Silent, the tribe stared at the approaching war balloons. All had activated their magic and their true forms. The Chiefess stood with the three clan leaders at the front of the crowd. Small dusts kicked up on the horizon.

“Seems the Forgers have done well,” Nolkonoe whispered to Charlie as they stared at the approaching escort.

The daughters of the heirs and the woman left in charge of the Forgers stood just behind the clan leaders. Even in a moment such as this, Charlie felt a little embarrassed to be standing in front of people he deemed to be higher ranking than him in the tribe. Still, that was something that was going to have to come second.

Turning his attention back to the escort, he readied himself for whatever was to come next. First, the Forgers were to arrive. As the Desert Claimers came to a stop in front of the village, for the first time, Charlie saw the lead forger, Ases, smile with genuine joy. Weather of not that was a good sign wasn’t clear to him. Shuffling in his place, he watched as the lead Forger leapt from her Desert Claimer.

With her daughter just behind her, she ran over to the Chiefess. The two exchanged words but stopped their conversation as they turned to see the balloons of the empire landing onto the sand. The Desert Claimer was led off by some warriors to make room for the balloons. Once all the escort were landed, the tribe now got a good view of the balloons.

Each balloon was a good fifty by fifty feet in diameter. The sides of the balloons were clad in iron, leaving only small slots for rifles and mounted gatling and imperial made machine guns to be poked out the sides of the flaps. Above the baskets sat a gigantic cloth and metal padded balloon. This imperial machinery was named iron hovers.

Named from how they hover over battle fields, dropping explosives made by the imperial engineering schools onto enemies while also blasting any enemies in sight with gun fire. These beasts of battle were feared; thus, Charlie couldn’t help but wonder why they scent three of these fierce creations to their tribe.

When the first balloon landed, a large iron door opened, and a man dressed in a dusty black imperial navy jacket stepped out. He wore the metal chest plate of a foot soldier, the metal shoulder, knee and arm pads of an artillery crew member, and lastly a black, leather commanders cap. Scanning the area with his deep, blue eyes, he locked onto the Chiefess. Correctly deeming her to be the one in charge, he took off his cap and walked towards her.

Stepping towards her, he kept his eyes fixed on her.

“I assume you to be the one in charge?” he asked in his thick northern accent. His matted black hair did nothing to help his already, over-aged to be a commander, looking face.

“She is, and I am the leader of one of the four major clans. You may call me Nolkonoe, I shall act as your translator,” Nolkonoe explained, stepping forward. Only now did Charlie notice the stern, stoic looks along the faces of the four clan leaders, their heirs, and their respected clans’ warriors.

“I would say it is a pleasure to meet you, but in all honesty, I wish it was under different circumstances,” the commander began.

“Your friend here…” he said, looking at Ases, “made a very compelling argument to the guards at our city walls that allowed her to entre. She then made an even more compelling argument to our court,” Smirking, Ases licked her lips. The man shuddered.

“She broke the arm of two union officers,” he whispered.

“So, we reviewed your documents,” he turned to look at Charlie.

“You look to be a merchant, I assume you sent them,”

“Indeed sir,” Charlie said, nodding slightly to him out of respect for the man’s position.

“You did all that documenting by yourself?” he enquired.

“Yes sir, but I got help with the organising from Nolkonoe and her daughter,” Charlie explained proudly. The man nodded quietly.

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen Sir, I turned eighteen only a few days ago,”

“You look about sixteen!” the man said, his accent making it hard for Charlie to know if he was joking or genially shocked.

“Anyway, the courts quickly decided that you were in the right, and have sent you the correct amount of compensation,” the man said, gesturing back to some of the men in the balloons to bring forward what the tribe was owed.

Men carrying large wooden ammo creates began to leave the balloons. When the first box was brought before the Chiefess and clan leaders, they opened it to revile it to be filled with hundreds, maybe even thousands of crowed gold coins.

“The court deemed your tribe to be owed two hundred million coppers, or ten thousand crowed golds. And boy, I assume you to be Charlie, correct?” the mans said as twenty of the ammo boxes were piled up in front of the unshaken tribe’s leaders.

“Yes Sir,” Charlie said, dragging his eyes from the mass amounts of wealth and to the man.

“So, you are the one who sent the other documents,” he said, putting a hand to the side. The women watched Charlie with a distrusting curiosity after what he had just pulled earlier that day. A man handed some documents to the commander.

“The Chiefess wishes to know what the documents are?” Nolkonoe said as Felkouyope and Phukomeia moved behind him, ready to start punishing him if it turned out he had tricked them again.

“Well…” the man looked to Charlie, confused on how the women who owned him didn’t know what he had done. Charlie nodded to him, signalling all clear from him to explain.

“Well, he gave me a document signed a few hundred years ago. This document said that this land would only belong to the tribe for six hundred years, and this year is the last year that his land would be yours. He requested that the contract is terminated,” the man explained. Not understanding what this meant, Klipesia now approached, pressing a knife against his butt cheek.

“Well, what does that mean?” Ases asked, also not being aware that this was one of the documents she delivered.

“Well, it means that his land is yours. And due to another document, he proposed, your land is now independent. Congratulations on your new country,” the man said, causing a silence to hang over the tribe as they stared at Charlie. Their eyes were wide with shock. Their shock seemed to be so great that the women who had smothered their emotions in front of the outsiders now simply stared in awe at the young man.

“But the courts have decided something,” the commander said, snapping the women out of their daze.

“You may have the money or the land,” the commander said, locking eyes with Charlie.

“But that’s not part of the deal?” Charlie said, stepping forward. Two guards lifted their guns, but clamed as the commander raised a hand to them.

