Gord pushed through the crowd, trying to get to Cad. They'd gotten separated in the bustle of the crowd and Gord felt too exposed on his own. Cad was carrying Sleepy, so it was easy to find them. She was a little ball of curiosity niggling at the back of his mind.

"Cad!"

The man in question turned around, seeing Gord and waving him forward. Gord caught up, getting pushed into Cad and Sleepy from behind.

Gord gave an angry huff.

"Hey let's get out of this crowd, I can't breathe with all these people around."

"Sure, we'll go up to the front. We can see the ritual better from there anyway."

The two men, plus Sleepy, pushed their way to the front of the crowd, where it was notably less dense. Cad put Sleepy down as there weren't as many legs in her way.

They watched, rapt, as Greg sliced his hand and offered the blood up to the Supreme Spirits.

Gord asked what was on his mind.

"You know, I've always wondered why we don't worship the Supremes. Seems like it makes sense to worship the most powerful gods, right?"

"Not really," Cad said. "The Supremes aren't gods in the way the Six are gods. They're literally all around us. Like, Juran is the embodiment of nature, but if I go cut down a random tree, Juran isn't affected. Whereas we walk upon the Earthmother and gaze up at the Skyfather every day. They don't really concern themselves with the human realm, because we're, at best, a minor annoyance and at worst, a parasite. It's actually why only the Supremes can be called mother and father. Great Spirits are neither men nor women until they enter the human realm. Balo was just Balo, until he set his wheel to race across the sky every day. Nera was just Nera, until she fell in love with the First Shaman and gave him the Flame. They're just spirits. Whereas Skyfather and Earthmother are both physical and spiritual. We don't worship them because honestly, they probably wouldn't even notice."

As soon as the last chief had done his dedication, Greg disappeared off to the side. Gord chuckled.

"He probably hates this. The vote is tomorrow, right?"

"Yup."

"Any frontrunners?"

"Surprisingly, no. The chiefs and shamans were too busy preparing for the spirit beasts to do any schmoozing. Realistically though, it's between the Plainshunters, Rockbreakers and the Children. They're the biggest tribes aside from ours and assuming everyone just votes for their own chief, one of them is pretty much guaranteed to win."

They started walking off to the side, out of the crowd, deep in conversation.

"Could the smaller tribes not band together and produce their own candidate? Seems like they'd win if they voted in unison."

"They could and they would but they don't."

"That sounds self-defeating."

"You'd think so, it's just that any smaller tribe that produced a warchief would quickly become not so small. They all know this. So if they ever all voted for one guy, they'd have no guarantee he wouldn't just leave them in the cold. In fact, that's exactly what the Rockbreakers did. They weren't always the powerhouse you see today."

They lied, cheated and stole their way to the top huh.

"Weren't the other small tribes angry?"

"Apoplectic. But what could they do? Power is the only language that matters in the Frontier and the only tribes more powerful than the Rockbreakers didn't care. So now no other smaller tribe will rise again barring some wild luck."

Power is the only language that matters.

It felt good to be trudging through the ash again, even though he'd hated how it made his home look when it came down. At least it was Ash Mountain ash, in the Ashfall Valley. It was still part of home.

"Gord?"

A pretty young woman grabbed his attention by pulling at his sleeve. Gord saw her and rolled his eyes.

"Can we skip this please? Yes, you're very pretty, no, I don't need any gifts, no, I would not like to share meat with your chief and no, there's not much you can do to convince me, either now or in my bed roll."

Cad started laughing.

Ah shit.

The woman was smoothing her tunic in anxiety, staring at the ground and turning red.

"N-no, I have a summons for you from Eldest Mother."

Cad roared with laughter. The bastard had probably recognised her.

"Uhh shit, sorry about that. Past trauma."

She didn't look up.

You know what? Bury it.

"Let's just go, this will only get more awkward."

Cad, the traitorous mischief sprite, had stopped recognisably laughing and was making gasping, seal-like noises in mirth.

"I hope you enjoyed that, buried rat that you are."

