"Do you ever think about killing someone? Not just killing but making them suffer. Like imagine plunging a hook through their neck and hanging them by a tall tree? Watch them shake and spasm as life goes out of their eyes, hanging like a sack of potatoes. Do you ever think about doing something like that to anyone?" Selina asked, leaning in towards Avin with a genuinely curious expression.
Avin blinked and turned towards her, "Umm, no? Do you?"
There was a pause and Selina just smiled innocently and shook her head, "No, of course not, what made you think that?" she asked in turn.
"No, nothing of course.." Avin said, pulling the Groll he was riding on to the side, just a handspan away from the one Selina was riding.
Selina, as if she didn't even notice, moved her own mount closer to him nonchalantly.
'This girl is getting worse by the day.'
"Do you ever think about tying someone up and throwing them in a barrel and putting that barrel in an oven?" Selina began and Avin started to sweat, they were on their way to Flery colony, where the gathering of chiefs was about to happen.
Kevan was traveling ahead with half a dozen of his guard, Genfi, a big man with dark black hair tied in a bun and short cropped beard was in his thirties with the same Krimzon features, red eyes and a square face.
Then There were two lean men, one carrying an axe on his back and wore leather armor with a bald head, he was Yeben, a good fighter Avin had seen him in action a couple of times.
The other one was Korli with a handsome face and long curly hair similar to Avin, with a sharp face and carried a traditional Krimzon blade dipped in red glaze which had rippling red patterns on it.
The others that had accompanied Kevan were mostly business and logistical overseers of the Delsy colony. These kinds of Chiefs gatherings were not to show each other how powerful they were, but more of a council where smarter brain was more needed than shaper swords.
But Avin wondered if the brains would even solve the problems if the blades failed? There wasn't any reasoning with mad men intoxicated on Amberlips afterall.
Leaving Selina behind who was on about her own weird tangent. He came up to the Chief, Kevan turned cocking his eyebrows towards him.
"Chief, do you think there is going to be more trouble with the Ulov?" Avin asked, blunt as always. He was an outsider among the Krimzons, so he could often be blunt and tactless unlike the others. And they sometimes appreciated his bluntlessness.
Kevan just sighed and shrugged, "hard to say, depending on what the other chiefs decide, though I assume there will be a vote on what to do."
The others went quiet and Avin turned around to look at their impassive and slightly concerned faces, and then turned back to the Chief again.
"Will... I mean, could there be a war?" He asked hesitantly. The others went stiff at that, there hasn't been an Ulov war since the era of Grogon the boarlord or Wulgon of Kultan. And even in their era Krimzons had won, so the Oracles had said, despite their barbarian ways, Ulov's were far stronger when they were in greater numbers. Avin knew it from experience, and facing them with no preparation whatsoever was nothing but suicide.
Well unless you were a Spirit channeler, but Krimzons only had five of those, each chief being one.
Kevan looked on ahead with an impassive face, "I don't know, I've heard some rumors about other colonies… but we'll see."
The rest of the way went on in relative silence, even Selina after listening to the gravity of the situation was silent… well kind of. The girl barely had a social bone in her body, the fact that she would make Avin her friend was evidence enough.
Soon they reached the foot of mount Kolisekh. atop it lay the Flery colony where the gathering of the chiefs was going to take place.
Felry colony wasn't much different from any other colonies Avin had been to, except for its size and the fact that it had the the biggest Red bark tree than the Krimzons call the mother tree.
Flery was the biggest colony in the Krimzon Valley, with dozens upon dozens of traders coming from the outside. Usually the Oracles maintained strict laws in trading with the outsiders. And only a dozen or more Merchant caravans came to the Delsy colony. Not here though, with colorful and alien clothing and robes hundreds of people traded and provided various services in the Flery great markets.
A group of people in flowing blue-white robes and conical white hats that had a bizarre symbol of a vertical eyes sold alchemical bottles of medicines and other drugs. Something Vlad would scoff at if he saw.
A couple, man and woman both dressed in colorful robes, with blue, yellow, green, red and various other colored strips stitched together in a flamboyant costume, their faces covered in masks of bizzare animals, obviously meant to attract children. Dancing and playing a string instrument Avin had seen a couple of times when he had seen similar Jesters and bards.
And other curiosities that Avin didn't have the time to explore unfortunately.
At last after reaching the centre of the colony they came upon a gigantic red bark tree rising into the sky. Its trunk was about a hundred meters wide, with washed red bark and deep green moss growing on it like patchwork, pink petals hung from its great branches like colorful clouds. Beneath it rested the great hall of its Chief, painted gray and white and a wide dark green dome topping it. It was bigger than the Chief's hall at Delsy, since Flery was the capital colony of the Krimzons in the whole Valley. Their first generation had made its way here ages ago and placed the seed of The Mother tree here.
And unlike the Chiefs keep in Delsy, the Flery Hall was crowded by more people. Different from the markets though this crowd consisted of Chiefs and their retinue. It seemed like everyone else had arrived and were waiting for Chief Kevan before entering together.
