"We are here because of the request of the tribes. Many tribes are facing many problems from starvation to their woods being low on game meat. Is there anyone who would like to start?" said one of the three elders in a feeble voice.

Tride rose up. He walked to the center of the great hall. He glared at the three elders with disgust.

"I will start, but not because these geezers told to. What do you even do? You are just an old relic of the past that doesn't serve any purpose," Tride said and looked at all the tribal leaders present.

The hall went into a roar of discontent from many of the tribal leaders. Many of them didn't like the disrespectful words toward the elders.

"Silence. The elders of the three great families of this city had a function doing the golden age. They led the city and made it prosper thanks to the mines of this city. When the golden age ended the mines became useless as we found that having food on the table was more important than minerals under your house.

"After they lost the riches of the mines they started to live off the fact they ruled the last city of the grey skins. They made themselves the de facto rulers of our people even though we are the rulers of our people. We all know this is to be true so let Tride speak," Tenzin yelled making the hall quiet.

Tride showed respect to Tenzin by nodding his head at him.

"As I was saying. We cannot wait anymore. Our people are dying. How many villages and tribes had to abandon more children in the woods since they couldn't feed them. Villages are left and people move to this city as refugees after their forest go empty and hunters return empty-handed.

We all know what needs to be done. The Jacob kingdom is weak. Their lands of the south a ripe for the taking. Fertile lands just like we had eight hundred years ago. The elders have to call a union of the tribes and march south. With that, we can claim back our true age and stop our people from starving. I now call that a Raja to be elected," Tride proclaimed in the hall.

The hall was filled with gasps and small whispering. Tride had shocked all of them.

Raja was the ruler of all the tribes. Five times during the eight hundred-year history of the grey skins in the mountain had a Raja been elected. Under the command of Raja, a large grey skin force was formed that march out of the mountains and caused large devastation. The last Raja was able to raid through the entire Jacob kingdom and moved into the nation of Sparv until it was defeated by the kingdom of Aurelia.

"And you want to be the Raja I take it?" Tenzin asked.

"Anyone who is willing to do what must be done," Tride said and looked at all of the tribal leaders.

"And what must be done?" Tenzin asked and crossed his arms.

"The total extermination of the humans in the kingdom," Tride said.

The entire hall was quiet.

"We all knew how we once ruled the flatlands. From children to adults, we learned about our golden age. Food was plentiful. Winters were not as harsh. Children didn't need to be abandoned in the forests to die. Look at us now. Our numbers are dwindling. We are weaker than ever. We need to act now. Drive away the humans from the lands that rightfully are ours," Tride spoke out.

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The hall engaged into screams and roars of grey skins who approved Tride.

Tenzin looked around. He rose from the seat and walked toward the center of the hall. The hall went silent. Everyone knew and respected Tenzin.

"I approve this, but you honestly think you can take an entire human kingdom and kill every human without having the other kingdoms come and destroy you later. Have we all forgotten what happened when Dalai declared war on the humans? He massacred and killed any human he came across. After that, the human themselves got a healthy dose of fear of us.

"When they see that a grey skin army has massacred and decided to stay in the lands next to them they will act. They will fight. They will see a mad grey skin neighbor and march to kill us all. The other kingdoms will rip apart what we have gained, and we just have failed, losing all our warriors being even weaker than we are now," Tenzin explained.

The other grey skins understood that Tenzin had a point.

"So, you would have us rot and die here. I would rather die for my people than live a little bit longer knowing there was a window of opportunity that I didn't take?" Tride explained.

"We will take this window of opportunity. We know the Jacob kingdom is weak right now and we have the perfect opportunity to claim it. We just can not go and exterminate all the humans. We need to work with the humans. Force them to accept us. Only that way we have legitimacy among the other kingdoms and the rest of the human nations will accept us," Tenzin explained.

The hall exploded in shouting. None of the tribal leaders liked the proposals.

"This is idiocy," yelled one tribal leader.

"The humans are our enemies. We hate them and they hate us," yelled another.

"The humans can not be trusted!" yelled a third grey skin leader.

Tenzin calmed the entire hall by just raising his arm. It showed the respect Tenzin garnered from all the grey skins. Rufus was astonished by Tenzin. He was the perfect example of a leader who all respected.

"I would hold your opinions also, but we have a chance to succeed in this. Let me introduce Rufus," said Tenzin and pointed up to Rufus.

All the grey skin tribal leaders turned to look at Rufus.

"He is a person whose voice is being yelled all over the Jacob kingdom. The people are ready to fight for him. People call for him to fight for them. He is beloved by the humans of the Jacob kingdom. He is willing to help us to create a nation for both humans and grey skins.

"He also knows what it is like to suffer. To fight for those who are unable to fight. Most importantly I have grown to trust him. He has lived in my town among my people. I trust him, but so do my people. So I ask you to trust him also," Tenzin explained.

The hall went silent. None of the grey skin leaders knew what to think of the plan. Tride started to laugh.

"Hahahaha. Are you all idiots? We live among the rukhs, wolves, lions here in the mountains, but it is not these creatures we fear the most. It is the humans we are afraid of. We have created a healthy fear of them, but we truly have no respect towards them. Let me show you what they are capable of," Tride explained and lift his shirt up.

Parts of his skin were missing. Horrible-looking scars littered his body. He had been flayed with large chunks of his skin had been removed leaving his body scarred for life.

"We know what they have done to us. First, they push us out slaughtering almost all of our kind. They make us live in these mountains. They forced us to raid their lands so we could feed our people. If anyone was caught they were exposed to ruthless treatment by them. I am the only one that survived such torment. DO NOT THESE SCARS SCARE YOU! CAN YOU TRUST A HUMAN AFTER SEEING THIS!" Tride yelled showing his scars to everyone.

The scars and Tride's speech made everyone question Tenzin's plan. The tribal leaders were stuck. The elders started to laugh.

"It seems that we have hit a standstill," said one of the elders.

"There is only one option left," said the second elder.

"Trial of combat must be done," said the third elder with a smile.

Tenzin looked baffled and lifted his hands up in the air in frustration.

"This is stupid. What can an ancient barbaric custom benefit us and help us choose the correct choice for our people? It doesn't prove anything," Tenzin argued.

"I accept," Tride said.

The tribal leaders were silent. They understood that the elders had commanded a trial of combat and one of them had accepted. Tenzin had no choice or Tride would win and could be proclaimed as the new Raja.

Tenzin sighed.

"I also accept," said a reluctant Tenzin.