"We target these."
Kael spoke as he pointed at five nas. The rest of the mbers of the Alliance Council narrowed their eyes and started reading those nas cautiously.
In the last fifteen minutes, Lavinia had given Kael a clear briefing of their eting, so he was pretty much up to the mark.
The rest of the mbers of the Alliance Council nodded as well, these were the nas they had all co up with together, so there was no more explanation needed.
"Who do we target first?"
Morvain asked with a curious look on her face, usually, she was the one who made such decisions, but that ti was gone and it was quite clear. They needed Kael, the people there treated Kael as the leader, and she...
She was the sa.
She had seen how responsible the boy was, as for the areas he was lacking in, she was there to help him out.
"The Borealis Herd seems like an ideal target."
Aurelia muttered as she glanced at others, as if looking for their approval, Korvath nodded, others, however, frowned.
Kael used this mont to rember what Lavinia had told him about the Borealis Herd.
"They have a large number of beasts, that is a good thing. But most of their beasts aren’t for battle. The Borealis are comparatively smaller and weaker than an average tribe, this is also the reason they are scared of the current situation in the Heights.
They barely survive the winter, but with the threat of war looming, they fear that they might go extinct."
"Exactly."
Aurelia nodded at Kael’s words, Tarevian, on the other hand, frowned in confusion.
"Why target a clearly weaker tribe? Most of their n are incapable of fighting, they will only be more mouths we would need to feed."
"I was told food isn’t the problem."
Aurelia frowned as she stared at Lavinia. She made her calculations according to what she was told, Lavinia had specifically ntioned, more than once, that food was never a problem.
"That is correct."
And once again, Lavinia nodded.
"Food will not be a problem. Not after the establishnt of the Divine Tree."
Kael looked at her when she said those words, Lavinia, however, did not show even the slightest change in her expression. She just stared at the people, at Aurelia and the Sky Serpent General, not asking unnecessary questions, nodded.
"Then the Borealis are an ideal target."
"Why is that?"
Tarevian asked for a reason.
"We need numbers."
The answer was simple but—
"But Borealis is a small tribe with low numbers, they will not be of much hel—"
"They will be."
Aurelia interrupted.
"War is about numbers, that is correct, but numbers are represented by nas.
Currently, we have the Velmourns and the Stonefangs.
A total of two forces.
The fact that Velmourn has a five hundred-man strong army and Stonefangs have two hundred, while that is true and important, it gets lost in details.
When we approach other tribes, when we ask them to join our side, we need to appear as strong as possible.
An alliance between three tribes sounds stronger than just two tribes."
"So you just want them for the sake of having them."
Aeliana asked and Aurelia nodded at that question, then she glanced at Korvath and—
"I am sure he understands what I am talking about."
"I do."
Korvath nodded, he clearly understood the strategic importance of adding small forces into the alliance.
The rest of the group nodded in understanding.
"Then what next? What after the Borealis Herd?"
Zakaar questioned in Gruumak’s stead.
"That depends on how our conversation with the Borealis goes."
Lavinia muttered and Aurelia nodded. That was just what she was about to say.
"So when are we leaving?"
Morvain asked and Kael—
"Now."
Kael spoke directly.
"Right now...?"
Tarevian raised his eyebrow. The decision felt too rushed in his eyes.
"Yes."
Kael, however, nodded again.
"We need to recruit as many tribes as possible, by today."
"By today...?"
Tarevian frowned.
"Why the hurry? You attacked the Stormcallers, did you not? They are crippled, they wouldn’t be able to recover for a good while. If we hurry, we would need to spend more resources on them. Plus, people still need ti to get used to the Stone—"
Before the Voice of the Commonfolk could even complete his sentence, Kael shook his head.
"What I did will not stop them.
Do not forget, our enemy is not the Stormcallers, it is the ones helping them. Those cloaked figures.
As much as I want to delay this, this matter cannot be delayed anymore.
The very reason the Stormcallers attacked us is because they were prepared. They wanted to instill fear before they launched the final attack, and although I did attack and pushed back their plans at so level...
Those cloaked figures won’t rest, not after knowing we have begun recruiting."
Then, with a serious look on his face, Kael looked at every person present there and—
"Prepare yourself,
War is coming."
He announced.
The elders had grim looks on their faces. Morvain, on the other hand, stood up and—
"Let’s leave then, we do not have much ti."
"Alright."
Kael nodded.
"How many are going?"
Korvath asked.
Not everyone could leave, it was a matter of security. Not everyone had Kael’s movent speed.
", Lavinia, Matriarch Morvain, and about ten elite n."
Kael answered quickly.
"That’s it?"
Korvath raised his eyebrow.
"This isn’t a war, we are going there to offer a hand of alliance. We have no need to take more."
"But what if the Borealis are already with the Stormcallers and attack you people?"
The Commander asked, Kael, however, shook his head—
"That won’t happen.
They are not with the Stormcallers, neither would they attack first, I can assure you of that."
"How are you so sure?"
Morvain frowned in confusion. Kael looked at her and his eyes glowed—
"My eyes...
They cover Borealis territory.
I have more thorough information regarding them."
"Your eyes... cover the Borealis territory...?"
Morvain blinked.
"Didn’t I tell you I was going to put more power into my ability?"
Kael asked, Morvain rembered that as well.
"I know that, but you said you would need a week—"
"It has been five days since that, Lady Morvain."
Kael answered with a smile and for a mont, Morvain paused.
Five days.
These past five days were so overwhelming that she didn’t even realize when they passed. In her mind, all of this still felt like a dream—or a nightmare.
Morvain then looked around, at her Council Room, a room she had spent almost all her life in, a room where she was surrounded by her people—
And now—
Now they had two outsiders, a prisoner, and two Stonefangs...
It was... ridiculous.
And the worst part?
This was only the beginning, more and more people would be joining their Alliance Room. She had no clue how all of that would be managed, but for now—
"Alright, let’s leave then."
She nodded.
Kael nodded back, then he glanced at Gruumak and, in the Stonefang tongue—
"Of the ten elites, I want four to be Stonefangs. We need to show them that the Stonefangs are on our side."
"Yes."
Gruumak nodded.
Kael smiled, then he turned around and left the eting room, others followed. Even though only Kael, Morvain, and Lavinia were leaving, every single one of them had their own tasks to do, they couldn’t waste their ti there.
...
Even inside the Heights, there were places where the cold felt... personal. Borealis land was one of them.
And today, above these lands, was Kael and his party, hovering on their beasts. Kael was flying on his own, Lavinia was sitting on Igni, Morvain had her own beast, so did Kayden, who had followed them there.
Other than them, there were five Velmourn elites and four Stonefang elites.
The entire party flew in a sharp formation, making it difficult to take them by surprise, especially when Kael had Cirri in her Sky Form, keeping an eye on everything.
The entire journey was silent and once Kael and the party were there, Kael, who was leading them all, raised his hand and—
"We are here."
He spoke.
The party looked down and their eyes fell on the Borealis territory.
The snow below was deep and uneven, broken only by old tracks and the occasional black patch where rock pierced through. The land rolled into long white fields that looked empty until you watched closely.
Then you noticed the signs of life.
A line of low, half-buried fences. Ice-coated posts tied with thick rope. A narrow path stamped flat by many feet. Smoke rising in thin lines from holes in the snow—vents from hos dug into the earth.
Borealis did not live on the mountain.
They lived inside it.
Their settlent was spread out like a herd that never truly settled. Low dod shelters—part stone, part packed snow—were built into the sides of hills so the wind could not rip them apart.
A few were made from dark wood, old wood, the kind that looked stolen from dead forests long ago. Snow covered everything, thick enough to hide roofs if you did not know what to look for.
This was the Borealis Herd.
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