A tall woman stood at the Gates of the Chiefs halls, she had a beautiful hawkish face, a thin scar running down from her left cheek to the jaws. Her hair braided in a single long tail and she wore thick red leather armor covering her whole body up to her Chin.
She was Pevena Leria, the Chief of Flery colony and the host of this gathering.
"Early as always Kevan." She said impassively, her voice was impassive but Avin knew she was probably seething inside at chief.
'I guess they're not on good terms ever since their relationship ended.' Avin wanted to console chief by patting him in the back but held himself back.
Kevan visibly flinched, but gave her and the other chiefs a smile and bowed down a little, "My apologies everyone, we had a little issue just as we were about to depart."
Pevena just stared at him, then she stared a little longer until Kevan began to sweat and eyed everyone around him, but everyone else just avoided eye contact with the poor chief.
Pevena sniffed and gestured to everyone, "regardless, welcome to Flery, come on inside."
With that the chiefs entered first, followed behind by their subordinates, Avin and Selina entered with Kevan's retinue. The others chiefs subordinates eyed them, but didn't say anything.
The chiefs sat on the round red table in a round hall, slit windows were opened on the roof to let in the natural morning light. The senior Krimzon officers surrounded their Chiefs, they had left the weapons behind when entering the council hall, so they stood and sat lankily. It was as if taking their weapons off had taken away their tension.
Aven found that odd, but well Krimzons lived a different way of the warrior. Different from Vlad's way of a Chaoswalker anyways. Avin also was forced to leave his weapon behind but he kept a knife in his boots just in case. He had never met any of the chiefs except for Pevena before.
Everyone stood or sat, there was a pause as all turned towards Chief Suon, who grabbed one of the grain ale's bottles from the table and took a long hard swig.
He was a lanky man, covered in thick black leather armor. Short cropped black hair and a fox like face. Dark red eyes that almost looked black and a clean shaven face. A scar running down from his forehead to his cheek, parting his left eyebrows in two.
Suon let out a loud belch in satisfaction, "Give me that!" Kevan said, snatching the bottle away from him. Only to take a long swig himself.
Chief Kuron of Enray, a heavy set man, with thick black beard and sharp eyes.. well an eye, since he had an eyepatch over his right eye socket, he also wore a black cloak which only over exaggerated his giant proportions, rolled his eye and turned towards Pevena.
"I don't think there is a need for greetings, let's just get onto the matters at hand."
Pevena nodded, and opened her mouth to speak but the last Chief Avin barely had time to observe cut her off.
Trunson was the chief of Dravel colony, a hulking man with a long face and sharp nose like a beak. His eyebrows were a bit higher making him look like he was probably glaring at you.
"I want the Oracles to allow more merchants to trade in Dravel. The harvest for this winter in the orchards is not enough, my people will not survive this year if they cannot buy food and supplies from the Empire." Chief Trunson's subordinates from behind joined in agreement.
Avin would've not given them more than a passing glance, but now that he did, he saw that all of his subordinates were dressed in well oiled leather armor, similar to the Chiefs. Trunson on the other hand wore metal shoulder guards and a very lavish and elegant gray black gauntlet.
Metal was hard to buy for the Krimzons, since the Empire regulated the amount of metals they sell to the tribes like Krimzons and Ulov's. So they could only afford to make the classical Krimzon cutters for the soldiers. A plate on the body was obviously a luxury.
"You people won't survive?" chief Suon asked, raising his eyebrows and kicking his feet up on the round table.
Trunson scowled at him, "Yes, they will not be able to survive the winter."
"Won't survive the winter huh… well that makes sense. How will they survive when you and your wife eat everything up?" chief Suon said, smirking.
"What did you say Suon? another word about my wife and–"
"And what?" Suon cut him all leaning forward. "You think we're blind? That we don't see what she is doing? Her spite for the Oracles has made her into a blood sucking witch that would torture her own people–"
Trunson slammed his fist on the table, surprisingly it didn't crack, and stood up, his men throwing curses, "I should cut out your tongue for that you bastard. How dare you–"
"Enough!" Kuron rumbled silencing Trunson. "We're not here to fight and throw insults, Suon, watch yourself."
"What? Just look at him! You're taking his side?" Suon said pointing at Trunson had sat back down, with an incredulous expression.
"Sides? There are no sides." Suon snapped back. "We have our differences but in front of an outside crisis we're all the same."
Chief Suon clicked his tongue and averted his gaze away scowling, "am I understood?" Kuron asked. And everyone except Suon and Trunson nodded.
"Good." Kevan said, slapping his hands together. "Now let's start from the start. We're here to discuss what to do with our neighbours. Neighbours who have been less than accommodating in the past to say the least. But now they are becoming nothing short of a pain in the arse. We're here to talk about how to deal with the Ulov. And this gathering will not end until we have decided on a set course."