But as the argument between the young and the old continued inside the central tent, little Levis was being taken to a different part of the encampment, where his village, the younger generation of what was left of the Down River Village, presently stood and lived.
Although, right now, they could be called the oldest generation of the village, as the deaths of their seniors, meant the passing of all the responsibilities and duties onto their shoulders for the continuation of the village.
As for little Levis, he was currently following the appointed guard to escort him to where the Down River Village had been allocated. However, as he was passing through the numerous tents of the encampment, he was looking right and left to observe the strange place, as the diverse and mixed, quality of the materials used to raise the large gathering of temporary shelters, made the whole place have a strange air about itself.
Although, another factor for his intrigue was the large number of people that were moving about, as the day was starting. For as his own village had no more than fifty villagers, while marriages were mostly done between the villages of the region, and this, was his first time seeing such a substantial number of people, more than even the large gathering and exchange of goods between the villages, which was held every three months.
However, it was in no time that he and the guard arrived close to the northern inner part of the encampment, near the north watching tower, as once Levis arrived, young and old familiar faces stood everywhere, looking at him in surprise, waiving their hands at him and greeting him silently, so as to not disturb the guard that was with him.
But at their sight, Levis could only feel a single moment of happiness, after which, guilt, shame and fear drown him, making him turn his face to the ground, not wanting to meet the villagers, after his memories of what had happened two days ago resurfaced on his mind.
Yet despite Levis's current feelings, he and the guard loomed near a middle-aged man that was talking with some villagers, although as they were approaching, the man caught notice of them approaching him, and more importantly the man's gaze loomed at the boy that was trying to conceal himself behind the guard, as a tinge of surprise emerged on the man's stern face, once he caught sight of him.
"Down River Village Chief?"
"Yes."
Without losing a moment, the guard spoke with the man, demanding his standing in the village, as he wanted to resolve the matter as fast as possible.
"This boy has been brought back by our vice-Captain, and from what he is saying, he should be from your village. My question is simple. Is he or is he n---?!"
"Yes, he is!"
But to the guard that was not wasting a single additional breath, the middle age man was even faster with his answer, cutting his words short of an end, as though desiring to take the boy away as soon as possible.
"In that case, I will leave him with you, have a good day."
And with the short and very brief interaction with the village Chief, the guard walked away, leaving little Levis alone, in full view of the middle-aged man.
As for little Levis, he was constantly fidgeting with his hand from anxiety, attempting to avoid the village Chief's eyes, by glancing downwards and sideway, at the ground below.
"---."
"Sight---! Where have you been that day?"
But after a subtle hesitation and a moment of silence, the man let loose a long sigh, as words eventually came out of him, directed at the nervous boy before his eyes.
"In the nearby woods."
"Why?"
Though upon the man's words, the anxiety and nervousness of little Levis continue to increase, as guilt and remorse were burying him as he stood before the village Chief.
"I was attempting to find some suitable softwood trees for Grandpa---, I--, I-, I wanted to make a congratulatory carved statute as well, for sister Mi's marriage."
"Do you mean the daughter of Aunt Hel's apprentice? Sister Heal's daughter?"
"Yes."
"Sigh---! Have you seen Uncle Ato and my father?"
"That---. They--, they are-."
As the conversation continued and little Levis caught some courage, all of it got drained as the next question made his face pale in distress and anxiety that put him in an even greater more pallid state.
"What?"
"---."
"If it is something you do not know or want to say, you do not need to force yourself. For I can wait until you are ready to speak with me."
But as the chief asked the boy in front of him about the seniors of his village, the stuttering did not help his own anxiety about them. Still, his role as the village chief did not allow him to show his emotions openly, as his rational mind made him speak in the most reasonable way possible, yet, trying to get out an answer from the boy before him, seemed to be proving to be a challenge.
"I hid, and they died! They were being killed, and I ran away!"
Although, that did not help little Levis, for shame even greater than the fear and anxiety from not saying anything fell on him, as his face became paler and paler while words came out of him without any regard whatsoever.
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"Sigh---! Alright, I understand. No need to say anything else. You are probably tired, so let me provide you with a tent to sleep in. There is an empty one near the watchtower. It was supposed to-- never mind, go there, it already has a layer of material to sleep on, so go on and sleep, will talk after you are reasonably rested."
As the words flew out of little Levis, tears flowed down his cheeks, while the eyes of the Chief widened involuntarily, and his stern expressions almost broke. Yet, with a heavy sigh of understanding, his stern face became one of depression and relief, as he excused the boy, directing him towards a tent to rest in.
But the village's Chief's words did not ease the boy, even though it was impossible to say who he was trying to comfort at this moment.
And as little Levis took to the tent that the village Chief had pointed at, the fists of the middle-aged man clenched to the point that the veins on his hand bulged and his knuckles became white, due to the power he was using.
And while sporting a heavy face on him, a big middle-aged man wearing a sleeveless top made of animal fur, with numerous scars on his face and arms approached him.
"Was that little Levis? When did he arrive?"
"The guards brought him. Everyone is---, the elders--, they-, they are all dead."
"What?"
----------------------------------------
And as little Levis was moving towards the tent that the village chief had pointed at, he was continuously greeted by the surprised villagers, of whom he hid his face, as he was still processing his outburst of emotions.
