There was a disturbance in the other part of the village cavern with several Kharlins milling around and talking, and shortly afterwards a portly, sand-coloured Kharlin came over with measured steps and giving a small bow, said to Nuala.
“Priestess, I see your human protegé woke up at last. We are ready to hold the council meeting now. Please, come over with her.”
He then turned around and walked away with weighty steps, without dignifying Dawn with so much as a glance.
Dawn followed him with her glance for a moment, then rubbed her nose.
"What is his problem?" she asked, exasperated. "He acted as if I was beneath his notice."
"That," Nuala said emphatically, "is Ristop, the council leader. As you may have noticed, he is not a fan of humans in general and you in particular."
Dawn sighed. "Wasn’t Halvar the speaker for the village? This has all the makings of a wonderful beginning. If the leader of the council is that antagonistic, I don't see good things in my future. And they want to hold the meeting now? I was hoping to have a bath first. After our trek through the forest, a battle with spiderlings and nearly two days being unconscious, I reek and I think I don't even want to know how I look."
Nuala shrugged. "Looks are overrated. And if they insist on holding the meeting practically the minute you are awake, they have to take you as you are. I think that Ristop forced this, so he could get you on the defensive. Keep your calm and don't do him the favor of getting emotional over the circumstances."
"If you say so." Dawn was not convinced. Of course looks were just on the surface. But, feeling dirty and rumpled didn't make for the best basis to convince a group of adverse Kharlins to aid her in the fight against the demons and their queen.
But what could she do? She had to try her best to persuade them to enter the fight.
Slowly she straightened up. She had faced hordes of demons, of spiderlings and the queen. She had defied her parents' plans for her and gone out into the wilderness alone. She wouldn't be frightened off by a group of grumpy Kharlins. Yes, she had made mistakes. But then, who on earth didn't? She had tried her best to help the Kharlins after she had stirred up the demons. And she was not responsible for the actions of others, be they demon, spawnling or demon queen.
As she walked over to the group of Kharlins who had convened before the entrance of a larger hut, she went into battle mode. She was prepared to be reasonable, but if they attacked her she would fight back this time. No running away meekly again.
As she approached, one face in the crowd stood out to her. Lutha, she knew. The elder Kharlin woman smiled at her, to the obvious displeasure of some of her male counterparts.
"So, we can start the meeting at last," said the portly Ristop, as if she had purposefully kept them waiting for a long time, instead of just now being informed that they wanted to hold the council meeting. And where was Halvar? She hadn’t seen the speaker of the village she had met last time, among the Kharlins who were waiting here.
They all trooped into the council hut and took their seats on small benches grouped around a wooden oval table, five Kharlins from the village in addition to Nuala and Dawn. Dawn waited until all the Kharlins had found their seats before choosing her own next to Nuala, who had been kept apart from the others by a respectful distance.
The council leader opened the session with a slow clap of his hands. The murmuring of the other Kharlins, who had been talking in the background, ceased.
"We have convened today, as the village council of New Haven, with a honoured guest from our neighbouring village of Summer Song, the priestess of the great Vixen, Nuala. And of course another guest, the human Dawn. Today, we need to decide what to do in regard of the demon situation. Let me recapitulate our experiences and what we know of the demons. They attacked our village, abducted all members of our tribe some weeks ago, and killed many of our loved ones. We have known for a long time there were some unsavory beasts living in the environments of the great gorge east of our village, but as long as we stayed away from their hunting grounds, they used to leave us Kharlins alone. But then along came this human, Dawn, and through her actions, the demons were stirred up. As a result we had to cope with the attack on our village. We were lucky enough to free many members of our tribe with a great effort and moved our village in the aftermath of the demon attack. But know we know that the monsters are still active in our surroundings. They attacked the priestess and her escort on their way to our village. They have abducted several human soldiers and probably killed them by now. Apart from the grown-up demons that we fought against, there have been sightings of, and attacks by hordes of spawnlings, small versions of the grown demons, that are nevertheless dangerous and whose bite is just as venomous as that of the adults. The venom is strong enough to paralyze someone for days, as we have seen in the case of our human guest. Even here in our new village, safety is not guaranteed. So we have to discuss possible actions we should take."
He looked around the table, as if to see how his words had impressed the other members of the council, and then sat down, seemingly assured of his own importance. Dawn registered with indignation, that he had only referred to her in combination with the stirring up of demons. Her actions in aid of the captured Kharlins, freeing several of them and aiding in the liberation of several more hadn't even been mentioned.
A Kharlin with dark brown fur streaked with black stripes shot up and said loudly. "There is only one option here. We should move the village again, this time far enough that the demons won't be a problem anymore. Obviously, a traveling day away wasn't far enough. Let's rectify that."
