Ayera

The wind of the Great Steppe blows his hair and he felt a little cold rushing all over his body.

"Even after all of these years" he muttered

Last night it rained and the cold air did not yet dissipate.

The harsh wind did not help.

Even though Mayeux had lived in the Great Steppe for all of his life, he still hated the cold.

He hated it with a burning passion. He took out his wolf fur and lay it over his clothes, still sitting on horseback.

Mayeux look at the people moving with their sheep, cattle and horses and he nodded in satisfaction.

'There doesn't seem to be any trouble' he mutters to himself

He then orders a few of his men to look at these people for him. If they show any signs of rebelling or wanting to fight, kill them all

Mayeux spoke loud enough so that those people could hear him and when they hear it they shrink their heads

But he also told his people that if anyone seems starving, give them food.

Probably this is also the reason why Aeryon chooses him to supervise the matter.

If its Belarion, how could he have such diplomatic thinking?

It is the tradition of the tribe to kill and annihilate every single one of the enemy tribes.

There is only in special circumstances that some people of the enemy tribe would be spared.

If its Belarion, or any other men in the Brolgadhr tribe was told to oversee the moving of so many people that is not of their own tribe or clan, the moment anyone falls down that person would be left to die.

IT would not be like Mayeux. Mayeux might like to think himself as the people of Marynku, and while he has Marynku blood, he also ahs the blood of a Roma inside him.

And the knowledge that he had learned made him stand out from the rest.

And not in a good way. Because of that, he rarely shows such side of him.

But now, such side could easily be seen in the way he acted.

He understood the task that Aeryon gave him and he understood the meaning of Aeryon strategy.

Food could be taken again from some other tribes, but you could not grow people. Aeryon method is very unlike any other Marynku people or any of the tribes in the Great Steppe

Making sure that there is nothing wrong, he returns back to his camp.

He takes a nap for a while but then when it is near afternoon, he went out and met his men.

And he once again trained them

Mayeux teaches them basic method to fight, slash and cut, and basis method of holding a weapon.

Most of them could shoot arrows and that is enough. What they should focus on is their teamwork.

Mayeux while training them could not help but thinking of how to make Aeryon let him lead an army

Just like Aeryon ambition is burning brightly after his victory against the Xewa and Ghar tribe, another man ignited the ambition inside his heart

When these two met each other again…..would they recognize each other ambition?

Would they complement each other or would they clash with each other?

While Mayeux is in the Brolgadhr settlement, in a distance away, near the occupied settlements of the Ghar tribe, there is a large tent.

Inside the tent, sitting on the ground, a piercing green eye is looking at a woman who kneels in front of him.

'Ayera'

The woman kneeling in front of him is a beauty.

The harsh climate of the Great Steppe does not mean that the woman are ugly and the men are hideous.

While they live in harsh environment, they eat meat and their diet made the men strong.

The wind and the water nourishes the people of the Great Steppe and any daughter of a chief is usually pretty and beautiful

But unlike their neighbours like Yan who extol the virtue of beauty the people of the Great Steppe did not care if the woman is beautiful.

They care if they woman is capable and could survive the harsh wind, the sweltering heat, the cold winter and the days when food is always scarce.

That is the kind of woman they value.

This woman that kneels in front of this man with piercing green eyes have long dark hair that falls in loose waves down her back.

Her skin is smooth and clear, with a natural flush in her cheeks.

She has almond shaped eyes. Her eyes are green in color and framed by long lashes.

She has high cheekbones, a small nose and full lips. The symmetry of her face and everything on her face is perfect

She wears fur clothing but even in such clothing, one could not hide such beauty

The woman raised her head and look at the middle age man

'Father'

The one in the tent is Garron. And the one kneeling in front of him is his only daughter.

Ayera.

Garron look at her daughter and for a moment he hesitated. But then he released sigh. He has a few sons but none satisfy him as his daughter had done.

His daughter possess great strength and she is good at riding horses. She is intelligent as she had learned the words of the Ashran and the words of the Yan

It is a pity that she is a woman.

Garron sighed and rubs his head

"Father, what is the matter?"

"There is a young chief" he began

He then began telling the horrifying feat of this young chief. Ayera listen and she frowned.

A young man, the same age as her, rush into the Xewa warrior, kill hundreds of men and then mange to beat Xewa tribe to retreat and seek the help of the Ghar tribe.

Then with her father, rides to the Ghar tribe, started a battle and defeated both the tribe. And today, that young chief is now attacking two small tribes

"Aeryon the Son of Rakarys has great ambition" Garron said

Ayera nodded.

Garron close his eyes for a moment and he sighed.

Then he said

"If he had stopped after taking the Xewa and Ghar tribe area, I would not worry that much about him. At least I would think he is gathering his strength. And while he is gathering his strength, I could also gather my strength."

Garron did not say that, if need be, it would not be below him to go to allied with the other tribes and turn around and attack the Brolgadhr tribe.

There is a reason why he is called the Viper and it is not because he is a trustworthy person.