"Why am I so sleepy--?"
Nonetheless, as he arrived and entered the tent near the north guard watchtower, tiredness fell on him like a flooding river. As for the tent, it was nothing more than two tall sturdy sticks that were holding the external cover, while down on the ground, was a thick mattress to sleep on, yet once he entered inside, he fell head down on the mattress, entering directly into a deep sleep once again.
But as he was sleeping, a strange happening was ensuing, as the noise of the world, was still rushing to his dormant subconscious. Whilst in his strange state, his body appeared to recover its energy faster than he could understand, despite not comprehending what was happening to him, for he was sleeping and at the same time not sleeping, as his mind was in a very strange state, which he could not describe with words.
For only a short time seemed to pass during his aware rest, to his awakening, as his body appeared more relaxed and energetic than ever before.
"---."
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But by the time little Levis fell into another cognizant sleep, the day was already past its midday point, while clouds were making their way over the land.
Yet, at the same time, orders for the various village Chiefs to gather came from the young Captain, as many villagers could be seen moving toward the central part of the encampment, where the tent of the young man stood.
"I have called you for nothing else, but what you have probably guessed already."
And as the midday was gone, dark blue clouds covered the sky, as though the night was making its way through, but at the same time, many village Chiefs were inside the young Captain's tent, as they were holding an important meeting with the young man.
"You have taken us here, and still can not protect us?"
"Shut your mouth, you brat!"
"Were are but some poor villagers, not warriors. We do not know how to fight. This is something that the county should resolve, not us."
"Do you think the bandits care about the county when they rob and kill you?"
"And what do you want us to do, fight them? With what?"
"Slap!"
But at the young man's words, the many village Chiefs began to argue with the Captain and with one another, and yet the young man could only smile wryly at the scene, for he could not make the villager angry with the guards or with him.
Nevertheless, he was forced to smash the table with his palm, so as to seize their attention and silence, whilst still sporting a ridiculous grin on his forced smiling face.
"I do not think that I have to tell you of your own situation. But since you want me to give you an overview of the situation, I will do it."
"---."
"So where do I start--, yes, the snow. Two and a half months ago, the very reason why you have lost the little grown crops that you have cultivated, and everything that you could have gathered from the forest, and if my reports are accurate, the wildlife that you were usually hunting, had retreated, making meat, even harder to search and hunt."
"------."
"And then, the bandits that would usually simply extort some money and done some robberies of no big notorious fame, had been put in the same situation as you. And in their own stupidity, they had done something really outrageous, as they had started to kill the surrounding villagers in a very sloppy manner, instead of the usual extortion. And then, as the main city of the county is far from here, it took nearly two months for the news to arrive, and for us to reach this region. Fortunately for you, the bandits had been lazy and stupid. Otherwise, we would have probably no one to protect right now. That being said, the number they had killed and kidnapped is over four hundred from what we can understand. But now, with more than a thousand of you to protect, we can not even dream to try a rescue mission."
"---------."
"And this leads us to our arrival and our preparations, as we had you all gather here, we had concentrated our defence so as to take the bandits on, for it is you who do not want to leave this place. Now---, I have to give you the sad news--, that the seniors of every village that had people left behind-, are dead."
As the young Captain's torrent of words filled the tent, every man or woman present stood to listen attentively to the young man, but it was the last part of his speech that hit every village Chief present with a great shock, at the tragic report.
Yet, some who were more old, like the chief of Down River, did not have a significant change in their expression, since they were eighter aware or had already expected something in the line of this announcement.
And yet, as silence out of shocking words took the tent, the only ones to act normally were the young Captain and old Wan, who seemed to be a statue as he stood left to the young man's seat.
"Now you understand? They do not care if you are old or young. Your fate will not be anything good in their hands. So---, old Wan, can you remind me how many villagers we have right now?"
"Yes, Captain. We are now hosting roughly one thousand villagers from a dozen or so villages."
"A thousand, and how many of us are here?"
"In total, we should be fifty with the loss of one of ours."
"Fifty protecting a thousand, that is a lot of people to protect! And how many bandits do we have to take on?"
"Around three hundred, Captain."
"Fifty against three hundred, to protect a thousand. That is a lot of bandits to fight on, and a lot of villagers to protect. Even if we take two for each, we still have two hundred free-roaming bandits. If we could only have two hundred able men, that could give us time to take care of the first hundred, before moving to the other bandits?"
"But Captain, we have about two-three hundred men available in our encampment."
"True, only if we could--."
"Enough! Enough!!! We get it. We will take all the able men. There is no need to insinuate anything more. We may not be warriors, but we know that we have to fight for our own lives."
But at the end of his words, the young Captain and old Wan commence a back and forward of words between the two of them, yet as they continued, the face of every village Chief darkened, and as they could not take it anymore, one of the most senior of them spoke, right before the more hot-headed ones could make the situation more problematic.
"Wonderful! No need to worry about equipment, as we have prepared wooden shields and spears for everybody. And as for the training, I have appointed ten guards to explain the basic of defence and withdrawal strategies."
"Verry well, since you have prepared everything, we will gather the able men."
"Alright then. We will be expecting all of them outside the encampment, in---, well, two hours' time from now. You can all leave, since the meeting is over."