WiSh - Chapter 45

Chapter 45: Bloodline of the Giants

The Wolfswood mountains stretched for hundreds of miles, with high and dangerous peaks, perpetually shrouded in clouds and covered in snow. There were multiple tribes of Howling Stone scouts on the mountains, each with a small number of people, ranging from dozens to hundreds. Due to the harsh conditions, cold climate, and scarce food, the fertility of the entire tribe had always been weak.

The most famous among them was the Ashes Clan. The Ashes Clan was named after their leader, Ashes, and all members of the clan shared the surname Ashes. The clan's leaders had a habit of exterminating their enemies and burning everything to ashes. At some point, the clan adopted Ashes as their surname.

The Ashes Clan controlled the King's Road that passed through the mountains with their formidable strength. Small groups of merchants or lone knights were often targeted by them.

The Ashes Clan feared only two types of people: the men of the Night's Watch and the knights of House Umber from Last Hearth.

Both were not to be trifled with. The Ashes Clan had clashed with them before and suffered heavy losses. However, with their natural stronghold, they could retreat into the bitter cold mountains if they couldn't win. Neither the Night's Watch nor the Umber knights could find them once they withdrew deep into the mountains.

Later, an unspoken agreement was reached. The Ashes Clan generally did not bother the men of the Night's Watch or the Umber soldiers. As for others, even small groups of scouts from Deepwood Motte, they were fair game—first robbed, then killed if they crossed the boundary.

Tyrenn Ashes was the young leader of the new generation of the Ashes Clan. His face, hands, and body were painted with patterns of shadowcats, using juices from snow lotuses and various wild flowers and grasses as pigments.

The totem of the Ashes Clan was the shadowcat. The shadowcat was their divine beast, the son of the gods of the First Men.

When they encountered shadowcats in the forest, they would only drive them away with fire, never harming them. The dead of the Ashes Clan were not buried; they were left in places where shadowcats would pass, to be consumed by them.

During bountiful seasons, when they had plenty of game and enough food plundered from the villages below, the Ashes Clan would even feed meat to the shadowcats. As for captives taken in battle, aside from those kept as servants, they were all fed to the shadowcats.

The Heart Tree Spirit, who taught Will the Green Sight, told him everything about the Ashes Clan.

Will used the weapons as bait and followed two Howling Stone scouts to find a settlement of the Ashes Clan at the foot of the mountain, then quietly withdrew.

Although he could track them with the Green Sight, it required a tremendous amount of mental energy. Secondly, with Will's current level, there were also limitations in terms of distance. Following the two scouts at a leisurely pace allowed him to minimize the consumption of his physical and mental energy.

In the cave, Tyrenn Ashes, the clan leader and chieftain, slept on several massive mountain lion pelts, with a fire burning red coals beside him, making the cave as warm as spring. Two enormous warhammers hung on the stone wall, each with a slightly gleaming bronze spike several dozen centimeters long at the front.

The presence of such warhammers here was a mystery. Perhaps Tyrenn Ashes had obtained them through a lucky raid, or perhaps they were specially crafted by a blacksmith in Last Hearth outside the Wolfswood.

Tyrenn was sleeping soundly when he suddenly woke up. He rolled to his feet to see a silver-haired young man with pointed ears and grayish-brown eyes walking in. The warriors in the several tents outside the cave were silent, not a single one had noticed the arrival of this silver-haired young man.

"Who are you?" Tyrenn asked, his heart filled with suspicion.

The silver-haired young man walked without a sound, like a cat on a soft cushion.

"Ashes, you have the blood of giants," the young man said, continuing to approach. Although Ashes did not sense any hostility from the young man, he still placed his hand on the dagger at his waist. Due to his immense size, the dagger was no different from a short sword for others.

"Stop," Ashes warned the young man, who exuded a mysterious aura and a faint glow. Ashes' head nearly touched the ceiling of the cave, standing at about three meters tall, but among true giants, he would be considered a dwarf.

"Your ancestor from your mother's side was a giant, and your ancestor from your father's side was a human hero. Only female giants can mate with humans, for if a male giant mates with a human woman, her womb would be torn apart before she could even conceive. This is the origin of the giant's bloodline among humans. At the foot of the mountain, outside the Wolfswood, the Umber family of Last Hearth, like you, also has the blood of giants. Among humans, descendants with giant blood are becoming fewer, and the bloodline is growing thinner, alas!" The silver-haired young man sighed at the end, his steps unbroken, walking up to Ashes and sitting down in front of the fire, oblivious to Ashes' hostility and threats.

"Are you a prophet of the gods? A Green Seer?" Ashes said in a deep voice. He released his grip on the dagger.

The spiritual strength of the Howling Stone scouts in the mountains came from their faith in the old gods: the gods of the First Men and the ancient gods. The Green Seer was one of the messengers of the gods.

This young man did not breathe, had no temperature, and walked without a sound. Everything matched Ashes' understanding of the soul of a Green Seer through oral traditions. This young man lacked the sinister aura of the tribe's witches; he was clean, pure, and untouched by dirt. His voice had a strange calming power over Ashes.

With the strength to tear apart mountain lions, Ashes' hand on the dagger was merely a habitual action. If this strange young man were human, Ashes could crush his head with one hand as easily as crushing an apple.

"Ashes, there are vast lands at the foot of the mountain. Even if they lie empty, you cannot claim them, for if you dare to descend, the nobles below will slaughter you and your people."

"Please, Prophet, teach me!" Ashes said respectfully.

The Green Seer was a messenger of the gods, and the shadowcat was a divine creature. In the hearts of the Howling Stone scouts, both the person and the beast held a status equal to that of the gods.

At the gates of the Ashes Clan's fortress deep in the mountains, there were stone statues of the Green Seer on one side and the shadowcat on the other. Within the fortress, under the heart tree in the sacred grove, there were also statues of the Green Seer and the shadowcat guarding the heart tree. However, the statue of the Green Seer there looked more like a sorrowful old man with tears of blood, while this Green Seer was a beautiful silver-haired young man with pointed ears.

"Tomorrow morning, a man in black will come to give land to your Ashes Clan. He is the chosen of the Time and Space God among the old gods, and also the messenger of the ancient gods who will restore glory to the Howling Stone scouts. He is the future venerable of the Hall of Righteous Judgement. Ashes, following him is your mission and that of your clan."

"A man in black, a divine messenger?" Ashes was shocked.

"Yes! He is a divine messenger, so he can easily control the shadowcat. He has already sent you a batch of blades as a gift, and the land where your women can farm, the ports where your men can fish, and the right to trade fairly with the 'plainsmen' are the second gifts he will bestow upon your Ashes Clan."

"But I haven't received the first gift of blades he sent."

"Your gift is on its way." The young man looked towards the cave entrance.

Ashes followed the young man's gaze towards the entrance, and then he heard the heavy footsteps outside and the voices of the guards at the entrance. The excited voice of the scout Black Feather Ashes came through: "Brothers, we've struck a small fortune, found a batch of excellent blades, hehe, and two well-crafted oak shields."

Ashes turned back in surprise to look at the young man, only to find that the space beside the fire was empty, as if the young man had never been there...

Ashes gasped and opened his eyes, realizing that it had all been a dream... He sat up from the mountain lion rug and looked towards the entrance, where Black Feather and his companions, along with the guards, were walking in with a batch of blades and two oak shields, their faces beaming with smiles.