Book 4 Chapter 20

The other men snickered at their leader’s words while whispering to each other condescendingly, their voices purposefully loud. … “Did Dun call a moot just to show off the flatlanders he loves so much?” One asked his eyes rolling. Another laughed, his tone mocking, “I guess since the flatlanders are doing all of Dun’s work for him he doesn’t mind wasting everybody's time…”

Tirr watched for a moment as he frowned, he didn’t like the way they seemed to twist Dun’s actions. Making the things he did for his clan and his tribe out to be selfish and lazy. Yet before he could stand and confront the newcomers, Dun himself appeared, a smile on his face as he greeted the Krawl chief.

“Rev! I thought I smelled something you old windbag,” Dun’s tone was friendly, but his eyes were sharp and his words sharper. He stopped a few yards away from the Krawl clan visitors, his own advisors at his back.

“You are planning to wash before tonight, right? It’d shame our ancestors if a moot had to be canceled cause your stink killed us all. At least chew some mint since I know how much you like to flap that thing you call a mouth.”

Rev’s eyes smoldered as he growled… “You…” He swallowed his anger, not wanting to be the one that gave in first. Instead, he spoke up again calling Dun out for bring them to the moot once more.

“Just how long do you intend this farce to go on Dun? Calling a moot right now, when we should all be back defending our valleys? I would have thought becoming Clan leader would have forced you to stop with your childish games!”

The men behind Rev yelled in agreement, spouting obscenities as they cursed Dun and Waythe clan. Dun didn’t react though, just slowly shaking his head as if in disappointment. “The disaster is exactly why the Moot had to be called, unlike you Krawl rats hiding in your holes… Waythe clan enjoys life and doesn’t plan on just laying down and bleeding to death as wave after wave of Beasts come to trample us.”

“Hah!” Rev laughed, “You speak of survival and act like you care for the Tribe, but anyone with a mind knows that the whole reason this disaster started is because you angered the Ancestors!” He spat at Dun’s feet, glaring at the taller man as if daring him to throw the first attack.

Dun’s expression finally broke, his smile fading as he frowned deeply, “If anything is making the ancestors cry Rev it’s that an idiot like you somehow managed to become clan leader. Even your clan has enjoyed the few goods and comforts trade with the plains has brought us. Though it would be easier for them if they didn’t have to do it in secret because their clan leader was too stupid to know a good thing when he saw it…”

At his words, laughter broke out among the crowd and Rev’s face went a deep red. Even those of his clan shuffled their feet awkwardly, each one of them having one or more items they could guess were gotten from those same trades with the flatlanders.

Rev shifted his dagger uncomfortably, it had been a gift from his wife, yet the craftmanship was obviously not from the mountains… He turned this embarrassment into anger, glowering at Dun all the more as he yelled.

“Ignore it all you want Dun, but the fact is our troubles started almost right after you started your dealings with the plains! Now the Tribe is being swallowed by the anger of the mountain and you think you can just joke and shake it off? If I had my way, you’d be stripped of your…”

A sudden shift interrupted him as the men behind Reve crashed forward and knocked into him, throwing him to the ground. As he coughed, trying to get the dust and dirt from his lungs, the crowd laughed, enjoying his trouble. He stood up angrily, just to find a huge man standing in the midst of his companions.

The newcomer was a giant, even by the tribe’s standards, his hands big enough to grab Rev by the head and squash him like a gnat. The newcomer looked awkwardly at the group he had just bumped into, scratching his head as he apologized,” Sorry about that Rev, you and your goons were just so small I couldn’t even see them. I’ll try to be more careful next time…”

Rev wanted to strike at the man, knowing he had done it on purpose, yet knew he couldn’t act so obviously yet. Instead, he just sneered as he moved away, “If you were smart Kos, you wouldn’t tie Fui down to lame goat.”

“Better a lame goat than a diseased rat…” The giant said easily still smiling as he moved past the Krawl clan member towards Dun. Rev gave them one last dirty look before leading his son and the others away… Cursing them under his breath the whole way.