The hidden settlent did not sleep that night.
Long after the flying steel beast had vanished beyond the trees, fires continued burning throughout the village. Warriors gathered in groups, speaking in hushed voices while elders and hunters argued around the central square. Even the great wolves remained restless. They paced around their pens, occasionally lifting their heads toward the sky as though expecting the thunderous machine to return.
At the center of the settlent stood the largest structure in the village.
Unlike the other wooden buildings, this one had been constructed from thick logs and massive stone foundations that had weathered generations of rain and wind. Animal skulls and carved totems lined the entrance. Primitive banners made from hide hung from the wooden pillars.
Inside, a massive figure sat upon a broad stone chair.
Chief Gorthak of the Black Fang Clan remained silent.
At nearly five and a half ters tall, he towered over everyone present. Dark fur covered most of his body while leather armor reinforced with bones protected his chest and shoulders. A long scar ran from his left shoulder to his waist, a souvenir from a battle decades ago against a giant forest drake.
Yet despite his fearso appearance, his yellow eyes held intelligence.
Deep intelligence.
The kind possessed only by those who had survived long enough to lead.
Around him sat five other giants.
The Council of Fangs.
Each represented one of the great families of the settlent.
None of them looked comfortable.
A fire crackled at the center of the hall, illuminating faces lined with worry.
The oldest among them finally broke the silence.
"The Sky Demons have returned."
Several others murmured agreent.
Gorthak said nothing.
His eyes remained fixed on the club resting against his chair.
The image of the flying machine replayed endlessly in his mind.
A beast of steel.
No wings.
No feathers.
No magic.
Yet it flew.
And it carried humans.
Humans ard with thunder.
He had watched his warriors die without understanding how.
One mont they had been charging.
The next, they had fallen.
Invisible force.
Thunder.
Death.
It made no sense.
The oldest giant continued speaking.
"Perhaps they are spirits."
Another giant snorted.
"Spirits do not bleed. My son saw one of the humans."
"They rode the sky."
"They also carried tal."
"They made fire."
The hall descended into argunts.
Voices rose.
Several giants spoke over one another.
So believed the newcors were demons.
Others thought they were descendants of an ancient tribe that had left the forest centuries ago.
A few feared they were gods.
Gorthak remained silent.
Eventually, he raised one hand.
The hall imdiately quieted.
Authority.
Absolute and unquestioned.
The chief slowly stood.
He was enormous even by the standards of his people.
The firelight cast his shadow across the hall.
"They are not gods."
His voice was deep enough to make the wooden walls vibrate.
"They bleed."
Nobody argued.
Because one of the wolves had managed to wound one of the humans with an arrow before the flying machine arrived.
There had been blood.
Real blood.
Gods did not bleed.
The chief looked toward the entrance.
"They are people."
That statent sohow made everyone more uneasy.
Because if they were people...
Then where had they co from?
The Black Fang Clan had existed in the Forest of No Return for centuries.
Their ancestors had hidden within these forests after ancient wars drove them from the western mountains. Generation after generation had lived and died beneath the trees. They had built settlents. Raised children. Fard the land.
They had also learned a harsh lesson.
The outside world feared them.
Humans hunted them.
Kings sent armies against them.
Villages burned.
Children died.
Eventually, their ancestors retreated deeper into the forest and vanished from history.
That was over three hundred years ago.
Since then, they had remained hidden.
Until tonight.
One of the younger giants frowned.
"If they are people, why do they fly?"
No answer ca.
Because nobody knew.
Gorthak himself did not know.
And that fact disturbed him.
He knew every beast in the forest.
Every monster.
Every danger.
Yet tonight, he had encountered sothing entirely new.
Sothing beyond his understanding.
A warrior entered the hall and bowed.
"Chief."
Gorthak looked toward him.
"The scouts have returned."
"Send them."
Several warriors entered.
Their expressions looked uneasy.
One of them imdiately knelt.
"We followed the flying beast."
Every giant in the room beca attentive.
"Speak."
The warrior swallowed.
"It flew beyond the western forest."
The chief frowned.
"How far?"
"Far."
That answer was useless.
The warrior quickly continued.
"It flew farther than any hunting party has ever traveled."
Murmurs spread through the hall.
The Forest of No Return was enormous.
Most of its inhabitants never left their territories.
Only a handful of scouts had explored the western reaches.
Even then, they had never reached its end.
The kneeling warrior looked genuinely frightened.
"There are people beyond the forest."
Silence.
The hall beca completely still.
The chief slowly narrowed his eyes.
"Explain."
The warrior took a deep breath.
"We found roads."
More silence.
"We found fields."
Another.
"And smoke."
The fire crackled.
Nobody moved.
Roads.
Fields.
Smoke.
Settlents.
Civilization.
The implication struck every mber of the council simultaneously.
The world beyond the forest was not empty.
People still existed.
Many people.
And sohow, those people had learned to fly.
One of the council mbers spoke quietly.
"Our ancestors were right."
Another nodded.
"The outside world survived."
The chief remained silent.
Because his thoughts had moved elsewhere.
The six humans on the ridge.
Their weapons.
Their discipline.
Their flying beast.
Their rescue.
Everything pointed toward organization.
Those six n had not been explorers.
They had been soldiers.
He knew soldiers.
He had fought them before.
Long ago.
The mory remained vivid.
Steel armor.
Spears.
Banners.
War.
These newcors felt different.
But they were soldiers nonetheless.
Which ant sothing else existed.
An army.
And armies rarely sent only six n.
The chief’s expression hardened.
He looked toward the scouts.
"Did they see our settlent?"
The answer ca imdiately.
"Yes."
No one spoke.
Because that single word changed everything.
For centuries, the Black Fang Clan had remained hidden.
Now they had been found.
The chief slowly walked toward the fire.
Its light reflected in his yellow eyes.
His people watched him.
Waiting.
The great wolves outside howled.
The sound carried through the night.
Gorthak looked upward.
Toward the dark roof.
Toward the sky beyond.
The sky where the steel beast had flown.
Eventually, he spoke.
"The forest is no longer ours alone."
Nobody argued.
Because everyone understood.
Their secret had ended tonight.
The outside world knew.
And sowhere beyond the western forests, the newcors were undoubtedly discussing them as well.
The chief turned toward his council.
"Double the patrols."
Heads nodded.
"Move the prisoners deeper into the settlent."
More nods.
"Prepare the warriors."
This ti, several giants exchanged uneasy glances.
One finally asked the question everyone feared.
"Do you believe they will return?"
The chief did not answer imdiately.
He rembered the thunder weapons.
The flying beast.
The six n on the ridge.
Most of all...
He rembered their escape.
Those humans had not fled in panic.
They had retreated in order.
Disciplined.
Controlled.
Soldiers.
Eventually, Gorthak looked toward the darkness beyond the entrance.
"They will."
The answer chilled the hall.
Because nobody doubted him.
He was the oldest warrior among them.
The most experienced.
The man who had fought humans and survived.
If he believed the strangers would return...
Then they would.
The chief slowly picked up his massive club.
Its wooden handle still bore fresh marks from where it had missed the flying beast.
He looked at the weapon.
Then at the fire.
Then toward the west.
For the first ti in centuries, an enemy existed that he did not understand.
An enemy that flew.
An enemy that carried thunder.
An enemy that looked at the forest and did not run away.
The realization settled heavily upon him.
A storm was coming.
And this ti, it would not co from within the forest.
It would co from the sky.
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