for in the course of the following days , while velius and his army ransacked the farmlands and the minelands , unbeknownst to the castle whose means of sustenance they cut off one by one , people began to sense that things were seriously amiss an apprehension that was soon confirmed , when no cart or dray would pass the expectantly open gates , an absence brutally felt once the sixth moon set and households all over the castle had no food to replenish them and no coals to warm them .