The war meeting was silent as Alena walked into the tent, her every step confident and certain, she was unfazed by the ten men and women sitting on the floor, each and every one of them looking fiercer than the other, bright light lit up the tent from the upside giving Alena a large intangible shadow that grew shorter and more dense with every step she took towards the chieftains chair. As she sat down comfortably every single man and woman stood up in unison, none delaying, and they all yelled “great chieftain! true chieftain! only chieftain!” whereas they sat down once more.

“How have the other tribes been moving?” she asked with a steely voice, she was a tall robust woman, with fierce features, her eyes sharp as a hawk as she glanced at a large bald man with a gruff beard, he wore a patched leather outfit. He stood up and picked up a wooden stick which was used to move the war pieces on the war board which was laid out in the middle of the room.

There were several camps and tiny figures in different shapes and sizes planted on the large war board, however he only pointed at two different camps and pushed some of their figures onto different locations near a smaller camp “The Crow and Swallow tribe have finally begun their movement, just as you predicted chieftain, they are slowly setting up an ambush of our returning messenger troop, they should not be aware that we know what they are up to” The man smiled viciously as his coarse deep voice went silent and he sat back down.

The chieftain didn’t speak this time but simply changed the direction of her gaze onto an older lady, she was small and wrinkly, her hair wild and her eyes deep as the oceans, she stood up agilely as if she was a young woman wearing a disguise “The two tribes have finalized their alliance, and are secretly planning a wedding between the son of the chieftain of the Swallow tribe and the Daughter of the chieftain of the Crow tribe” she slowly began smiling viciously too, as she continued speaking her voice old and slow “our previous tactics were excellent at exploiting their weaknesses, the two tribe’s current chieftains have been lazy which was why we could take advantage of them, they now believe they are conquerors as they move to unite” the old lady began cackling “how wrong they are!” her laugher stopped in an instant, her voice was sharp and clear “our spies have long since infiltrated their ranks, we have long since mapped their trade routes and trade contracts, more than half of their farmers have been sending us a fifth of their grain, which has led to the so called famine that they are experiencing now, they are playing right into our hands”

Alena had a satisfied smile as she opened her mouth and spoke, her voice as steely as ever “I know that some of you had your misgivings at the beginning of our crusade to free ourselves from the Swallow’s and the Crow’s, I am aware that some of you had your doubts in me all those years ago when I succeeded my father, but you still supported me, you still trusted me, we have now been free from the tyranny of the two tribe’s, but many of our common people are still subjugated to their blind greed and cruelty, I say no more!” her final words loud and clear, this resulted in an eruption amongst the different advisors and elders of the tribe whom stood up and began yelling “No more!” “No More!” even the old lady was yelling loudly, tears running down her wrinkly cheeks.

After the advisors and elders had left the old lady stayed behind, she walked up to Alena and put her hand on her hand “Your father would be proud” she said quietly.

Alena had a rare sentimental expression as she looked at the old lady “Thank you Bolis, had it not been for your help and guidance during and after my ascension as chieftain I don’t know if I could’ve saved our tribe from the Crow’s and Swallow’s corrupting influence” while engaged in the nostalgia of hardships her steely tone had become unusually soft, it was only with Bolis that she spoke in such a gentle manner, and only in private.

“I heard that the shaman went to the Desolate Battlefield to try and repair the broken specter?” Bolis spoke the sentence casually, yet it evoked a strong response in Alena.

Her soft tone gone as she spoke steely again “True, I know that a majority of the council are doubtful in regards to our research into the staff of negativity, however it could prove a mighty weapon once we’ve rid ourselves of the Crow and Swallow tribe, at that point we’ll need strong protection, a protection which the staff might bring us!” her voice did not allow room for questioning as she gave Bolis an intense glare.

Bolis bowed her head lightly “yes of course chieftain” she spoke subserviently whereas she left the tent in long strides.

Alena looked her leave with a pang in her heart, a lot of resources had gone into studying the staff of negativity, a lot of manpower and time had gone into it, yet she had persisted, as such a weapon could prove the deterrent of the other tribes, it could be the ward that could keep her own tribe safe.