The woman led the trio to a tree stump the Mother was sitting on.

"Eldest Mother."

"Young Gord. We have much to discuss. Firstly..."

She took out her sound talisman and activated it.

"We think someone may know who you are. Specifically, what you are."

"How? We were careful."

"Gradal should have taught you this, but never assume your enemy is less determined or resourceful than you. We don't know how but some of the other tribes have been making moves that make no sense unless they know there's about to be a huge shift in power. As deputy warchief, Greg, and thus the Ashwalkers, are entitled to the second largest share of ash. Someone is putting out feelers gauging how disgruntled the chiefs are with Ashwalker dominance. We're the strongest tribe in the Frontier, it makes no sense to hobble our support before a spirit beast wave. Unless they believe this will be their only chance."

Cad jumped in.

"Can you not scry them? Find out exactly who?"

"No. Which means it's likely a Mother."

As Eldest Mother, she had authority over the other Mothers and by extension, their Shaman's Circles. Mothers constantly kept mischief talismans on their person, which would turn you invisible if activated, but passively prevented scrying if not. But working against a Mother made their job a lot harder. They could not accuse another Mother of acting against the greater tribemeld's interests without proof. The punishment for sabotage was being sacrificed to the Earthmother, but the punishment for a false accusation was the same.

"Do we have a plan?"

"Not as of yet, but Gradal and Greg are brainstorming and my medicine men are reestablishing their intelligence networks, to have a source of information other than scrying."

"Oh but we do have a plan, dearest Mother!"

They looked back to see Gord's grandpa, Gradal, hopping his way to them through the built up piles of ash.

"They are still working in the shadows, fervently hoping that whatever they may have heard isn't true. They have our information, but they don't know we know they have it. This gives us the initiative. We must seize it immediately."

"Naked power grab?" Eldest Mother asked.

"The nakedest. News of the spirit beast wave is currently only known to the Chiefs and Mothers' Councils, but if we make it public, we can capitalise on the fear, especially since we have both Gett and Wolfbane over here in our camp. The people trust them as they've already publicly put their lives at risk against these spirit beasts and they're Greg's sons. That gives him legitimacy. It helps that our goals align with actually keeping that trust secure."

This sounds awfully convenient. Was the whole Wolfbane thing just preparation for this? Wait... How did Gett enter the cave already blessed when the wolf had just appeared?

Shifting his gaze between the Mother and Gradal, he got that feeling that he was in way over his head again. These were full fledged political creatures and he had just started learning how to navigate these plains.

"Okay, I can work with that. When is he releasing the news? I need time to prepare."

Gradal looked up in the sky.

"About half a spoke. Maybe a little more."

The Mother sighed.

"Greg always did rush into action. No matter, I can work with the limited time you've given me. I'll be ready."

Gradal turned to look at Gord and Cad. He smiled.

"Well, come on boys, things are about to get interesting."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopping with his crutches as quickly as possible, Gradal led them towards the stage the chiefs had dedicated their blood on. They could see Greg in the distance slowly herding people back to the stage.

People were chattering excitedly and there was a palpable tension in the air. They could sense something big was going to happen.

Gradal dropped them off at the very front of the stage.

"Wait here, I'm going to find Gett."

Gett? Are they going to bring us out on the stage?

"Gord. This.. Doesn't feel right."

Cad looked uneasy at the prospect of fear-mongering the crowd into supporting us.

Gord clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, Cad. Power is the only language that matters, remember? You heard Eldest Mother, they're actively sabotaging our best chance at surviving this wave. Better its us in power instead of them."

He still looked uneasy but he visibly lost some tension in his shoulders.

"Come on man, you really think my dad, or the Mother would use any plan the harms the tribe? It'll be fine."

Cad couldn't deny that. They undoubtedly had the tribe's best interests at heart. But how much damage were they willing to do to other tribes to pursue those interests?

As more people gathered, the air took on almost an electric feel. Gord heard the words "spirit beasts" muttered more than once.

