Jon was still enjoying breakfast when they started to arrive. Now that the manor was mostly staffed again, he’d finally come down to the meal he’d almost never gotten to enjoy as a boy. Even though the table was only set for one, it was still heaped with all the treats he hadn’t had in years. In addition to waffles with apple butter and powdered sugar, there were sausage eggs, thick cuts of ham leftover from last night's dinner, and soft rolls with jam and preserves. It was a feast that might have made a younger version of himself weep with joy, but now it was all just a touch too sweet for his current palette. He was determined to enjoy it anyway though, at least until men of the village started to arrive. 

Jon had a footman tell the first group that he would be out after breakfast, but by the time the third group had shown up five minutes later, he was forced to abandon his plate only half eaten. No matter how badly he wanted to enjoy this quiet moment, he had to take advantage of the enthusiasm of the villagers before it waned. So, he got up, but didn’t go back upstairs and put on something more formal. That was mostly because he didn’t have much in the way of formal clothes. He just put on a flat cap and a jacket, and then just before he disappeared out the door with a crust of bread, he told his servants “Have the rest of this brought outside on platters for the good people of Dalmarin.” 

“But sir,” one of the servants said, “That’s simply not done.” 

“Isn’t it?” Jon asked, “Trying not to smile as he saw the footman’s face strain under the impropriety of it.” 

“No?” Jon asked, playing dumb while pointedly ignoring the look of disapproval that Miss Marne was silently giving him from across the room. “Would you have all this food go to waste while there are hungry men right outside the door?” 

  “Well, no,” the man stammered, “But—” 

“No buts,” Jon said, helping himself to a crust of bread before turning and walking toward the front door. “Just do what I told you, and be quick about it.” Jon was sure he knew better than most people generally, and certainly better than the help, but the previous Warden must have hired some real dimwits for them to talk back to him like this.

By the time Jon strode out onto the porch there were over a dozen men waiting for him. He stood there for a long moment, regarding them, while the small knots of conversations faded to silence one at a time. Jon recognized a few of them, but he was a little surprised to see that at least half of them were strangers. From the reaction last night he’d known that his message had resonated, but words were cheap, and messages of support in private were often more pragmatic that they were enthusiastic. He had hoped for maybe five or six men of action to start, and two or three times that number after his next victory, but if this was an indication of things to come, then perhaps every able bodied man that could swing a sword might join him when it came time to leave in a few days. 

Jon smiled at the realization. Today was going to be a good day, he could tell. “Gentleman,” he said finally, letting the silence stretch just long enough to become uncomfortable. “Are you ready to get to work then?”

Most of the men nodded, and perhaps half of them made affirmative noises, but there were a few hold outs. Finally someone near the back said, “I liked what you said Jonathan - I really did. Gods know we’ve needed that sort of truth around here for a long time.” Jon turned to look and wasn’t surprised to see that it was Junis. He was one of the village boys that Jon had played the most with until his father had decided he was growing too old for such things. “But I’ve got a family—”

“Congratulations,” Jon interjected. “I can’t wait to find out which one of the village girls you ended up with while I was gone.” That got a few laughs, but that wasn’t the point. Jon wanted to use this exchange to remind everyone that he was from here, and that he had as much to lose as any of them.

“Thanks,” Juni answered, trying to figure out what he was going to say next. “Like I was saying though, I got a family, and I can’t go out and fight soldiers with you, but as long as you understand that, I still want to help any way I can.” 

Jon nodded soberly as he took in the sentiment. “Well then it’s a good thing I meant what I said. I don’t want any of you to take up a sword or a bow on my behalf. I’m sure you’d be of great help, but the fighting comes later, and I can deal with the garrison all on my own.” 

“Those are big words,” another man said, but how are you gonna do all that?”

“Magic,” Jon said with a smile, leaving the men he was talking to, to wonder if he was joking or not.

“Sometimes magic is all you need,” he continued, “But right now all I need is a few men to help with a couple small things before all this comes to a head, and a little magic. The soldiers are child's play, but the train will be a little more challenging.” 

“Train,” another man asked, suddenly looking a little pale, “What are you going to do? Everyone knows magic and dwarven magic don’t mix.” 