'But, today, he wanted to subjugate the two small tribes near his tribe. This person…. has ambition' he once again repeated this word.

Ayera knows her father. He did not like to repeat his words. The fact that he repeats his words is to emphasize this matter to her

"Then we should kill him before he could grow" Ayera said decisively.

Garron only smiles.

But he remembers last night. Aeryon and Belarion enter his tent. Only two men. His fifty warriors did not enter the tent and they are far away.

If it was any other person that Garron wanted to kill, he would have killed them that night. Even if the fifty men come charging, the killing would commence

And they could easily be subdued after their leader is dead

Just like how they defeated the Xewa and Ghar tribe.

Then why did he not kill Aeryon? Because he is not confident, he could kill him and walk out of that tent alive.

Even if he somehow, he managed to kill Aeryon, there is still Belarion.

One of Garron warriors spoke how Belarion grab a hold of someone head and crush the head of his enemy simply by squeezing his palm

Two men. And he has hundreds. But even then, he could not summon the courage to try to kill the young chief

Because he is too close. Because he knows if he tries and he failed, what awaits him is death.

And he does not do a plan where he dies. He survived his brothers. And he does not want to die under the hand of that young chief

"I could not kill him"

"Can't? Or Wont?"

"can't"

"Father…"

"I believe that if I try to kill him, he would have killed me before I could draw my sword"

Garron had seen how powerful Aeryon is in battle. There is a reason why those two came alone into the tent

It almost seems like Aeryon wanted to goad him to attack him.

Aeryon alone could kill hundreds of men.

And with Belarion beside him, these two people could kill him and his commander and his warriors and brush the entire camp and kills hundreds of his men afterward even before dawn arrives.

"Then what should we do?"

Ayera knows the ambition of her father. His father wanted to return back to the North of the Great Steppe, the land that lies north out of the Flat Hill.

He wanted to unite back the tribe of Utgard, and return back to the glory days of the Utgard tribe.

This is not only his ambition. It is her ambition, the ambition of her brother, the ambition of her uncles and the ambition of her tribe.

"I intend to betroth you to him"

At this answer Ayera was shocked.

"This young man, if he did not die young probably is going to be a very formidable enemy to our tribe"

"I have seen him. Even though his tribe is small, he has two reliable people that he could rely on. One of them is this sworn brother Belarion. The other is one of his warrior, Mayeux. These two people have their own specialties. And they both have ability"

He did not say the other factor he fears Aeryon for. He did not worry about a hundred lions being led by a sheep.

What he worries is when a hundred sheep is being led by a lion

Aeryon has that kind of power, a charisma that overwhelms people. He met that young man only a few times but this young have leave quite an impression on him.

For a moment Ayera could not even hear what her father was saying. She always knows that she is going to be married off to some powerful people to secure the alliance between tribes

But now that it happened, it does shock her a little bit

"You should go to the Brolgadhr tribe and look around. Try to endear yourself to the people of his tribe"

For a moment there is silence and then she asks

'What is my task?"

Hearing this Garron sighed. He did not want her daughter to take such task but she is the only on that is suitable. And Garron also have an idea to try to make sure that the Brolgadhr tribe not see their tribe as an enemy.

The alliance between tribes is secured in many ways and one such ways is the union between two tribes.

"Your marriage is not yet decided. There is always a chance that he would die before the day of the marriage" Garron said and Ayera understood.

She knows her task now.

She was to act like a spy or even assassins. Garron could trust his daughter because his daughter is not only smart but she was also skilled in the sword.

She might not posses ability to wrestle and subdue people like some warriors do, but she is agile in her moves, she is trained in many methods of killing from using daggers, to bows and hidden weapons, to the use of swords.

The lands of the Great Steppe are harsh, and it trained harsh men…and harsh women.

To the people of Yan, such women is undesirable.

For they have something called the Three Obedience and Four Virtues and a woman like Ayera would be something strange to them

The woman of the tribes might not kill like the warriors that fought on top of their horses with bows and arrows, swords and spear but when any tribe is faced with the annihilation of the entire tribe, every men, women and child will took anything that could eb a weapon and fight to the death

This is why even after Aeryon attacked the Xewa tribe and the Ghar tribe and manage to kill their warriors, he did not attack the people of the Xewa tribe and the Ghar tribe.

Because the only choice left by then is to thoroughly killed every one last of them.

You should not expect to try to kill a wolf and not have the wolf try to bite you.

Ayera got up and was about to leave.

Garron close his eyes and he mutter

"Thank you...''and his words seems like there is something else. And then other words come out from his mouth

"Sorry'' And Ayera halted her steps.

The wind blows the curtain and the curtain flaps a bit.

The words were faint.

It almost like he had never said it.

She did not turn around and Garron did not call her.

Was it really his words or was it something she imagined? But she knows better not to ask and Garron would not tell.

The moment passes and without looking back Ayera walk out of the tent.

Inside the tent, someone heaved a long sigh.

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