The night was thick, and the bonfire was beating in the temporary camp of Tree Men, reflecting the tired and soulless faces red.
Kepi sat in the shadow of the corner, leaning against the tree, watching the tribesmen silently and heavily eating the bacon and bread sent by Suleiman.
He didn't know whether what he did was right or wrong. He only knew that his people survived now, but the price was heavy, and they were all cursed.
Everyone was so silent except for a few ignorant children who were chasing and playing with their mouths full of food and letting out long-lost, unclear laughter. They didn't understand what was happening, but they only knew that they now had rich food.
But to Kepi, these laughter sounded like a cup of scalding hot water splashed on his face. It was so hot and painful that he was really pathetic.
For this laughter, he and their parents knelt down to the lord of Flatlanders, became kneeling people, and offered their heads and dignity.
For this smiling body, he and their parents personally killed their fellow tribesmen who were captured and tied up by Flatlanders.
"Kopi Son of Gorn." A voice sounded behind him, and Kepi raised his head and looked over.
Suleiman walked over, Bryn and Rosso Brune followed him, their armor reflecting cold light under the firelight.
Kepi immediately stood up. The power of life and death was in this person's hands. He came up to him and bowed his head respectfully.
Suleiman's eyes swept over the Wildlings who were eating, without any emotion in his eyes. "It seems you like my gift very much."
Kepi's voice was dry. "Yes, Chief Black Lion, your generosity will never be forgotten by Tree Men, and neither will Kopi Son of Gorn."
Without correcting his name, Suleiman stopped going around in circles. He took out a simple sheepskin map from his arms and unfolded it in front of the fire:
"In that case."
"I need you to do something."
"There are other tribes returning, and your mission is to find them."
Kepi's heart sank suddenly, his expression froze, and his whole body felt cold.
Suleiman didn't pay attention to his expression and clicked on a location on the map with his finger. "Tell them that you found a safe valley with plenty of food."
"Invite them to come and form an alliance to fight against me."
Kepi's eyes fell on the place pressed by his fingers, Dry Wind Gorge, a place he was very familiar with, one of the few homes where he had been nomadic. The entrance was as narrow as the mouth of a bottle, the hinterland was wide, and the terrain was steep, but the only exit was the mouth of the bottle.
Kepi's breathing became rapid, and his blood seemed to freeze. He didn't know what Black Lion was going to do, but he had a premonition that the place would become a desperate place for his tribe, a natural cemetery.
Suleiman's voice was very soft, but like a sword blade, it penetrated Kepi's chest. "The women and children of your tribe will stay here, and I will protect them."
"When I see the results I want to see, I will give you my true reward."
"A reward that will prevent you from regretting your decision."
Kepi's lips moved, but no sound came out. This was a promise, but also the most vicious threat. He looked not far away, where a tribesman was tearing open a piece of bread and carefully feeding it into his child's mouth.
He took a slow, deep breath, then knelt down on one knee. "Follow your orders... Chief Black Lion."
In the dense forest of Mountains of the Moon, the fog is shrouded, making it impossible to see.
Kepi led more than fifty tribesmen, walking through the forest quickly, as if there was no sense of lag. High Mountains is their home, they are born High Mountains Warrior.
Suleiman's scouts had already provided accurate information. It didn't take much effort for him to find the two tribes Stone Fist and Moon Howl who were trekking hard.
A man as thick as a bear jumped out from behind a tree. He was the leader of the Stone Fist tribe. "Kopi Son of Gorn!!"
"I thought you were killed by Black Lion!! Where are your people?!!"
In the other direction, an old man with a wrinkled face and cloudy eyes walked out. He was leaning on a bone staff. He was the leader of the Moon Howl tribe.
He scanned the surroundings vigilantly and looked at the leader of the Stone Fist tribe. He was dissatisfied with his screams and shouted in a low voice, "Idiot! Do you want to attract Black Lion?"
Kepi forced himself to smile. He opened his arms and greeted us, "My people! Kopi Son of Gorn has found a good place!"
He tried hard to suppress the surging guilt in his heart, and weaved lies in the most sincere tone.
