35 The Disappearance of the Ice-river Clans

"Half an hour to go, let's start the march."

Blake looked at his pocket watch and informed his men.

Quickly the 50 men under his charge grabbed their helmets and weapons and began to advance into the middle of the forest.

For the past two months, they had been absorbing the Ice-river clans' settlements.

The Ice-river clans were scattered in a dozen settlements around the Milkwater River.

The first settlement, run by a mother named Alvene, was absorbed without producing major casualties, her men, tired and wounded, were completely demoralized after watching their warrior elites as they formed phalanxes.

Blake had arranged for women, children, and those with minor wounds to go to the outpost fortress. Their job would be to build huts around the fortresses, following the instructions of the builders left inside the fortress.

He could not give great treatment to those who had attacked his tribesmen, and although he considered it a waste, he ordered those with major wounds to stay in the settlements until they were healed, with a handful of women to care for them. If they healed within the next month to an acceptable degree they would be sent to the outpost fortress, otherwise, they would be left to their fate. Many of his tribesmen, especially Wymond complained, but Blake considered it a fair deal.

The bodies of the dead had already been burned before leaving the fortress, in a large bonfire that symbolized the victory of the black axe tribe in that battle, so the Ice-river clans people, made up mainly of women, would settle around the outpost fortress, forming the second village of the black axe tribe as Blake had planned.

They continued to annex villages with no problems, but the Ice-river clans had made a final stand, gathering their last men from the last 3 villages and garrisoning.

The last villages did not have that many men, Blake estimated that there must have been about 400 men in total, plus they did not have time to arm themselves or gather food.

Blake would have preferred to surround them, harassing them and forcing them to stay inside the settlement until they were starving and surrendered, that was the surest way to end this war, but the Ice-river clans were cannibals, they had no problem eating their weakest and wounded men to continue resisting.

Cam exposed that they could not waste any more time, they could not let them heal their wounds and rest, so initiating a quick attack was the most important thing.

The settlement in question where the Ice-river clans decided to make their final stand had no walls, the only defense they had managed to erect were palisades at the southern entrance.

So there were many ways in which to take this settlement.

Blake opted for the quickest and the one that would compromise the least lives of the tribesmen. They would make a pincer attack, from the south and the east.

In the group that would attack from the south was Cam, in command of his team of 50 warriors, plus another 100 belonging to the captured Ice-river clansmen.

These 100 men were the strongest and had received the fewest wounds, and would be placed at the front, leading the attack. Blake did not want the future warriors of the black axe tribe to take too many casualties, so he armed them with the spears, swords, and shields he had captured as booty from the settlements. Some weapons were mediocre, others were mangled, but at least they would not go to war naked.

On the Wymond side, there were also 100 men captured from the Ice-river clans. Thanks to the pocket watches he built, he devised a plan where the three sides would attack at the same time.

His job was to advance through the forest, kill any Ice-river clansmen he came across, and fire under the protection of the trees into the palisades, driving the Ice-river clansmen back and causing them to lose their last line of defense. This in turn would be very easy, as Clay's team consisted of excellent archers.

An average Free folk member could shoot an arrow up to 200 yards downwind. That's how strong they were.

But the black axe tribesmen, thanks to Blake-made longbows, could even reach 300 yards downwind, and up to 150 yards shooting at targets.

"Start beating drums and singing."

At Blake's command, 3 of his warriors brought out huge drums that Blake made in the outpost fortress.

And they all, in unison, began to sing.

This song was the one Blake had them sing as they ran through the tribe when training formations.

"Whence comes the wind?

it cannot be seen.

Whence comes the wind?

Whence comes the wind?

it cannot be seen.

it's wonderfully made."

The goal of all this was clear, to use the war drums and songs to intimidate and cause terror in the Ice-river clans.

Since arriving at the first settlement, Blake had used the same strategy, blowing 3 horns as he requested an audience.

And the settlements, terrified and tired, simply gave in and acceded to his demands.

The battle at the outpost fortress had been a terrible wound in the hearts of the Ice-river clansmen. An event that would haunt them for life.

This place was the only one that refused to surrender, something that Blake considered extremely foolish, in their position the only destiny they would have would be extinction.

Blake brought the group to a halt at the edge of the forest.

It was only a few minutes before the attack was to begin, but he did not stop the drums nor did he make his men stop singing, on the contrary, the song sounded louder and louder and faster.

In the palisades he could already see the movement of the Ice-river clansmen, they were nervous, restless, desperate.

"!!!!!!"

"!!!!!!!!"

A horn sounded from the south, and a few seconds later another sounded from the north.

Blake took the horn at his waist, placing it in his mouth and blowing.

"!!!!"

This third horn signified the start of the attack, so Blake gave the order and the 50-strong team drew their bows in unison, attacking the palisades.

"Keep firing, get them out of the stockades!"

The triple surprise attack was something the Ice-river clans could not defend, they did not have the numbers, the infrastructure, nor did they have a competent commander to lead them.

3 volleys of arrows were all Blake needed to drive back the few men of the Ice-river clans.

