Chapter 44- Split the herds

I resumed my usual place on the now red stained stone flags. Another beast was led in and I put my wrist under its chin as usual, blade a centimetre from its throat.

“For Aresk,” I whispered. Then with a well practiced movement I drew the knife around the neck and upwards. There was a spray of blood and a thud as the now decapitated aurox swung gently on the ropes, its head resting at my crimson feet. Strength at thirty was no joke. I’d have to be extremely careful with my movements until I got the hang of it.

“Aresk’s hairless balls, Mond! You’re only meant to slit the bloody throat!” yelled Kril as he ordered the support ropes dropped and the teamsters who were looking a bit lost due to not being able to throw a rope over the horns to tie off on a leg.

“I thought Aresk had hairy - you know what never mind.”

I endured five more days of mindless slaughter. Five days of braying and blood and boredom. At the end of the fifth day I sat with Kril in my tent. Khan and Atas would be joining us shortly.

“Here,” I held out a hand to him. “More Souls for you,” I explained. His own hand moved like a striking snake to clamp down on mine.

I spent six hundred Souls to give him three hundred more. His eyes gleamed and I noticed his mind stat jumped up to D-.

“Did you just spend everything on your Magical Strength stat? I asked him suspiciously. It was his build and I wasn’t about to dictate to him what he did with the Souls but I’d have advised against just pouring them into one stat.

“Nope. I jumped to level thirty and spent the rest boosting my magic. I put a few points in the body stats to boost me up to ten in everything. You’re not the only passable healer now!” he cackled happily as Atas and Khan entered the tent.

“Choose your next affinity carefully old man, it’s the last one you’ll get!” his face became serious and he nodded.

“God-touched,” the two patriarchs said respectfully.

“Are we ready to move on?” I asked. The endless killing of cattle was starting to annoy me. The Souls were great but I’d had Glimpse make a few trips over to our main camp and I wanted to get back to start advising on the new cavalry tactics we’d be implementing. If only Trikilo could read I’d have had Glimpse drop him letters with some of the basics. Then again I couldn’t write their language either so that would have been a non starter. The saddles and stirrups were already making waves among the warriors.

“We should stay a few more days! You need more souls!” Kril objected greedily. The Souls were huge and I couldn’t deny I was tempted.

“We need to find the red rocks before winter truly takes hold and before that we need to recruit Sulk, if we can,” I said firmly.

“He won’t be easy to bring to your cause, Mond,” said Atas. “He’s been a smith long enough that Velkit’s madness has touched him.”

“He’s god-touched too?” I asked.

“No! It comes to all smiths, the madness. It’s the curse that balances their blessing,” said Khan.

“They all go mad from the fumes!” Kril interjected. Primitive metallurgy was hardly a safe process. I remembered hearing that all the Gods of smiths back on earth were cripples or mad because all the smiths went mad from the mercury and metal fumes they were exposed to as they practiced their craft.

“We’ll need him. He might convince Klip to work more closely with us,” I suggested.

“Or they’ll talk each other into not working at all! You never know with smiths. It is a good idea to try though. We lose nothing and with the chariots we can travel quickly to Jagarnit. It’s a week or so to the west by wagon so a few days if you move quickly,” said Atas thoughtfully.

“I’ll speak to Hakubin in the morning and split the herd. We’ll only drive a couple dozen north with us when we leave. The rest of the herd is already at Mondit,” rumbled Khan. They were using my name for our new settlement and while it was flattering it also made me worry about my true enemies. I still wasn’t sure if my mind was fully my own. Aresk’s mark could be working on me as much as it worked on them and the feeling made me want to fight back against the growing bond I felt for these people who had adopted me so readily. I resisted. I needed these people if I was to stand a chance of dealing with Mortimer.

“How many wagons will we be taking?” I asked.

“A dozen, all loaded with salted meat and hides. Our aurox were finished processing yesterday. We’ll need a week or two staying in place to cure the hides before we move north but you can use that time to reach out to Sulk,” said Khan. “Mond. There is something else we must discuss, as men.” I wasn’t sure I liked where this was going.

“Fayala’s dowry, idiot!” cackled Kril as he saw my face go blank.

