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Jo'Pa, scout of the Grokan tribe, which was one of the tribes under the protection of the Thunder Strider tribe, neared the gates of the Thunder Strider tribe while waving his arms. In response, numerous bows were leveled at him.
Seeing that his life was in danger, he shouted, "Don't shoot! I am Jo'Pa of the Grokan tribe. I come bearing a message for your chieftain!"
The archers did not recognize his name, but they did recognize the name of his tribe and held their fire. Shortly after, the gate was opened just enough for Jo'Pa to enter. From there, he had an armed escort to the chieftain's home.
Jo'Pa had only ever heard of the Thunder Strider tribe's chieftain. But from what he had heard so far, he was only described as young, big, and powerful. So when he was brought before the Thunder Strider tribe's chieftain, he saw a corpulent man stuffing his face with the meat of birds that had most likely migrated back, some small four-legged creatures, and fish that had been most likely caught from a secret cavern he did not know about. Most of the meat on that table was hard to come by, especially because the medium to large prey animals had yet to return to the land.
As Jo'Pa gazed upon the Thunder Strider's chieftain, he thought the description of 'big' was not quite what he was expecting. When he heard he was big, Jo'Pa was expecting a mountain of muscles like the Rock Claw's chieftain, but instead, the Thunder Strider's chieftain looked like he was made out of rolls of fat. He was so fat to the point that his arms were the size of Jo'Pa's thighs.
The Thunder Strider's chieftain was described as 'young' because he had heard that the Thunder Strider's chieftain had not even reached adulthood towards the end of the long winter before he and his friends killed their chieftain and took over the tribe, then began culling the weak, sick, and old, leaving the younger generation to run rampant and start vassalizing other tribes, mainly by force.
As for why the Thunder Strider's chieftain was described as 'powerful,' it mainly came down to the many tribes that he managed to subjugate who were not willing to be vassalized. But another huge clue for Jo'Pa of the Thunder Strider's chieftain's power was the huge copper-reinforced metal club leaning against the dining table. Jo'Pa imagined that he would have trouble picking up the huge weapon, much less swinging it, and he heard that this chieftain could swing his club one-handed.
"Chieftain Ba'Rak, someone from the Grokan tribe is here to see you." one of the armed guards said, announcing Jo'Pa's presence.
Ba'Rak, chieftain of the Thunder Strider tribe, looked up from his food and asked, "Grokan? Has the time come already? I thought they had given tribute just a few days ago."
"Yes, mighty chieftain Ba'Rak, the Grokan tribe has given tribute to the Thunder Strider tribe. But I have come bringing news of an aggressor towards my tribe and the tribes surrounding my tribe. The tribal alliance has marched against us, and they bring the powerful chieftain Grud of the Rock Claw tribe with them." Jo'Pa said as he lowered his head while hiding his gritted teeth.
Jo'Pa knew that there was some risk in raiding the tribal alliance's border tribes for resources, but he also knew that one of the main reasons they were forced to raid other tribes for resources was because the Thunder Strider tribe had demanded significant tributes that increased year after year since long winter ended.
These tributes paid for their protection, and Jo'Pa intended to collect on that protection.
Ba'Rak spat out a bone he had been eating around, "Ha! The famous chieftain Grud of the Rock Claw tribe." he then took another bite of food and continued talking with his mouth full, "I grew up hearing of his strength and prowess. But what is he now? In his forties? Fifties?" he snorted, "Well past his prime. He is practically a weak old man at this point."
After saying that, there was a glint in Ba'Rak's eyes, "Wait a minute… this is an excellent opportunity! Even when he is still alive, the stories of Grud are the stuff of myth and legend, and what better way to start my own legend than to kill another legend!" he then turned to the guard that brought Jo'Pa in, "Gather the men, we march to war! There, on the crushed head of Grud, I will create my legend!"
All this daydreaming was done while he was still chewing his food, and a creepy smile crept up on his face. "I also heard that all of Grud's daughters are beauties without comparison. After I am done crushing Grud and everyone else in my way, I will make a harem of his daughters and bless them with my children!... hehehe…"
By now, the guard had escorted Jo'Pa back outside, leaving his chieftain to fantasize.
Soon, a call to arms was sent out to all the surrounding tribes under the banner of the Thunder Stride tribe.
The drums of war were starting to beat ever louder.
***
On Grud's side, it had been two weeks since they thwarted the tunnel ambush in the first tribe, and so far, the only action they had seen was the enemy's delaying action, opportunistic ambushes, and traps…. A lot of traps.
