Tribe Master 5: A Fantasy Harem Adventure

by Noah Layton

  ‘And I shall be by your side,’ Mariana acknowledged.

  ***

  The day passed quickly, and with every member of our two tribes armed, informed and coordinated, we set out along the northern trail towards the land of our enemy.

  The gates to the north of my land creaked open on their huge hinges, pulled by a small group of sun-elves and warriors who would be remaining to defend it in the event of an attack during our absence.

  Our battalion began its route-step into the cold of the approaching night. Myself, Mariana and Tobias rode at the head of the procession, followed closely by our closest advisors – Alorion and my wives, the sun-elves closest to Mariana, and some of the warriors most skilled fighters.

  Our small army followed behind, some riding atop their steeds while others rode in wagons, and some choosing to remain on foot.

  We would gear up and arm ourselves a few hundred yards from Garrison’s land – there was no sense in exhausting ourselves during the journey if our gear could easily be stored within inventories in the meantime.

  I just hoped that no surprises would await us upon our arrival. Garrison was a devious, cold-hearted and brutal son of a bitch. I had seen his ways first-hand, and I knew that he would do anything in order to vanquish us.

  There was no hole too deep or immoral that he wouldn’t be willing to crawl into.

  We headed north-east, avoiding contact with any other tribes or individuals as we moved quietly through the night.

  There was little chance that we would run into anyone along the way, but we were better off safe than sorry.

  Mariana’s advisors informed us of a little-known trail further east of the waterfall that they had discovered during their scouts, one that required a longer journey but would allow for the transportation of the carts and wagons via a much longer but much slighter incline.

  ‘I can’t believe you found this trail,’ I said to her as we made the journey at a steady pace that the horses and elkin could easily manage. ‘I’m surprised you hadn’t fully mapped out the land surrounding your own long ago.’

  ‘This is somewhat beyond our usual trails,’ Mariana said. ‘Or, rather, beyond my father’s trails. He preferred a more… Insular view of the land. But after meeting you, Master Jack, my desires for contact with the outside world have shifted. We can no longer remain shut off from the rest of Agraria. We must take interest in the events that occur beyond our borders.’

  Because of me, I thought. Sure, I’ll bet it has nothing to do with the fact that I’m holding a ridiculously powerful weapon in the sheath at my side.

  Her tone of voice had changed since I had made the existence of the sword known. Whether she was impressed or wary I couldn’t tell, but I knew that she respected the power that I had suddenly acquired.

  ‘Your scouts made it out here quickly, though,’ I replied. ‘If we plan on facing other enemies together again in the future, your sun-elves would be a valuable asset when it comes to finding other tribes and staking them out.’

  ‘Many elves have the gift of sharp movement,’ she replied. ‘Perhaps it is one that we should put to good use.’

  The slope levelled out, and soon enough we were travelling north towards the land of the dwarves.

  In no time we reached the familiar forest to the south of the land of Onilsia’s people.

  We brought our forces to a halt at the edge of the land. It had been abandoned by now, but the wound of its sight once more was still fresh to her and her people.

  I dismounted and observed it from a distance alongside Mariana, Tobias and my wives.

  ‘Savages,’ Tobias growled, observing the burnt ground and the crumbling buildings. ‘Garrison may stand upon two feet and speak with his nose turned up, but he still behaves like an animal. What being with common decency would do this to a peaceful tribe?’

  ‘None,’ I replied. ‘He doesn’t have common decency.’

  While our forces waited in organized ranks beyond the perimeter, myself and my small group of allies lit our torches and scoured the land, searching among the ruins that Garrison and his men had left behind.

  We finally reached the tree at the center of the land, the place that every tribe master called home.

  The innards of the treehouse had been stripped bare of possessions; the only thing that didn’t seem to have been destroyed were the totems.

  ‘When this is over,’ I started to Onilsia, ‘When we’ve vanquished Garrison and freed your people, I promise that I will restore your land exactly the way that it was.’

  ‘Thank you, tribe master,’ Onilsia said, bowing her head more in grief than in ritual. ‘I just hope we are not too late to save my people.’

  ‘Not if I have something to say about it,’ I assured her. ‘Let’s get back on the trail.’

  Our army crossed the land in regiments as we picked up the pace, moving through the trees carefully before Mariana’s advisors got us back onto the trail heading north.

  The cold had begun to let up a little, but as the night wore on and the hours of our journey passed the darkness became oppressive.

  The trail through the trees once again became more and more obscured, until the dense thickets and crowded trunks slowed the pace of our army to a crawl.

  We travelled in hushed silence for hundreds of yards more, until Mariana finally raised her hand and drew us to a halt.

  ‘200 yards ahead,’ she whispered in the dark, turning to me. ‘That is where the clearing before the land of our enemy begins.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Our combined forces quickly became battle-ready.

  We equipped our armor and weapons, securing every strap and tightening every plate of metal until each and every member of our army was well-protected.

  In addition to our weapons, every one of our people on the front line was equipped with a heavy shield, the disk composed of layers of wood and the rims bolted with iron.

