34 Drums of War

"Bite this and close your eyes!"

"Slash!"

"MMMMGGGHHFF!!!"

Alvene wiped away the blood that had splattered on her face after cutting off the arm of one of her clansmen.

"Get your arm into the embers of the campfire, quick, before you bleed to death!"

"MMGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Without waiting, she led the man in front of a campfire, causing him to place his arm in the ashes, burning himself, and thus stopping the bleeding.

Alvene watched as the boy passed out after that. He was young, younger than her youngest son, no doubt it was a tragedy that he lost his arm from the wounds of that terrible battle.

"Mother Alvene, we are running out of food, we must go out hunting or we will starve to death!"

Alvene left the wounded boy in one of the clan huts, and as she left, another young man approached her, bringing terrible news.

"Get all the spearwomen out to hunt in the Haunted forest, we need to gather all the food we can to go upriver!"

Alvene shouted the orders, but no one in the clan moved, everyone, men and women, looked at her with dubious faces for a few seconds until one spearwoman raised her voice.

"The forest is controlled by the monsters of the black axe tribe, if we go, we will die too."

Alvene gritted her teeth.

"If we don't go, they won't need to murder us, we'll starve to death in a week!"

The clan members fell silent again.

"How about we first look to see if Cordell succeeded in taking the black axe tribe's stronghold?"

A clan warrior, with several wounds on his arms and face, asked the question to Alvene.

"Let the others take Cordell!!!"

Alvene shouted before spitting in disgust as if the mere mention of the name made him nauseous.

"No one will go near that damned place again, besides, we have to leave from here, northward, as far away from the black axe tribe as possible!"

What happened those days, in which almost all the men of her clan died trying to take that fortress, which seemed to have come out of nowhere, she would never forget!

She remembered with distaste how it all happened because of Cordell.

A little over a year ago the clan beaters had spotted a huge caravan passing along the banks of the Milkwater River. The news spread like wildfire throughout the Ice-river clan settlements within days.

When Cordell, one of the worst bandits among her clan heard this news, he led his band of over 40 men to rob the caravan.

Cordell was unsuccessful, and his entire band was killed, but this was not the end of the problems. After a while, several members of the clan began to disappear south of the Haunted forest.

She was the mother of the southernmost settlement of the Ice-river clans, so most of the missing were her men.

The only large settlement to the south of the clan was the black axe tribe, who over the past few years had grown very rapidly, absorbing all the surrounding villages.

At first, Alvene thought that the leader of that tribe intended to become the king beyond the great wall, so there would soon be a great battle between the black axe tribe and the ice river clans for control of the territory, she was not afraid, the ice river clans had existed for hundreds of years, and all together they were one of the most powerful forces, even capable of fighting giants. But the answer she received was something very different from what she expected.

As if by the most mysterious sorcery she had ever heard of, a huge fortress had appeared overnight and stuck on spears surrounding the entire surrounding terrain, the heads of all the missing clan members could be seen.

The revenge of the black axe tribe had come much sooner than she thought, in the form of high walls and the lives of her men.

Alvene would have moved all her men in an attack on the fortress but for the fact that something felt strange. How was it possible for that huge place to appear overnight? Alvene could not imagine in any other way than magic.

And there were several strange rumors concerning the black axe tribe that she didn't like. It was said that the Magnar of the tribe was a huge man who with his immense out was capable of splitting a man in half, also that when he got angry his hair would burst into flames, chasing all his enemies to death.

There were many such rumors, so Alvene was in no way intimidated by these rumors, but the most curious thing was that this man had slept with a daughter of the forest, murdered her, and kept the child product of their relationship, and that child was capable of magic, producing incredible things for the black axe tribe.

Alvene had heard these rumors like the many foolish things men tell when they get drunk, but seeing that strength, she didn't know what to think about it.

After that, the greatest tragedy to befall her clan since its inception happened.

Cordell, he who had failed in his attack on the caravan of the black axe tribe, had taken advantage of the proximity of the fortress, and the fact that they had the heads of the clan members adorning their pikes, to incite all the ice river clan settlements to attack.

He had started with the northernmost settlements, and slowly gathered a larger and larger army, with the promise that the black axe tribe was very rich and that their women were beautiful and virgins.

For Alvene attacking that fortress was a mistake, there were many strange things concerning his appearance and the place where she was. But when Cordell arrived at her settlement demanding men to join the battle and food to feed them, Alvene had no way of refusing.

