Answers

Leaving the tent I waited patiently for Itch to follow. 

"Good jobs young one"

He gives me a pat on the back

"Yous has brings great honour to me and I..."

I interrupted his speech about honour to first inform him of the events which occurred at the goblin camp. 

Centring primarily around the misinformation and the fact that I learn goblin speech in a matter or mere seconds. 

"I knew they would comes after yous but not this quickly. This is worrying but it seems you handled yourselves well nonetheless."

He looked tense as he spoke.

"A horologium, that's the monster yous met and killed. Named after a clocktower In Elarindor"

I don't know what a clock tower is or what this Elarindor is but still its nice to know the monster's name. 

"But what about the goblin speech?"

This was the most important of my questions. 

If there was some way to learn new skills or get stronger quicker I needed to know. 

"Well, a partial few rats in every broods are born closer to the great burrower than others. These blessed are known as devourers. Theys can inherit abilities and skills from potent blood by absorbing left over characteristics from their blood"

So this was it. 

This explains both the goblin and the massive buff to strength after killing the child horologium. 

I wonder if the creature has to be dead before its blood can be used or if the blood of a alive creature can be sapped and used on masse. 

"So the blood the Red baron gave me was meant for this"

"Most likely"

"But how did hes know already, We only found out I had this ability ins the goblin camp"

"Dunno he is also a devourer so he might be able to smells its on yous"

So the Red baron was one as well. Id hazard a guess that most of the tribunal members were. It seemed the rats who were disproportionate in size or had large determining features were most likely devourers. 

By this logic Itch probably isn't. 

We continued in silence as I followed Itch through the camp. 

We ended up in a smaller area where tents were being set up. It seems most of my compatriots had made it here already, and Thassius had arrived just before us. 

I quickly got to setting up my own small home in the form of a small pop-up tent. 

It took no longer than 10 minutes before I sat on my lonesome in the tent. 

I exhaled one long breath before falling back and lying on the soft green grass which lined the floor of my tent. 

It had been a long few days. 

Reaching into my pack I pulled out the blood reward given to me the Red Baron. 

I contemplated drinking it for a time. My trust in my fellow rat brethren had been run thin after the village incident. However, right now my presence only stood to reinforce the Red Baron's position it was unlikely he would plot to kill me.

Putting the bottle to my lip I lifted it gently and glugged down the thick mixture within. 

The blood was long since cold however still had a sweet nectar taste to it. 

I finished the liquid before setting the bottle down to my side. I had expected a quick response however even after a few minutes it felt like nothing had changed. 

Maybe it was a dud. Well right now I had no intention of seeking out the Red Baron for an exchange. The march had been long and the softness of the makeshift bed I had yet to set up called for me. 

Just 10 minutes later the sweet embrace of sleep had taken me. 

White. 

All I could see was the same white stained tiles I had seen that same night. The door however this time however was open. 

I pulsed impulses through my nerves expecting no response to find my body moved like normal. 

"Good morning little one"

A booming voice echoed above me. 

I attempted to take a battle position before falling head first. I could not stand up on my hind legs like I normally could. 

laughter rang throughout the room as the being laughed at my response. 

I stared up expecting to see the creature but was instead met with a blurred jumble of colours. 

"Hmm I think ill call you ...."

Seconds passed but no name followed. The language the creature used was odd and unrecognisable yet felt almost native to me. 

"Snowball"

The white room shrank away at the name. I was pulled through an endless array of colours. 

With a start, I jumped off the bed and landed softly in the grass of my tent. 

That same dream. 

"Snowball" 

I repeated the name in my head. 

what does it mean? 

I gave up quickly. It was most likely just a simple dream and nothing more. It's not something to put too much effort into. 

Peaking out of my tent I saw the morning sun slowly rise into the air radiating a rich orange glow across the fields of tents. 

I suppose I'll be here for a while might as well put some more effort into my home before the others wake. 

For the next hour, I busied myself creating a small hole beneath my tent where I could store my items. 

Stepping back out of the tent the camp had come alive with commotion. Rats fumbled around the area. 

It felt peaceful no longer having to make decisions that may impact the life and death of both me and the other rats around me. 

I trundled around the camp eventually coming across thassius. 

"Come, Thassius we should go out to hunt before a few of the other rats get the chance to get moving"

Thassius had a surprised look on his face.

"Yous talk funny, likes the Baron or that old rat"

He was right. I had not noticed before but language seemed to come far easier to my mouth compared to before. Words that I may have struggled with before now rolled off the tongue. 

It must have been the effects of the human blood. What is a human anyway? Why do they have such intricate linguistic abilities? 

"A gift from the man himself. Forget that anyway let's hunt" 

Thassius did not care too much about my new voice, as he trundled after me. We grabbed Sniffer and Twig along the way. 

Hunting seemed to come naturally to us as we racked up a few catches ranging from smaller rabbits to a boar that me and thassius had wrestled to the ground. 

I missed my sword but my dagger did a decent job even against the tougher skin of the boar

Twig fit well into the group using his smaller stature to scout and hunt quite effectively. 

At about midday, we headed back to the camp. However, as we pushed forward into the sea of cloth tents we encountered an entourage of sorts. 

Several young and strong-looking rats held up a giant wooden board with a chair resting upon it. Sitting atop the chair was a massively obese rat. 

Its fur was a dull brown colour, however, it was coated in blue armour. It looked like to be almost the same size as the red baron if not bigger. It was hard to judge with it sitting down. 

A relatively composed and dashing-looking rat cleared the way ahead of the troop. 

"Make way for the great lord of the Snulkclaw clan, the mighty lord of the Saphire legion"

Another clan lord. It seemed Itch and the Red Baron had handily omitted the fact that this was a multi-clan affair. It explained the different coloured armours he had seen earlier. Most likely other clans were present as well. The pink and white rats were proof of this alone. 

"I would assume the large tent we entered yesterday is where they meet" 

I explained my thoughts to the others as we continued heading to our spot in the camp. 

As we entered our little area Itch seemingly panicked stormed up to us. 

"Yous must be readies, The greats lords of the Warrens requires yous"

He pushed a his claw towards me

"Who?"

I heard thassius ask behind me.

Itch gave him an exasperated look. 

"he's the lords of the nine clans, The goblins calls him the kings of the rats"