And he watched as Cam and Wymond attacked mercilessly from the flanks, Wymond's team was especially savage, he had almost died in the Ice-river clans ambush, and his son had lost a leg in the battle of the outpost fortress, Blake noticed that he did not follow his orders to let live those who surrendered, Wymond killed all the men who crossed his path, leaving only the women and children to keep their lives.

Cam on the other hand attacked more methodically, using what he had learned in phalanx training. He had no reason to be upset, as his son had survived the battle and had become the commander of the forward fortress while Wren was wounded, the survivors of the battle had given him a nickname, Zafar the Skull Breaker, as he was present throughout the battle and the men he killed by throwing them off the ramparts were countless.

As Blake planned, the defense of the last Ice-river clans settlement broke like wet paper in the face of such an attack.

"Let's go!"

After 30 minutes the battle was over, and Blake walked along with his team to meet Cam and Wymond.

"Finally this war will come to an end."

Wymond had brought the few survivors to their knees, a couple of dozen men who only surrendered towards the end of the battle when all was decided, and although some managed to flee running north, Blake had given orders not to pursue them, since most of those who escaped would die on their own as they had no resources and no place to stay.

Blake walked in front of the prisoners while thinking about what to do with them.

He had obtained information on who were the main culprits behind the attack on the settlements he captured, and to no one's surprise all of them were dead, they all fell leading the attack on the fortress. Most of those who escaped were those who disagreed with the savage named Cordell, but who could not refuse in the end.

"Kill me!"

An old man shouted from the row of kneeling men, attracting Blake's attention.

"You're one of them. I've seen them, walking in the middle of snowstorms, monsters just like you."

Blake stood in front of the old man, detailing him, he was quite old to live beyond the great wall, about 60 years old, he was bald and had a patchy white beard. Blake looking into his eyes saw only hatred and madness.

"Have you seen the others, old man?"

Blake focused his attention on the old man, it was the first time he had heard someone say they had directly seen the white walkers. This old man might be much more important than he first thought.

"I have seen them, and you are just like them. And you, who work with this monster, will have a worse fate than you brought down my children, my clan, I curse you!"

Blake kept looking interestedly at the old man, he was possibly the shaman of the Ice-river clans.

"Tell me everything you know, old man, and I promise to let you live."

Blake kept looking at the old shaman, who remained silent after his curse, refusing to answer.

"Crack!"

"Aahg!"

Blake signaled and Wymond kicked the old man, making him scream as he fell on his face.

"This is a promise, if you tell me everything you know about the others, I promise to release you, but you must stop using the Ice-river clan's name, your clan will be disbanded as of today."

He squatted down, looking at the old man. But in turn, the old man continued to stare down, refusing to look at him or answer him.

Blake scratched his head, hesitant about what to do, he was about to give Wymond another signal to hit him again, but he heard the words of another member of the Ice-river clans.

"He won't talk, all his children died attacking the fortress, he won't talk, even if you kill him."

The man who spoke towards Blake was someone also older, similar in age to the first elder.

Blake sighed, it was truly a tragedy to find someone with possible answers to his questions and be on such bad terms.

"It was you who attacked us first, and it was even you who attacked our fortress. The black axe tribe only fought back."

Blake stood up, looking at all the prisoners.

"The black axe tribe is willing to forgive you, in return we want you to join the tribe, not violate our rules and follow our Magnar. Accept and keep your lives, just like them."

Blake pointed to the members of the Ice-river clans who had agreed to join the tribe and had asserted their position by fighting alongside them.

"Or join them."

Blake pointed to the pile of corpses the tribesmen were gathering on one side of the settlement.

"Traitors who raised their weapons against their brothers, their fate will be the same as yours!"

The old man shouted again, throwing it against the ground.

Blake stood up placing himself to the side of the old man. Since it was obvious he was not going to join the tribe.

He had the impulse to signal Wymond to take over the job but considered it improper, he, as commander, should do it with his own hands.

"This is your last chance, old man."

Blake reached behind his back, pulling out the huge black axe, a symbol of his tribe.

"I spit on your mercy!"

"Slash!"

After the elder shouted his last words, Blake brought the axe down, chopping his head clean off.

The head rolled for a couple of meters because of the momentum after Blake's attack, where all the surviving Ice-river clans could see it.

"What will be your decision?"

Blake pointed the axe at the remaining men.

Most only hesitated for an instant before shouting that they agreed to join the black axe tribe.

Until only the second elder remained, who looked at Blake with moist eyes, possibly from the death of his friend.

"...If you are willing to spare my wife and daughters, I will also join the black axe tribe."

Blake placed his axe on the ground and leaned on it.

"It's all right, it was never my intention to separate family. Blame your luck, old man, none of this would have happened if it weren't for Cordell."

The old man looked into Blake's blue eyes for a few moments, nodding.

"The Ice-river clans will cease to exist as of today, and all their territory and people will become part of the black axe tribe."

With these words, the end of a clan that had existed for centuries, perhaps millennia, was marked.