Silent Night

'Garron is called the Viper of South. The reason he is called like that is because of his ruthless and cunning method' Aeryon nodded

Well, he supposes someone who got the title of a viper would not really get that title for being kind.

'Garron is the son of Fareon'

He paused for a second, taking his breath and then continued

'And Fareon is the son of Utgard. Utgard is the one who founded the tribe and he takes his name as the tribe's name'

'The Utgard tribe is a small tribe but they also have quite a few warriors. Then when Utgard died, it was the time of Fareon. Fareon was a capable leader. The tribe extended to the North and it became a big tribe and there is even a chance of becoming a great tribe. their area extended from the middle south to the lower north.

'I didn't know that Utgard tribe is such a big tribe and have such a history' Belarion could not have expected that Utgard tribe that he knows has such a colourful history.

Aeryon thought of the knowledge he had about Utgard tribe. The more he recalls, the more he remembers

And what he remembers was that Utgard tribe for as long as his memory could recall was a small tribe. Not to large to be considered a large tribe and not to small that it is a lone tribe.

'What happens to the tribe is a tragedy but maybe it is for the best for the people of the Great Steppe on the south.'

Mayeux continue telling them the story of the Utgard tribe.

Fareon has many concubines and his land is beginning to encroach to the middle north.

All in all, they are becoming a threat to the tribes in the north. Fareon has nine sons. And Garron is the ninth son'

Aeryon could guess what Mayeux would tell him later

And just as expected, Mayeux told him how Garron a young man at the time managed to survive the machinations of intrigues and plots.

It seems that even though Fareon has nine sons and he was determining to give the tribe to one of his sons, he was leaning toward Garron.

This of course drew the ire of his other eight older brothers. Since then, many attempts on his life began.

And while Mayeux doesn't know how Garron managed to become victorious the ending was that out of the nine brothers, only three survived.

The other two is on the north side of the Great Steppe and the large tribe had become a small tribe both in the north and in the south.

When Fareon died, the tribe splits into nine and even though those surviving brothers tried to reunite back the tribe, how could the other tribes around them would allow such things to happen

So, the three split into three Utgard tribe, taking a meagre chunk of the area used to rule by their father and Garron flees to the south and establish back the Utgard tribe.

It might seem that it was Garron that loses but if one look carefully, it might not seem so obvious but Garron had won.

Even though the tribe had splintered into three, Garron still managed to get a hold of his own powerbase and managed to kill six of his brothers

Not to mention, at that time he was still very young.

And Mayeux also told Aeryon and Belarion the way how Garron quickly establishes his presence in the south.

He goes far from the Flat Hill area and goes to the south and quickly forges alliance with some other small tribes only to betray them later.

But he always finds a way to justify what he had done.

And because of his expanding power among the small tribe, and the promise of peace, that the Utgard tribe would not attack wily nily, the Utgard tribe manage to carve out an existence among the many hundreds of small tribes all over the South of the Great Steppe

Mayeux tells this to Belarion and Aeryon so that they thoroughly understood who is Garron and what kind of an enemy they are facing

Aeryon after listening to Mayeux depiction of Garron began thinking deeply.

And then Mayeux stop talking and just look at Aeryon. He seems to be wanting to change his mind.

The way that he tried to do it is subtler but Aeryon said nothing

Hearing from Mayeux how cunning Garron is does gives him more information about that old man. But while it does inform him, it does nothing to change his plans.

This is the gap brought by lack of information.

Aeryon knows he would not die. But Belarion and Mayeux did not and so they wished to find a path where they did not have to die meaninglessly.

At least, they wanted to have a plan. Mayeux waited and after a few second, he could tell that even after all of that, Aeryon would not change his mind.

So, he could only follow and he then said

'He must have his own calculation for giving us the settlement without any fight. There is a high chance that he has now return back and made the Xewa tribe vigilant'

Mayeux then look at Aeryon

He has some knowledge of the tribe leaders on this part of the great Steppe and he wanted to impress Aeryon.