Bolis entered her tent in a rage, her wrinkly fists shaking out of frustration, the moment she entered the tent she called out “Son!” Shortly after a middle aged man entered the tent from a side entrance, he smelled of booze and had an unkempt beard; overall, he looked lazy and ill-begotten.

“Yes mother?” he asked lazily, it was clear that he had just awoken.

Seeing her son acting so left Bolis slightly dazed, she didn’t yell at him, she didn’t ask him to change, how could she expect him to after what he went through? She calmed down somewhat before she continued speaking “Son, go towards the Desolate Battlefield, find the Shaman, and protect him, even if I disagree with Alena, I must still support her” She sat down powerlessly , her tired bones feeling more powerless than ever, her eyes weary and her breath weak.

Whatever her son had wanted to say to rebut her, so that he could avoid leaving, was stopped halfway, seeing his mother being so fragile left him stunned. Within a short period of time he rode off towards the Desolate Battlefield, his desolate shadow stretching far in the last rays of sun

. . . .

A small trade caravan was settled for the night, a merchant, two guards, three peddlers and a chunky short-haired woman sat around a bonfire. She had friendly features and kept a light conversation with the merchant and the guards. The merchant was very polite, he was a skinny man with a large silver beard, and his black skin glistened in the dark as he kept conversing politely with the matron-like woman. He had picked her up in one of the villages that he had been visiting.

Embers flew around lightly in the cool breeze, which made the bonfire crackle in a low hum. While the merchant took a sip of his cup his eyes turned sharp “so what is the Crow’s assault chief during all the way out here?” he asked the question lightly, neither his guards nor his peddlers reacted to his words and just continued talking and eating.

However the woman felt an icy chill pass through her body, she shouldn’t have had any tell-tale signs of who she was, so how had he known? She knew that denying it would be a fool’s folly, the merchant was obviously not a normal man, was he a merchant at all? She thought to herself as she regained her calm, she smiled gently “who do I have the honor of speaking with?”

The man began laughing loudly as he placed his gaze upon her once more “I’ve have had enough of this charade” as his sentence finished the bonfire turned a deep shade of green as it instantly swallowed up the matron-like lady leaving no trace of her, it then quickly condensed into a small ball of flame that flew into the left eye of the merchant giving him two different coloured eyes, one purple and the other green.

One of the guards got up and began packing together with the peddlers, the other guard turned towards the merchant “Mahar, it was an unexpected gain for us to come across the assault chief, eventually you’ll have your revenge, although I wonder what she was doing out here, were you perhaps too rash?” he asked inquisitively, it wasn’t his revenge, but Mahar’s, and he like everyone else, owed the man everything.

Mahar took a deep breath, his feelings still vaguely unsettled, it was satisfying to see one of his enemies perish, although he did have to agree that he agreed with his subordinate, he had been too rash, regardless, a victory was a victory, he stood up briskly and clapped his hands, getting the attention of everyone around him “Friends, you have all decided to follow me, we have loyalty, however I do not want this to bring you to your death, I want to give you one last chance to leave before we join up with the Owl tribe, as we’ve gathered they should be planning some sort of big move soon, so hopefully we can join them before that, but this is my revenge, and largely has nothing to do with you” his eyes clear, his hands expressive, the moonlight lit up the scene of the charismatic man speaking with a deep timbre. No one responded, they all simply continued packing, leaving Mahar emotional, what had he done for these men to follow him? Truly? What had he done to deserve such loyalty?

. . . .

A week passed since the son of Bolis left, and on that day a ragged, bloodied and haggard young man dragged himself to the guards of the Owl tribe, they instantly recognized him as one of the shaman’s disciples, however where were the shaman and his other disciple!?

Soon the Chieftain Alena rushed over to infirmary where she quickly found the young man, had all hope of the staff been lost? Before she could give words to her worries the young man pulled out a small bag and spoke in a raspy voice, while coughing in between sentences “… Assaulted… I was the only one who made it… master gave me everything… told me to finish the staff… last will…” then the young man passed out, letting go of the bag, which landed in a rattle on the hard ground, the rune carved bones dropping out of it. Alena looked shocked, how much she had sacrificed for this staff! how much more she was willing to sacrifice!