I sat on top of the cliff with Trish and both of us were watching with a pair of binoculars. We were sitting about quarter way away from the gate on the north side of the cliff. Quite a few other people were up here as well to watch as the bandits made their appearance.

They seemed quite surprised to see that our gates were closed and no one was in sight. Those who had been prepared to charge towards our distant walls frowned as their original plan was blown to bits. More and more bandits mounted on horses rounded the bend and came into sight.

There were very likely eight hundred fighters present and most were mounted. All were armed and had armor of some sort. The back half of the convoy had numerous wagons packed with supplies that they needed to get themselves this far.

Their horses were tired and not rushing, so the progress of the long trail of people was slow. Those in front eyed up the numerous guards on the walls and knew that we had known they were coming. They frowned at the metal plates covering our palisade without any visible break.

We would not be easy to burn out. Our wall and gate were fireproof at this point. The fighters in the forest were somewhat worried about them setting fire to the forest, but we had a lot of rain the last two weeks so it wouldn't be easy for them. Diane also said that they had plans to keep anyone from getting close to the forest if they approached it with a flame or fire starting gear.

The front of the long swarm slowed and stopped just outside our gate. They were just out of range of the archers on the walls. They spread out behind that front line as more and more caught up and gathered together.

Orders must have come from whatever leaders were present since small groups split off. Some approached the gate with bows and fired a few arrows, but the guards on the wall also had crossbows as well as the advantage of height, so our arrows flew further. That group swiftly backed up, dragging two dead bandits behind them. None of their arrows had even reached the top of the wall since they had been so far away.

Other groups went towards the forest to the north and some went along the cliffs to the south as they tried to find another way in. A couple of screams left the forest and I shivered as I knew that those bandits no longer lived. Our fired fighters had no intentions of letting them roam around in the forest.

I turned my binoculars a bit to watch others in Sanctuary along the edge of the south cliff looking down. A few started throwing rocks while two fired arrows. Moments later, they stopped as the bandits obviously went out of reach. The south side was all fields with no trees so it was up to those on top to keep the attackers from climbing that part of the cliff.

The bandits retreated and started setting up a huge camp in the middle of the grassy area in front of the gate. They carefully remained out of distance of even the strongest crossbows. I doubted that they would be easy to chase off.

I looked at Trish who had a grim look on her face as she peered through her binoculars. I asked her, "Do you really think the plan will work?"

Trish lowered her binoculars to look at me, "Our fighters will keep them out of the forest, and they can't climb that cliff with us bombarding them. The cliff is simply too tall. The weakest spot is our gate, but we are carefully guarding that. Any attempt they make will cost them too many fighters."

I looked back at the mass of moving people as they set up their tents and picketed their horses. They wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. Even if they did, they probably wouldn't make it to their settlement in time for the action. The other group should have freed those they had captured and burnt the bandits' settlement to ashes by the time this group returned.

Trish interrupted my thoughts, "Well, their initial attempt didn't get them anywhere. Let's go make sure the cattle have enough hay before the sun sets. The guards will sound an alarm if there is any chance of them getting in."

I took a deep breath and nodded. We were doing no good sitting up here just watching. I looked at the forest, but it seemed empty despite the fact that I knew that at least a hundred fired fighters were in there somewhere. I followed Trish towards the end of the meadow so we could take the ziplines down.

I kept my eyes dimmed as I peered into the darkness. If my eyes didn't glow, they didn't work nearly as well at night, but I could still see more than someone who wasn't fired. I could just make out a small group of people moving at the base of the cliff below me. This part of the cliff had no trees beside it and none of our fighters would be down there.

All fired people were dimming their eyes at night. We were holding that secret in reserve for later. It had actually been Diane's idea. Once the hostages were rescued, we would try to chase off or discourage the bandits. Diane recalled the reactions of the people she had talked to in our wandering, and figured that if all fired people let their eyes glow at night, that it should really spook the bandits.

Everyone had thought that it was a good idea. It also had a very good chance of working if how the settlement leaders had reacted was any indication. It didn't put any of us in harm's way and such a plan couldn't hurt.

