Ch. 4 Deals and offers
64 2 2
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

The group quickly arrived at the house where the hiver was located. When they entered the house, the hiver was standing up waving a stick he found. Although he was injured, he stood looking around seemingly in shock.

"Where am I? You want me dead too?" The hiver said with fear in his odd sounding voice while his entire body trembled " I warn you, stay back!" 

"We are not here to hurt you, you maniac!" Braith declared, shouting at him. "You are in no position or condition for that matter to even defend yourself." 

The hiver took a swing with the stick but was quickly disarmed with a parry.

“Braith that is enough! He is scared,  give him a second.” Carth Glared at Braith. She lowered her weapon.

The hiver looked around, feeling defeated from all fronts. He fell to the ground on his knees and lowered his head. 

"We saved you from death in the Floodlands, you were buried deep in mud, only your hand stuck out. The skeletons buried you, correct?" Carth asked curiously. "The cuts on your body seemed fresh when we dug you out." 

"I-I guess I'm in your debt. I am sorry I lashed out. I could have sworn I was dead. Those those skeletons were rambling nonsense. I tried to speak with them but they only answered with their claws, “ The hiver began to tear up with his big eyes, “ I have a strange request, especially after I tried to attack. Can… Can you be my new hive? My name is Stun. I was abandoned by my queen, but managed to survive without her pheromones. I am an outcast, not welcomed by any hive. Will you be my new hive?" 

Everyone looked at each other, those who knew of the hivers lifestyle were surprised, as for the ones who had no clue, Carth and Braith, were more confused. Hivers have a similar social structure as ants. The majority of the hivers are male, except for the queen. The queen controls the hivers using pheromones she creates that acts as what some would call a feel good drug. 

"Sure…" Carth said, hesitant to answer. 

Stun, suddenly acting all better, ran to the group and stood at attention, seeming to wait for something. After a solid minute he spoke up, "what will you have me do?" Stun said suddenly, cheerfully looking at Carth.

Everyone paused waiting for Carth's response. He questioned why he is getting the center of attention constantly. Carth spoke up to say his answer. "What did you do in your original hive?"

The question surprised everyone, instead of picking a job or recommending ideas, he is asking what he did in his previous field of work! Genius. "I was the logistics manager for our supplies. I was only kicked out because one of my subordinates stole a barrel of rice for himself, he and I were kicked out for failing in our duties." The hiver explained openly and plainly, clearly not holding back any details. "When we were kicked out the first thing I did was kill him for ruining my life. From then on I was wondering about looking for someone who would take me in." In this way Carth is not much different from him. He too was kicked out for failing to do the leader's task, but he had not killed anyone in anger. 

Once again Carth pondered why he was and is currently not scared of a race the Holy Nation deemed a monster. Though he was raised in the nation he was more curious than afraid of the bedtime stories, titles such as, The Little Boy That Got Dismembered By Skeletons and The Brutal Shek Slayers. Even though these stories were supposed to portray these people as monsters he always wanted to see them himself. And now here they stand, not as enemies but as allies. He found this whole situation odd. But in the end, who cares? These so-called monsters are willing to help him, and that is all that matters. 

"I guess we will have to see what Moll says." Braith said, looking at the group. "It was inevitable that you would have to meet her eventually."

Carth recognized that name on the bounty board back at his old home. She was labeled as a Demoness of Narko with many reasons under her name. But with all the things he had witnessed he no longer believed in it.

She led the group through the village and to the metal dome, this was where Moll currently could be found. When they entered everyone inside was arguing amongst one another. It seemed they entered at the wrong time. 

“SHUT THE HELL UP,” a voice rang out from the crowd of arguing people, “WE WILL DEAL WITH THIS LATER.” The group all went quiet. The person behind the voice exitted the crowd. It was a woman with dark skin and white hair, she was wearing assassins cloth with a solid belt around her hip.

“You, the one who just came in, what do you think of the cannibals of the north?” she inquired. “Do you think they do good as target practice?”

Carth was off put by her question. This region has cannibals? “I guess it is best to get rid of them by any means necessary,” Carth replied, thinking about how to solve the problem. 

“Aw you're no fun, so first of all who are you? I heard Braith brought back a legend, but what I see is nothing but a buff toymaker.” Moll said, mocking Carth. “I don’t know why you think you could just barge into here and think you're allo-.” she was quickly cut off by Briath with a quick smack.

“LISTEN HERE,” Braith said with sheer anger in her voice. “ I bend myself backwards and hit Rebirth to save this “toymaker” for our group, AND THIS IS HOW YOU TAKE MY KINDNESS!?” The two glared at each other before Carth butted in to stop an all out catfight over his sake. 

“Drop it you two,” Carth quickly demanded, “First of all, Braith I do not let name calling get to me. So please do not get offended on my behalf. Moll I take it? Can you please not get angry at your subordinates for trying to help the group for the greater good? She risked her life and this is how you reward her? I may not know what is exactly going on here but I can see three things. One, the leadership here is not exactly stable. Two, These people seem to respect you, so help them, not fight them. That leads to my final point, do not shout at people who stick their neck out for the group, they are trying their best to put this place together and fighting or arguing will not solve anything, if anything it will start new problems” Moll’s jaw dropped, not only was she humiliated in front of so many, but she was also just told how to do her job in a calm and peaceful demeanor instead of violence like she usually deals with things.

“F-fine, follow me, I want to discuss something with you, privately.” Moll told Carth. Moll and Carth entered a backroom as the rest of the group were being questioned by the others that were in the building during the argument. Moll shut the door and turned to Carth. “What do you want, I might do this often but I am willing to listen,”

Meanwhile Shela, Stun, and Braith all sat down at one of the tables in the main hall. Most of the people in this building wore the same as Moll or what the guard wore, but with some slight differences. Some were just staring at the three newcomers, others were murmuring with each other. Braith stood up and began to speak "Sorry for making such an entrance, we just wanted to get this hiver a job working at our store house. And do not fear, this shek is a servant to the man that went with Moll so do not fear her." Announcing to the crowd, trying to remove any hate or stigma. The crowd was originally frightened, but soon many started joining them at their table asking questions left and right. This was going to be a long day.

 On the other side of the wall Carth sat down with Moll in what looked to be a meeting room. “So I only have a few questions as of now.” Carth said, staring into Moll’s eyes with a disheartening glare. “Why would you set up such a refugee camp in a cannibal infested land? What were you thinking? You do understand that this is a huge problem, you better have an explanation. You are putting so many innocents and scared people at death's door” his words shook Moll, she never expected this person to be such a straightforward, brutally honest, and strict-like man with a quite authoritative voice. 

“Because there is no one in these lands to boss us around, the only issue is the cannibals at the moment.” Moll answered with a stern but shaky voice. “ We really had no choice but to flee and set up here.” 

"So what are you planning to do against this threat to these refugees? Have you thought that far?" Carth once again said with the authoritative voice, "when they come with their raiding parties do you think you can stop them?" The question reached Moll hard, she realized that this threat was serious to him.

"Let's flip this on its head, What do YOU want me to do about it? Our soldiers are spread thin. I do not see a simple solution. If you have a suggestion, spit it out." Moll said with more confidence in her voice. Carth thought about it for a moment and then it clicked.

"If you'd humor me and my idea I would like to see if we can teach the refugees to defend themselves and how to work together in squads." Carth, paused before continuing, "Let's not force it upon them but instead ask for volunteers. Just to provide benefits I'll forge rudimentary weapons for them. I would forge them armor too but when I visited the workshop you do not have the required tools for such."

"Deal" Moll answered without skipping a beat, "BUT, you are in charge of this program." They shook hands in agreement. 

Carth came back out of the back room ready to take action, "time to see what this place can do." 

Announcement
chapters will be subject to change and alterations as the story continues, just to add more clarity and detail. but the main plotpoints will not change


2