“Indeed. I’m prepared to offer half a dozen heifers and a good stud bullock. I will also gift you six slaves who will manage your household and herd. I think it is a fair offer?” Khan narrowed his eyes on me. Not only did I get the hazel eyed beauty but I also got a modest fortune by the standards of the nomads?

“Agreed,” I said simply and offered him an arm clasp. He snorted and turned away.

“You think so little of my daughter? If you were a man you’d have driven a harder bargain! A wife and children are not cheap!” Children?

“I meant no disrespect!” I hurriedly said. “It’s a great honour to join your house. I couldn’t put a price on Fayala so it doesn’t matter what her dowry is.” I felt a brief crushing pressure as though trapped in a shield wall. Khan’s eyes widened at the presence of the aura and he nodded his head.

“Well said, God-marked.” He seemed to set the matter aside for which I was grateful. Kril was smirking at me from the side of Khan but when the patriarch turned to look at him his face flowed seamlessly into polite attentiveness. “Have your dreams revealed anything more of Hakubin’s plots?” he asked my mentor. We had decided to conceal Glimpse’s power from everyone bar myself and the old rascal for the time being. We could pass off seemingly prescient knowledge as either his dreams or my "tactical genius" and hopefully no one would think to go after the giant crow that always seemed to be near me.

“He’s scared,” cackled Kril. “He won't dare go against a man marked by Aresk but he expects you to split the herds. Currently he is planning some light raiding on our herds once we settle. He’ll send shadows out after us to track our trail but he won’t move against us in strength. He’s also panicking about what Urkash will do over the next few months. Losing our strength leaves him vulnerable but he doesn’t know how to stop us going.”

“Desperate men make rash decisions,” said Atas sagely. “We should be on our guard until we reach Mondit.” Surely they should have chosen Rayit or Cobblerit as the town name? That Mond was now my given name among them… were they all calling me by what they thought was my individual name or something else?

“We’ll have outriders and rear guards but Hakubin isn’t a fool. However much he might want to move against us he can’t risk losing any of his remaining warriors. He knows we’ve taken his crown. He’ll get rolled up into another federation as a junior member. Whereas we will strike out on our own and bring other tribes to heel!” Khan chuckled to himself.

“Agreed. If there’s nothing else?” I asked politely. They shook their heads. “I’ll excuse myself then. I’m bone weary and we’ve got more bloody travelling to do over the next week. Good night to you all.” I stood and went to my own tent next door. As I stretched out on my furs I considered my Soul bank balance.

I had just over ten thousand to play with. I wanted to level my magic but I needed to leave enough for my Fangs. Boosting them up to having something close to D grade bodies would take six or seven hundred from my reserves for each of them. Fayala wanted magic as well and I had earmarked enough to make her so strong I wouldn’t need to worry about her safety.

Would it be worth giving some Souls to Haylin and Grabel as well? A coven of “witches” could be an advantage in the short term and in the long run I wanted a handful of people who could enchant and the crafting was largely done by the women of the tribe. The risk of losing the Souls invested in a warrior if they died in battle was also a problem. The women would at least be safe with the main camp most of the time.

I spent two hundred and eighty Souls to bring my Life resistance up to nineteen percent. Now I’d be immune to all low level spells like rot. I winced as I spent two thousand eight hundred and seventy Souls in one go, leaving me with a still substantial sum of over seven and a half thousand in the can. I examined my new Affinity screen and grinned for a moment before my face sagged. I’d need to start mass producing bloody magic rocks for Kril again as soon as he found out!

Affinity: Fire

Summon fire: Range- 45 metres, Intensity- +76%, lasts 10 seconds

Fire Resistance- +2%

Projectile: Speed- +3%, Detonation- 1.5 metres cubed.

Fire Wall: Area- 10 metres squared. lasts 10 seconds

Barrier: 20 HP

Fire Spirit: duration 10 seconds

Affinity: Life

Heal (self): 15HP and 48% increased recovery rate for one hour. Seals moderate wounds.

Enhancement (self): 58%,

Resistance (all): 19%

Projectile: Speed- +3%, (heal other)

Rapid Growth: Area- 1 metre squared.

Projectile: Speed- +3% (Enhance Other).

Shapeshift (Minor): Duration- 100 seconds

Affinity: Space

Size: Range- Touch, Intensity- 30%

Mass: Range- Touch, Intensity- 30%

Area: 5.5m cubed (optional) lasts 10 seconds

Resistance: 2%

Pocket Dimension: 5.5m cubed

Spatial Tear: Range- 11 metres

Imbue

Enchant

Soul Transfer

Aresk’s Boon: Carrion Feeders Gaze.

