nyslfriends Chapter 596: Call us when you need.
Chapter 596: Call us when you need.
As the Borealis Herd walked into the tribe one by one, the tension in the air rose up, both the Stonefangs and the Velmourns stared at them, the Borealis stared back at them.
To the Stonefangs and the Velmourns, these were... six hundred more mouths to feed. Even if they didn’t personally have to feed them and Kael was the one who took that responsibility, the thing was, there were only so many mouths Kael could actually fill.
Even if he had a source of rations, even if those rations came from Divine Energy, they weren’t unlimited.
What if...
Because of these extra mouths, they had to live in hunger?
What if... everything returned to how it usually was, where they slept on an empty stomach almost every single day?
It hadn’t been that long since they had stopped experiencing that, especially for the Stonefangs, who had only been here for five days—
But not sleeping on an empty stomach was a luxury none of them wanted to give up. So they, the Stonefangs in particular, looked at the Borealis with an even more intense gaze.
And the Borealis were no different, in fact, they were... even more tense. And why wouldn’t they be?
They were in the middle of enemy territory for an alliance, and although the alliance had been established, they could see that these people weren’t looking at them with welcoming looks on their faces and that made them nervous.
After all, the Borealis were here with their families, their children had already sensed the tense air and had started trembling, that made the Borealis warriors even more alert, they were prepared to die fighting but... they didn’t have what it took to see their children die.
Kael, who was watching everything from a little further away, he sensed all the tension and he...
He couldn’t blame them for it.
Everyone, the Borealis, the Stonefangs, and the Velmourns, all of their worries were genuine, everything was happening way faster than anyone was expecting, even Kael was having a difficult time adjusting to all the change.
But...
"We have no other choice but to do it."
Lavinia spoke in a calm tone as she sensed Kael tensing up again. Kael smiled at her and nodded, then, he continued to watch as the Borealis moved in.
The Southern Outer Quarter was emptied for the Borealis, the people could settle in there. Tarevian and Aelindra, both were making sure everything went on smoothly and with their help, despite the tense atmosphere—
The Borealis moved into the Wall, without any major issues.
But this didn’t mean the tension in the air eased up, no—
This was only the beginning, the Borealis were the first, there were more coming and they did—
The ones who came after the Borealis were the Shardpeak Tinkerband and unlike the Borealis, who seemed quite wary, those were as orderly and quiet as possible—
The Shardpeaks were different.
They were... chaotic.
Their numbers were manageable, about four hundred of them, out of which ninety could fight, mostly leaning on crossbows, trap belts and numerous knives. The rest carried bundles of metal, tool packs, and other stuff.
Yes, this was when they had already filled their Sanctuaries.
Most of their stuff looked like waste, but they didn’t care, they carried it anyway, and even as they neared the Wall, they continued looking around, as if looking for valuable things these fools might have thrown away, things that could be used.
Because of this, these people constantly broke their lines, and every time they did, the Alliance Army, especially the Velmourns, reacted, as if they were preparing for an attack.
One would think that reacting to a false trigger more than ten times would make the Velmourn soldiers less wary but...
To them, this just felt like a petty trick, they wanted them to let their guards down, so they could take them by surprise. Of course, the Velmourns had no plans of falling for that.
So while the Shardpeaks walked in with a chaotic, easygoing energy, the Velmourn soldiers stared at them as if they were watching thieves walk into their home.
The Shardpeak Leader looked at the Wall with the same, bright look on his face, then he looked at Kael, who had come to welcome him.
"That’s a good wall."
"Well, it has been standing for more than twelve hundred years."
Kael laughed lightly.
Then he introduced a Velmourn who knew the Shardpeak tongue and sent them inside with him, to the east side of the city, where one of the forges was.
After the Shardpeaks came in, there was silence for a good while. The Velmourn and Stonefangs didn’t let their guards down, most of them were still worried as to what was about to happen, especially since the two tribes were now inside and could do anything at any point in time.
But still—
With time, as nothing was happening, their tension was... easing up.
But—
As if the very world was playing with them—
The instant they let their guards down for a slight moment, the next tribe arrived.
The Rimewood Kin.
And unlike what one would expect from a tribe that cared about forests, trees and stuff, the Rimewood had... an angry air around them.
There were seven hundred and thirty of them, about one hundred and eighty of them were fighters. Yes, they were weaker than the Stonefangs and the Velmourns, but they were still considerably stronger compared to others.
The rest of the Rimewoods carried coils of ropes, net bundles and long wooden poles that couldn’t fit inside Sanctuaries.
"We are here, like you said."
The Rimewood Chief spoke as she looked at Kael.
"You seem... angry."
Kael pointed out.
"We saw the trees."
The answer was simple.
The trees that the Stormcallers had burned. Kael nodded in understanding, Lavinia narrowed her eyes, then—
"You... already know trees... burned.
Angry why...?"
She asked awkwardly, surprising both Kael and the Rimewood Chief, because she was now talking in the Rimewood tongue.
Kael frowned, he only had one question in his mind.
When did this girl learn the Rimewood tongue?
He remembered she asked him for Imperia’s notes regarding the language, the meaning of most words and everything else.
These were the notes Kael usually used to learn the language, Kael gave them to Lavinia as well, he knew she too, wouldn’t take long to learn all these languages.
What he couldn’t understand right now was... he gave her those notes back when they separated from Morvain and others and returned on Igni.
Since then, he had never once left her, so... when did she learn the language...?
He wondered in his head.
Then suddenly, Kael felt Lavinia tightening her hold on his hand, he looked down, then he looked at Lavinia, who was currently staring at the Rimewood Chief and he finally realized it.
It wasn’t that Lavinia learned all the languages...
She had only learned the Rimewood tongue, and that too, because the Rimewood head was a woman and she...
She didn’t like the feeling of him talking to the woman and her not being able to understand it.
Kael laughed when he realized it, a laugh that the Rimewood Chief misunderstood.
"Don’t worry about it."
Kael shook his head, the Rimewood Chief frowned, but then—
"You not answer."
Lavinia spoke, her eyes still on the Rimewood Chief. The confidence on her face was quite strong for someone who barely knew the language she was speaking.
"We knew, but not all of us had seen it."
The Rimewood Chief answered. Lavinia looked at her suspiciously, for a few seconds, there was silence between the two women.
Then, Lavinia called out the Velmourn man specializing in the Rimewoods and—
"Guide them in."
She ordered.
"As you command, Lady Lavinia."
The soldier nodded and with it, the Rimewoods were taken in as well. Before the Rimewood Chief left, however, Kael stopped her—
"I hope your people are prepared tonight, they will be working."
"Tonight...?"
The Rimewood Chief frowned.
"We just came."
She tried to reason but—
"The enemy won’t care. We need a few things fast."
"What do you need?"
The Chief asked.
"The ropes."
Kael answered.
He had already planned everything, and for the plan to work, he needed Rimewood rope. Yes, it was time to create structures that would protect the city from sky attacks.
The Chief thought about it for a moment, then she nodded—
"Call us when you need."
She spoke with a light shrug.
This was the least she could do for the man offering her and her people a home, then, she walked in and joined the rest of her people.
Once again, after the Rimewoods, there was another wave of silence, but this time, the soldiers didn’t let their guards down.
They just waited.
And after about an hour, they were here.
The Cinderstep Nomads.
The Cinderstep was a small tribe, only about three hundred and sixty people, the surprising part was that one hundred and ten of those could fight, an oddly high number of warriors compared to normal tribes.
Not that Kael complained, he welcomed any number of warriors at this point, the more the merrier actually.