A twenty-foot wall made entirely of logs loomed before them. At Seb’s shout, a narrow door opened, granting them entrance.

“It surrounds their entire village,” Markis said before he passed through the entrance.

Sharp spears jutted from the top of the wall. Etched into the wood above the door were words in an unfamiliar language. She followed Markis, entering the village.

In an area cleared of trees were fifty or so wooden homes, smoke rising from a handful of the chimneys. Children ran about underfoot, and people worked in a vegetable garden off to the side. Seb escorted them between the homes toward the center of the village. When they reached a circle of tables situated around a fire pit, Dexter, Gytha, and Seb sat.

“Come on,” Markis told Reid, leading her and the other two soldiers over to a well about thirty feet away. He proceeded to pull up a bucket filled with water. After taking a drink, he offered it to Reid.

She shook her head, too busy observing the sight before her. On the other side of the fire pit, four kids stood side by side. They faced a tree stump with a potato set on top. The girl on the end lifted a small bow, nocked an arrow, pointed it at the potato, and then shot. It nicked the top of the vegetable. The kids laughed while the girl stomped her foot. A boy raised his bow next. He took a steadying breath, then released the bowstring. The arrow sliced straight through the potato.

“That was impressive,” Reid mumbled. None of the children appeared to be more than six or seven years old.

“Come on,” Markis said. The four of them went to an empty table and sat.

“Why are you here?” Seb asked, his voice loud enough for Reid to hear.

“I fear war is coming,” Dexter answered. “I want to make sure you and your people are prepared.”

“We’re pretty secluded here.” Seb rubbed his gray beard. “Is it those ignorant northerners?”

“They’re more backward than ignorant,” Dexter said with a grin. “But yes, I fear King Eldon is going to invade Axian. If my information is correct, he’ll lead in a force of five thousand strong.”

Seb whistled. “That’s a lot of soldiers. If that many come here, they’ll trample our lands and destroy our fields.”

“I know. Which is why we need to be prepared.”

“Do you plan to stop them at the border?”

Dexter clenched his hands into fists. “My father gave me a direct order to stand down.”

Reid wondered why Dexter bothered to tell Seb any of this. Like Seb had said, they were relatively out of the way. The chances of soldiers overrunning this village were slim.