Chapter 41: 39. Eagle Tribe
After eating and drinking their fill, the Gray Goose envoys left Gallop Camp.
"We need to hurry," the envoy told his subordinates.
"Big brother, we'll reach the Eagle Tribe soon. There's no need to rush so much, is there?"
"No, something was very wrong with that Gallop Tribe just now!"
"What's wrong, big brother?"
"I can't put it into words. It just felt wrong. There were too many tents in their camp, and they were too clean. Their leader didn't seem like a grassland chieftain, either. He seemed more like some nobleman from a castle."
The envoy had sensed the danger, and Landen had found his opportunity.
In Landen's tent, Raul came straight over after seeing the Gray Goose envoy off and reported what he'd learned over lunch.
"So the Gray Goose have 230 cavalrymen on the front lines now?"
"Yes. At that size, even the Count would probably have a hard time dealing with them."
As the two talked, Albert lifted the tent flap and came in. He'd been about to ask Landen why he hadn't eliminated the Gray Goose envoy, but then he heard their conversation.
"They also sent someone to the tribe near the Iron Mine?"
"Yes. The Brown Bear Tribe. According to the envoy, the Brown Bear are even stronger than the Gray Goose, but very low-key. The Gray Goose Leader isn't counting on the Brown Bear to send anyone."
"Looks like the Gray Goose Tribe is waiting for our support," Landen said in a mocking tone. "Then let's gather warriors from all the tribes and head south together to help the Gray Goose Leader."
"Landen... you..." Albert knew Landen couldn't really intend to help the Gray Goose, but he didn't dare imagine what Landen actually had in mind.
"Neil! Greyhound! Fang!" Landen shouted for his subordinates.
"Chief." "My lord." "Sir."
"Greyhound, take a few cavalrymen and keep on that envoy's heels. Just watch him. See which camps they visit, and especially find their Salt Mine for me."
"Yes, my lord."
"Fang, go with your father for now and keep in touch with the others along the way. Find the Eagle Tribe first. Your job is to come back and report to me once they've found them."
"Yes, sir."
"Neil, take some men and make a flag exactly like the one that envoy from the Gray Goose has. The Gray Goose Leader is fighting in the south, so the tribes on the Gallop Plains need to go support him. We're going to unite the other tribes now and head south together. Anyone who refuses is going against both the Gallop Tribe and the Gray Goose Tribe." Landen grinned.
"Ah, we're going to swallow up the Eagle Tribe and use the Gray Goose's flag, too?" Neil had grown up on the grasslands and had never seen anyone use a big flag to bluff their way through.
"Of course. If our cavalry carry the Gray Goose's flag and follow the envoy to visit the Eagle Tribe, will they still think we're coming to attack them?"
"But the Eagle Tribe should have fewer than thirty cavalrymen right now. If we go openly, they'll be on their guard."
"I'm not afraid they'll find out. I'm afraid they'll run away!"
Forty kilometers east of Landen, on a dirt hill, stood an imposing Barbarian camp. It had more than thirty tents of various sizes, most of them Bedouin tents, with a few round tents among them. At the highest point stood an enormous Bedouin chief's tent, eight meters high and thirty meters long. From a distance, it looked like a white boulder on the hillside. Behind it rose a dark wooden pillar, thirty-five meters tall and less than half a meter in diameter. Ropes secured its lower third to the ground around it, and numerous strips of cloth and animal tails hung from them as decoration. This was the tribe's God Pillar. At its peak stood a golden statue of an eagle spreading its wings. Gemstones were set in its eyes, each feather was exquisitely detailed, and a Magic Array was etched into its belly.
Diyang hung overhead, and the scorching light of the Two Suns beat down on the plains. Though it was already October, midday on the grasslands was still hot, while the nights were bitterly cold. At that moment, Kansa Eagle, the Eagle Tribe's Battle Priest, was holding a ritual at the altar beneath the God Pillar. Less than three meters tall, Kansa wore a leather outfit covered in colorful feathers, with large bird plumes hanging from his sleeves. A huge Feather Crown rested on his head, and an eagle-faced golden mask covered his face. A long beak jutted from the front of the mask, and two gemstones were set in the eye sockets, just like those in the eagle statue on the pillar.
On the open ground beneath the God Pillar, the Battle Priest performed a distinctive ritual dance. He spread his arms, mimicking an eagle in flight, and bounded and ran around beneath the pillar. Every Barbarian in the camp, whether Mana-Wielder or Mana-Less, knelt outside the area where he danced, waiting in awe and fear.