The group below was still moving and I didn't want the bandits this close. I would prefer them across the ocean, but since that was impossible, simply having them away from the cliff would have to work for now. I pointed and a man came over. His eyes were also dimmed, but he still spotted the unwelcome people below. He glanced at another lady who had joined us, "Laura, can you please take Jody and check further along the cliff in case more are also trying to get up?"

The lady took my hand and started jogging while occasionally pausing to peer over the tall cliffs. I looked back and several other men had joined the first man. All had bows in their hands. I averted my eyes since I had a feeling I knew how they were going to deter the bandits below.

I glanced at Jody, "Do you think my sling would be able to throw a rotten egg without it breaking?"

Jody chuckled, "That is one hell of an idea. I wouldn't chance it in a sling, but we could throw a few eggs at them. Let's go raid the chicken coop. I know I saw a few that were likely rotten in the far corner."

I grinned at her as we headed towards the ladder and went to locate some smelly eggs.

It didn't take us long to gather a basket full of rather dubious white objects. There really wasn't a way to tell by looking at them if they were rotten, but these ones had obviously been in the grass for at least a week.

We went back to the top of the cliff and continued watching for more moving shadows. The bandits would almost certainly make another attempt at some point tonight. The sheer number of guards on the gate meant that they would likely not try that approach. That left an awful lot of cliff for them to investigate.

At this point, the bandits wouldn't enter the forest since none of their men had ever come out yet. Almost a third of the cliff faced east or south where no trees occurred and that was likely their prime target. There were about 50 of us up here patrolling the five kilometer long section while a handful of others kept an eye on the rest of the cliff. Just in case.

I glanced at my keychain watch and started jogging towards the part of the cliff that faced the forest. I peered down into the trees below. The call of a chickadee came from below. I may not be able to see Diane, but she had been able to spot me.

I rolled the rope ladder over and pushed it over the edge. It tumbled down and unrolled as it went. It barely reached the ground before a handful of people started climbing up. The faint glitter of blue in their eyes dimmed as they neared the top. The bandits wouldn't have been able to see them from their camp while they were in forest or climbing, but once we were on top of the cliff, they might be seen.

I stepped back to allow Diane and a dozen others up. Most of the others scattered to locate family and friends. I ran to give Diane a hug. She returned it and chuckled, "Honest, I didn't even shoot a single arrow. I ended up sitting in a tree all day. It was rather boring. How was your day?"

I giggled, "Trish had to go to bed early because I tired her out. Nathan threatened to tie me to a chair if I didn't burn off some energy on the playground."

Diane laughed and Ace chuckled as he also scaled the ladder to join us. Diane looked across the valley, but I knew that she couldn't see any better than I could with her eyes dimmed so. Diane glanced back at the ladder, "We can leave it down until morning. There are six people carefully guarding that ladder so people can come and go as they please all night."

I held up my basket, "We were going to throw rotten eggs at the bandits if any came near the cliff again."

Diane grinned as a wicked glint appeared in her eyes, "Sounds good to me. Let's go to the open part of the cliff and see if any are unlucky enough to be lingering below. I am sure they will attempt the cliffs at least twice more tonight."

We wandered in that direction and walked back and forth along the cliff. After quite some time, Ace paused and pointed. I peered into the darkness, but I didn't see anything. Ace spoke quietly, "The shrubs are moving. It is an old trick to cut the base off of a plant and use it for cover."

I looked more closely and, sure enough, the small bushes were walking slowly towards the cliff. They were still too far out to hit, so we waited. I was confused though, "Why do they move at night? I know we do it, but we can see and outrun zombies. I have only seen a handful of people willingly travel in the dark."

Diane also watched the plants approaching the base of the cliff, "I am not sure. Perhaps it is because they haven't seen any zombies yet. We do tend to lure zombies into that ravine to the south and they are forced to follow it a very long ways away to get out."

Ace reached into my basket and grabbed a couple of eggs. Diane also took a handful. I put the basket down and grabbed one in each hand. It felt almost as if I had been given permission to be naughty. All three of us watched them.

