Chapter 15
“Fuck it’s cold!” A hunter complained, as he shuffled his body around to fight off the frosty snowflakes that continuously fell on him.
“Just get closer to the flame and stop whining like a wounded lokin!” The hunter’s fellow guard said.
“Hehe … don’t try to fool me, I can see you shivering just as hard as I am.” He responded, while turning his back to his compatriot, and edging closer to the small firestick held up by a long pole of wood shoved in the ground.
The man placed aside his spear to bring his hands closer to Aki’s blessing, an attempt to defrost his ice-cold fingers.
“What? You have nothing to say?” He called over his shoulder without looking back.
His snide remark was met with silence, so he said, “A wise man knows when to admit defeat, don’t be too sad that I proved you wrong.”
Still his friend didn’t respond to him. Annoyed the man turned around while saying, “Nishi, what the… what the fuck?”
Before him splayed on the ground was the body of his friend, eyes open wide in shock, blood painting the snow red. Just as the man was about to yell a warning to his tribesmen, a gloved hand covered his mouth.
“MMMFFH!” He attempted to shout.
“Quiet now,” an icy voice whispered into his ear. “If you scream, I will kill you. If you attempt to run, I will kill you. If. you. lie. to. me. I will kill you. Do you understand?” The terrifying man asked.
The man frantically nodded his head yes, causing the mysterious person to release his mouth but still maintain a firm hold on the arm, lest he attempt to escape.
“Now, how many of you are there?” the assailant questioned.
“A little less than two hands.” The man responded shakily, but with enough firmness to make his statement seem believable.
“How many hunters are on patrol?” the assailant asked, firing the second question rapidly after the first.
“Just us, the rest should be sleeping in their yurts.” The man responded swiftly, feeling his attackers arm begin to tighten around his.
“Very good,” the mysterious man said, “Final question, is this your entire force, or do you belong to a larger tribe?”
This time, the man hesitated, not wanting to sell out his tribe. But when the pressure on his arm became too much to bear, he divulged what he knew.
“We belong to a larger tribe! They are farther south from here, but I don’t know exactly how far. We are many! So don’t think we will be an easy target.” He uttered through pained breaths.
There was a pause as the mysterious man pondered on something.
“You didn’t lie to us no fingers!” He exclaimed quietly to someone who apparently was close behind him.
“Of course, not Lord Il’, we had a deal and I intend to stick to it. I only hope you stick to your end of the bargain as well.” No-fingers replied despondently.
“No need to worry no fingers, I’m a man of my word, and before Aki I swear to uphold our agreement.” Tana stated.
The captured man’s mind was whirring at insane speeds, “Miso?” he asked.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The entire warband had been slightly worried about the forward party because they should have returned long ago. Now, however, Miso appears alone, surrounded by enemies, speaking of a deal.
“YOU BAS-” the man began to roar, but it was soon cut off by a swift jab to the throat from Tana’s dagger.
Tana then covered the man’s mouth again, ensuring not even his pained last breaths could be heard, as he slowly lowered the man to the ground.
“I told you the rules… but you were dead anyway.” He sighed.
The gathered men hunkered close to the ground, making themselves small as possible as they strained their ears. Listening for the urgent shouts as men leaped out of their bed towards their weapons, due to their tribesmen’s outburst.
After a few minutes of chilling and tense silence, the Il’ men relaxed a bit. Stretching their backs and slowly made their way into the encampment. They went tent to tent, piercing a hole in one man’s chest, a slash across another’s throat, a swift spear through the eye… for the next 20 minutes the Il’ men committed a silent massacre in the snowy valley.
“Father! The clansmen have collected two hands of yurts, many hides both smoked and unsmoked, as well as enough meat for a hand of hunters to eat for a week! There are even strange sticks with stones stuck in them! We have gained enough to return to the tribe with our head high after only this raid, imagine what awaits us within the Tamul tribe!” Kaito shouted.
“Calm yourself son, we won’t have to imagine for long.” Tana replied, unable to keep a small smile from spanning his face.
“Two men will stay here, and the rest of us will push through to the Tamul tribe!” Tana uttered in an unquestionable tone.
“YAHHHH!!!” The men cheered, still hyped off the adrenaline they received from their easy battle.
As the warband trudged farther and farther into the distance, being erased from view by the billowing snow, the two Il’ guards who were left behind began conversating.
“We are taking a loss this time friend.” The taller guard said to his clansmen. “We have been left on guard duty whilst the rest of our brothers will go to conquer the Tamul tribe!”
“Lost out!?” The shorter man asked incredulously.
“There is no honor to be gained from this conquest, nor will this be a hard-fought battle, knowing the honor-less tactics of Lord Il’! Do you remember the words of Lord Il’ less than a day ago?” The short man asked while thinking of Tana’s speech not long ago…
~~~
“There are no more than less than four hands of hunters remaining in all the Tamul tribe.” Tana whispered. “The advanced party will easily be wiped out by us tonight, which will mean they will only have two hands of hunters left. But their tribe is a similar number to ours, that means most of the tribe is women and children!” Tana exclaimed.
The surrounding men murmured in excitement, access to a large supply of women and children meant that they could expand their families by having their pick of women and raise servants by taking in any of the children that were not culled. Moreover, due to the perceived danger of the mission, they would get to keep many of the war spoils! If they could keep their deceit to the tribe a secret, this would be a boon to every Il’ clansmen!
After seeing the looks of excitement and approval on the faces of his men, he knew he’d made the right choice. The Tula tribe was rotting from within, it was time for the Il’ to begin planning for its own independent future.
~~~
After allowing the taller man to reminisce for a while, the shorter one continued,
“Moreover, Lord Il’ can’t afford to dishonor us by not giving us a cut of the spoils. If he were to do that, the risk of us reporting him to the Honorable Tula would keep him awake at night!” He quietly chuckled.
The tall man thought this through slowly before responding, “Hmm… You are right! But I do not like the disrespect with which you treat Lord Il’, he’s, our Clan Leader! You should respect him more.”
‘The current Il’ clan leader certainly was not the most honorable, but he always delivered. That matters a lot more than honor, if you do not think so, try starving and freezing for a few days, maybe that will change your mind!’ That was the sentiment of all Il’ men, and they were willing to follow their clan leader through the deep darkness for surely, he would find a way to turn even that nightmare into a profit.
“You are right.” The shorter man said while lifting his hands in defeat and letting out a short sigh.
The taller clansmen simply harumphed before looking into the distance, in the direction that the warband left towards.
The shorter clansmen could only think, ‘I have just barely risen from servant status. No better than a slave! Why would I respect the man who ra*ed my mother and killed my father?!?!’
These thoughts, however, would never see the light of day. His old tribe was gone, and it was all but impossible to join a new one without inferior status. The Tula tribe was his best bet.
For now, he could only sigh, until an opportunity arose…