Book 4 Chapter 12

“So what? In the end, you just fight over things anyway?” Tirr asked sarcastically, his eyes rolling. “What's the point of this thing if you all just kill each other?”

Dun shook his head, “No one’s killing anyone… We prefer to talk about things when possible but when there’s something that talk alone can’t decide… Well, then there’s Clangang…”

“Clangang?” Tirr repeated, “Now it feels like your just making stuff up…”

Dun swung a meaty hand, clapping Tirr on the shoulder, “Bah, Clangang is an ancient tradition!”

The blow would have thrown a normal person across the room but Tirr didn’t even flinch, just giving the hand that had touched him a dirty look. Dunn withdrew the hand awkwardly, “Or at least it was based on one. Some tales say it goes back from before the Tribe was even a thing… Either way, it’s the perfect way for us to settle our problems, a trial by combat, your strength vs theirs.”

Tirr nodded, “Fine so all I have to do is beat them up and we’re good?”

“Not you… your clan…” Dun smiled teasingly.

“I don’t have a clan…”

“Sure you do!” Dunn answered sweeping a handout, “That whole mess of a country that you’re brewing up out there on the flatlands, Even leaving them out just the people you brought with you would be enough. Doesn’t really matter though, the point is that we’ll use a Clangang to enter your clan into the Tribe and from there will be able to do whatever we need.

“Tirr thought for a moment before speaking, “How’s his all going to work?”

“Simple enough, when we lose the vote, I’ll push for the Clangang. Each of the opposing Clans will have to produce two of their best fighters and you’ll have to match that. If things go the way we expect you’ll need to field six men on the field.”

“The fights themselves are a series of one vs one battles. In the case of a six vs six, your people will need to win at least four of the fights for you to win the Clangang. For each fight, the only rule is no killing. Other than that the competitors can do whatever… They can use any weapon, any strategy, and…” Dun said with a grin, “Any power… And you best believe they’ll each be sending their best shard users against you…”

Tirr sat back as he thought… Garm was an instant win, He didn’t even consider that the pup could lose, Same for Maria honestly. As an apostle, her growth far outstripped any of the shard users they had seen so far. For the rest though, it was harder to tell… Doran was probably good for a win, though it depended on how far their shard users had progressed.

During their fight back in the Confederation, Dun had shown strength and control equal to a late-stage adherent, maybe even touching on zealot. The shards had always shown signs of strange and frightening growth, unlike the stable and safe rise of his Blessings. If the rest of the shard users were as strong as Dun… Or even stronger… It’d be hard to say who would win.

He thought of Lina and Iesa and knew he’d have to count on them as well, yet as far as he knew they had only just entered adherent, and neither had much real combat experience with their Blessings. The young god let out a sigh, “I guess we’ll have to do some training. He turned to Dun, who had been waiting for the god to finish his thoughts.

“How long till it starts?”

“I sent out the calls yesterday…” Dun answered quickly, “All the clans will gather in the old Valley within a week.”

“A week, good that should be enough time to get them ready…” Tirr rose, stretching as he tested his Blessing, feeling the Faith gather and flow. “First though, I’m going to have to take a trip up that mountain….”

Dun laughed for a moment agreeing out of habit before freezing as he understood what the boy had just said. In the meantime, Tirr had already exited the tent moving past the still sluggish party-goers from the night before.

Dun ran out after him confusion in his eyes as he caught up, “What do you mean go up the mountain, didn’t you listen to a damn word I said?”

“I heard,” Tirr answered, “I don’t need some army and I can sneak up there by myself without anyone finding out… I’ll just bring Garm and Maria with me for now and go.”

“Why?” Dun asked, half jogging to keep up.

“I need to check on something…” Tirr answered seriously, his expression dark, “I need to see if it's really what I think it is…”

Dunn stopped, watching incredulously as Tirr continued onward…