This had been one of Gradal's lessons. Never just come out with an accusation. Spread the rumour first, anonymously, let people hear it first from others they trust. Then when you come out publicly, you're just confirming what they already knew.

He didn't know if this was Gradal's doing or if his father was a lot better at this sort of scheming than he'd let on.

When almost everyone was gathered, Gradal reappeared with Gett in tow.

"Wolfbane! Brother, how are you doing?"

Gord forced a smile.

"Could be better honestly, but Gett, we need to t-"

"PEOPLE OF THE FRONTIER! Men, women even the children. You've heard the rumours, the whispers racing around the village. You've seen for yourself the evidence, when we were still in the caves! YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!"

This was.. Greg? His father had never been a pretty speaker, preferring to talk bluntly or just use his weapons when talking failed. But this was like a whole new man. He shone with the fervor of sincerity, almost making Gord believe he was up there solely for the good of the people.

"Here is the truth. A moon ago, the day Ashfall started, I received grave news. We all know the Great Spirits are waking once more. We all know what that means. I'm here to tell you all your worst fears are TRUE! I was informed that a new spiritual threat has appeared in the far north. We know not whether it's a Marked or a god that has taken residence in the barren wastes. But this spiritual threat threatens our entire way of life! How, you ask? A ravenous, unending horde of spirit beasts!!"

The crowd audibly gasped. Everything went silent as Greg paused for the effect.

"Yes it's true. I had it confirmed by the Eldest Mother herself. Of course, I sent word immediately, so we could prepare as best we could. Imagine my shock when I reach the tribemeld and not one among you good people knows this! This information was hoarded! Kept secret by the fat chiefs and secretive shamans who DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! All they want is the ash! They do not care if you or your children get torn apart by slavering spirit beasts as long as THEY REAP THE BENEFITS!"

The crowd was completely under Greg's spell. Gord had never seen anything like this in his life, a single man holding the utmost attention of a few thousand people.

This is power.

"I had initially thought my fellow chieftains were simply keeping panic to a minimum and making preparations in secret, so that the lives of the good people, the common people were not impacted unduly. HOW WRONG I WAS! We all saw as the chiefs hid their faces and ran when the alpha wolf attacked. Where were your leaders?! Your proud, fat leaders, growing corpulent off YOUR sweat, YOUR blood and YOUR tears, ran like children! And my very own children had to step up as MEN to do what your leaders REFUSED TO!"

Gradal nudged Gord from behind, whispering.

"That's your signal. Look appropriately saddened by what he's saying."

Gord stumbled forward, catching himself before he fell.

Okay, I've got this. Just go up, give the crowd the sad eyes and say nothing. I've got this.

He started hyperventilating, about to panic, when Gett grabbed his hand. He looked up at his brother, who smiled at him encouragingly. Mustering the strength, he followed Gett onto stage.

It was a whole new world. Rising from the sea of people onto a stage where he could look down at them truly felt like rising to greatness.

He swept his gaze across the crowd. This was probably nearly the entire tribemeld. More people than he'd ever seen gathered in one place before today. His father's words, having been replaced with a dull ringing, slowly faded back into hearing.

"-fbane and the Wolfspear! Where is Elder Wolfbane?! Where is Chief Wolfspear?! Not amon-"

Wolfspear? That has to be new.

"-ere they stand, proud Ashwalker men. Men who put their lives on the line to defend YOU. Who stepped up when they saw the failures of your chiefs and your shamans and SAVED YOUR LIVES! I could not see my sons do so much for the people knowing what I know about the ugly truth and not doing the same! So here I stand. The Ashwalkers have saved you once already from the spirit beasts. As you all saw, only Ashwalker men can make an alpha spirit beast turn tail and RUN AWAY. Help me do for you what my sons already have. Help me save YOUR LIVES! Make me warchief and I can PROMISE that we will weather this storm!"

At that the crowd erupted into cheers. Greg pulled his sons forward and raised their arms along with his. The crowd went insane, giving us deafening applause.

