The Next Step

Aeryon is closing his eyes and fell asleep.

Though he did not sleep for long. It is more of a nap. When he woke up, the matter of the battlefield has been resolved. He left it to Mayeux to settle the people

But the negotiation between the Utgard tribe and the Brolgadhr tribe must be done by Aeryon. Aeryon woke up and come out of his tent. Mayeux quickly reported to him and he just need to nods.

He had captured the people of the Xewa tribe.

For now, they are guarded by Garron forces.

Aeryon would like to take some of them and integrate them in his tribe. It is very simple in the steppe to bring more people to your side

the people that do not fight follow the words of the victor.

Of course, there is always some loyal people to the Xewa tribe. For these people Mayeux had already cut them down when Aeryon was taking his nap before

And then there are some people that would be slave.

Aeryon of course wanted these slaves to integrate into his tribe but this is not the time to do any drastic reform.

His tribe is very little right now. Unless there is a common thing that binds them together, it is very hard to unite the people of the Great Steppe.

That is a faraway problem and it must be settled when the time comes not before.

There is always truth to the words haste makes waste.

There is a basin full of water outside his tent. He took some of the water to cleanse his face. But his body is still full of blood smell. Ignoring all of these he goes to meet with Garron. As he walks to the gathering everyone notices him.

Belarion is already there and Aeryon walk with a sword. This is highly disrespectful but for those people who saw Aeryon fight before, they did not dare to say anything.

Aeryon then sat down on one of the logs and spoke

'Garron, how should we settle this?'

Aeryon does not know many of the etiquette of the tribe but from what he remembers there is not many.

The people of the Great Steppe values practicality so they would not care that much about etiquette.

Garron simply said

'I would like to ask what is your plan now?'

At these even Mayeux, Belarion and his other men were also curious.

Their victory till now is like a miracle.

Aeryon rides toward the enemy with fifty men last night

When they set out most of them were prepared to die. No matter how unreasonable the orders of their chief, they are a warrior

And warriors die in battle. So, they have no complain about it

But it is clear that they thought that Aeryon would lose.

However, something akin to miracle had happened

out of the fifty men, none of them die

all of them still survive.

There is still fifty men.

A few dozen people were injured before but all of them are still alive. If the Ashana told them that they would fight a few hundred men with fifty men and would survive it, they would think that the Ashana had went crazy

But that is what happened. By now, all the doubts that they had toward their chief had already disappeared.

Right now, if Aeryon told them to jump into a fire pitch, they would not doubt it and would rush to throws themselves into fire.

Having this kind of powerful chief would be good for the tribe.

Most of the fighters in Aeryon tribe is his cousins or related to him in some kind of way so they are also happy to see that the Brolgadhr tribe have such a leader.

They are also waiting for Aeryon words.

Now that they have defeated the Xewa tribe, they could occupy back the area of their tribe. And now, they even caught many people.

Aeryon knows that the tribe is already satisfied with this.

If they could use these slaves to fight for them then they could defend their home and their area.

And after this defeat, the Xewa tribe had been cut down. And if he concludes an alliance with the Utgard tribe today, they could at least live safely around that area.

But...reality is not that beautiful. Xewa tribe would lick their wounds and when their wound is no longer hurting, they would find ways to harass his tribe.

And the next time they came, they would not be so merciful and they would not let the Brolgadhr tribe off.

So, to him, it is necessary to completely destroy the Xewa tribe. Take the people under him and put them under his tribe.

People.

That is what he needs right now. He does not have time to wait for people of his tribe to procreate and the easiest and quickest way of getting people is to kidnap them or incorporate them into his tribe

'I will attack the Ghar tribe!' he declared.

Hearing this, not only was his men become shocked.

The Utgard tribe was also shocked.

But Garron eyes shines dangerously.

He seems to also be thinking of something.

he closes his eyes and there is silence around the circle.

The crackling fire fills the gasp of silence but sooner or later, someone has to speak. Aeryon was not uncomfortable with the silence. He waited for Garron to think about it

Garron seems to be thinking a lot of things and then he opens his eyes

'I want half of the people of the Xewa tribe'

Aeryon nodded.

He did not mind giving that much, There is around three hundred people of the Xewa tribe. Those who were loyal was killed and the others would be brought back to their tribe.

Aeryon also did not want to overwhelm his small tribe with sudden influx of new people. It might create problems later in the future.

Until he solves that problem of common goal, he would cautiously take people. For now, his focus is still the people of his own tribe. Garron then asks

'Do you want to take down the Ghar tribe as well?'

This is the question that he asked and the answer is something that both Aeryon force and Garron forces wanted to know.

Did the young chief did not only want to expel the Xewa tribe but also fight against Ghar tribe?

Even though Garron does not know much about the complicated history of the Ghar tribe with the Brolgadhr tribe, he could guess that this is another force that push the Brolgadhr tribe out of the Great Steppe.

Aeryon nodded.

Garron seems to be thinking of something

'Do you want to seal our alliance?' he suddenly said.

The people of the Utgard tribe were shocked.

In all manners it should be the Brolgadhr tribe that broach the subject of an alliance

Brolgadhr tribe is smaller and should be weaker and it is only a matter of course that the Brolgadhr tribe should be the one broaching the Utgard tribe for an alliance

But right now, it is the Utgard tribe chief that broach the chief of the Brolgadhr tribe with the offer of alliance

'You want to follow me attack the Ghar tribe?'

The Xewa tribe would no doubt enlist their help. I have now forged a deadly feud with the Xewa tribe. Unless I destroy them completely, I could not sleep at ease'

Aeryon narrowed his eyes but then he smiles

'I also look favourably in this matter'

Garron laughed and then he shouted

'Bring the Ayrag. Let us feast!' it was morning and the cattle and sheep was slaughtered, the Ayrag was serve and the smell of the meat fills the battle tents.

The warriors of Utgard and the warriors of the Brolgadhr eat together and drink together, make merry before the next battle would begin

It wasn't until noon that the feats ended.

Garron and Aeryon both return to their side of camp.

Aeryon then ordered Mayeux to tell the tribe the good news and to bring the people back to his tribe.

He also asks Mayeux to instruct the Elders to organize the settlements.

When he defeated the Ghar tribe he would return.

Mayeux nodded, walk out of the tent jumped on his horse bringing with him ten men as he ride back to the tribe.

Now Aeryon only have forty men.

Garron heard about the matter and give two hundred men to him to borrow.

Aeryon immediately give one hundred and fifty men to Belarion.

With it, Belarion could exercise great effect on the battlefield

As for himself, he only keeps fifty men around him.

Their task is simply to wait for him from behind and when there is a chance that he could be encircled by the enemy then it is time for them to come and rain down arrows upon his enemies.

Aeryon knows this kind of tactic could only be used because he is invincible but the warriors do not know this and so they were worried.

But Aeryon did not say much and did not anything

These warriors are borrowed warriors and they could only follow what Aeryon had decided

Aeryon returned back to his camp and when the sun is high on the sky, Aeryon get up on a new horse and then five hundred warriors departed from the camp area, heading toward the Ghar tribe settlements.

….