After a whole night's work, the village was somehow fortified. Using felled logs and sharpened stakes, the villagers and Thornefang had erected makeshift palisades in key chokepoints, especially the southern and western points.
The walls weren't tall, barely chest-height to an adult, but enough to slow a charge and force attackers into predictable angles.
They also placed angled spike barricades made from old fences and wood debris, pointing outward, to deter cavalry or reckless charges. Lucen doubted cavalry would come, but better safe than sorry.
With shovels and brute labor, shallow ditches were dug along the forest edges. Hidden under leaves and thin branches, they were meant to trip or slow the enemy, buying moments that could mean survival.
The watchtower was a crude platform, just three logs high, barely stable. It had been raised at the western edge of the village near the treeline.