“It’s one or the other,” the man said sternly. Noticing the distress going over Charlie’s face, the Chiefess stepped forward.

“Husband make deal, you break deal? No fair?” Not showing a sign of moving on his point, the man stared at the Chiefess as she spoke and approached him. Nolkonoe and the other clan leaders stared fiercely at the man. Towering over him, the Chiefess drew her knife. Within a flash, she had it against the man’s neck.

“Tell your masters that this land belongs to the Desert Ghost tribe, and no one will insult a deal given to them by her pet again or she will skin each of them,” Nolkonoe translated on behalf of the Chiefess. Raising his hands in defence, the man stepped back as a sudden flare of fear fired through him. Out the corner of his eye, Charlie noticed Nolkonoe using the magic of her eyes on him.

“But there is another option. We do owe your tribe another fifty million coppers, and we the empire and the union have disowned the former Region Lord. And I do believe that his estate is about fifty million coppers, as well it falls into your territory,” the man explained as he stepped back towards the balloons.

“In exchange for keeping both the money and the land, we take fifty million off the owed price,” the commander said as a man handed a contract to him. Taking the contract, he offered it to the Chiefess.

“All you need to do is sign here, and this land belongs to you,” he said. Taking the contract, the Chiefess walked over to Nolkonoe. Handing her to contract, she began to examine it.

“What do you think of it?” Nolkonoe whispered to Charlie as all four of the clan leaders crowed around. The Chiefess stood behind Charlie, placing a reassuring hand onto his shoulder.

“Well to begin with, they don’t owe us fifty million. It’s more like thirty-two, this is just a way to silence us from complain too much to them. And that money they are giving us is probably all from the Region Lord’s banks in the capital. So, in other words they are losing nothing,” Charlie explained. The women nodded, a confused Chiefess just followed their lead.

“Give me some time to read through it, I’ll see if there is anything in the fine print,” Charlie said. Nolkonoe handed him the contract. Taking the contract, he waisted no time in reading and analysing.

“Nothing seems out of place,” Charlie said ten minutes later.

“I say we sign it, get them off our backs and begin taking revenge on the Region Lord,” Charlie proposed, knowing that this was all just the Unions way to smuggle some money back from the Region Lord and into their coppers. Each leader looked to one another. Nodding, they explained the situation to the Chiefess. Standing, the Chiefess walked over to the commander. Handing him the contract, she smiled.

“We agree,” she said, proud to show off what English she knew. Smiling, the man took out a stamp. Nolkonoe stepped forward with a pen and signed the contract. Once signed, the man stamped the contract. Taking a deep breath, the man stepped back towards the balloon.

“Great, we shall be returning this then, and I think you are now free to explain the other documents to your friends. And I assume you shall send us the independence document soon; I hope our future work together goes well!” the man explained as he spent no time in getting into the balloon and signalling for his men to take off. What ever Ases had done at the capital was enough to make even this commander didn’t not want to be around her.

Quietly, the tribe watched as the balloons began to take off. Once in the air, they began to piolet away from the village. The second the imperial balloons disappeared over the horizon; cheers erupted from the tribe. Arms wrapped around Charlie’s waist, shoving him to the ground. Looking up, he saw the Chiefess was already back in her wolf form. Behind her, her tail wagged wildly as she began to lick his face.

“Waa!” Charlie stumbled over his words as the Chiefess pinned him against the sand. Shoving her head down, she began to plant kisses onto his neck and cheek. To the side, the four clan leaders smiled as they stared to the Chiefess. After a few more kisses, she dragged herself from him. Looking to her tribe, she smiled.

Standing, she walked to the four clan leaders. Looking to the boxes of money, she then looked to Ases.

“I want you to take five of the boxes. I can’t bring back your people who have died for the tribe, and I will never expect you to forgive me for sacrificing your son. But I hope this will begin to fix our relationship. After all, if my mother loved you, I don’t see why I can’t,” the Chiefess said to her in her native tongue. For a moment Ases only stared at the Chiefess.

“I’ll think about it,” with those few words, Ases ordered her women to collect the boxes.

Charlie watched as her women collected the money. Once collected, Ases and her daughter looked to the Chiefess. Nodding to one another, Ases and the other clan leaders and heirs followed the Chiefess as she began to walk through the crowd. Nolkonoe had swept Charlie up into her arms to assure that he wasn’t left behind.

“You did well today, my little kingdom creator,” Nolkonoe teased as the group moved through the crowd.

Soon enough, they reached the large dancing stage at the centre of the tribe. Together with their daughters and Charlie, the four clan leaders took the stage. Looking over the tribe, they saw the wagging tail and ecstatic grins of the tribe’s women. Raising her war spear, the Chiefess began to speak. Charlie wasn’t sure of her words, but he knew from the excited smiles and looks he was getting that she was most likely talking about him. Lowering her war spear, the Chiefess turned to look at him.

Putting out an index finger, she gestured him closer. Hesitantly at first, Charlie stared at her, his nerves only now getting the best of him. Several hands caressed his back. Turning, he saw Nolkonoe, Cluupyte, and Pycleia smiling down at him. Feeling reassured, he stepped forward and to the side of the Chiefess.

Upon being in range, the Chiefess swooped him in her tail and dragged him to her side. Beaming the widest grin, he had ever seen her give, she grabbed the sides of his face. Meekly, he blushed heavily and returned the smile. Leaning down, she placed a soft kiss onto his lips, a giant roar of approve coming from the tribe as she did so.

“My husband, my lover, our hero,” she whispered before raising her war spear again to the tribe. The crowd broke apart as they all began different tasks and jobs. Still not magically understanding their language, he wasn't sure what the Chiefess had just said to them, but he knew it had to be along the lines of, “let's celebrate our liberty!”