At first, he thought of this tribe leader of him as simply idealistic or even naïve. Who would have thought that he alone could raid a camp and return victorious? Even though he was given the victory.

It did not change the fact that his tribe leader had gone into an enemy camp and kill dozens of people without injury.

It means his leader does not simply do things without a plan.

It is because of that he shares this information for fear that his tribe leader might get caught up in one of the Viper plans.

And there is also a faint hope that his tribe leader would call off his crazy plan of continuing attacking the Xewa tribe.

Now, that he had informed that Garron might inform the Xewa tribe of their arrival, this might dampen the spirt of his tribe leader and force him to rethink his plans

But clearly this machination of Mayeux could not work against Aeryon.

If this was any other day, in anu other situation, Aeryon would probably be persuaded and cancel his plan.

That day however is not today.

Instead, he laughed and spoke

'The more, the merrier' Even Belarion who is known to say crazy thing and done some stupendous thing was shocked.

'My will could not be changed. Tonight, we will burn the Xewa tribe and we will win'

Aeryon spoke his plan and Belarion knowing he could not change the mind of his brother could only nods.

The wind blows and the night become deeper but in this kind of night, it is destined that the night would not be peaceful.

Fifty-one men rides the horse and they are now going to find the Xewa tribe settlement.

Aeryon then split the command giving it to Mayeux and Belarion. Aeryon rides his horse and the night goes deeper and then not long after he found the camp.

He expected to see the camp guarded and just as he expected, there is hundreds of guards and there are horse riders

Just like Mayeux told him, Garron returns to the Xewa tribe settlements and inform of his presence. But he is not angry and he is not frustrated. Instead, there is a smile on his face

After all, if he is to use this matte to establish his prestige, the more the better

His people are far in the back, listening to his order

The entire settlement is now in the ready and the warriors have soldiers and spear while the horse riders prepare their bows and arrows.

Aeryon laughed and in the darkness and the silence of the night he shouted

'Xeqani, you killed my father. Prepare to die!'

..

Xeqani is the tribe leader of the Xewa tribe. He is a middle-aged man, five foot four men. He has many scars all over his body and he is fat.

But the fat on his body is like boulders of stone. His face is fierce. One could not say that he is handsome but he has his own charms.

Under his leadership, the Xewa tribe had prosper and become stronger. In his youth, he suffers many humiliations and he kneels and he begged.

And the result of that is the current Xewa tribe.

He was happily drink Ayrag with his warriors and his horse riders when Garron returned with his warriors

Garron then spoke to him of Aeryon, the son of Rakarys, from the Brolgadhr tribe. Garron spoke to him, how he alone raided the cam, killing dozens of people and was unstoppable in battle.

Garron also said they were routed by Aeryon horse riders and burn the old settlements of the Brolgadhr.

Garron said that he was caught unprepared, and many of his soldiers was poisoned and weak in the body. Garron also said he fought with the young chief and was bested in combat but was spared because the young chief said he would come for his head.

Hearing this, Xeqani was shocked.

He never thought that his underestimation of that young cub would come to bite him. And he is even more furious when he thought that his glory has been trampled.

Little did he know that Garron make up a lot of lies. Not only he managed to make Xeqani forget that he had just abandoned the settlement with some lies, he also makes Xeqani focused on other things other than his own discretion.

As for Garron himself, he said his warrior is still not feeling good and most of them are still weakened and Aeryon could be coming any second.

So, he would station on the other side of the settlements, ready to ambush hm later if he dares attack.

Of course, Garron also said that Aeryon would attack the tribe tonight.

As for killing Xeqani, Aeron never said this to him

But Garron could make up this lie because he knows that how could Aeryon would not declare such intention when he is wanting to destroy the Xewa tribe?

After all, Xeqani killed his father. It would only be right and proper for him to want revenge.

The order was given and the entire tribe seems ready to face Aeryon. Xeqani wanted to rip apart Aeryon body and subject it to the punishment of the Blood Eagle

Tonight, he would end this threat once and for all and recover back his glory.

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