“You speak our language?” Horn stated the obvious, “Why the charades then?”

“I didn’t the last time you’ve seen me,” Gibbins replied,

“I seriously doubt that. I’m studying the trade language, and it’s a chore. How could you learn dwarvish so fast? Why the deception? If you’re lying about such a thing, then how can I trust you with anything else?”

“That’s a valid point, but fear not. I’m telling the truth. I have a skill that allows me to catch up with language incredibly quickly. Joran can confirm that he saw me learning fluent Gnomish in a week. I’ve just used the opportunity of your people around to learn.”

Horn frowned, it made some sense, but he was still wary of the man. It just was too convenient an explanation, “Let’s say I believe you.”

“I never intended for this to be a wedge between us. There wasn’t the opportunity to talk before. I’ve eavesdropped on your conversation. I shouldn’t but couldn’t stop myself. Your dungeon is of no interest to me. The secret is safe. However, your consumption of food tells me you have kept information of your own from me?”

“That’s none of yo –“ Horn started replying, only to see the disappointment in Gibbins’s eyes. He took a deep breath and said, “You’re right. Both of us are playing this thing safe, and we have to either trust each other or part ways. Frankly speaking, we have bigger issues at hand than squabbling. The Red Scourge is heading this way.”

Gibbins measured Horn for a moment before calmly saying, “I know. They’re a month away, maybe e a bit more.”

The calm reaction didn’t even surprise Horn anymore. The man was capable, dangerously capable, in fact. He decided to be on his good side, “We have to present a united front, I know where they have to pass, or where they will pass the mountains, but I probably can’t hold them off by myself.”

“Yes, your mountain fortress seems like the best defensible option,” Seeing the shock on Horn’s face, he added, “I’ve watched parts of your stream.”

Forgetting that it was only a game was so easy that Horn felt ashamed. Clearing his throat, he replied, “Yes, it’s even a type of battle I’ve fought already. Defending a pass against the horde of monsters. I think this time it’ll be harder, but we can stop them. I have warriors and builders. What I lack is magical support.”

“Hmm, I might have a solution for that, but you’ll need to give me a few days. Build an embassy so we can communicate in-game. You can also message me offline. I’ll drop your contact details through your manager. I’ll be heading back to Arvanti tomorrow. If we’re going to do this together, I believe an alliance is in order?”

“I think so. It’s good to work with competent people. But truth to be told, I’ve come here with a proposal. You see, building in the mountains, and focusing on defenses, puts me short on some goods. On the other hand, I believe there’ll be a steady stream of metals and arms coming from my city. I need a place to trade it. I have a group of almost a hundred humans, elves, even a few gnomes that would like to live in a more pleasant environment. I want to invest in Arvanti. Give me a district. They’ll build it up. They’ll be my factors and the guarantee of our alliance.”

The statement caught Gibbins unprepared. For the first time, Horn saw the man perplexed. A smile appeared on Horn’s lips. He enjoyed the feeling. A few moments passed, but it was Gibbins turn to surprise Horn, “I agree. Send them over, I’ll prepare some basic lodging for them before they make their own. I’ll buy anything your smiths produce. Send someone knowing your needs with them, I’ll arrange goods. When this crisis is over, we need to start thinking about currency. Bartering will only take us so far.”

“No bargaining? You just accepted? I’ll have to revise my opinion of you once again,” Horn said.

“Likewise, my dearest ally,” Gibbins replied, extending his hand.

The two leaders shook on their agreement, following with notification of defensive alliance.

As Gibbins observed the dwarven party leaving the camp the following morning. He said to Joran, “Send Miklas with the message to our friends behind the mountains. Tell them the deed is done.”

The man frowned, “Are you sure, Mayor? Do you know it won’t be the end of that? They’re merciless.”

“I know, but we don’t have an option, not while we’re bound, and we cannot afford to rebel right now.”

“Are you sure of that? The dwarves seem capable. Are we betting on the right horse?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Gibbins replied, “I’m surprised by that dwarf. He’s playing a lot of angles, just like us.”

“They won’t stand a chance if we won’t back them up.”

“I know so many unknowns, so little time. We’ll play both sides for now. Send a rider to the Blazzers, invite Ignivious for a meeting, promise them half of our stock of Arcane Powder. You’ll head out into the woods, take the Dryad’s Whisper as a gift, explain to them what is happening out here, get me a meeting with them.” Gibbins stopped for a moment, massaged his temples before adding, “Scratch that, get Horn a meeting with them.”

“You sure? They’ll take offense easily.”

“If we’re going to bet on another horse, we need to first test him, don’t we?”

“Yes, Mayor.”

A similar conversation took place between Goran and Horn as they rode towards their home.

“I don’t trust him.” Goran started, “Joran is a good man, but he asked too many questions. He was fishing for intel.”

“Yea, there’s something fishy about them. It was too easy to convince Gibbins to get us a place in his city. I get the all ‘Free City’ vibe, but at this stage, it's strange. Either he’s starved for manpower, or something is going on in the background.”

“A few evenings ago, I got Joran drinking, they have this terrible moonshine, but it has a kick to its name. Once drunk enough, he blabbered they’ve met quite a few other tribes. He said something about a fire mountain and flying ships. But what’s more interesting, he said that Gibbins saved them from an encounter with Hobgoblins. They came into an ambush a few hours after arriving at the Nexus, but Gibbins talked his way out of that.”

“Hobgoblins, you say? Strange, I would think they’ll massacre any opposition and take their belongings.”

“That was my thinking.”

