After the funeral, Lucen told the remaining recruits that they could rest for the next few days in the building where the Thornefang members stayed.
During that time, Lucen had ordered a few men to make a separate set of buildings outside the walls of Ironhold. It was a kilometer away from Ironhold.
While the recruits collapsed into uneasy sleep, he sent orders. Men began working a kilometer outside Ironhold's walls, their hammers echoing in the cold air as they raised a new set of buildings. Timber frames rose against the gray horizon, the skeletal outline of a future stronghold.
It would serve as barracks, a training ground, and a symbol. Thornefang would not remain a shadow clinging to Ironhold's walls. They would stand apart, a blade unsheathed.
He also wanted to create one in Dorsen, but for now, he started here in Ironhold.
As for the trials, Lucen had seen enough. Blood and will had already been weighed in the monster forest. A third trial would only waste lives.
