Lochan heads first to awaken Captain Harmal and then Relg but also Heladil. "I would value your judgement in what we face, Heladil!" he shouts heading towards the rest of the scattered group. "See if you can see any more than I can of those torches over there!" he points, running towards the copse of trees where Arekhel is resting.

Relg quickly gets to his feet, taking bow and sabre with him. He follows Lochan uphill, the last few meters crawling. "Ye, another battle to come!" he whispers more to himself than addressing anybody else. Checking the direction of the wind, Relg says to the Captain who is lying on the edge of the slope peering over:
"The wind supports us, they will not hear us, nor will they smell the remains of our fire, not unless it changes direction."

Relg tries to make out any pattern in the chain of lights, to see if he finds something familiar.

<The 'chain' of flickering torches doesn't appear to be approaching, in fact they appears stationary as if waiting for something. No riders can be seen, only the lights themselves about 200' (70m) distant.>

After donning his equipment Billy joins the others looking at the torchlights. To those closest to him, he says: 
"Is be quite good skulking around, I is going to take a look." He starts to move off into the darkness even as Harmal nods and whispers:
"Ok, but be careful. Stay low and try to use the cover of the heather. There is a low watercourse up ahead. Watch for it!"

Many a night spent sleeping in the wilds has thought Coru to sleep with one eye half open, and he is on his feet the instant Lochan approaches to wake Relg. He see the man is distressed, and Coru soon understands why, there is an unnatural source of light down south, and Coru has his bow in his hands, in a swift and elegant movement, before Relg is on his feet. He joins Heladil, and joggs up to where the guardpost stands, to get a better view. He curses, knowing that it is a terrible time for a fight, as he has only gotten a few hours of sleep, and still feel the weariness after the days journey on the horseback. When he reaches the other guardpost, he takes a good look at the line of lights. Then, as Relg and Captain Harmal join them on the edge he says:
"Aye, it is true as Lochan observed, I see seven lights, most likely torches but they're not moving. I cannot see any riders or horses but they could have them on poles - if they wanted us to see them!"

Coru leans on his bow, and waits for his leader to give him orders.

Heladil looks at Lochan's retreating back. "See if we can see anything? Well why not?"  Turning to Coru, "Would you care to join me in going over there to get a closer look at these lights?"

Heladil blends into the darkness with ease as he sneaks forward to peer as the others do over the lip of scrub heather. Keeping still, the Elf ceases to be a defined shape against the backdrop of some overhanging trees and the other men loose sight of him.

Arekhel looks around, looking lost. She rubbs her eyes and shakes herself  to wake up. She packs quickly her stuff and follows Lochan into the middle of the dell, then spots Gwalchmia heading towards the center also. They meet by the low sandbank that splits the dried-up watercourse east west. She looks up towards where the othyers survey the torch lights.

Awakened from a light sleep by the movement nearby, Meraina is already up and outfitting herself before someone can come and shake her. Donning her leather helm and making sure that all her weapons are in place, she anxiously slaps her nightstick in her palm as she heads toward the others.  Pausing for a second by the now extinguished fire, she dabs some dark ash on her cheeks and forehead to hide the glow of her skin in the darkness.

Keeping out of the line of sight of the lights she joins the others on the slope in time to see Billy sneaking off into the darkness.  She eyes the lights with apprehension.
Turning to the nearest of the Buhr Criocha men nearby Lochan says:
"I'm not sure whats going on here but I want us all to be prepared for anything. But BE DISCREET! If we're being watched then let them not know the entire camp is alerted".

Moving quietly to where people are beginning to move around and prepare for a battle Lochan repeats his comment about descretion.

Then, rejoining Relg and Harmal at the edge Lochan says:
"Let us set men to watch all directions. This may be a clever trick, or it may be a signal and such signals have a habit of being answered. I hope that the merchant is not responsible for these warning flares!".

"Good point!" Relg nods towards Lochan. "Have one man climb up the other side of this trail and check for responses to the torches there. I cannot see any from here myself. There is nothing worse than being caught between two battle lines." he says to the Captain. Harmal nods. “It is what I was thinking.”
Relg looks for Coru and Maleg, who are standing just below his position: 
"Ready our horses my friend, once the battle has started, we might use them to break through the enemy line and, anyway, I would rather fight from the back of ’The Silent Wind’ than on my feet."

Relg adds something else to Coru, using the Eastern tongue, then looks to his right and left and whispers to Harmal:
"I suggest you get your men and post them on both sides of this trail. If these are enemies, we might be able to lure them into a trap. I'd say we are strong enough to hit them badly and we have Heladil and Saelvach, who have proven that darkness is no problem for them. Their arrows will take out many of them before they even know that we are here."

"A good plan Gargath. Let us see to it," and with this Harmal withdraws from the edge to order his men to spread out, covering all avenues of attack. He leaves the group and especially Heladil and the Gargath to choose where they stand. In a few short moments, there are Northmen militia stationed in groups of three facing in all directions. Harmal goes to inspect the defenses of his men. “Remember, we will have to wkr without the benefits of light ourselves. That way, the enemy will not be able to count us or pinpoint us.”