Ace glanced at me, "You go first."

I judged the distance and the angle. The cliff was about six stories high at this spot, and that was a long ways to throw an egg. I threw both eggs at the moving bushes. Both eggs hit their targets. I giggled and grabbed more eggs.

Diane and Ace started throwing their eggs as well. Other people on the cliff came over and started laughing when they realized what we were doing. Some of them also took an egg to throw at the now rapidly retreating bushes.

My basket was empty before they got out of range. I started giggling at what we had just done. Diane was chuckling. Todd had also shown up on the cliff and figured it was hilarious. A very gentle evening breeze shifted a bit.

Todd made a face, "Whew! The whiff I am getting is bad enough. Those weren't eggs, those were stink grenades. I sure wouldn't have wanted any of that stuff to touch my clothing or skin."

I giggled even harder. I could smell the faintest hint of rotten egg, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what Todd was making it out to be. But if I could smell it all the way up here, I sure didn't want to go below and see how bad it smelled.

A man jogged over towards us. Ace turned to watch him approach. The blue-eyed man nodded at Ace, "Jeff managed to sneak close to their camp. They plan to put a bundle of dynamite against the wall. They seem to be under the impression that the wall is just a thin tin roofing sheet that they can blow through easily."

Diane took a few steps forward, "Has he spoken with Degan yet? He is the architect and he would know how much damage it would do."

The man shrugged, "He is already tracking him down, I just came to give you the update. Honestly, we don't think that a bundle of dynamite can blow through those steel plates, let alone through all the cement and rebar behind it. We built that wall well enough to hold off a tank for a few hours."

Diane shrugged and looked over, "Well, we are about to get the official opinion."

Degan was approaching with a few other fired people. He glanced at our group, "I assume he brought you up to speed on the bandits' latest plan?"

Diane and Ace nodded. Degan continued, "Well, unless they drill into those plates and stuff the dynamite in, it isn't going to do anything. The force will simply be deflected in the other direction. Those plates were heavy duty things, and with that much cement behind them, it would be like just laying some dynamite on a cement road. It may leave a smudge mark, but the force will mostly go in the other direction."

Diane sighed in relief, "That is good news. I don't see how they can drill holes in the wall, so I don't think we have to worry about that."

Degan shrugged, "I am more curious as to how they plan to get that close to the wall without ended up looking like a porcupine due to all of the arrows."

Ace gazed in the direction of the camp, "We will find that out tomorrow. What I don't understand is the way they set up their camp."

Degan gave him an odd look, "What do you mean?"

Ace blinked slowly, "I don't get it. They set up their camp as if zombies don't exist. No one is that foolish nowadays. So what plan do they have in place to handle zombies?"

Degan shrugged, "No idea, but I suspect we will find out tomorrow night if we still plan on releasing those zombies you guys have trapped in the forest."

Everyone had agreed that if the bandits had free time, that they would simply be planning on how to break in. We had decided to give them lots of distractions in an attempt to keep them occupied until we received word that the rescue attempt to the east had succeeded.

The last two weeks we had lured any zombie into pens in the forest so we could unleash them on the bandits. Degan went off and Diane looked at me, "Have you gone for a run yet?"

I shrugged, "I did a few laps around the meadow with the others, but I was kind of hoping that we could go for a run deeper in the forest."

I hadn't been cooped up like this since we came here. Admittedly the meadow was huge, but just running around it was boring. Diane considered it for a moment, "If we head straight west we should be fine. The trees are thick enough that we could easily hide and run even if a small group of bandits did make such a huge detour."

I nodded in excitement. Diane and Ace grinned at my enthusiasm before heading towards the ladder. I had never climbed down this ladder before, but it was just as easy as the rope ladders in the playground equipment.

Diane swiftly led us towards the west. In the thick forest, there was no chance of the bandits seeing us and we could let our eyes glow freely. Ace ran close beside us as his sharp eyes scanned the forest. I saw a few sets of glowing blue eyes and knew that this part of the forest was safe enough.

For the moment I could forget about the hundreds of armed men in front of Sanctuary.