Capítulo 33: Provoking

There is silence in the camp.

They only listen to the words of these two people.

The crackling of the fireworks, the sound of the wind, the occasional neighing of the horse all of the sound seems to fade away as the only sound that could be heard is the sound of these two men talking with each other

Many of the warriors here have never fought as fiercely as they did today. Even for the fifty men below Aeryon, they have never fought in such a huge battle. Even though they did charge into battle, they do feel scared

It is already a miracle that they survived such a battle. If they knew that their leader is once again thinking of fighting, what would they do?

So, just like the question that Garron ask, they also wanted to know the answer.

"Why

"Why?"

''Yes, why?'' Garron then added

''Xewa tribe and Ghar tribe expel you from the Great Steppe. Xeqani killed your father and Otuken tribe force you out. You attack them and raid their tribe, take their people and take their resources. This, I understand. But those two tribes, they did not do anything to your tribe''

Aeryon hearing this suddenly laughed

''My father wanted to give some grazing lands to the Xewa tribe. He was ready to compromise, hoping that Xeqani would see reason and stop his provocation''

He chuckles and then continued.

"He was killed by Xeqani. And the Xewa tribe wanted to kill us"

Then he snorted and spoke

"We never wanted a battle with the Ghar tribe but they came to battle us anyway. I did not do anything to those two tribes, but they came attacking anyway'' he smiles as he said this but he did not explain what he said

But everyone in the tent understood.

Just because you do nothing, does it mean you are safe? In the end, the ambition of Otuken, the ambition of Xeqani moved their tribes to expel the Brolgadhr tribe.

It is not a matter of justice. It is a matter of power. They have power. So, they expel the Brolgadhr tribe. It is the same now

The Brolgadhr tribe has power.

And so, these two tribes will probably ask the same question like Aeryon ask.

They did nothing, but they will get attacked. And they proabbaly also will reach to the same conclusion that Aeryon had.

That they were an obstacle to something powerful and that powerful something decided to remove this obstacle.

Unlike the Xewa tribe and the Ghar tribe, this attack that he wanted to initiate will not be personal. This is all for the survival of his tribe.

Three days is not long and before three days, he needs to make sure that people would feel fear when they spoke of his name and when they think of his tribe, they must think of his tribe as a ferocious tribe.

The more he is like this the more his tribe is like this, the more safer is tribe would be in the Great Steppe.

Kindness is a virtue but only when you are in a strong position. If you are weak and tries to be kind, then you should be ready for other tribes to perceive it as a weakness.

He must stabilize the area around his tribe.

Aeryon have another reason why he chose those two tribes. Those two tribes did not have a powerful leader. And they have many young people.

Aeryon did not want to kill. He wanted to subjugate these people into his tribe.

What Brolgadhr tribe lacks right now is people. And with the resources he just got for the battle he had enough resources to bring up warriors.

But people…..that is what he lacks.

That is why he wanted the people of the Ghar tribe and Xewa tribe more than he wanted the land.

As long as he has people, he could get back the land anytime. Aeryon is even prepared to lose some of the lands and sacrifice lands to get more people.

And of course, he wanted them to assimilate with his tribe. Aeryon decided to be generous to his tribe and cruel to others.

Until he conquers the entire Great Steppe, until the whole of the Great Steppe is under his control

Then and only then he could bring order and only then could kindness be delivered. Aeryon is very realistic person. Ideals could only work if there is a chance it could work.

The lofty ideals is good in theory but when it met reality it is faced with many setbacks. And Aeryon is alone and the trend of time does not allow certain ideals to be brought out

He could not initiate Renaissance movement or the movement of scholarly learning because simply this is not the trend of time

There is warfare, there is chaos, there is warlords all over, from the ones on the Yan Empire borders to the northernmost points of the Great Steppe and maybe even beyond it.

Aeryon sighed inwardly. He shook all of these thoughts from his head and look at Garron in front of him

His eyes is casual but to the eyes of other people, it almost looks like this young chief is pressuring their chief with his gaze.

Aeryon waited for the answer but the question is not easy so the answer is also not easy to come out.

The silence stretched on. Garron did not show any gesture to show he is thinking but one could tell that for someone so decisive like Garron to be so hesitant means he is thinking about a lot of thing.

And then after a sigh Garron nodded

''I will lend you the men'' Aeryon smiles and then he got up from his seat.

"I will move at dawn" he said this and then he went out of the tent.

The curtain of the tent flapped to the side before it swing backs to its place. The moment Aeryon get what he wanted, he quickly make his move.

Waqu frowned and then he inches closer to his brother

"This is quite rude"

Garron shakes his head and there is a bitter smile on his face

"he wanted me to get angry at him. This young chief is not easy at all. Not a fool." He mutters. Waqu was shocked to hear this

"Did he wanted brother to attack him? Why?"

'There is many reasons. Maybe, he wanted to know where he should stand. Or maybe he wanted to kill me and take my tribe just like he takes Xewa and Ghar tribe. Or maybe he just wanted to see how I would react"

he sighed and then gesture to one of his commanders and tell him to deploy two hundred men to follow Aeryon at dawn.

The commander quickly went out of the tent

"Let us go and sleep. Tomorrow would be quite a day"

he said and everyone leave the tent except Waqu. When there is only the two of the, Garron spoke al of his concerns and all of his plans and ideas and so they talk until the morning.

The night goes on and dawn came. And only then Waqu exited the tent

The moment he exited the tent. Waqu ride his horse and rides out from the camp area, riding to the grassy plains.

Who knows where he is going and what he is about to do?

But the wind of the prairie blows and it is like a wind that brings about a storm