Lady Pelica retired to a room that was given to her, and Han was shown to his room as well, leaving Galthor and the barbarians alone.

He looked at his subordinates. "What do you think of the offer?"

Karathra shrugged. "It's an offer you already accepted, Chief. I don't think there's anything to be said about it anymore. Well, apart from the fact that we now have to be cautious of the lady."

Galthor shifted briefly under her glare but then he sighed. "I think I understand what you mean. It happened so suddenly, but at the same time it's not something I can pass off. You understand me, don't you? This offer is dangerous, but at the same time, we need it."

Karathra stared at him deeply, her face showing different complicated emotions before she shrugged again. "You need to carry us along on some things. This offer is going to affect not only you but us as well. The whole of Stronghide."

Galthor nodded slowly. How should he explain that he was someone who had spent years alone with his thoughts? It wasn't easy to suddenly start sharing his thoughts and decisions with outsiders.

But even then, he needed to understand that his subordinates weren't just chess pieces he could move across the board as he wished. "Alright, I apologize for that."

Karathra opened her mouth and closed it before she nodded as well. "Alright."

Unlike her, Brakthar appeared calm and unbothered by everything. "Well, now that you've made the decision, what's the next step for us? We are already part of the Howling. Are we going to operate from here or take back our territory in Shatterpeak?"

Galthor tapped the table with his finger. "There's a benefit to operating here, but the disadvantages clearly outweigh any benefits that might exist. First, we are completely cut off from the outside world, and second, it limits us severely.

"What we need is to move outside and start to solidify ourselves."

What Galthor did not say out loud was that being outside would also provide the worshippers he needed.

"But I do not think we are strong enough to take Shatterpeak either. Not now, anyway. We need more time for that."

"So what do you want to do?" Brakthar asked.

Galthor smiled. "I don't know. I think we might find the root to be what we need right now...."

Before he could finish his words, hurried footsteps ran down the stairs, and he was suddenly interrupted by one of the warriors. "Chief! The Winged people are here!"

☆☆▪︎☆☆

"What do you think, mistress?" Han, the new blacksmith slave, said with a low rumble. After he was shown to his room by the barbarians, he had stood alone and closed his eyes where he was standing.

His image twisted and warped until he appeared in the room of Lady Pelica like a hologram. Now he stared at her and asked the question that had been on his mind since the time he was sold.

Lady Pelica's back was as straight as a long sword as she sat on the wooden chair. Now that she was alone, she stopped concealing some things that had been hidden.

For example, she was covered in silver necklaces that wrapped around her neck like bindings. Her ears were filled with earrings, all of them glowing softly. Even her nose was pierced.

Not to talk of her arms and legs, hidden in the folds of her robes.

Enchanters have limited ways of fighting, and as such, they tend to wear lots of their relics in readiness.

"What do you think, mistress?" Han asked again in the same patient tone.

"Han, can't you see that something interesting is happening here? The barbarians, these barbarians, have a divine being that's answering their prayers," Lady Pelica said slowly, as if she was still gathering her thoughts about something.

"Now, is it a barbarian god? I don't know, but something is definitely happening. This is not the first time a barbarian will form a cult, but most times it's usually demon worshipping. This time though, something is different. When we entered the village, what did you see that was different from all the other barbarians we've met?"

"Their eyes. They weren't dead; they felt so... free. Also, there's an air about them that I can't place," Han answered as he tried to recall. He and his mistress had been to enough barbarian outposts that he could immediately tell the difference.

Lady Pelica laughed. "Yes, yes! And that energy you feel around them is divinity. They appear to have been touched by it. Of course, not in the way that would give them power. It's like a being had breathed into them."

Han was surprised by what he could suddenly read in his mistress's face. "You want to take this seriously."

"Why not? We have found an anomaly here, and we will watch it grow or crumble. But before that, we are going to support it. The Divine World is changing. Years have passed before a great war, and every force has gathered its power.

"They're only putting on the finishing touches. The Howling is going to change even more. And now, a barbarian god might enter the game? We have interesting days ahead, Han!"

Han kept quiet for a while. "But mistress, with your... position, isn't the fifty-fifty too hasty? I don't believe you are going to gain much from him."

She looked at her subordinate calmly. "Han, do you think I ever made a decision with haste?"

Han's face seemed to ripple, the hologram flickering as if he was directly holding something back. "Ah! Mistress, if I should start counting, then won't we be here till nightfall?"

Lady Pelica looked at him as well, and then she suddenly snorted. "Right. You're my longest apprentice."

"Mistress, you never made me your official apprentice," Han said.

"Why should I? That damned relic of yours... forget it! Even now the root is stirring. Very soon, the Howling will howl. It's already started to cut away weakness."

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