"There are many caves there! There is clean water! I also hid a lot of food!"
"Black Lion's main army has gone to the plains! The mountains are safe now!!"
"I came to you! I want everyone to unite to fight Black Lion! Drive those damn intruders out first!!!"
The leader of Stone Fist was enlightened and had enough food. Since he left his homeland and traveled far away, he still had to fight with the tribes who already lived in Vale. Their life was too bad.
But the Moon Howl patriarch narrowed his suspicious eyes. "You? You will have so much food?"
Kepi didn't say much. He asked the tribesmen to take off the skin bags on their backs one by one and show them to them.
The skin bag was opened, and it was filled with countless bacon and neatly stacked bread. The aroma of the food instantly filled the moist and cold air, and Wildlings people from the two tribes rushed up one after another, showing greedy eyes.
Stone Fist The patriarch snatched a piece of bacon and the wolf took a hard bite, saliva dripping down his beard.
He shouted vaguely, "Grain! It's true! Kopi Son of Gorn! You didn't lie to us!"
It had been too long since they had seen such good food. In order to survive, they even had to abandon the old and weak in the tribe and let them be taken away by the ancestors of the High Mountains.
The Moon Howl clan leader stared at the food, his Adam's apple rolling up and down. The reason why they came back was because they could not get their own tribe's living space amid the encirclement and suppression by the Wildlings tribe who lived on the Vale side and knew Vale well.
He finally nodded, greed and famine overwhelming his last rationality. "Okay! We'll go with you!!"
After the three tribes merged, they formed a huge team and marched in the direction of Dry Wind Gorge.
Kepi was walking in front. He deliberately slowed down and stopped at a fork in the road.
He pointed to a hidden path. "For safety, let all tribesmen, children and old people who cannot participate in the battle, take our things along this path."
"It's safer there. We warriors from the tribe are not afraid of fighting. We go to the valley first to clear out the camp and confirm the surrounding safety."
Patriarch Stone Fist and Patriarch Moon Howl had no doubts and immediately agreed to the proposal.
Kepi watched the old and weak who were unable to fight, carrying heavy bags on their backs, slowly disappearing at the end of another road under the protection of a few tribesmen.
His heart was bleeding, and he knew that this was the last bit of kindness he could do to these fellow humans.
Along the way, those Wildlings Warriors who were about to die were very happy. They patted Kepi on the shoulders and thought about the future.
They talked about how to distribute food, how to survive the winter, and even how to counterattack Flatlanders.
Kepi just kept smiling and nodding silently. Every time he nodded, it was like cutting his own flesh with a knife.
He wanted to scream and tell the truth several times, but as soon as he closed his eyes, he could see the cold eyes of Suleiman, the cold crossbow mouths of the black holes on the mountain wall, and the smiling faces of the people of his tribe.
He gave himself hints in his mind over and over again and said to himself, "In order to survive.
"For Tree Men.:
At dusk, they finally arrived at Dry Wind Gorge, and more than six hundred Warrior from the Stone Fist and Moon Howl departments filed in.
Wildlings people have completely let down their guard, just as Kopi Son of Gorn said.
Sure enough, there were a lot of wood and hay piled in the canyon, and there were several big bags of grain in the corner. Everything was just like Kepi described, it was a perfect temporary shelter. Wildlings completely put down their guard, they lit a bonfire, and huge flames shot into the sky.
They caroused around the bonfire, danced, drank, and roared in celebration for the good days to come and the return of their homeland.
Kepi and his tribesmen sat silently at the position closest to the exit, drinking water.
The night was getting darker, and most of the Wildlingss who were partying were already drunk or fell asleep. Kepi stood up, faced his tribesmen, and faced the noisy depths of the canyon, moving his lips silently.
Then, he took all his Tree Men Warrior and left Dry Wind Gorge quietly without disturbing anyone.
"Ming!
!
Just as they climbed to the top of the canyon, a sharp horn pierced the night sky, shaking the world.
Immediately afterwards, countless flaming arrows, like meteor showers falling from the sky, roared down from the dark mountain walls on both sides of the canyon.
Boom!! The entire canyon was illuminated by light, making the dark night look like day.