Currently, Grud's forces were just outside another abandoned tribe. But unlike the previous abandoned tribe, everyone was a lot more cautious about entering. A few men who were knowledgeable about traps, along with more armed escorts, were the first to go into the tribe to see if there was anything nasty waiting for them.
Their caution paid off as the men sent to check came back and reported to Grud, "The place is trapped. There are a few pitfalls, spike traps, all the roof supports have been weakened to collapse, and there is most likely something dead and rotting in the well."
"Besides the well, how fast can the other problems be fixed?" Grud asked.
"If we have all hands working, we can have this done within the hour?" the man replied.
Grud nodded and announced, "A quarter on guard, the rest will work to prepare camp." he then looked at the man who reported to him, "Use the men, get it done."
Grud then turned to the other chieftains and got them to follow him to a more secluded area. When they were alone, Grud said, "I am sure you all can see what is going on. They are denying us any supplies. Soon, our wagons will run out of food, and we will be forced to turn back."
"Can't we just forage from the land?" one of the chieftains asked, to which Grud and a few other chieftains shook their heads.
"We could, but it is not feasible. We have too many people to feed with just foraging, and those we send out will almost certainly be attacked." one of the older chieftains replied.
"So what do you suggest we do?" the chieftain who suggested foraging asked back.
"I suggest a slight change to the plan. My riders, who had been staying out of the fighting so far, would ride ahead, around where the traps are most likely laid, and raid the tribe before they could evacuate their people and resources. We can stock up on the captured resources." Grud said.
***
The next day, the tribe gates that the Alliance had taken over swung open, and Grud and his riders rode out at a fast pace. But instead of making a straight line for the next tribe, they purposely took a significant detour to avoid any traps.
As for Grud, unlike his men, he was not riding anything… not even his wagon. Instead, he was running alongside the horses at superhuman speed. Given the choice, he would have gladly ridden horseback, but due to Grud's size and weight, there was no horse currently big or strong enough to maintain speed for an extended period of time like they could for the rest of his men, and riding the wagon was just not practical at the speeds they were traveling.
As he was running, Grud saw movement in the distance among the trees. [Mita, help see what is going on there.] he telepathically told Mita, who was in her wisp form, hiding in Grud's body.
Mita zipped out of Grud's body into the air, high above the trees. [I think they are panicking because you are riding beyond the speed that can catch and intercept you.] Mita replied.
[Good, help scout ahead and make sure we do not run into any nasty surprises.] Grud said.
[Yes, my love.] Mita replied as she flew forward.
***
On the second day of hard riding, Grud and his men closed in on a small tribe. After some aerial reconnaissance by Mita, she saw that they were in the middle of packing to evacuate but did not seem to be in a rush, as if they knew how long they had to move.
Mita's reconnaissance also revealed a number of lookouts posted in trees outside the tribe. Grud selected some of his sneakest men to creep up on these lookouts and be ready to shoot them down.
When all his men were in place to slice the lookouts, Grud got his riders in position and let out a bird call, signaling his men to take down the lookouts. Immediately after that, Grud sprinted out of the treeline towards the tribe's walls, in full view of the now panicking archers on said wall, shouting for the gates to be closed, but it was too late. Grud was too fast, allowing him to enter the gate after killing the two men trying to push it close.
Seconds later, the sound of hooves thundering toward the tribe could be heard. In their haste, the defenders rallied to try and kill Grud, who was keeping the gate open, but none were his equal and were quickly killed the moment they came close.
Within less than a minute of Grud holding the gate, the first of Grud's riders entered the tribe's gates, spearing one of the defenders and switching weapons to continue the raid.
Within ten minutes, Grud's forces had killed or subdued any resistance and secured the food the defenders had so graciously piled on wagons for them during their preparation to evacuate.
As the surviving defenders were corralled into the tribe's center, Grud stepped forward and asked, "Where is your chieftain?"
The defending tribesmen looked around and at each other before one of the men pointed somewhere behind Grud.
Grud turned around to see a man who was dressed fancier than usual. The only problem was that he was cut in half at the waist, which was most likely his handiwork.
"Oh," was all Grud could say before turning back, "Who else can speak on behalf of the tribe?" Grud asked.
After a few seconds, a trembling young man who looked like he had barely completed his right of passage to be counted as an adult stepped forward. "W… With the death of my father, the chieftain, it falls to me to speak for the tribe… Great Chieftain Grud."
Grud raised an eyebrow at this. He was still getting used to being recognized, even if this was the first time people laid eyes on him.
"Good. So let me ask you this: where were you evacuating to?"