When wagon after wagon of food and supplies rolled forth from Dessen like a great caravan-serpent, bound for the ruined hamlet at the edge of the Troll Woods, Ryan too took his leave of the town.
With Elger and Ailin at his side, he reached the settlement, where the Rangers who had remained behind hurried to greet him.
"My lord Ryan, at last you have returned!" they cried, faces alight with relief.
Yet Ryan's smile faded swiftly. His keen eyes marked the bandages, the wounds fresh and old alike upon their bodies. Two men were wrapped thickly at arm and leg, grievously hurt.
"What is the meaning of this?" he said coldly. "What has befallen while I was away?"
"It was the Hill-men," one Ranger answered. "Half a month ago they struck at us by stealth. We threw them back, but Hador and Voron were sorely wounded. Since then they have plagued us with arrows by day, seeking to drive us from this place."
Ryan's gaze hardened, his voice sharp as drawn steel. "I swear they shall pay the price."
From the first moment he chose to plant his standard near the Troll-woods, he had known the hour would come when he must clash with the Trolls, the Orcs, and the darkened Hill-men. He had not thought the trial would come so soon, before all was made ready.
But Ryan was not angered. Only a grim weight pressed upon his heart—for he knew well, if he faltered, all he had built might be swept away.
It was summer now: the sun held long in the sky, and under its glare the spawn of shadow rarely stirred. The forests were rich with food, and the Orcs would not march in host unless a chieftain compelled them, as in the raid upon Dessen.
Thus the true peril lay not with the Trolls or Orcs, but with the Hill-men. They feared not the light, nor differed much from other Men in their ways, save that they had given their worship to darkness.
….
Ryan set Ailin to bind the wounds of the injured, while with Elger he oversaw the unloading of supplies.
For from Dessen had come not only vast stores of grain, but also two hundred craftsmen and laborers. These had been gathered from nearby villages, and were set now to the remaking of the ruined town. It was but the first wave; more would follow in due time.
In Ryan's earliest vision he had dreamed of raising here a city, the heart of his realm. But the hour was against him; he had no leisure for such grand design. He turned instead to the surer path: a fortress of war.
If it must be a stronghold, then all must serve battle. And so his thought turned to a shape he remembered well—a bastion with pointed walls, a star-fort.
For such a fortress was fashioned with inward-angled walls, like a fivefold star, so that wheresoever the foe assailed, they would find themselves taken from flank and rear, never able to set their full strength against the defenders. In the days of steel and bow, it was all but unconquerable.
Straightaway Ryan sketched a rough plan upon parchment, laboring two days until it was done. Then he called the craftsmen to him and guided the work with his own eyes.
Old timbers of the village were torn down; the laborers swung picks and iron bars, smashing rotten beams and revealing beneath the walls a hoard of grey-blue stone.
They dug down, shaping a trench six hundred square meters across and two fathoms deep, in the form of a five-pointed star, and filled it with stone. This task alone consumed half a month.
By then the second band of workers had come from Dessen, bringing with them great loads of bricks from the kilns. Every day fresh wagons arrived, until the mounds of stacked stone and brick stood like earthen hills beside the site. Slowly the star-fort began to rise, and with it the day drew near when the first of the new recruits would arrive.
But in that very hour, when the labor was at its height, unlooked-for visitors crept near.
…..
Night fell. Torches burned at the camp's rim, and the weary folk lay down to rest. The wild lay silent, save for the dreadful cries that echoed from the forest, chilling the blood.
Elger with two Rangers walked the perimeter, keeping watch. Under the silver moon they glimpsed dark figures moving in the waste, drawing stealthily toward the camp.
At once Elger knew peril was upon them. He turned and hastened back, the Rangers at his heels.
He burst into Ryan's tent. "My lord!" he cried, breathless. "Ill tidings—there are shadows moving outside!"