  Garrison’s men had shown themselves to be adept with ranged weapons on more than one occasion, and if melee attacks became a necessity – which they likely would – we would need to move in without being cut down by a volley.

  With the carriages and wagons stowed deep in the forest, we started onward toward Garrison’s land. In no time, the sight of the high fences surrounding the perimeter came into view beyond the tree line.

  From there our forces coordinated quickly, splitting off into eight equal teams of combatants, a regimented mix of sun-elves, warriors and members of my own tribe who were ready and willing to confront our enemy.

  Each team was situated at a different point around Garrison’s land, with equal distance between each team. Every team was assigned a catapult and three explosives, ready to be launched at a moment’s notice from the forest.

  Myself, Alorion and my wives, alongside five of my warriors, moved in tandem with the other forces through the trees, stopping twenty yards away from the tree line. It didn’t take long for us to identify a clear path through the trees that the explosives could be fired along, and after setting the catapult down, we waited.

  It was my job to give the signal. I was the one leading this army, and it was my responsibility to direct it.

  We had no methods to communicate among our groups regarding specific information; the only options were the xevea beaks.

  I examined the beak in the palm of my hand, the outline of its shape barely visible in the darkness of the forest.

  This one tiny item that made a distinct, carrying sound was about to start a battle in which many would likely die.

  All I had to do was press it to my lips and push the air through.

  I looked towards Garrison’s land with Alorion and my wives at my side.

  Past the tree line the lights of the fires lit within his land were burning bright against the dark.

  The watchtowers were all manned by guards looking to the forest, but we were too far back and too encased within the dark to be seen.

  ‘How long should we wai
t, Jack?’ Santana whispered at my side.

  ‘A little longer. We need to make sure there are no surprises waiting for us, no anomalies. You never know what Garrison might have in store for any attackers.’

  ‘You think he knows we’re coming?’ Elera asked, rubbing her hands together hard against the cold.

  ‘Kali, Morok and the other dark-elves should have been back a long time ago. He’ll know something’s wrong. That’s what makes him and his men so dangerous right now. He could already be preparing for an attack for all we know. We have no idea what lies beyond that perimeter.’

  ‘His guards seem attentive,’ Alorion commented from a branch some yards above us. ‘I believe that they are on high-alert. The next action resides with us now.’

  I nodded in response my imp’s words.

  It was both a call to action and a much-needed warning.

  I had to act. This was my responsibility.

  I crossed to the catapult where the five warriors on our team were waiting. Three explosives were sat in a nearby satchel, ready to be fired at a moment’s notice.

  We would only need one.

  ‘At your orders, Master Jack,’ the warrior at the catapult controls nodded to me.

  He spoke not just for himself, but for all of my people.

  I looked once more to Garrison’s land. Suddenly it seemed as if the fires within were growing brighter.

  But it wasn’t coming from within – the light was coming from above the treetops to the east.

  The sun was beginning to rise.

  We had been travelling all night now, but I had never felt more awake in my life. My heart was pounding like a mallet on a bell.

  We needed the advantage of the remaining darkness that came before dawn.

  It was now or never.

  I clenched one fist and brought the other to my mouth, holding the xevea beak tightly and pressing it to my lips.

  Now.

  I emptied the breath in my lungs into the xevea beak.

  Seconds later, in a cascading symphony of high humming, the rest of the beaks sounded in response.

  I turned to the warrior at the controls of the catapult and nodded.

  ‘Fire.’

  Without hesitation he armed and activated the explosive, setting it upon the bucket before grabbing the lever and releasing the pressure.

  The repressed energy of the catapult gave, and the lever swung hard on its fulcrum, slamming against the frame and releasing the payload.

  The explosive flew through the air, skimming past leaves and between branches. All around me in the forest, a symphony of more levers gave, sending their payloads towards the no-man’s land ahead.

  A dull thud sounded as our explosive struck the snow.

  Shouts of confusion sounded from the watchtowers.

  Crack.

  The shape of the explosive suddenly seemed to rapidly expand, ballooning to the size of an igloo before receding back to its original form, then-

  Boom.

  The explosive ignited, engulfing the view ahead immediately in a barrage of flames in every direction.

  A small shockwave quickly struck us, kicking up dust, snow and dirt.

  We covered our eyes against the blast as it whipped through the trees all around us.

  The moment it subsided I looked towards the land.

  The empty land between the forest and the perimeter fence was completely engulfed in flames.

  The explosives were so strong that they were feeding on every shred of fuel that they could get their hands on.

  Chaotic yells came from the land itself, lost in the force of the explosion.

  ‘Good gods,’ Alorion exclaimed. ‘That will have certainly woken them up…’

  ‘Orders, Master Jack?’ One of the warriors spoke to me.

  ‘We hold at the tree line,’ I ordered. ‘We need to wait for the fires to subside before we make our crossing. Then we can get a decent view on the situation inside the land.’