There had been tens of hundreds that Cordell had managed to gather, an army the likes of which had never been seen in the ice river clans. Cordell had even bragged that he could be the next king beyond the wall, and several of her men had agreed with him.

Only now did he realize how immensely stupid his words were.

What happened in the battle could only be compared to the bloodiest nightmares in the most twisted minds.

Hundreds died approaching the fortress, hundreds more died trying to scale the walls. She escaped with her men at dawn on the second day, when she saw with shock all those who had died during the night, many followed her, but the damage was done.

Half of her men were dead by the time she retreated, and that number was divided again when the wounded, mostly from arrows, began to fall on the road.

She had not been the wiser, as a few more had escaped during the first night, but it was the same, many of them also died from wounds.

After they settled, Alvene set about trying to save the lives of her men and receive the wounded coming from the south. In the end, less than 1/3 of the men who left for the battle made it back, as many fell on the way, falling prey to hunger or wounds.

"Do you think they will come after us?"

A small frightened woman looked at Alvene as she asked the question.

"Since Cordell attacked a few of your men, they built a fortress at our gates. And because of our stupidity in trying to tear it down, we lost most of our warriors. They will come after us, they will never let us go, I don't know when they will come, but I am sure, if we stay here any longer, we will have their spears in our necks soon."

Alvene would have bitten her tongue for saying such an omen had it not been for the clan beaters coming from the south at full speed.

"IT'S THE BLACK AXE TRIBESMEN, THEY'RE COMING FROM THE FORTRESS, THEY'LL BE HERE SOON!"

One of them shouted at the top of his lungs when he arrived in front of Alvene, and shouts and screams of concern filled the entire clan.

"Those demons have followed us here!?"

"We must flee north, as soon as possible!"

"My father was wounded and can't move, someone help me carry him!"

Panic spread too fast, and Alvene was afraid that the wounded would be trampled to death by their brothers before the black axe tribesmen arrived.

"SHUT UP, THE WOUNDED AND THE CHILDREN WILL GO UPSTREAM, EVERYONE WHO CAN HOLD A WEAPON WILL COME WITH ME TO MEET THE BLACK AXE TRIBESMEN!!!"

Alvene's command managed to control the situation and keep it from escalating any further.

There were too many wounded in the clan, men and women who had been wounded by arrows or had lost limbs after their flesh rotted away.

If they escaped without further ado, they would be overtaken in short order.

There was also the option of leaving the wounded and letting them make as much time as possible while the others escaped.

But the problem with this plan was that the wounded were overwhelmingly the best warriors in the clan, if they left them and escaped now, when the black axe tribesmen finally caught up with them, there would be no one else who could fight.

Alvene began to organize the men and women capable of holding a weapon in front of the settlement. She thought perhaps she could beg for forgiveness, the settlement was full of women and children that the black axe tribe could take, but then again, they would most likely take the women and murder the wounded and the children.

Alvene gritted her teeth in more desperation than anger, she couldn't find a way out, she could only curse Cordell and pray to the old gods that there wouldn't be too many of them.

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Alvene's heart skipped a beat as she began to hear the drums in the distance, only a well-organized army like Thenn's had war drums when they went to war.

All her men were terrified by the drums, trembling as they held the spears.

As they drew closer, the sound of the drums grew louder, as did a strange melody coming from their mouths.

They did not charge like bloodthirsty beasts, they were incredibly well organized, all fully armed, with large shields and spears.

Alvene's heart skipped a beat looking at the perfect formations of the black axe tribesmen, they looked nothing like Free folk, but like the disciplined army of a lord south of the Great Wall.

Condition, weapons, discipline, and morale were superior to her men, except for their numbers, Alvene estimated that there were perhaps 200 people among the black axe tribe alone, when she had managed to gather at least 400 in her settlement. But Alvina did not think for an instant that they could win in case the black axe tribesmen started the attack, for she had only wounded and starving men as well as children and women. And on the other side, they were all fully armed warriors, without a hint of fear or hesitation on their faces.

"Three winters in succession,

and no summer between."

As they approached, Alvene managed to hear the melody they were singing, all in unison, like some kind of war ritual.

"I remember Great Winter

snow was drive from all quarters,

frosts were be great then, and winds sharp.

