Victor's expression grew decidedly strange, especially after he finished listening to Horne's account.
"Tell me again what it looked like when the Iron Bone Tribe—no, that Kledun'e'emas a's troops—used their weapons!"
Victor's request put Horne in a difficult position. He seemed reluctant to recall that crushing defeat, but he could hardly refuse Victor, so he could only describe it with his rather limited vocabulary. "Those rods must have been made of metal. They were black all over and weren't very long. The part sticking out of the ground was only a little over a meter. They looked like ordinary iron rods, spaced a little over a hundred meters apart.
"The area where they set up those long rods covered more than a hundred mu. None of us paid them any mind at the time. We thought they were ordinary markers and entered the area without the slightest caution. Then we came under attack.
"The finest troops of the major tribes were charging at the very front, led by their chiefs and bravest warriors. They also took the worst of the attack. Especially in the center of that whole area—almost everything was burned to charcoal!"
Victor suddenly asked, "What was the weather like? Was there a thunderstorm, or was the sky covered in dark clouds?"
Horne shook his head. "No, the weather was clear, and there hadn't been any rain for several days before or afterward. My lord Marquis, we Barbarians know not to stand under trees during thunderstorms!"
Victor nodded. The Barbarians were savage, not stupid. It was hardly difficult to learn how to avoid lightning during thunderstorms. It seemed those long metal rods could not be explained away as simple lightning rods, and Victor grew even more curious.
"Did anything unusual happen when the attack began?"
Horne continued rummaging