KINGDOM OF THE STONE -- a Wattpad featured novel

Chapter Thirty Eight

"No!  Absolutely not!  They attacked us.  How could we ever trust them?" Brudik said

Karux sat in the back corner of Holen's tavern, surveying the village elder's faces.  A dozen men ranging from their late forties to their late sixties all scowled back in agreement.

"What would you prefer to do with them?" Karux asked.

The elders all remained silent, some glared at him, and others had the grace to look a little ashamed at what he knew they were all thinking.  They would have preferred that all the men of Korion-Daikon had died.

"Send them all back and let them starve with their families," Mormo glared defiantly.

"We could do that," Karux nodded, "and they certainly deserve no less.  But how would that benefit us?"

"How would allowing them to stay benefit us?" Brudik asked.  "You yourself said that they and their families could significantly reduce our reserved food."

"Yes, it would, but not so much that we'd starve.  I don't know about you, but I'd have difficulty condemning any man to his death, much less his innocent wife and children."  Karux paused, but could see this made little impression on them.  "We're not talking about the entire korion of Daikon—just their warriors.  Besides, it's not as if we will only be giving away our food.  They are willing to earn their keep and have offered to perform any labor we require of them and have promised the same on behalf of their families."  This brought a spark of interest in the elders' eyes, as he suspected it might.

"They will sure have a long way to go before they can repay us for the debts they caused today," Mormo said and Karux could see the elders' faces harden at the thought.

"Do you really want to start putting prices on men's lives?" Karux asked.  "Would you have men bought and sold like common goods, or allow a man's life be taken if only his family is given the right goods in trade?"

The elders frowned uncertainly as they considered this.

"I don't know."  Verkor shook his head.  "All the land in the area has been claimed.  Our own sons are nearly tripping over each other farming it.  I wouldn't feel right taking away land from someone to give it to these strangers."

"Nor would I like it if one of them decided to open up a tavern," Holen said.  The other elders nodded making similar noises.

I don't think any of them should be allowed to own any real property," Brudik said.

"I think we are forgetting the most important part," Karux added.  "We approached the neighboring koria with an offer of an alliance because we will need their help to fight the dangers to come.  Few have accepted.  While the elders of Korion-Daikon have rejected our offer, these men haven't.  They are willing to stand and fight with us and we need all the spears we can gather."

This got the elders to thinking.  While some never agreed, the majority decided, after much discussion, to offer the men of Korion-Daikon and their families a place in the village, provided they agreed to train and fight with them and do whatever task the people of Korion-Athrion required.

Karux left to tell the men of Korion Daikon of the elders' decision, knowing they would rejoice despite the fact that he had just sold their freedom.  He feared what might come of this.

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Kaelis watched the firelight flicker across the ivory tusks and stared into the shadowed blackness beneath the beast's eyebrows with a vague feeling it was trying to communicate.  He sipped his bowl of beer and stared into the boar's-head helmet, which had been transformed, by the addition of a fur cloak and a double row of spiraling horns on the top of its head, into an other-worldly monster.  He wondered if part of the poor creature's spirit resided in the tanned remains of its head and if it had changed with the mutilation of its flesh.  He drained his bowl, eyeing his helmet with fear and sick desire.  It would certainly transform his spirit.