After a while of studying the aspect of the distant torches, Relg continues:
"Well, let's wait to see what our little spy has to report, but anyway, we have to be prepared."
Relg then slowly crawls back until he is out of sight of the distant torches, then gets up and runs back to the main group. He puts on his leather armour, then he takes another quiver of arrows. He carefully looks around and alarms those who just got up, to be quiet and prepare for battle.

Upon being roused, Boldor reaches for his mattock and quickly shrugs into his armor, careful as his arm is still a bit tender.
After getting up sleepily, he first reaches for a water skin, takes a drink and mutters:
"Ah this will wake me up..."  Then he goes and joins the rest of the group in the basin of the dell. He also proceeds to do a touch of stretching and swinging, testing out his range and his balance - just in case, some fighting is coming and, besides that, a little light exercise never can hurt!

"ACH" A head pushes itself from under the warmth of a blanket. "Why is everybody up? time to sleep."
Hearing some militiamen speak of torches in the distance, this wakes up the dwarf fully. Getting up out of his bedroll, Froin calls to the militia men:
"Which direction are the torches?" Pointing him in the right direction, Froin gathers his belongings, grabbing his crossbow and his case of bolts.

Coming up to the group as the lightfooted leave to investigate. "So there are others nearby on this heath... how long have them fires been burning?"

“It’s hard to tell,” someone answers him. “They have been burning since we first saw them but that is only about the last five minutes.”

…
 

Almost immediately that Billy went over the top, the group at the edge loose sight of his diminutive figure dashing fowards through the heather and with the wind blowing past them to the west, it is impossible to hear his movements also.

The rest of the group wait for about three minutes before...

Billy, a small blurry fuzzball, sprints out of the darkness, "To Arms!" He whispers fiercely and skids to a stop behind Relg, puffing and panting he manages, "Trees over there... Bury the Torc... breathing behind me... Sprinted..." The ashen-faced Hobbit is obviously quite frightened and close to tears...

Raddish, still in a half-sleep after been woke up in the middle of the night, immediately jump up beside his friend Billy, trying and calm him while searching for a safe place to hide. "Billy, Billy! It's me, Raddish! Calm down! Tell us whom you have seen!"

Billy harkens to Raddish's words. As he regains his breath and composure he pats Raddish on the back gently in gesture of thanks. "Friend Raddish, Is was out around yonder," He points off into the darkness somewhere, "trying to bury the torc lest Is be captured when I heard breathing behind me. It grabbed at I, I's squirmed free, and not stopping to look back at 'e dashed for the safety of our warriors. And here I is." Billy moves from his current position to stand behind Relg, 
asking Raddish to follow.

"Watch out!" Billy says to the others as he goes, "Whoever ‘e was, 'e will be soon here!"

As he comes close, Relg catches the small man and almost lifts him off his feet.
"Wait!" he says, almost a little too loud. With lowered voice, Relg continues: 
"Wait. What have you seen? How many are there? Have they seen us already?"

The hobbit's mouth's pulls tight in anger at his treatment, a resolute, even proud gleam springing into his eyes. He will not answer any question the easterling poses him.

Relg is obviously more interested in strategic information than worrying about Billy's wellbeing. "Whom have you seen? Calm down!" Relg shakes the Hobbit, trying to bring him back into reality. He doesn't let him got and looks straight at him.

Billy certainly looks like he has been brought back to reality with a thud...

Harmal steps forward immediately as Billy's head rocks back and forth. "Easy man, easy! He's not a doll. Put him down!"

Relg, hearing this, he turns around, his face growing dark.

Suddenly, Relg feels the cold bite of a blade against his jugular. His throat automatically constricts and he doesn't dare risk even gulping. He turns his head ever so slowly back to regard the quite un-hobbit like look of hatred emblazoned across Billy's face. "Put I down now. Small Is may be Mister Relg, but defenceless Is not." He jabs the dagger into the Gargath's throat to show the Easterling the hobbit is prepared to do what he has to.

Slowly, Relg lets the Hobbit go. It is difficult to say what is in Relgs mind at the moment. For a second Billy seems to glimpse regret in the Gargath's eyes, but then the cold warrior reappears and Billy receives only a hateful look. "Fool you are." Relg bursts out, but only whispering. "You were supposed to spy them, not to draw their attention. You put us all in great danger." Relg is obvouisly angry. He turns to Harmal: "Be aware, they might come every second."

Billy is quite beside himself with uncharacteristic rage, "Is be supposing the Mighty Relg of the fist has never missed a sword stroke, never overlooked a set of tracks? By what right do 'e judge I's actions and how well they is performed? No folk could have done better than I. Is being silent and unseen until by chance I come upon this person's hiding place." The hobbit, not waiting for an answer, stomps off, like a berated teenager.

Relg turns without a word and prepares himself for the battle that is unavoidably to come, taking two arrows, sticking one into the ground just next to him, he keeps the other ready to fire.

Meraina watches the display with undisguised shock. As Billy wanders toward the main camp she approaches Relg her shock turned to her ever present sneer. "You of all people should know that if we lose our tempers we die. Get control of yourself and be the leader that you profess to be." She looks carefully at Relg in a considering manner and quickly turns from him. With a nod to Captain Harmal, she follows quickly to find Billy to make sure he is alright and to smooth over any hard feelings.