"Little Row---, no, not this one. Young mast---, not this either---. Ahamm---, Captain Rowen!"
"What is it, old Wan? If you are here to argue again, just know that I will not depart, given how the situation is, as it is now. And if I have to, I will force your hand if I need to---."
"Ha-aha-ha---, no, no, it is not about that, as I can understand your resolve, to these villagers. What I am here for, is but just a small in-person debriefing on our current situation."
As the old man entered the tent in the middle of the camp, he was immediately treated by the young man with words of opposition, as though they had just fought over some argument. However, the old man name Wan was not interested in their former quarrel, as he did not seem to be angry, frustrated or otherwise, and simply took the seat opposite of the young man, as their conversation simply began, while the eyes of the young man were still closed, with his eyebrows furrowed while giving the impression of exasperation and relief, since there was no need to argue with the old man any further.
"---."
“Sigh---, still not there.”
“In time, in time. There is no need to force yourself for a breakthrough, as right now your mind is not calm, or free of worries.”
But as the old man appeared to comfort the young man, the eyes of the clad captain, Rowen, opened to stare at the old man seated at the other end of the table, in a rather bad spirit.
“So---, what do you have to say, other than, ”This is a bad idea.", and " I will not let you go into the Border mountains”.”
“Well---, aside from that, the situation here is not looking good. As we have reached the eight-hundred number, and we still have some other villages to accommodate, the number of villagers is growing far too big for you to be able to protect them well. The number of livestock can be sustained with the greenery in the surrounding, but that will not solve the major problem of stable food in the long term. In the end, I have to ask, what has the captain in mind to do with the villagers? Protecting them forever? It is not possible. Moving them again? Go farther away from the bandit's influence, close to the powers of the county? It will most definitely become problematic, since a thousand people, and a substantial amount of livestock, although might not appear as though it is a large problem, yet, they are a problem nonetheless. No one will take them for free. Not to mention the fact that if we are to leave, protecting them from a possible encroaching of the bandits, will be a headache and a real predicament while trying to guard them. Creating a settlement in the forest seem to be a good idea, but there is no ranked cultivator in any of the villages here, and the forest is crawling with ranked beasts. They might not be overly strong, but for these hunter-gathering villagers, at their best, they might hunt a bear or kill a mountain tiger, however, a random violent ranked predator will inflict heavy casualties. So---, Captain Rowen, what do you intend to do, with the situation at hand?!”
“Kill the bandits, let this one be the permanent camp, and then depart towards Green city.”
“Aham---, I will not let you go any further than this place. And defending what is going to be the thousand plus villagers, with the fifty guards which you have, is not going to be a realistic solution, both in the quality and quantity of fighters.”
“You are not going to make this a tad bit easy---, old Wan?!”
“No---, young mas---. You must realize that the path of a general is not easy, just moving the army to fight is not everything. You will have to think about the enemy, your men and about those that you protect.”
“It would be much easier if you could help, or if the guard head captain of the county, would have sent a real captain."
“But are you not, a real captain?”
“With my cultivation? I have been given the position, not earned it.”
“Perhaps---. However, you have already accepted it, and no one is more serious about helping these villagers than you are. So, in my opinion, you are more than deserving of the position of a real captain, no matter how weak you are, plus what is the point in doubting yourself right now?”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
But amidst the talk of the two, the young man's emotions and mood took a downturn, while the words spoken by the old man did not help much, as the self-doubt was pushing strong on the mind of the young man.
“I should have tried to make a request of reinforcement to the south general, that way we could have included someone from the army to accompany us.”
“A coward, I am afraid he would not give any of his men unless the King himself will make the request for. He is excessively afraid of the prairie Kings. If it were to be the west general, we would not have to deal with the bandits in the first place, or at least we could get some support, since everyone here seems to have become a coward, or they are faining total ignorance to this place. Although I know that the vice general of the south is much more agreeable than the general himself. Even so, as that may be---, any support will take at least one month to arrive. But since we are dealing with bandits of rank 6 at best, in which case they will not have the urgency to move fast. And even if they will move to reach this place---, they will arrive far too late for what we need."
