now."

It was not long before a young man came running through town. He might have been old enough to hold a weapon, but it was clear that he had been selected as a messenger rather than a fighter. He was gasping for air by the time he reached the top of the hill. Rokas had watched him as he stopped at each gathering of militia in town before he made his way up the hill to those posted above town.

Once his breath was back in him the messenger conveyed to those at the watch post what had been learned so far. Three groups of the enemy were noted in the woods each with an estimated twenty soldiers in it. Already the defenders of Hearth were known to be out numbered.

"There will be more than that." Alva said.

Rokas was not sure how many to expect. The order the Mayor had offered at the meeting gave him some insight, but it could be that was just additional equipment for the campaign. Equipping sixty more men in the fashion of those that Oona had defeated upon the hilltop was work enough for several blacksmiths. It was possible that this group had been outfitted using smuggled armor from throughout The Compact, perhaps even further abroad.

Untying all these chains of procurement would be the work of someone other than Rokas, but he was considering how one might go about it. Recovering as much equipment from the fallen enemies as possible would do much to aid in uncovering their sources. The blacksmith considered that it might be possible to identify the work of other smiths than just his predecessor if someone knowledgeable enough had the time to make a thorough examination. Perhaps in some cases there would even be marks left by the armor's makers.

It was bright that day and though the evening sun was shining no other sign of the enemy was made apparent for the next couple of hours. That morning, perhaps it could have still been considered night, Oona had suggested that the enemy might wait for evening to make an assault upon the town. As time went on without any additional developments it seemed like her words might end up being true. Rokas peered from the makeshift walls that the defenders had set upon the hillside, but could see no sign of movement in the forests around town.

"They are likely doing their own scouting now, trying to assess our defenses." Alva said, having followed the smith to his latest vantage point.

Other than the attendants and Rokas there were only four upon the hilltop now so perhaps she lacked anyone else to talk with. The smith suspected that she had been tasked to keep him out of danger as well as hold the hilltop.

"Have you ever been in a siege?" he asked her.

"No, though fighting has been a part of my learning from a young age."

Looking at her and her counterpart it was clear they were both younger by at least a decade than Dalma and he. He was pretty sure Oona was also well into her thirties, but it was hard to be certain with her. He lacked a sufficient frame of reference for someone with a Pact. The war had likely concluded before either of Dalma's attendants were old enough to participate.

"First time for everything, though I think I could have done without this experience myself." He said.

So far he had felt nothing like the attack that seized him in the woods after his brush with death. Anxiety was ever-present, but it didn't grip at his chest as it had then. Rokas could only hope that his bravery would not fail him again should the time come, but he also hoped more that no bravery would be required of him.

It was uneasy to look into the woods around town and know that someone unseen might be looking back with murder on their mind. The composition of the enemy was still unknown to the defenders but for what the scouts reported. Overwhelming numbers would have allow them to proceed with less caution than they had employed to this point. If there were a thousand men out there ready to rush the town then sneaking through the woods would not have been part of the their strategy. It was heartening to think that the outcome of this might not be a forgone conclusion.

Focus came easily to the smith as he sat upon that hilltop. Every sound from the town below drew his eyes. The defenders were uneasy and some voices grew loud on occasion, drifting to the watch post. As the sun set the smith was granted a view that, if it were a painting, would at first seem pretty and pastoral until the viewer consider its contents more closely. Here is the young man running arrows, freshly completed, to the defensive lines on the west side of town. Down by the temple there was a child crying loudly, wondering where their father had gone to and being ushered back inside with soothing words and the promise of a warm meal.

All doubt about the battle to come was dispelled when the enemy arrayed their first line of attack to the northwest of town. It took time for them to walk clear of the woods there and to come into view from the hilltop, but it was only moments after the first glimpse of them could be seen that Alva sounded the bell in warning.

Even before the bell had sounded shouts could be heard from the town. The group of the scouts who had first made contact with the enemy had taken station in the middle of town to wait for just this occasion. They departed their station near where Rokas had been told that Oona had set up her headquarters moved to support the defenses nearest the oncoming enemy.

The enemy soldiers looked and moved like every bit of the organized military force they most certainly were. Their ranks were tight as they advanced, moving with speed, but maintaining formation even as arrows began to fall among their ranks. Though shields had been missing from most of those Oona and Rokas had encountered the day before, the front line of this contingent each had a large round shield. They formed a tight defensive front behind which another rank more varied in their equipment took shelter. Though many arrows found homes in the shields of the attackers as they advanced, few found the targets the defenders would have wished to strike.

There was no way into town from that direction but through the defenders and their barricades. Only a couple of the twenty that Rokas estimated made up this attack had taken up lame before the defensive line was reached. Stray arrows found some weakness in their formation or having struck them in the leg or foot despite the protection of the line of shields.

Many of the defenders upon that barricade made use of spears, but a nearly a third of their number were employing farm implements. Rokas regretted he had not had the time to see anyone better armed, but supposed that from a defensive line a pitchfork was essentially an agricultural trident or perhaps quadent. The militia there were outnumbered almost two to one, but the scouts supporting them did much to frustrate attempts to scale the defenses. They were taking careful and opportunistic shots over the backs of their fellow townsfolk. An archer that could hit a bird on the wing could certainly thread a missile above the heads of their fellow citizens and into the exposed form of a soldier trying to scale the defensive line.

Just inside the line formed by the barricade was a two story home and from the upper level of this building townsfolk began to lob heavy rocks at the attackers. Clearly these had been staged there ahead of the assault and Rokas had every inclination to cheer upon seeing such a stone strike a soldier upon the top of his metal cap. His skull might have been protected from the blow, but his neck was not. The figure of the soldier toppled awkwardly from the barricade and crashed inert upon the road, head tilted unhealthily to one side.

For a time it seemed like the defenses would easily hold against this sort of attack, but a cry went out from the defenders at the northern position.

A second formation of the enemy was marching towards town on the northern road.

Alva again rang the bell, signaling the new attack and its direction.

If the scouts were correct the enemy had the number to deploy at least one more attack of this size. The strategy at play here seemed apparent to Rokas already. The invaders would attack from multiple angles at once and hope to overwhelm the coordination of the untrained townsfolk. When more shouts came from the south, Rokas was not surprised.

He managed to tear his eyes away from the ongoing battle to survey the the defenders around him. They all stood nearby watching the battle unfold beneath them. Some of the militia with bows were taking positions on the north and south sides of the hill. The western attack was too far from this position to safely take shots from the watch post, but the northern and southern defensive lines were much more viable targets.

It occurred to Rokas then that nobody was keeping a view to the east at this moment. The smith felt it wasn't his place to be bossing anyone around, but also did not want to leave a possible avenue of attack unwatched. In all the excitement of the battle and its escalating intensity it was easy to see how they had all grown distracted. He went to the section of stone wall that stood in the south-eastern corner of the hilltop and peered over its top.

He ducked before the first arrow struck him, but heard two others sail overhead in short order.

"Attack! We're under attack!" He shouted, looking inward at the other defenders gathered upon the hilltop. Alva and Emer immediately ran to his side staying low so as to avoid being shot. Two of the town militia scrambled to join him there as well.