“We’ll have to keep an eye on them. Sigrid will be among the ones I’m sending to Arvanti. If anyone can dig what is happening out there, it's her.”

“I pity them. They won’t know what hit them.”

“I really hope so.” Horn finished with a smile.

The trek back to the city was peaceful. If not for Horn’s desire to get there in record speed, it could be called pleasant. They made it by the early morning of the next day, a whole day ahead of schedule Horn left Herrak with. All of them were dead tired after riding the entire day, keeping any breaks and the night’s rest to a minimum, but they were home.

Horn threw himself in a flurry of meetings and discussions. The human group decided to accept his proposal and prepared to leave. Their joining the clan took a better part of the afternoon, as getting a hundred pledges took a while. Then there was a topic of assigning some dwarven warriors to the group, establishing a chain of command, before finally, Horn could sit down with Portius and Sigrid to discuss their objectives.

“Portius, I’m glad you’ve agreed to my proposal. I think OUR people will benefit from it greatly.” Horn started,

The librarian measured him with his eyes, either pleased with his findings or not finding deceit in him. The human replied, “I never thought I was going to join a dwarven clan. My grandfather would turn in his grave knowing this. He fought against your kind, but that’s now ancient history. I’m happy my people will be safe, and having you as a protector cannot hurt.”

Horn was flabbergasted with the honesty of the reply. For a moment, he lost his tongue. A moment later, with a broad smile, he said, “I think we’ll mesh just fine.”

The man nodded.

“However, not all will be easy. The danger isn’t over. There is a threat coming to our borders. The clan will stand against it, but we need allies and supplies. Your presence in Arvanti will help with both. Gibbins’ people are industrious and have many connections. I want you to add us to them, use them for networking, bring us trading and military partners. With our dwarven goods hitting the market in a few weeks, you’ll have an advantage over any competition. Build up our district, I’m sure to visit at the first opportunity. I’ll be sending Sigrid and forty of ours with you. She’ll be in command for the time being, but when she leaves, it’ll be on you. Can I count on you, Portius?”

“I’m not an administrator, at least not of people, but I’ll try my best.”

“Good, I expect nothing less. You’ll be heading out tomorrow in the morning towards the hunting camp with the wagons. From there, Gibbins will send you to Arvanti. Get some sleep. There’s a long road ahead of you.” Horn finished, standing up and extending his hand.

The human shook it, “Thank you, chieftain.”

Horn looked the man in the eyes and didn’t see any reservations. It calmed him down, he was still gambling on introducing humans into his clan, but he hoped it’d work out somehow. As the man left, Horn addressed Sigrid, “Keep watch over them. I have a feeling there’s more to our host than we believe.”

“Of course, I’m taking a dozen of ours that will stay behind as workers. I’ve already checked them out. They seem capable. They’ll keep station after I leave.”

“Good, but that’s not enough. Recruit his people, pay, promise, threaten, but we need to know what Gibbins is doing. I don’t trust him, not at all.”

“Horn, then why are we playing to his schemes? Why not back off from him? Or conquer? The price would be high, but my calculations tell me we’d easily recover and have another settlement in a defensible position.”

“That’s probably true, but we’d burn a lot of bridges. There’s a horde coming to our doors. Thousands, like the undead we’ve faced, but these will be more organized, backed by dozens of champions, magic, and cunning. We cannot face them alone.” Horn said, frowning. His mind processed his words as he spoke them. The reality of the situation hit him.

“We’ve faced challenges already. It's just another one,” Sigrid retorted.

“Yes, but after this one, there will be another. In the end, we’re far too few to survive, let alone to spread to several settlements. This city alone will be able to hold a few hundred thousand. We’re less than a thousand right now. I can summon a bit over a hundred more, but that’s a drop in the ocean. We can’t even be sure to defeat the incoming threat alone.”

“We can retreat into the mountains, block the plateau from the rest of the valley. They can sit there and rot. The winter is coming. They can’t hold the siege for too long. They’ll starve.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Are you willing to take this risk? To run? What about the future? The reputation of the clan? We need to win this, decisively leaving no doubt that we’re not the one to be messed with. We need allies to secure our foothold in the world. Gibbins is thinking in the right direction, so should we. Also, having an ally is a perfect cover for many activities. The ally doesn’t have to be a willing one, we can take over without spilling a drop of blood, but we need to know what’s brewing in there.”

“It will be done. What about Portius?”

“We need a friendly face there, a human face. Let him be the face while the real work is done from the shadows.”

“And what if he isn’t cooperative?” Sigrid asked,

Horn just looked intently into her eyes. She didn’t break the contact. Instead, she said, “I understand.”

Sigrid bowed and took off.

Horn just stood there, trying to swallow the bitter aftertaste of his decisions. He understood the game but didn’t like playing it. Maybe it was overdramatic from his side, but he read through enough historical books, novels and watched holovids to know how this could develop. He wasn’t so naïve to think that there wouldn’t be anyone after him. In his mind, the threats only multiplied, from obvious like Red Scourge, through greedy adventurers, an order with a betrayal in its history, a merchant slash mayor he couldn’t trust, to a dozen different players claiming land nearby.

The future seemed uncertain, but looking back at the city built in front of his eyes – strengthened his determination. Even if he had to lie, kill, and threaten all of them, he’d do this if only to see his dream coming to fruition.

Unknown to Horn, a raven sat on nearby ruins. The bird observed the whole exchange, silently listening. It saw the flurry of emotions passing Horn’s face, and as the dwarf below turned toward the city and his back straightened up, the raven cawed loudly, “Kraa! Kraa!”