The priest's dancing area covered roughly fifty square meters. Four Priest Apprentices stood around it, dressed like the priest and wearing wooden masks painted with birdlike faces. Kansa had carefully chosen all four girls. They were both his apprentices and his servants. As Kansa danced with jerky, clawing movements, darting wildly about, the four apprentices circled the entire area counterclockwise, dancing as they went.
Every afternoon, the Eagle Tribe's Battle Priest held a ritual to worship the Eagle God. All the Barbarians in the camp, whether Mana-Wielders or Mana-Less, had to kneel outside the dancing area and wait for the Eagle God's favor. Almost every month, while dancing, the priest would randomly choose a Barbarian to offer to the Eagle God. Human sacrifice was a brutal affair, and the chosen victim could be either a Mana-Wielder or someone Mana-Less.
Once someone was chosen as the offering, the priest would use brute force to haul them beneath the God Pillar and sacrifice them on the spot. Every Barbarian in the camp believed their fearsome priest was favored by the Eagle God. Ironically, though, for the sake of the camp's income, all captured Human Race Mana-Wielders had to be kept in other tents and were never given the honor of being offered to the Eagle God.
Today's ritual passed without incident once again, and no one was sacrificed. Everyone stood up cautiously and left the area around the priest's tent. The Battle Priest returned to his enormous tent, while the four apprentices cleaned up the grounds and slaughtered food for the eagles and falcons kept in the camp.
"Ah... finally, it's over." The first thing Kansa did when he returned to his tent was set down the Magic Crystal in his hand. This was the one time each day he could be alone. He could finally take off his mask. Sweat had soaked through his heavy leather clothes and headdress. He had an hour to dry them by the fire, and he also had to eat as much jerky as he could during that time. The dance had been meaningless, but it took a great deal of energy. He had to eat his fill while no one was watching, then act mysterious in front of others by pretending he barely needed food.
This was Kansa's tenth year as chief. The previous Eagle Tribe chief had been his father, and before he died, he had told Kansa the tribe's secret.
The Eagle Tribe had once been descended from the Eagle God Tribe among the Beastmen. The strongest member of the tribe was the Eagle God's Retainer. From birth, the Retainer was covered in down like a fledgling eagle. As they grew, the down became short feathers, and they moved as swiftly as the wind. In battle, the Retainer could transform into a giant eagle and soar into the sky.
The Eagle Tribe's Eagle God Bloodline had grown thin, but its members could still communicate with eagles, falcons, hawks, and vultures. After offering a life to the Eagle God, they could share the vision of the tribe's most powerful eagle.
Such a powerful ability as shared vision didn't come for free. The priest had to offer up his life force, and each time he gained roughly half an hour of shared vision, he needed at least a month of rest. No matter how strong someone's life force was, it couldn't withstand that kind of strain. As a result, before Kansa, no Eagle Tribe chief had lived past the age of thirty-five.
Kansa didn't want to die young like the chiefs before him. So, eight years ago, after the Barbarians invaded the Dragon Kingdom and many tribes were scattered, he rebuilt the Eagle Tribe and left all the elders who knew the secret of the Eagle Tribe chiefs in Human Race territory.
The following year, they erected the God Pillar in the camp. Though the pillar had nothing to do with the Eagle God, the golden statue at its top bore a Mage's Eye Magic Array. Kansa had paid a great deal to have a Magister carve it. With a mask and Magic Crystals, he could see everything within a thirty-kilometer radius. From then on, the Eagle Tribe's Battle Priest no longer had to rest for a month after seeing through an eagle's eyes. He could observe the surrounding area at any time. To make himself seem more mysterious, Kansa had also invented the so-called daily ritual at noon, using it as an excuse to purge Barbarians who might discover his secret and enhance his sacred image.
The only drawback was that the ritual consumed too many Magic Crystals. The God Pillar needed Magic Crystals to connect to the Mage's Eye, and Magic Crystals were also needed to maintain their combat strength. That's right: Kansa relied on Magic Crystals to kill Mana-Wielders from other Barbarian tribes. Kansa's "robe" also enhanced his strength. Its principle was very similar to the Magic Pattern Armor of the Wandering Badger Tribe: both consumed Magic Crystals to increase the wearer's strength. Or, to put it another way, it was simply a leather suit decorated with feathers.
At last, Kansa had a moment to rest. He put on the mask that let him see thirty kilometers around him. It was also golden, with several Runes on it, protruding eye pieces, and a socket on the forehead specifically designed to consume Magic Crystals.
When Kansa lay down on his fur bed and put on the mask, he saw another cavalry unit approaching his tribe. The rider at the head of the group carried a flag—a Gray Goose flag.