Kepi looked back with tears in his eyes, watching the bottom of the canyon being instantly ignited, turning the entire Dry Wind Gorge into a huge and bright incinerator.
Suleiman What was buried in the wood and underground was not only food, but also a large amount of kerosene. The flames were like a greedy dragon, devouring everything. The shrill, desperate screams rose into the sky, heartbreaking, but were quickly drowned out by the roar of the flames.
Those lives that were celebrating just now turned into human-shaped torches struggling and running in the sea of fire, and finally fell powerlessly.
Kepi stood in the cold wind at a high place, the firelight reflected his face in and out, and there was no expression on his face.
But he knows that from tonight on, there will no longer be any alliance with Mountain Clans in Mountains of the Moon, and there will no longer be a place for Tree Men.
There are only cursed traitors, only those loyal to Black Lion Suleiman, Tree Men those who kneel.
On the high ground on the other side of the canyon, Rosso Brune looked pale. He looked at the hell on earth in the sea of fire, and his stomach was churning.
He lowered his head, holding the Seven-Pointed Star pendant on his chest, moving his lips, and kept silently reciting prayers to Seven, although he did not believe in Seven, more just to integrate into the Westeros aristocratic system.
But at this moment, he still chose to lower his head and not look at all this.
He had experienced countless battles, killed countless people, and cut off countless limbs, but such an efficient destruction by flames and the horrific tragedy still made him feel trembling deep in his soul.
But the soldiers around him, especially those who were the first to follow Suleiman, had their families killed and their homes destroyed by Wildlings, had the joy of revenge on their faces. They followed Suleiman just to wait for this.
They roared and cursed, laughed wildly, and snatched the crossbows from the hands of the new citizens who were shocked and stunned by what they saw. They fired crossbow arrows at those figures who were lucky enough to escape from the edge of the sea of fire, accurately nailing them to the ground and the rock wall, forcing them to retreat into the flames and be burned by the flames.
Suleiman stood at the front with an expressionless face. The firelight danced in his dark pupils. The flames once again gave him a sign. He once again saw images in the flames.
But this time he watched it all calmly, trying to see clearly the content of the omen, but in the eyes of Rosso Brune and the soldiers, their lord seemed to be admiring a Wildlings picture composed of death and flames.
Let Rosso Brune once again refreshed his understanding of this young master. He swallowed his saliva. If he was not surprised here, those great lords might not be as good as this young master.
In the early morning of the next day, when the thick fog dissipated and the first ray of sunlight shone into the canyon, the place had turned into a piece of scorched earth, and the pungent burnt smell filled the air. Wildlings's charred houses were stacked on top of each other in various twisted postures, and smoke was still rising from the piles of houses.
Some Wildlingss with extremely tenacious vitality crawled out from under piles of houses, from burned-down caves, and from cracks in rocks. They were covered in burns, were naked, and had empty eyes, like evil ghosts crawling out of hell.
Looking at everything in front of him with despair and neighing.
Suleiman's cold voice sounded without any fluctuation, even though he was a little shocked by the tragic situation in front of him:
"Gather them all into the middle."
The soldiers rushed down like wolves and tigers, and drove the survivors roughly to an open space in the middle of the canyon. Men, women, old and children were brutally separated. There were not many survivors, only a few hundred people.
A soldier came to report, "Sir, the count has been completed. There are forty-three male savages, fifty-two female savages, and some children."
Suleiman slowly walked down the high ground, his shoes stepping on the hot ashes, making a rustling sound. Everyone looked at him, and he tried to calm himself down from the environment in front of him.
He walked up to the surviving Wildlingss, and his eyes swept across the faces that were full of fear or numbness, but no matter who they were, they were full of hatred.
He walked up to a female Wildlings Warrior who was holding a male Wildlings warrior and crying bitterly, and then glanced at the one next to him who was trying to stand up.
The male Wildlings warrior fell down because his leg was pierced by a crossbow arrow.
Suleiman turned his head and gave the final order to all the soldiers around him, "Nothing taller than the wheels will be kept."
As soon as he finished speaking, he was stunned and thought for a moment.
"No one can speak who can speak."