Approving murmurs could be heard around the table.
Before anyone else could speak, Nuala slowly stood up. Her presence alone was such that all murmurs ceased. She asked only one question. "How far away is far enough, if the demons keep reproducing at this rate?" and then sat down again.
This time around, the murmurs around the table were louder and obviously controversial. Finally, the leader once again stood up.
"Obviously, we cannot know exactly how far away a safe distance would be. But it is only common sense, that a village farther away would be safer."
Dawn stood up now. "Maybe you would be safe for a little while longer, but if the demons keep reproducing at this pace, it won't be long at all. And these monsters are not regular beasts, they are intelligent and they learn from their mistakes. They will keep getting stronger while you do nothing. The next time they come for your tribe, there will be no getting away from them. Is that what you want?"
She would have liked to say a great deal more on the topic, but knew she had to pace herself. Best to stop while the Kharlins were still listening to her.
The dark brown Kharlin and Ristop both scoffed at her. "You are too young to know what you are talking about." Ristop said loudly. "In the end, you are the reason we are in this situation at all. We included you in this council because our honoured priestess spoke for you, but you should listen to your elders and learn, not talk.”
Lutha stood up now. "I think it is important to mention that Dawn helped us when our tribe was abducted. She helped me personally and healed me. Maybe I wouldn't even be alive without her. She went with Kharma and me to free our tribe from captivity, knowing that it would be extremely dangerous for her to return to the demons' lair. And she was subsequently captured by the demons in the process. She escaped only through lucky circumstances, without any help from us Kharlins. Let's not forget that she suffered while aiding us. Also, wouldn’t it be polite to introduce yourselves to her?" Slowly, she sank down on the bench again.
Another member of the council, a male Kharlin with fur the colour of an orange tabby cat, nodded to her and spoke. "You are right, Lutha. We are forgetting our elementary courtesies here. My name is Dermo.” He gave a short bow in Dawn’s direction. “As to the topic at hand, we have been inactive too long already. Everyone of us has lost members of his family. Isn't it about time to take the fight to the demons? As long as there are still enough of us to make a difference in a fight? Maybe, if we had fought the beasts as soon as we knew of their existence, we wouldn't be in this situation now."
This time there was an uproar among the participants of the meeting and the room threatened to plunge into chaos, everyone talking over one another and no one listening to anyone else.
Nuala waited for a minute and when the noise showed no signs of abating after that time, she rose and clapped her hands sharply. Like a wave, calm and silence seemed to spread out from her. The Kharlins stopped talking one by one and looked around sheepishly. Finally, the council hut was silent again.
"It would do us all a great deal of good to listen calmly what others have to say on the situation, if we want to have a chance of finding a viable solution. Of course each of you is entitled to his or her own opinion. That does not mean other opinions are not valid and should be shouted down. Are you the village council or toddlers at play?" Nuala said her piece with deathly precision and sat down again.
Afterwards, the silence lingered. It seemed no one wanted to be the first to speak after Nuala's rebuke. Finally, a female Kharlin with glossy, deep russet coloured fur stood up and said.
"Even if we want to, how can we fight the demons? Our experience shows that it is hard to fight them. They are very resistant to bladed weapons and have a longer reach than a Kharlin with a knife or sword as a rule. I'm all for eliminating the beasts, but first we need to have a possible method. Otherwise we are just sending the people of our tribe out to die."
Dawn stood up now again. "Well, the last time, fire arrows seemed to work quite well, though it turned into quite a chaotic scene with burning demons running around. Not a method you want to use in your village, but at an appropriate ambush site it should be possible."
"But where is an appropriate ambush site? We can't keep running around and searching out in the open with hordes of demons hunting for prey. It is too dangerous." The Kharlin with the dark brown fur was talking again.
Dawn sighed and stood up once more. "You have some rangers as guests in your village. Grinna and Teren are interested in eradicating the demons, too, and have a lot of experience with fighting beasts out in the wilderness. Apart from that, they are skilled in stealth. It would be prudent to invite the rangers to the discussion. The monsters aren't just a danger for you Kharlins, after all. Already, they have captured and killed several humans."
This time the council leader stood up quickly. "Why should we let humans have a say in our council? They have no right to be involved in our decisions.”
“And why exactly wouldn’t you want to take any help that is offered? And not avail yourself of valuable experience? Are you so afraid of humans that you’d rather flee from the demons alone, instead of fighting them together with us?” Dawn was fed up with the attitude now. All that self-importance Ristop was throwing around, but in the end he wasn’t looking for solutions, creating division instead.