But as the old and young were discussing what next moves could be made to resolve the situation they were in, they ultimately arrived to acknowledge the fact, that there was nothing useful they could reach upon, as they were already in a done deal of their own.
“We should wait for the vice-captain to arrive from his round-up of the villages, and then rethink our strategy first."
"Most certainly."
“He should have some new information, and the scouts should have gathered something as well.”
"---------."
"------."
"---."
"So, have you any information about the "snow"? My sources had nothing to say."
Silence befall the tent, and the two young and old stood seated looking at one another, as a subtle change in the air occurred, while a heavy tension covered them both. Though, the young man took a rather small black cube which had the corners smoothened out, and placed it on the table, while a round but clear crystal, appeared out of nowhere for the young man to play with, as he asked a query towards the old man.
Yet as the young man was playing with the crystal in his hand, the old man revealed a hopeless expression, as a blue oval rock materialized out of nowhere in his hand, only to be grasped for a moment while the surrounding air changed, while their voices seemed to be filtered and altered just so slightly in tone.
"This is not something from official sources, as even knowledge about this is somewhat lacking in the Kingdom. However, from what I have heard---, well actually, this is more of somewhat a code as no one is saying it explicitly---, "When Kings argue, armies are drawn. When Emperors argue, armies are dead"."
"And old proverb---, wait--, is that true. No, it has to be---, but who-, and why have they---."
"This---! This is all I could unearth at the moment. Although, the silence made by the powers of the Kingdom, is saying much more than even if they were to speak. Either way, this happened deep in the prairie, and at quite a distance from here, so it is hard to confirm anything. The risk of something happening again is still present. And this is exactly why this place has become akin to a poisonous spot which no one wants to approach. Exactly why I did not want you to come here---, sigh."
"------------."
As the conversation between the two ended, the room fell back to normal, while the expressions of the two men were rather uncertain and hesitant of what to say henceforth, as the circumstances of the "snow" problem, were not something that they could even debate upon, given the probability that the strange event, might be the result of some old monsters which could put the Kingdom at risk.
"Well---, anyway, we will continue to help the villagers settle first, whether they decide to move or not."
"Very well---, Captain."
"Vice-captain Adrian should have done the last round-up of the villages. So he should return by tomorrow's dawn. I just hope nothing had occurred to them."
"In that case---, I will return to my walking rounds, and see if I can catch any spy or scout in the vicinity."
With their conversation over, the old man rose from his chair, and walked out of the tent, while the young man resumed his close eyes meditation. Meanwhile, the outside of the tent was bustling with the villagers and the guards, as their activities were just beginning.
----------------------------------------
But at the same time, far from the camp of the villagers and guards, far from even the Down River village, far north, deep into the beginning of the Border mountains, in a valley which cliff was carved out with numerous windows that once could see, six-horsemen were closing in towards them, or rather they approaching the main double stone door entrance of the place. But as they were near the entrance, a man’s head could be seen above from one of the open windows, and while he nodded at the six, the stone door was open to make the horsemen enter.
As they came to enter inside, a somewhat foul stench struck the six of them, as faint cries of women could be heard in the distance, while a long corridor lead them to a small round hall, with multiple other long passageways visible.
Once arrived, they immediately jumped off the horses, as several weak-looking men came out of a corridor, and took the horses with them.
As the six men were on their feet, they began to walk down the central corridor for several hundred steps, as at the end of the corridor, a massive door made out of solid stone blocked their path to advance further on. But the man in front of the group, took several heavy steps while he applied a relative amount of strength to open the door in front of him and proceed forward.
“So---, you are still alive!? I was just about to start presuming that the county guards might have killed you all, on your way back.”