This winter will come back"

Alvene got a shiver down her spine at the melody, for they were true, and now the black axe tribe would fall upon them, cutting their flesh like the icy breezes of winter.

As they were about to come within 50 yards of each other, Alvene signaled and the archers drew their bows, ready to fire. But the army of the black axe tribesmen stopped dead in their tracks, and for several minutes that seemed like an eternity to them, none of the black axe tribesmen moved.

"!!!!!!!"

A horn sounded from the army, and they watched in fright as the shields opened revealing the figure of a boy who walked a few steps from the formation.

The small boy wore full armor, along with a huge black axe on his back, the weapon was slanted, as it was even larger than the boy.

Alvene had had several children, and in her settlement, there were many more, and yet she had never seen a boy with such physical characteristics.

"He is the son of the forest who is in the black axe tribe, he is real!"

"It's the son of the Magnar!"

"We messed with a son of the forest, the spirits will never leave us alone!"

Desperate shouts and whispers began to be heard in the crowd behind Alvene.

They had followed her as she had proven to be a great leader, besides, she saved their lives by making the retreat in the last battle, but they seemed about to drop their weapons and run along with the wounded.

Alvene wondered, if they had all escaped when the news came that the black axe tribesmen were on their way, could they have reached the next settlement of the ice river clans? Alvene shook her head, they would have been killed on the way.

Alvene was about to order them to shoot arrows to avoid losing what little morale her men had left.

"Unless you want to die, I demand the presence of the leader of your settlement!"

The boy's cry passed through the ears of everyone in the clan like the cold winter wind.

Everyone swallowed saliva and gave Alvene a look, as the black axe tribesmen seemed willing to negotiate.

Alvene gritted her teeth for a few moments, but finally walked a few steps ahead of her men.

(They seem to want to negotiate, and they don't want to lose their men by attacking us uselessly, maybe I can end this problem by handing over several of our women...) Alvene thought hopefully.

Despite the great attack they had made, they had not managed to cause many casualties on the other side. If she could end this by just handing over her daughters and several of her women, it would be a small price to pay.

Alvene began to walk in the direction of the army, and with each step, she took her expression worsened. Only up close could she notice how incredibly well-armed the black axe tribesmen were.

They all had helmets, chain mail, swords, daggers, gloves, and long cloaks...

(I cannot allow a confrontation to take place) She thought pessimistically, she was not a coward, but if a battle were to take place, it would only end in carnage for her people.

When she was 10 feet away from the strange boy, he signaled for her to stop.

"Are you the leader of this settlement?"

The child asked, and Alvene saw only apathy and an everlasting indifference in his eyes, more than the look of a child, it looked like the look of a monster...

"I am Alvene, mother of the red spears among the river clans. Who are you?"

Alvene introduced herself and asked the question as respectfully as she could.

"No, you will not ask questions. I will ask and you will answer, if you lie or refuse to answer, I will march my men upon your settlement, making sure to slaughter everyone, is that clear?"

Sweat formed on Alvene's back and forehead listening to the terrible statements coming out of the boy's mouth, she was right, it was a monster she had in front of her.

Alvene had the urge to run back to her settlement as she screamed for arrows to be shot, but reason kept her in place, not moving, as any carelessness would destroy her people.

"Alright..."

Alvene's words were slow and low, like a whisper she forced herself to say, but the boy in front of her nodded to her, accepting them.

"How many people are in your settlement, tell me the number of men, women, and children, a leader like you should know how to number them to maintain such a large settlement."

Alvene lowered her head slightly for a few seconds, trembling, but finally forced herself to answer. The negotiation plan seemed impossible.

"There are about 300 men, but at least 200 of them are wounded, we have about 400 women and about 100 children."

Alvene looked at the boy nodding, still apathetic.

"How long can they survive on the food they have?"

"The food will run out after three days."

"It's pretty meager."

Alvene saw the boy bring one of his hands to his chin as if he was thinking deeply about something. After a few seconds, he nodded and looked her straight in the eyes.

"This is the last question, answer with an I accept or shake your head."

The ghostly boy put his hand behind his back, pulling out the huge black axe that was even taller than him, only the gods knew how heavy that thing was. And Alvina watched as he pointed it at her face.

"Will you join the black axe tribe or die?"

Alvina gave a sigh and closed her eyes, this answer took her no effort to say, there was only one path to survival.

"I accept."