Now that the snow had melted, it was easier to move around in town at night. Will had resumed his scavenging and spying routines. During daytime the people were busy constructing the new walls around the town, they were just tree logs that were erected side by side. It was simple but sturdy, and it was getting built pretty fast as well. This made it harder for Will to leave the village for his forest stash, he had started making extra tools and weapons for emergency situations. He never knew if the villagers would discover him and chase him out, or even worse, kill him.
It only took three weeks for the villagers to erect the town walls, even the soldiers were pitching in, so it went fast. Clara had told Will that the new caravan would be arriving soon, apparently it had been delayed. This news gave Will a weird feeling, it wasn't a bad feeling, but he kept getting this gut feeling that constantly tugged at him. It was stressing him out, and he would only feel calm when preparing his tools and supplies. Will was having trouble sleeping, he kept getting nightmares, they never woke him up, but they kept him tossing and turning in his bed. After a couple of days Will was already exhausted, and could hardly pay attention in class. Sister Lina told Will after class to just go to bed, since the caravan would apparently arrive during the night and she had a lot to prepare.
That evening Will's nightmare had been more vivid than usual, he kept reliving the Orc assault on the cave. However there were some minor differences, in this dream, everything was burning, and the Goblins weren't fighting back, just screaming in a panic. Although something was nagging at Will, the screams sounded different, more vivid. This realization made Will shoot up out of his bed. He held his hands to his ears to try and listen to all the noise around him. He could hear crackling fires, several screams and shouts, and metal hitting metal. [An attack!?]
Will rushed to equip all his leather and tools, then quickly jumped out of his hatch. He quickly arrived at the church nave, but quickly froze. "No, don't attack him! He's harmless!" Sister Lina yelled at the two guards who had pulled their weapons when seeing Will rush out. [So stupid!] Will chastised himself for not thinking things through, wondering how many times he would make the same mistake over and over. "Sister Lina, that's a Goblin. It's hardly harmless!" One of the guards was hesitating, he trusted Sister Lina, but this was a Goblin. Will saw the hesitation so he decided to speak up, hoping words would convince the guard. "I won't attack, Sister Lina saved me!" Will was hoping that appealing to the common trust in Sister Lina would help convince everyone.
Both guards took a step back in surprise, the confusion was overwhelming their caution. "I..it speaks? Sister Lina, what is this? What's going on?!" The guard didn't sheathe his weapon, but lowered his guard. "This Goblin is named Will, he's been living under the church for almost a year. He's been helping me with chores." Sister Lina said while approaching Will, showing that there was nothing to fear. "See dad! I told you there was a weird monster child at the church!" One of the children from class was also here and had spoken up. The guards weren't the only ones here, there was almost two dozen people taking refuge in the church. Some were praying, others were huddling together calming each other down with words. The guards finally put their weapons away. "Okay, ignore the Goblin for now, every able man here, help with barricading the windows and doors."
Will couldn't reach the windows to help barricade anything, however he went to the kitchen and started chopping up wooden furniture to create makeshift planks. He came running back to the nave with his arms filled with wooden 'planks', and dropped them at the feet of the soldiers and ran off again to get more. The wood dropping at his feet startled the guard and he almost fell over. The second guard started laughing. "What's the matter Arn, the Goblin is just trying to help." The guard kept laughing and slapped the other on shoulder. Arn waved the other guards arm away, he was embarrassed, but picked up the wood and started handing it out to the others.
While Will was helping, he noticed the noise outside had died down, or at least moved further away from the church. He brought the last of the wooden planks back, and then walked up to Sister Lina. "What happened? I thought they had finished the walls?" Will said while pulling Sister Lina away into a corner, so no one could hear them. "The guards told me that the caravan was apparently attacked on the way, and the bandit group who attacked pretended to be the new villagers. Once they entered through the gate, they attacked and took hold of the gate." Sister Lina's voice was shaking. "We were told to stay in the church, and not open for anyone until the city guards had taken care of the bandits." Just as those words came out of Sister Lina's mouth, a heavy knocking started on the main door.
[Is it the enemy?] Will thought, but a rough voice came from the other side. "This is Cristoph, open up now! The leader sent me with his daughter to keep her safe here!" The two guards looked at each other in a panic. "Sorry sir, the door has already been barricaded, we can't open it." Arn said hesitantly, and a huge bang was heard on the door with some cursing following. Will had an idea, then looked at Sister Lina with a look full of intent in his eyes. Sister Lina nodded at him, understanding what he was going to do.