Chapitre 64: The Crowls are marching
A storm raged on drowning out all sounds, except the booming thunder that followed the lightning which flashed, lighting up the black void that surrounded them.
Arthor looked around confused, he could not remember why he was on the ship, he knew not where he was going and most importantly he had no idea where the hells he was. With the wild rampaging waves, Arthor soon fell to one side barely holding on to side of the ship to prevent himself from falling into the sea.
The waves grew in strength and intensity, causing all aboard the ship to abandon thoughts of controlling the ship merely settling to keep the ship steady so as not to capsize into the dark waters.
Arthor took note of all this with his senses, the urgency with which the people on board moved as well as the lips parted with bulging veins around their necks. 'The were screaming' he could not hear them but he was certain, his eyes continued to take the ship's surroundings but all that met his eyes was the pitch black curtain that surrounded them.
That was until there was a bright flash, lightning fell once more. With its fall it illuminated a beast, a whale... no this was larger than any whale Arthor had ever heard of.
"A leviathan" Arthor muttered with realization, in the next moment a piercing cry originated from the beast, startling Arthor. He had heard its cries he had been unable to hear the voices of the people aboard the ship but he had heard its voice as clear as day. The voice of the creature carried with it pain and untold suffering.
Arthor tried to focus on the creature once more in the, but failed. He kept is focus however staring into the endless darkness hoping to catch a glimpse of the creature once more, when another bolt of lightning raced across the sky illuminating the Leviathan who was being devoured by a creature of living ice.
Arthor froze at the sight as the creature of living eyes focused its glowing blue eyes on him.
*******
"Arth..., Arthor" Arthor awoke to Freya who stood at the entrance of his room with her gaze fixed upon his body. "Ronell and his wargs have news, the Crowls have began their march."
Those words sprung Arthor into action as he leapt from his bed and hastily got ready before leaving with Freya to the hastily put up tent where important meetings were now held. The move to the woodlands had been smooth, partly due to the fact that none dared to go up against Arthor.
However their sheer number still caused some delays here and there but in all they had been able to withdraw back to the surrounding area of the woodlands. With the infrastructure which had been set up during the winter as well as the ones used by the few which remained in the woodlands originally they were quickly able to establish themselves.
"How long until they are in our lands?" Arthor immediately questioned once he set foot in the tent, "from the look of things... I'd say a day or two." Ronell began.
"They're marching on us with 1500 hundred men with the majority of them riding horses." At his words those who had advocated they stand their ground and fight felt a cold shiver race down their back. To stand up against 1500 fully trained men, they dared not imagine the sight.
"How are things looking on our side?"
"I and the others have been able to stop their scouts as well as the few wargs amongst them, so they are still unaware of our relocation", Arthor gave a nod at that before his face hardened even more. "How many of our people are still there?"
"216 men, the preparations we set up are yet to be complete however-" "Tell them to retreat now!" Harwood decided to cut in at that moment, his grip on his chair's arms tightening to the point where splinters were forming on the wood.
He hated the way his youngest spoke of the men in such a detached unfeeling tone, the problem had began when he had performed that cursed ritual under a weirwood tree. Harwood was thankful to the gods and his ancestors for the gifts they had bestowed upon his son, but he hated the way it twisted his son at times.
It had seemed he was back to himself in recent times, but now looking at him... Harwood worried it was only temporary. "That would be unwise" Ronell turned to his father and spoke in a cold tone, "the preparations they were tasked with are only effective if they are there with them. They were prepared for an uphill battle from the very beginning".
"Yes but that was when we anticipated 500-600 hundred on the first charge against this numbers however..."
"I understand you father" Benjen contributed, "we expected a test of some sort for the first clash. With this numbers however it would seem Lord Crowl intends to wipe us out, if we have them retreat and do nothing this would harm us in the long run"
"Your son speaks truths, painful as it may be it is still truth"
"So, their sacrifice works and a few hundred die. What then? They have more than enough to fill in, we on the other hand are running out?" Lothor questioned all present, "We move" Arthor's words drew all eyes back on to him.
"Our plan and the others we had plan to put in motion did not account for them coming at us at full force in the beginning. I hate to admit this but we can do this on our own, we need to gather allies, so we will split up."
"They outnumber us already yet we are going to split up?" Lagertha questioned and with the look from Freya it was all too clear that she supported Lagertha. "Not all war must be head on clashes, and just because we split up doesn't mean we will remain small".
"Each group will be tasked with drawing more to our cause. With our forces attacking from all sides the enemy would be forced to split up so as to deal with us and before they truly know what's happening it will be too Late for Lord Crowl."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone