Overwhelming Firepower

After he was done talking to his father, Lucen called Thrall to his room. It didn’t take long for Thrall to arrive.

Seeing Thrall arrive wearing fur clothes and showing off his tattoos made Lucen smile a bit. Even after staying and training with them all these years, the young barbarian remained mostly the same.

”Hey, chief, why did you call me?”

”I’m planning to head to the nearest barbarian tribes and ask them to fight with us.”

”Huh?”

”I need your help to tell me how to make that possible.”

Thrall, who was confused at first, was now sure of what he heard. Thrall then showed a ferocious smile on his face.

”Hahaha! So you’re finally planning on conquering the Tribes chief! So before this Styrhord against twenty thousand will warm up with the tribes.”

”Stop!” Lucen raised his hand to stop Thrall from becoming even more excited. ”You’re mistaken, I don’t want to conquer them, I just want them to fight with us in the upcoming Styrhord.”

”Huh, isn’t that the same thing? If you want any of the tribes to fight with you, then you should conquer them.”

”Then they will be fighting under me, not with me.”

”...You stone dwellers really are weird, you make everything so complicated,” Thrall spoke, sounding a little frustrated.

”So, is there any way to allow them to fight with us without conquering them?”

”... There is only one other way I know to do that.”

”What is it?”

”There’s the Einvígi. It’s a battle between two champions, the strongest of either tribe, which is usually the chief. The winner gets to ask for one thing from the loser’s chief. Except for making the losers end their own lives, any request that they can make will be fulfilled.”

Lucen nodded his head as he expected something similar. ”Then that’s what we’re going to do.”

***

Once he was done talking with Thrall, Lucen called Harlik to his room and told the other party to prepare the members of Thornefang for the upcoming Styrhord, while he, Sir Thalos, and Thrall head to the barbarian tribes.

Once Lucen told Harlik what he needed to do and was about to leave, Lucen spoke up.

”Hey, Harlik, you and the others... If there’s a chance that you can just go and not join me in this Styrhord, will you do it?”

Harlik looked at Lucen, surprised to hear what the other party just said. He paused for a second before answering.

”Little leader... No, you’re not so little anymore. Leader, we’ve been in a lot of battles, any of which could have been our last. Yet no matter what, we’ve always stood by each other. That will not change now or in the future. You saved us, despite us being your enemies in the beginning.”

Harlik looked at Lucen directly in his eyes. The former mercenary, who had numerous scars before, had gained more now.

”Remember, I told you before, we’re like family, and you’re part of that family. We will never abandon our family. You granted us a lot of things. A home we can return to, where our families now live well with smiles on their faces. You also told us you will grant us a future where we can choose why we live and why we die. This is the choice I have made, and I’m sure the others will make the same choice as well. We have only seen a small part of that grand dream of yours. I wish to see it to its fruition.”

The way Harlik spoke, the words that were spoken, the light from the window, and the way he looked at him, the only thing missing was emotional background music, and Lucen might think this was a cut scene from the game.

The thought made Lucen smile. ’I guess this moment needs an answer worthy of the scene.’

”Then let us see it through... Until the end.”

Seeing the confident smile return to Lucen’s face made Harlik smile as well. He then placed his right hand over his chest and bowed. ”Until the very end.”

***

When his conversation with Harlik ended, Lucen started preparing for his trip to the barbarian tribes.

His Father once again appointed Sir Thalos as his guard, and with Thrall as the guide, this trip should be successful.

Preparations were swift. Before leaving, Lucen went to look for his little brother Cael, but the other party was busy training, and Lucen did not want to disturb him.

This time around his Father, and the others were not present to see him off. Everyone was busy preparing for the upcoming Styrhord.

Sir Thalos, who had been to a few barbarian tribes, was wearing his usual armor and only brought a few supplies. Thrall did not bring much as well.

Lucen adjusted his Thornefang trench coat as the cold wind brushed against his face. The group then rode their horses, ready to depart.

Lucen looked at his companions for this journey and nodded his head. The group then left Ironhold, going northwest the area were most of the barbarian tribes were located.

The first place they were going to was a tribe with which they already had a good relationship. The name of the tribe was the stone hawk tribe.

The journey to the barbarian tribes was a quiet one. Snow blanketed the land in uneven sheets, broken only by stone outcroppings and the dark silhouettes of pine trees.

The farther they rode, the thinner the roads became, until even the tracks left by travelers vanished beneath fresh snowfall.

Thrall seemed far more relaxed the deeper they went. He started sniffing the area like a dog, and found the smell of the area truly relaxing.

”So we’re heading to the Stone Hawk Tribe first, right?” Thrall suddenly asked.

”Yes, have you been in contact with them before?” Lucen responded.

”Yes, you could say that.”

The second Lucen heard Thrall’s vague response, he found it and this situation quite familiar.

’Is this the trope of when I don’t bother to ask a follow-up question, and then when we arrive at the Stone Hawk Tribe, I learn that Thrall did something before, and we get captured?’

Lucen couldn’t help but think that way since he had seen this type of trope in many of the light novels he used to read.

”Thrall, what exactly did you do to the Stone Hawk Tribe?”

”Nothing much, I did beat up a few of them after they stole the monster I hunted down.”

”When you say beat up, you did not kill them, right?”

Hearing what Lucen said, Thrall looked at him as if he were very offended.

”You people might call us barbarians, but we aren’t savages. They might have stolen my prey, but they were young, brave warriors. I simply punched them until they fainted.”

”Is that all you did?”

”Yes... Don’t worry, that was a long time ago, when I too was but a young hunter. I have already spoken to their chief, and the problem was settled. They stole my prey, and I punched them until they fainted. The chief agreed that I was in the right, and was actually grateful I didn’t kill them or take their hands as was the law in most tribes if one steals from another.”

Lucen stared at Thrall for a few seconds. ”I guess that’s a good enough explanation for now.”

”Stop worrying already, chief. Unlike the humans living within the stone, we of the tribes don’t hold grudges and are more open about many things.”

”That is true, young lord. The people from the different tribes don’t scheme. In fact, I believe they don’t even know or understand the meaning of the word.” Sir Thalos joined in the conversation.

”I see... That is quite reassuring to hear.” Lucen nodded his head, and that was the end of that conversation as they continued on their journey.

As the sun dipped lower, the terrain began to change. The trees thinned, giving way to jagged stone formations that rose like broken spears from the ground. High above, large birds circled, their cries sharp and piercing.

Thrall glanced upward. ”Those things are the Stone Hawks that the Stone Hawk tribe is named after.”

”Why are they called that?”

”It’s nothing special, it’s because our ancestors thought that those large hawks were as hard as stone. At the time, stone was the hardest thing they knew of, but the Stone Hawks are actually harder than steel, and they’re quite hard to hunt.”

Thrall answered while looking at the Stone Hawks circling around the area. While they were talking, Sir Thalos suddenly stopped his horse, seeing that the others did the same. Thrall took a whiff of the area and spoke.

”Two people are approaching.”

The ones approaching held spears in their hands, wearing fur over their body but still showing off the tattoos on their bare chests, arms, and legs.

Unlike Thrall’s tattoos, which were greyish colored, the ones from these people were dark blue in color, similar to the feathers of the Stone Hawks Lucen saw.

It was not hard to guess who these people were. The warriors of the Stone Hawk Tribe.