  As the echo of the explosion finally subsided, I blew the xevea beak again.

  Phase two – approach the tree line.

  Against the crackling of the fire, the rest of the xevea beaks called out.

  All eight of our groups moved forwards to the tree line, including our own.

  We ducked to a crouch at the very edge, just a few yards from the roaring flames. The heat was intense, almost too much to bear, but with low wind and cold air it was quickly dying down.

  ‘Come on, come on,’ I muttered to myself, waiting for the raging fires to drop as their reaches upwards became less and less fruitful.

  Finally the fires began to clear, and along with them the air cleared of smoke.

  I searched the perimeter rapidly, but failed to find it – because it was no longer there.

  All four watchtowers and the entire perimeter fence had been completely incinerated. They were reduced to a smoldering, charred mess that was left crumbling upon the snowy ground.

  There was no time to waste. We couldn’t let the enemy gain even a second’s worth of advantage.

  I blew harshly through the xevea beak again, and heard the other seven return.

  Phase three – surround and attack.

  I emerged from the tree line, unsheathing my agrarium sword, and my team promptly followed.

  ‘Single-file,’ I called back. ‘The fires are still burning a little and we need to find a way through.’

  I broke from the tree line and jogged forwards, carving a trail through the fires that were desperately seeking to melt through the snow and reach the undergrowth

  A path presented itself, and with the footsteps of my companions at my heels, I took it swiftly.

  I glanced left and right along the arc of the clearing around the land. Within my line of sight I could make out four of the seven other teams, each rushing through the fires towards their section of the perimeter.

  WHOOSH.

  A whipping tornado of flame suddenly darted past me, missing my face by mere inches.

  I pulled back, grinding against my backfoot, before rushing onwards with my team following right behind.

  Everything was going to plan – until it wasn’t.

  The worst of the flames were still ahead, feeding on the remnants of the watchtowers and the fences. Their ashen timbers were heaped on the ground at a height of a few feet, but they were still very much alight.

  Then, just ten yards from the perimeter line, the wind picked up briefly before falling.

  It dampened the height of the flames, giving a view onto the space just beyond the line.

  Something else was blocking our way.

  What the fuck is that…?

  Huge objects were standing beyond the perimeter line, metallic lines running vertically. They weren’t wagons, weren’t carts, weren’t even any kind of obstacle or trap that I had seen before or was even familiar with.

  Only when we came within a few yards did I hear the shouts for help coming from within the objects.

  ‘Oh my god…’

  Within the land, stretching in a secondary wall beyond the fallen perimeter fence, just out of reach of the flames, were a series of cages. They were intermittently scattered, running the full length of the perimeter, and each of them held several captives.

  They weren’t here by accident.

  This was the second level of defense.

  Garrison was using enslaved people as a blockade.

  He knew that I would be coming to get him, and he knew that I didn’t tolerate taking free people captive.

  So he knew that I wouldn’t dare to put their lives at risk.

  There were gaps that allowed movement through to his land, but we would be picked off like fish in a barrel the moment we headed through.

  It was a shooting gallery for he and his men.

  I didn’t even register the nature of the beings inside the cages; all I could see in my battle-hardened mind in that instant were terrified eyes.

  ‘Please help us!’


  ‘We’re going to get you out!’ I called to them frantically. ‘Just stay down.’

  ‘We need a plan, Jack!’ Ariadne called out.

  ‘I know,’ I shouted back. ‘Just hang on!’

  ‘Jack, look out!’

  One of the warriors yelled the warning.

  I looked up to see a dark-elf leaping onto the roof of the cage right before us. His eyes were wild and his face contorted into a snarl.

  He drew an arrow just as swiftly as Kali had done in taking down the warrior at The Market

  I had no time to reach for my shield.

  Just as his eyeline focused upon me, an arrow slammed straight between his eyes.

  He toppled off the back of the cage along with his bow.

  I turned sharply to see Santana aiming her crossbow directly at where the dark-elf had been. Her hands stayed steady.

  She took a quick breath and calmed herself, loading another bolt.

  Holy shit.

  I wanted to thank her, but there was no time for me to dwell on my close call.

  This was war.

  ‘Overhead!’ One of the warriors called out.

  I looked up sharply to see a volley of arrows racing into the sky.

  Twenty were coming our way alone.

  As they reached their peak, another twenty surged quickly towards the team to our left.

  ‘SHIELDS!!!’

  We promptly equipped our wooden shields and ducked to the ground, covering ourselves.

  Seconds later, the arrows came slamming into their wooden surfaces and into the ground all around us.

  We had the advantage of surprise and we had the place surrounded, but Garrison and his men had sadism on their sides.

  ‘We’ve got to do something to quell their attacks long enough to get inside,’ I said, before bellowing: ‘ARCHERS!!!’

  ‘ARCHERS!!!” Replied to me in a series of cascading voices as the rest of the teams responded in the affirmative to my command.

  Lara and our five warriors readied their bows and fired a volley of arrows into the center of the land.

  Arrows from the other teams quickly followed.