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The battle was over, and Orin was sitting by the burning ruins of one of the defeated enemy's tents, wiping the blood off his weapons and armor.
It had been a week since he had forced Druvak and his forces into battle, greatly diminishing their strength, and ever since, his army had been riding roughshod over multiple probing forces like the one he had just crushed.
Curious about why so many small groups like this were probing into contested land, and all of them from different small to medium tribes from the Frozen Fang and Rising Horn factions. Orin decided to interrogate as many of his defeated foes as he could get his hands on.
Orin's findings led him to a few conclusions, but the one he believed to be the most plausible was that these small probing groups were expandable, especially in the eyes of the faction that sent them. After further interrogation, it was discovered that these groups from smaller tribes were sent out in a rush to buy time.
But buy time for what exactly? Apparently, the answer was himself. The Frozen Fang and Rising Horn factions expected this to be a simple territory dispute that the border tribes could handle, but when word of the Rock Claw tribe's arrival got back to them, they were spooked.
Why did such a big tribe like the Rock Claw tribe take interest in this conflict? Was there something valuable in the contested territory that was of interest to such a powerful tribe? Could they take it for themselves if they found whatever it was and claimed the territory as their own? What if the Rock Claw tribe conquered the territory? Would they stop at just that? Those were just a few of the worrying questions that the two leading factions had, and that was enough to spur them to action.
But preparing for a fight with the Rock Claw tribe was no small thing. Preparations needed time, time to rally the surrounding tribes to march, time to arm and armor up their men, time to call in favors and threaten others into compliance, time they just did not have if they did not want the Rock Claw tribe to have a firm foothold in the area, so they had to send those closest to the contested territory to buy time.
Orin chuckled to himself at learning what he did, as he looked up from the fire to see his brother and second in command, Voro. "What do you think we should do, brother? Things are getting out of hand fast. What was originally just helping out with a territorial dispute is soon turning into a three-way war, or worse, the Frozen Fang and Rising Horn factions may ally against us."
Voro nodded. "One possible solution would be just running away, but that would be detrimental not only to our reputation for running away from a fight that has yet to truly begin, but also abandoning those we made a deal with."
Orin nodded in agreement. "If we run away now, not only would our enemies not take us seriously, but the rest of the Alliance won't either. We may currently have a lot of men, but not enough to face two armies… I think it is time to call on Father."
"Do you think he can make it here in time?" Voro asked.
"I sure hope so. We may not be able to beat two armies, but I am confident we can slow them down. Send word of what we found with three riders back home by different routes, give them two extra horses to ride hard and swap out. As for us, when morning comes, we split into two groups. You will push toward where the Frozen Fang tribe would come from, and I will push toward the direction of the Rising Horn tribe. From there, we will trap and obstruct as much of the paths as possible, and leave behind teams to harass anyone who comes near." Orin instructed.
***
"You will reimburse trader Bar'suol with either a horse no younger than four years old and no older than eight years old, or the equivalent in coin." Grud said as he ruled on the conclusion of a dispute.
"But Chieften! It was an accident. My son was merely playing a harmless prank. Surely-" the man who was ruled against protested.
"And yet," Grud cut the man off, "Damage has been done to trader Bar'suol's livelihood, far from what I would call a 'harmless prank'. To make things right, I would have made your son pay, but seeing as the boy is five years old, I find that to be an unreasonable demand. So the responsibility falls on his parents." Grud said, pointing at the man.
"But, but," the man stammered weakly, not having a good reason to object.
"Or would you disown the boy and let him fend this burden himself? I am sure you know how I feel about that." Grud said flatly, but the man knew better than to say anything further.
Seeing that there were no more objections, Grud dismissed the petitioners with a handwave.
When the petitioners left, the only people who were in the office were Grud's assistant, Zuka, and one of his wives, Adana.
Grud turned to Zuka and said, "Please help run over to Sonu, and ask her to give that man a good price if he decides to buy a horse for reparations."
Catching his meaning, Zuka gave a nod and a smile before making his way out of the room, allowing Grud to finally slump in his chair.
"That should be the last one for the day." Grud exhaled as he rubbed his temples from having to deal with the tribes disputes.
As he massaged his temples, Grud heard Adana walk behind him and run her fingers through his hair before massaging his head, making him groan in pleasure as her fingers applied pressure to his scalp.
She then bent over and whispered sultrily in his ear, "You like that, don't you?" and was answered by a groan in the positive before continuing her whispers, "Then how about after I am done massaging your head, I slip under the table and massage your other head?"
Grud was about to groan in the affirmative, but was interrupted by a banging on the door, "Chieftain, chieftain! Urgent message from your son, Orin!"
With his blissful massage interrupted by more important matters, he called the messenger in and received the word from his son.
After hearing the message and asking a few questions, he dismissed the messenger to go get some rest as he stretched his fingers on his desk in contemplation of his next move.
As he was thinking, Adana pulled her chair closer to him and quietly held his arm in silent support of whatever he was going to decide.
After a few minutes, Grud called out to see if there was anyone outside his office, and a young man who worked as his assistant Zuka's assistant, poked his head into the room, "Yes, Chieftain?"
"Call the tribe elders. We are going to war." Grud said, and the assistant ran off with a pale face. He then turned to Adana and said, "Go tell our family's shamans that we will soon have the chance to test the World Language in battle. Anyone interested must be prepared to leave by tomorrow."
Adana nodded and stood to leave, but not before Grud gave her ass a slap and squeeze.
***
By the time Grud was done meeting with the tribe elders, the sun had already set. But despite that, the whole of the chiefdom was awake and bustling with activity. Word had already spread, and almost every able-bodied man who was not critical to the running of the tribe or family business was preparing to march.
These men were the ones who were either marching because their sons, brothers, fathers, or friends were fighting alongside Orin and wanted to support them, or those who would march only because their chieftain Grud was going.
As for Grud's household, many of his sons started their preparations too, especially the members of his family who were shamans, even the women.
But World Language was not the only advantage Grud was bringing into the war. He was also going to flex his family's logistical might. Ever since his family started selling the dehydrated rations, it has been stockpiling them. And for such an occasion as war, he ordered them all loaded on supply wagons and prepared to move. With these, in case of emergencies, all they needed was to add water to their meals, or they could eat the dehydrated meals as is, if they do not mind their meal hard and salty.
***
The next day, by late morning, an army, four hundred strong, left the gates of the Rock Claw tribe, and that was excluding Grud's family, who were riding in shared carriages. And as for Grud, he was riding his personal carriage, accompanied by his usual travel companion when she was not pregnant, Mita.