“What do witches do exactly?” Ares asked Rori as Emerli found a place to herself near the edge of town to settle in.

“They create poultices and potions usually, though do have the ability to make curses… they bring great disaster wherever they reside.”

“That sounds kinda racist.” Ares chuckled. “Are witches even a race?”

“No, they are like shamans. A role one chooses in life.”

“Does one choose to be a witch? They seem to be hated…”

“If they do not have anything else, perhaps…” Rori replied back, falling silent soon after.

“So it’s like that…” Ares frowned. “Well then, let’s make sure she’s welcomed into our family then.”

Ares sent Rori to check on Emerli before he then went to go and check on his children once more. He hadn’t been able to recharge properly and after all this time, he was a little out of it. He dropped down beside his children, the trio sleeping near each other. A milk mother had remained to check on them, with Torak nearby. Ares nodded to Torak, and they returned the nod.

Then he let the tiredness wash over him, falling asleep.

He awoke an hour later when Ozri kicked him in the face. He opened his eyes to see that Ozar was climbing over him and then rolling off. Runar was still fast asleep.

“Did you guys miss me?” He whispered as he pulled Ozri close and then rest his head on theirs. Ozar walked over and then fell onto his stomach. “Yeah, yeah, I missed you too.” He said as he ruffled through their hair with a hand.

He let them play with and on him before eventually they went to go take another nap and then he hoisted himself out of the tent. The milk mother had disappeared, but another was nearby outside. Torak had been peeking in now and again.

“You brought back less wolffolk than I expected.” He said.

“Well this is just the vanguard. We’re going to conquer Dragon’s Spine together. If the god ends up being too powerful, then we’ll have an entire tribe of wolffolk and a god as enemies.”

“Enemies?”

“Yeah… well…” Ares went on to explain the deal he made with Heria.

“… I was confused as to why you brought back so few wolffolk, but that does make much more sense now. I understand why Rori doesn’t seem baffled at your actions.”

Ares chuckled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I think it was.”

Ares chuckled again. “Well I’ll leave you…” He paused. “I should probably find someone to look after the children… speaking of which, did that tournament go through?”

“No, it hasn’t yet.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Rori decided it was better to settle the town at first, then we can do the tournament when you finally return from Dragon’s Spine.”

“Oh… that does make much more sense.” Ares chuckled. “I guess that’s a good display of why having a counsel is so useful then.”

Ares left Torak be, going off to check on the rest of his tribe.

“Ares, chief.”

When Ares turned he saw Slate was waving over to him.

“Slate? What do you need?” Ares asked as he walked over.

“Rob was just wondering when we were heading into the Spine?”

“Hmmm. That is a good question. Let’s say in the next few days, I have a few things I need to settle first. Everything has been moving so quickly, I think my tribe needs to slow down a little before they trip.”

Slate nodded and then left. Ares continued on to find Lana. She had been a little spacey herself. She was beside the witch, Emerli, drinking and eating with the woman. Seeing the pair of women together, and Rori nowhere to be seen, Ares then went to go find Rori instead.

He found Rori near the new wolffolk guests, who were having fun in their own little group.

“Don’t you want to meet the others? They’re going to be your family soon.” Ares grinned at them.

Rob replied this time. “Once we get to conquering the mountain.” He had his spear out and was cleaning it with some kind of fur skin. “Next few days, is that right?”

“Yeah. I left pretty quickly once we arrived here, so I want to check out what’s happened so far. Plus we have a new addition that I want to make sure is settling well.”

“The witch?”

“That’s the one.”

“First the mountain and now a witch. Is this some sort of fairy tale?”

“No, but it might be in the future.” Ares laughed. “Let me know if you guys need anything. Just letting you know that Rori is my right hand man, so I’d appreciate it if you treated anything he says as though they came out of my mouth.” He then looked over to Rori. “Can we talk?” He motioned with his head away.

As they walked away, Ares continued. “I see that everyone uses different sorts of weapons. Why is that?”

“People feel comfortable using their preferred weapons.” Rori replied. “Better in a fight.”

“Hmmm. What’s the scale of fighting that usually happens?”

“Ten, though sometimes it goes up to thirty for skirmishes. For something final, the entire tribe may participate, so up to a few hundred, but that is something that happens once every few generations.”

“No wonder…” Ares sighed. “We’re going to be swapping over to more effective weapons. Bows, spears, and shields. We’ll also need to figure out some armour, but I guess I should go speak with the dwarves first…”

“They are a reclusive folk, like the elves.”

“Well, we’ll see when I speak with them.” He laughed. “What do you think? Spears and shields will make the backbone of our entire army when it comes to fighting the humans. Most have some form of armour, so we’ll need to figure out a way to get our own similar set. Also, we’ll be needing lots of javelins too. I’ll have each warrior carry their own set of gear, but then also split them up into small squads… we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Once I’m back from conquering the Spine and killing a god, I’ll let you know the plan that I have in mind. I’ll need to spend some more time on it first…” Ares sighed.

“Chief!” Called a voice from afar.

“Roshe?” Ares turned to face them. Roshe was carrying a few sets of boots in his arms and Ares beamed at them.

“There we go! You’ve finished them?” Ares asked. “Well done, Roshe! Thank you.”

“I finished the milk mother’s first. I’ve just finished Rori’s set, Torak I will get to tomorrow and the day after.”

“You’ve done a great job. Thank you, truly.”

“Well, that’s my role here.” Roshe smiled at the compliments though.

“Ah. Once you’re done with that… make yourself a set of something too. Using the leftover material. If you need anymore, ask Rori, he should have a few pieces that were meant to be a prize for the tournament, but I’ll replace those later. Plus, I might get even more materials in the Spine. Speaking of which… I should learn more about it…”