Chris was grumbling, this might have been the worst night of his life. Before bed he was tired, both physically and mentally but he didn't get much sleep and now, on top of that, his body was hurting, his neck throbbed and his eyes were bloody.

"Damn you rock pillows! I will eradicate you from this world!" This was Chris' first royal decree.

"Sire, are you up?" Berg came over after hearing Chris.

"Berg! Come over here!" Chris put his arm on Berg's shoulder and leaned in."That rock pillow was a joke right? Don't tell me you hogged all the good ones?"

"I-I would never Sun King!" Said Berg in a hurry. "We keep moving from place to place in a moment's notice. We have long lost all those luxury items. Now please come, let's eat!"

"Huh-huh" Said Chris not quite convinced as he followed Berg's back with squinted eyed.

The whole village, minus the sentries on duty, was assembled in the southern most cave. This was where they cooked, and where they ate.

Accommodations were very basic. There were no table, no chairs, no cutlery. Everyone had a big smile as they received their bowl of soup and a piece a meat. Chris had a feeling that this was a better meal than usual for them.

He noticed everyone taking sneak peeks at him, so he tried to maintain an "aloof" look to raise his "king stock." [That's right! Drink it in!]

After the meal Chris, Titus and a few soldiers went exploring as Chris had nothing to do and Berg still needed time to prepare the list of all their resources and personnel.

His first request was to find an elevated spot where he would have a good view of the valley. On the way he found out that he could recognize some of the flora, he spotted Red Mapple trees, Douglas-fir trees... but also some he was pretty sure never existed in his world. The most obvious was the Yellow Barfing tree. It's leaves where very thick and contained huge amount of sticky sap they would drop on anything that walked beneath them. The sap contained seeds the animal would then carry away.

Luckily for Chris, he was stoped by Titus right before walking beneath the tree... He thought those thick leaves would make for a great pillow... The timely save did improve his opinion of Titus:

[What a good man, you are not creepy assassin-like at all after all!] He thought.

They eventually reached the best vantage point of the area, and Chris sat on the cliff and looked at the valley beneath his feets. He could see Five Cave Village, and it's inhabitants not far to the south. They were all working hard.

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To the south west of his position, he could see the Kunall's outpost, right where Berg's map said they were. The camp was too far away so he could not even see if it was occupied or not.

Then he looked west and saw a small human settlement of perhaps a few hundred people and rejoiced.

Titus followed his gaze and frowned "Not good, those people are going to be in trouble."

"They are? How come?"Asked Chris

"They settled in an area the Kunalls patrol regularly, since they haven't fled or been wiped out yet, they are probably a new arrival here." Answered Titus.

Chris seemed surprised so Titus continued "Sire Berg used to be a general in the old army, the first thing he did when the main Kunall army left was to send scouts to monitor the area and the Kunall Scout Camp. We learned the places they like to patrol, their numbers and how often they go out patrolling. With this we have never been surprised by an attack!" Said Titus proudly."If they go out, we'll know, and if they get too close, we'll also know!"

[Way to go Berg, you are not bad! I might already have some talented subordinates after all] Thought Chris.

Titus continued: "The current Kunall scout force is very small, they are not even enough to patrol properly, so it seems they decided to act as a deterrent, they will attack us on sight but they won't look aggressively for us if we don't rebuild villages and cities. They also like to check on the old cities to see if anyone has returned... And those people settled on the way to Claymire, an old mining town a little north of here. The Kunall might not be looking too hard for us, but if they spot that camp, they will kill everyone in it!"

Chris was worried and asked "How long do they have before the next patrol?"

"Hmm, according to my scouts, the last patrol left 4 days ago, a new patrol is sent out every 7 days so the next one is due in 3 days, the refugee camp is 2 days away from the Scout camp so they have around 5 days." Answered Titus.

[Should we just warn them? But if we did, they will just move somewhere else... I need them to join me. So I need to use a bit of tricker-I mean heroic showmanship...]

"Titus, how many Kunalls are usually in a patrol and how many people do we need to defeat them?" Asked Chris.

Titus was stunned for a second but then answered "They have three patrols out at all times, and each one has 20 Kunalls. This time should be no different. Given our current lack of equipment, in a frontal assault we'd need...100 to 150 people and we'd sustain heavy casualty. Kunalls do not wear armor as their bodies are very tough but they use huge weapons that can kill many people in one swing."

Chris had no intention of fighting "fairly." "We need to avoid casualties. What if instead of a frontal assault we used our hunters and scouts for sneak hit&run ranged attacks? If we know where they are going we can avoid them... But we can also prepare traps, can't we?" Chris' smile seemed particularly evil.

"Absolutely! Arrows won't damage their bodies much, but enough of them will bring them down! Particularly if we aim at the heads!" Said Titus excitedly.

"Perfect! Let's go back to camp to prepare!"Shouted Chris.

"Yes Sun King!" Answered Titus.

But before going back, Chris looked directly at Titus' face and said in a low voice: "Our goal is to recruit them. If they accept our invitation directly, then fine. But if they don't, we might not be able to warn them about the Kunalls before it is too late to flee... A hero always arrives late... When despair is at it's highest."

"I perfectly understand, we do what needs to be done for a brighter future. Our troops will only think we are going to invite a group of survivors. And as far as the refugees will know, we are only hunters passing by." Said Titus without hesitation.

They went back to camp as they had preparations to make. The refugee camp was roughly one day away from Five Cave Village. So they had 3 to 4 days left to prepare.

They needed to prepare for the fight, but they also needed to prepare for the new mouths to feed. It was better to prepare in advance and be disappointed later than to not prepare at all.

[What kind of cool pose should I make when coming to their rescue?] Was the only preoccupation on Chris' mind on the way back.