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Growth

"Crack, crack, crack."

"Crack, crack, crack, crack."

Blake was meticulously carving a piece of white, Weirwood.

Blake made each carving with great care, this log of wood had been painstakingly brought in after a storm brought down the tree in the Haunted forest.

What Blake was making was an improved version of the spruce comb and fork he had made over a year ago, and with the leftover wood, he was thinking of adding a carved eagle earring.

When he finished, Blake looked at his work with satisfaction. The comb had smoother teeth than the previous one, and the fork had a better carving of the dragon, which circled the entire fork. It was undoubtedly his best work.

He looked at the rest of the trunk and decided to make a box to put them in, and in the center of the box, he carved the symbol of the clan, a black axe.

So that the buyers would know who had made it, and thus make his name known as a craftsman among the nobles or whoever had enough money to buy this.

So that the comb, hairpin, and garlic knife would not get scratched, Blake placed thin strands of dried stalk inside the box, then closed it and realized that it was dawn.

Blake left the hut to look for fresh fish that he kept outside on the ice and watched the tribe for a few minutes in between.

The Axe Nagra tribe had grown at least three times in size during the year since Oswin had become the Magnar.

Even in the darkness, Blake could see as clear as day the hundred or so huts that made up the tribe.

How it grew was not simple. After Oswin returned from that trip to Shadow Tower a year ago, he began visiting different tribes offering Blake's wares, especially clothing, in exchange for skins, horns, and in some cases pieces of armor or weapons.

Oswin also invited to the tribe all the lonely free men, or small settlements he found along the way, offering them food, clothing, and a warm place to sleep with their children.

Thanks to Oswin's charisma, the tribe had grown, and it was Blake's turn to devise ways to feed all these people.

Oswin ordered expeditions to the frozen tusks to catch goats and thus increase the stables, he also ordered expeditions to the coasts where he had them boil seawater to get salt.

He made small huts where he used soil and tree bark to grow all the edible mushrooms of the Haunted Forest.

He raised as many chickens as he could and thus had more eggs, managing to increase the number of stables to four and the number of chicken coops to five, which he zealously guarded and had members of the tribe watching over them day and night.

Blake also after several trials and failures managed to make a simple spinning machine to work the little wool provided by the goats.

He made cheese from the milk of the goats and the Aurochs, somehow managing to get enough food to feed the tribe at least twice a day.

The negotiations he was doing with Shadow Tower were going better and better, as the fortress commander had been able to make good use of Blake's products, earning good money. And if the news they received from the South that the war was over were true, now the money they would earn would only increase, as the noble houses would stop worrying about the war.

The wall surrounding the tribe had also increased, both in height and thickness and although they had received some attacks, they had never managed to breach the wall in large numbers, being killed by the tribe's warriors in short order.

Blake took the fish needed for Ygritte, her father, and their women and returned to prepare the meal. After cooking he would have to go down and take care of the tribe's breakfast and divide the food.

"Ygritte, it's morning, get up."

Blake sat on Ygritte's bed patting her to get up.

"I want to sleep more..."

Between babbles, Ygritte refused to get up causing Blake to finally carry her in his arms towards the campfire where their breakfast was.

"Blake is cold!!!"

The girl squirmed in Blake's arms begging for release.

"Here's breakfast, eat quickly, I have to get down to the tribe."

Blake put the little girl down and began to prepare for the busy day.

Ygritte was already three years old, and Blake even at the same age was twice as tall as her because of his build. He could lift to fifty kilos with ease, and although he had worked with wood most of his life, his hands didn't look at all rustic or calloused. Of course, she still had a grim appearance with her extremely pale skin, snow-white hair, and above all her eyes, which in the dark glowed an unearthly blue.

Blake went downstairs and organized the day's breakfast. It would be a stew with different meats, mushrooms from his crop, eggs, and milk. It was a pretty full meal, but Blake wanted these people to be strong, he needed them to be, as he made them work all day.

Life in the tribe was not so simple, but promises were kept, and they received food, clothing, and shelter. As for those who did not like or did not want to work, they were thrown out of the tribe without contemplation, although they were allowed to keep their belongings, and even so, these free men who decided to leave were very few, and very little happened.

When Blake finished everything it was still a long way before the sun was at its highest point, Blake then went up to his father's hut and saw, with some annoyance, that he was still asleep. His women had gone down to the tribe and were minding their own business, but his father was still asleep, besides he reeked of wine.

Blake unceremoniously picked Oswin up and threw him in front of the campfire.

"Damn it boy, give me a break!"

Oswin patted his head from the hangover.

"You shouldn't have drunk yesterday, remember you're leaving with the caravan for Thenn today."

Oswin sat up quickly, eating the breakfast that had already gone cold, not that he minded too much.

"Alright, but after this, we'll rest for a few days, Summer is coming, on the next trip to Shadow Tower I'll bring plenty of wine and we'll have a party to celebrate."

Blake shook his head but didn't try to convince his father not to waste resources like that.

If summer was coming, then it was the best time to increase the caravans and get more resources, after all, without so many storms and with less cold it would be much safer. But Blake also understood his father, unlike him, these people were not machines, and although north of the wall everyone had to fight if they wanted to survive, it wasn't wrong to give them a few days of celebration to boost morale.

"I've finished this, come and help me get ready."

Oswin finished eating and sat down for Blake to garnish.

As a Magnar, Oswin had to show himself superior to all the other members of the tribe, a Magnar is a word that refers more to a god than a man, so Blake had taken it upon himself to make up his father, braid his beard with gold and silver rings and bracelets with ancient runes that Oswin got on his travels, and anoint his hair and beard with scent oils.

After helping him put on some leather armor that Blake had modified to look splendid, Oswin was ready to go down to the tribe, show himself and announce his journey to Thenn.

As Thenn was a very powerful tribe, with its own Magnar, Oswin had to show his strength, but not rival the Magnar of Thenn. He would take a hundred men, fifty warriors, and another fifty to carry the wagons and goods along with the gifts he would offer as a token of goodwill.

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Hi readers, today I only brought one chapter since I spent a lot of time making a small glossary where the characters will be shown, some aspects of their personality, traits, and deeds they have done along with some images that inspired me or that I found that resembled what I was thinking when I wrote them, of course, they are not the same, since the characteristics that were written in previous chapters are first, but it will give a general idea of how I thought they would look like, thanks for reading and I hope it will be useful, I for one will use it for when I don't remember names or what character did what thing, I will update it every few chapters, or that's the idea.

https://mega.nz/file/6fIRHSqL#xZ7Tpyxd7nmS1sVoDhJ8vIm4mToLj8ZHIWtRot28KrQ