It had been a couple days since the tribe had claimed that hill. The feeling was surreal. From up there dominating the plain, exposed to all the kobels felt like kings.
They needed to travel far to carry water and food back up the slopes but with so many captives at their disposal, all those tasks were effortless. All it required was an alert eye and ruthlessness. They were starting to erect their own houses under the tents.
The wyvern's skull adorned the entrance of the cave.
And at the tip, on the highest rock above the cliff sat Tunu with his beloved. The two kobels admired that landscape, the quiet woods stretching far under their feet. A vertigo of power had them more drunk than wine.
They cozied there together to forget the rumors of the camp.
It wasn't to last. The chief approached behind them, hailed the couple and Elua, upon seeing him, got up to politely leave them.
"What is it?" Tunu asked, a bit irked.
With the chief was another kobel, a young one with fur of a darker red reminiscent of clay bricks. While everyone now wore the fawns' clothes, this one still had leather on him.
"This is Etelet." The chief introduced. "He will be Lutuk's assistant."
And the scaled kobel, to that newcomer: "I remember you. We used to play when we were younger."
He thought he would have been more excited but time had passed and Tunu had too much on his mind for nostalgia to give him a thrill.
The young kobel scratched his head, wary.
"Sorry, great one, I don't remember."
"Great one? That's new."
The chief shook his head: "He is an idiot, but he is smart." And to the other kobel: "Call him champion, and stop looking at your feet every two seconds. The ground won't swallow you."
"So, why do you bring him here?"
"No reason. Just a detour before meeting Lutuk. I'm here to talk about our next move."
And the old kobel approached the cliff, stood at its edge to look below. He wasn't paying much attention, eyes focused on his thoughts.
"We have too few warriors left for more raids and too many captives to keep track of. Eggs will take months to translate into new hands. It's frustrating. There are more targets right there, at our reach, and we are too burdened to go after them."
"So? I can just go alone, I'll win regardless!"
"And round up prisoners by yourself? Bring back more captives we can't guard? You're not the limit, Tunu. We are. You have to consider the tribe if you are to be chief."
The scaled kobel shuddered at that.
"Chief? What? I don't want to be chief!"
"You say that now, but it's obvious you will be our next chief. If only we could keep up with you..."
The chief turned around, his back to the abyss, to look at his furry hands. He had only a grimace of disgust.
"We are still so puny and useless, all we do is slow your growth. If this keeps going you will have no choice but to discard us like deadweight."
"Eh!" Tunu protested. "There is no need! I'm here for the tribe. We'll all get scales, we all share the same blood."
"Right. Right. Let's tackle the warriors first. I'll force more of us to take arms. Turn them into decent fighters. Captives are just a commodity, we can always find more."
The two of them were talking so naturally now, almost like friends. Still the scaled kobel treated him with respect, but the distance had reduced to nothing.
And that did not sit right with him. Part of him wanted to see the chief remain in place. Wanted for things to remain the same no matter what. Just, with scales. The same tribe, with scales. And holding that hill. Raiding and plundering.
If things remained that way, he would be happy.
He truly would be.
But they realized that Etelet had been listening the whole time. That young kobel, in his leathery clothes, was looking at them as if he had witnessed a forbidden mass.
"Let's take him to the shaman first." Tunu offered.
What he really wanted was to end this as fast as he could and return to Elua. She had left for the tents and he knew she was keeping herself busy, worried as she was to not look useless.
So they headed there too, but for the one tent apart from the rest, a bit down on the highest plateau.
The shaman was outside, helping the oldest kobel of the tribe to walk. She was holding on a lengthy cane, taking small steps on the slight slope with a smile on her wilted lips.
Her eyes met the group coming at them, slipped on all but the chief, then detached completely. She paced a bit faster, let the shaman's hand release her and left. If Tunu and Etelet just waited, the other two watched her wander with worried eyes.
Then Lutuk got angry.
"Who is that wimp?! That's my replacement? That's all you found?!"
"Lutuk, Etelet. Etelet, Lutuk."
"I know who he is, Kreil! I know everyone here, I presided to their birth! You ever welcomed life, youngling? Well?!"
And the young kobel, taken aback: "No, of course..."
"Then what makes you think you'll ever..."
"But I don't..."
"... be a shaman?!"
"... want to!"
The two of them looked at each other, the younger one surprised at his sudden burst, shirking from it as fast as it had come. Still, it was too late, and the chief's presence weighed on his shoulders.
"I don't want to. I want to be left alone, that's all."
"You are a tribesman you fool!"
The chief interrupted them with a long and hearty laugh.
"Alright, that's enough you two. Lutuk, this kid was with the fawns, learning their tricks. We caught him trying to tame animals. Now tell me he is not a perfect pick."
"Well he has the character for it." The shaman admitted. "And you! You are told to become a shaman, you will become one! Now hurry! Half of our warriors are sick, what a wonder! I'll teach you to brew medicine!"
He moved fast, latched on to the kobel's arm and dragged him back with him to the tent. Etelet protested and was shocked at the shaman's strength.
They were already bickering.
That left the chief alone with his champion. He had moved to keep talking, saw the kobels enter the tent and retracted his hand.
There was almost pain in that gesture.
"Are you alright?" Tunu asked.
"Yeah. Yes, I'll be fine. Enjoy the day, I'll tell you once I have more warriors for you to raid."
"I could... what if I found those warriors for you?"
"You would? Alright then. Pick as many as you can. We'll need to train them. To give them some guts. Tell me if you need anything and warn me if you think we're ready for a raid."
"I won't disappoint you, chief."
The old kobel nodded and walked away, stopped to look in the direction where that elder still paced slowly on the slope, among the grass and low bushes. Then he left for good.
Tunu remained behind, lost in thought, then was ready to leave as well when he saw a camp sentry run toward him.
"Where is the chief?" The sentry asked.
"He just left."
"Excuse me, champion, but can you warn him? The fawns are gone. The black fawns, their village, all those we didn't capture. They just left."
"What?!" The scaled kobel's eyes went wide. "But we have hostages!"
"Guess they don't care! They took all they could and abandoned the place. We better tell the chief, if all our preys flee we'll be back to foraging in no time."
"What about the hostages then? We should kill them!"
It was just anger speaking. Even as he spouted those words Tunu realized he was planning to slay good captives for no gain. And while it still felt to him like the righteous thing to do, he could also tell it was such a waste.
Yet the kobel before him, still awkwardly holding his copper spear, nodded.
"Alright, we'll slaughter the lot. That'll teach them!"
"Wait! Wait wait wait, I was just... let's ask the chief first."
"Okay! Do you know where he went? I keep running around and missing him."
"I'll... I will go and tell him. You can go back."
And with just that and a few more words, the kobel left.
So far Tunu had known just how much his tribe admired him. It still had not prepared him to one of them blindly agreeing to his every words. But then he thought, this was how he had felt toward Kreil. Toward the chief.
Because he was the chief, there was this trust that the champion wanted to preserve.