“Don’t worry about that,” Jon said, the train is a problem that’s a little further out. All I need on that front is a couple men to go to the station and…” 

Jon trailed off because as he spoke the servants finally started bringing out a table and trays of food, and he was quickly losing their attention to the savory smells wafting over from the table. That was fine. He knew what meager meals most of the families in the village could afford before things had gotten bad, and he didn’t imagine that anyone besides the warden was eating much better than bread or boiled oats at this point. “Before we talk specifics though, why don’t you help yourselves to some food. We’re all going to get some work done after this, and there’s no reason we should do it on an empty stomach.” 

Everyone agreed with that, and with a few muttered thanks, everyone dug in. The servants tried to offer utensils and wooden bowls, but wherever possible, the men used their hands, and tore the remains of breakfast apart like a pack of rabid wolves. Ten minutes later there was nothing left but scraps, and the occasional burp. Jon smiled absentmindedly while he watched the whole thing, even though his mind was a million miles away. He’d learned this trick from Terin - that in the short term, feeding a man was an excellent substitute for real loyalty, and that it wasn’t difficult to turn one into the other over time. He’d be here soon enough too, along with the rest of the gang. Jon wanted to look forward to that, but he’d promised himself that it would have to wait until everything else was taken care of. Of all his friends of course he missed Mara the most. If she were her she’d— 

Jon’s thoughts ended abruptly as he realized he was being talked to. “Excuse me, could you repeat that?” he asked, as he hadn’t registered the words the first time with the face of the pretty redhead in his mind.

“I said,” Juni repeated himself, showing a little exasperation, “so what now. If you’re bribing us with food it’s gotta be something pretty awful, right?” 

“Well - parts aren’t so pleasant.” Jon admitted. After that he laid it all out. That he needed Almost everyone at the train station except for a couple people to head over to the palisade and keep a watch on the trail up to the valley. That was the most important part honestly. He had to be there and he had to be ready before the soldiers were anywhere close. If they got past that flimsy excuse for a wall without Jon being there to put up a fight, things would get messy fast. 

“So what are you going to do when they get there,” one of the farmers asked, “summon your fire dragon again?” Jon smiled at that. They’d all heard the stories now. 

“No - that’s just for special occasions. For this I’m going to do something much worse, and that’s why I need help to set the trap.” Jon smiled cryptically, but didn’t elaborate on what the trap was, instead he told a few of the men to go home and get mortars and pestles or mallets, and took the rest to the train station with him. From there the plan broke down pretty simply. Some of the men were going to grind coal into as fine a dust as they could manage and fill a dozen flour sacks with the stuff, while everyone else cleaned up the blood stains, and straightened up the station to make it look as normal as possible. Well - except for the lad that went to fetch the gravedigger. Jon wasn’t about to make decent people clean up the corpse of dwarves that were two days dead. 

He absolutely needed the train when it showed up in two days, and if they saw trouble they might just keep going without stopping, he explained while they were cleaning.

“Won’t they just keep going if they don’t see Boriv out here to go over those papers the dwarves love to exchange,” Juni asked, while Jon was directing where he wanted some crates stacked to hide a broken window and a bloodstain. 

“Eventually, they absolutely would,” Jon agreed. “I don’t need them to stop all day though. I just need them to stop for a minute. Once an engine comes to a halt, it's very slow to get back up to speed again, and I can stop it cold before they can get more than fifty feet from the platform.” 

“Is that some dwarf magic you learned when you were down in the dwarf cities,” his old friend asked him. 

“In a way, you could say that,” Jon agreed without much detail. No one here needed to know what he had gone through to gain the mastery over fire he had now. He’d spent more time practicing that an elementalist twice his age would have in a normal life. Not because he wanted to of course, but because he literally would have died without it. “No matter what - that train doesn’t leave the station without a very special piece of cargo. 

“What’s that,” Juni asked. He’d been a curious kid Jon recalled, but it seemed that now that he was no longer afraid Jon was a bandit or worse he wanted to know all the answers even if he wasn’t ready for them. Jon sighed. It was going to be hard to convince his old friend not to leave on that train with him when the time came.

“That my friend, is a surprise,” Jon answered cryptically, “and you’re going to have to wait and see just like everyone else.”