I knew that my father had done all the hard work but it still felt like they were clapping for me. It felt... Exhilarating.

I want this.

A genuine smile broke out on Gord's face.

This feels amazing. And he told the truth. Mostly. This can't be bad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I feel sullied. I will never get this stink off me."

Greg's face looked like thunderclouds, angry, dark and menacing.

Gradal chuckled.

"Don't be dramatic. You did everything exactly right. And Wolfspear, that was a nice touch. I'm surprised I didn't think of it myself."

He turned to the Mother.

"And how did your preparations go?"

She'd been in the middle of inhaling smoke from her ornate pipe when he asked, so she finished pulling, held a moment, then exhaled. Her brilliant purple eyes were shining in the dark.

"Adequately. I managed to 'convince' enough Mothers to hold the vote early, today instead of tomorrow, because of the 'urgency'. This should secure a victory before people have time to realise Ashwalkers cannot be warchief. By tomorrow, you should be in full control of the tribemeld. "

"Good. I would never forgive you two for making me do this if it didn't work. We need to prepare for the coming weeks. Many animals will be migrating back in, along with spirit beasts. I'm going to go bathe."

Greg thundered off.

"He's young. Idealistic. He'll come around." Gradal proclaimed.

"Maybe he shouldn't. Did we not put him in this position because of those exact attributes?" the Mother rasped.

"Of course we did," Gradal smiled and leaned back against his tree stump. "Of course."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cad had gone off to a shamans meeting, while Gord sat on the ground, playing with Sleepy. He was starting to become scarily fond of the little freak.

He was thinking of going to find his father to ask how he did what he just did and where Gord could learn it, but Greg had walked off looking ready to murder. Gord decided to ask another day.

He wanted to speak to Gett. He had questions about the scene with the wolf. The man had trained him so Gord knew the fight hadn't been staged or anything, Gett had actually been fighting for his life. He didn't even know how one would stage a spirit beast battle as they were hugely aggressive towards humans.

No matter what had happened, Gord wanted to know the truth. The real truth, not the polished version his dad had quite successfully fed the masses. And they knew it had been successful.

Even now, people were still talking about how Chief Greg had said exactly what they were all thinking. Somehow, his grandfather or the Mother had managed to get the vote cast early. Nothing had been counted yet but it was clearly an overwhelming victory.

Gord was still thinking this over when Sleepy suddenly started hissing.

"What is it girl? What's wrong?"

"Wolfbane!"

Shit.

Gord turned towards Blondie.

A spear clattered to the ground in front of him.

"I heard a rumour about you, Wolfbane. That everything weird going on recently has something to do with you."

The man himself wasn't carrying a spear, but two of his friends behind him were.

"Well you can't trust rumours."

Shit. Cad's not here. I might have to fight these idiots.

Sleepy was practically leaping out of Gord's lap, only held back by his arm firmly locked in front of her.

"True, true. But what can I say, I'm a gullible person." Blondie cracked an evil smile. His friends laughed behind him.

"There's only four of us here. I could just walk away right now and you couldn't stop me." Gord stood up slowly.

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of impeding the Wolfbane, let alone the son of our saviour warchief." Blondie waved the thought away. "But my friends however..."

They're going to attack, duel or no duel.

Gord started backing away, Sleepy angrily snapping and hissing in his arms.

The two other men inched forward, clearly planning on jumping him the moment he looked away to run.

Why am I thinking of running?

Gord knew he wasn't the same inexperienced boy who'd gotten challenged and froze in indecision. Now he was an inexperienced shaman. Same fundamental problem, but a radically different perspective.

"This isn't a good idea. This will be your only warning."

He knew he could just flash some fire and send them scattering, but something inside him wanted them to test him. To prove to himself that he could. That he had power now.

He remembered how being on that stage had felt. How engulfing his hands in flame that first time had felt.

The two men advanced at the same time. Looking to flank him. Fools. He had two hands.

They thrust their spears.

And Gord unleashed an inferno.