I was now far more formidable than I had been back at Gethanel. The jump in my Enhancement spell, that cost me a measly ten mana to cast, was insane. I would have to start wearing baggy tunics as well if I ever wanted to use the size spell to grow thirty percent larger in combat.

I had enough left to make my friends and soon to be wife stronger than any mortal ought to be. I might even have enough left over to boost Kril up a bit more as well. Altogether helping them would probably cost me a few more thousand but it would leave me some free to pick up a few choice items from the shop. Now that I was getting access to metals I had never heard of I was sorely tempted to find out what they were like. Knives made of what sounded like magic alloys would be handy, as would some armour for my friends.

Glimpse sent me a mental nudge to wake me just as Kril opened my tent flap. I resolved to come up with some sort of lock and a way for him to bloody well knock before swanning into my bedroom. He tossed me a leather pouch that I caught without thinking.

“What’s this?” I asked, waving the sack at him as I stood up.

“Rocks boy. I know you’ve spent some Souls on magic. I need better rocks!” He cackled at my shocked expression. “Thought so. You can do it in the chariot. First we get to say farewell to good king Hakubin!”

Kril watched slack jawed as I loaded the contents of my yurt into the pocket dimension. I couldn’t figure out a way to get the yurt to vanish into it as well which was a shame but my chest, bed and meagre possessions seemed to disappear before his eyes.

“Righto, bloke. Let’s go kiss the ring for the final time!” I grinned as we headed out towards the palisades. The Herm and Hatrik patriarchs were waiting for us by the paddock. The horses were ready in the traces of our chariots and the wagons had already begun to roll out onto the nearby plains to wait for the rest of our party.

“You cannot abandon your tribe now! We’re faced with the wrath of Urkash and you want to go running off after that fraud!” Hakubin snarled.

“Nonetheless we will travel north with the God-marked,” Khan replied calmly, his basso voice echoing out to the growing crowd of spectators.

“He isn’t one of us! You cannot break faith with me, with the rest of us, for the sake of an outsider!” Hakubin’s wife called from where she held a surly looking Hakudan by the hand.

“You felt the god’s aura, woman. Be silent!” snapped Khan. Hakubin went red in the face and Atas coughed as an excuse to cover his smile with a hand.

“You will be forsaken by our ancestors! Our families have been united since Hakutakas and Hatrikilik joined our families generations ago!” Hakubin argued fiercely.

“All things must end, Hakubin. We don’t want to split the herds with bad blood in the air. Aresk bless you with trials you may overcome,” Khan said as he offered his hand for a warrior's clasp. Hakubin glared at the outstretched limb then reached out and clasped arms. He pulled Khan in close and whispered something in his ear. Khan snatched his hand back like he’d touched a hot coal and he scowled but took no further action.

“Take us with you!” called someone from the crowd. Atas turned and raised his hands.

“Any who wish to join are welcome but please think hard! We are going north to make war on the Koprigyn. It will be a winter full of violence and glory!” Atas called out. Did he know who he was speaking to? These people were battle and honour mad! Ah. Of course he bloody knew the effect his words would have.

We waited a while longer as the wagons formed up. Atas and Khan spoke to a number of brightly dressed men privately before we mounted up and the chariots rolled out ahead of a dozen wagons. In the camp behind us I could see a significant percentage of the yurts being hastily pulled down and wagons beginning to roll along in our wake.

“Will we be able to feed this many? How will they complete the processing?” I asked. There was still a lot of the herd to cull although I had done the lion's share in the last few days.

“They’ll cope,” snorted Kril. “And we’re the stronger group now. Hakubin will think twice before he tries anything against us. You shouldn’t be worrying about that now, though.” A cackle drifted back over his shoulder, somehow dirtier than his usual evil giggle.

“What the hell are you talking about? Feeding everyone through the winter is going to be a bloody nightmare!” I snapped.

“Nah. Rapid Growth? Remember? You probably didn’t improve it but I certainly did! What you ought to be worrying about is your nuptials, boy!” Kril grinned back at me as he cracked the reins. Oh shit. I was getting married when we got back to Mondit.