When Twins War: Book I

Chapter Twelve

Three rainswept weeks went by before the Outlanders and Foré dragoon finally arrived in the vicinity of the village of Raud. The escalating tension between the two parties resulted in heavy hearts and less enthusiasm from all, except Altana who seemed incredibly determined to reach the villages.

After the feud on the road Altana became increasingly scornful toward the Outlanders and Tarkaynon, in particular. That same day Altana led his men into a small farm and demanded from the family there to provide them food and shelter for the night. Tarkanyon insisted that it was not fair to make these demands, but Altana claimed his rights to do so. As it was, Altana did have the rights to do so by Foré law, which said that the army should be housed and provided food and shelter if they ask for it. Tarkanyon was of the opinion that Altana did not ask for it, he demanded it,0 but this was seen as sheer arrogance on his part. After all, he was told, this was "not his country" and the Outlanders had "no right" to insist their ways were practised in Foré.

Altana also insisted that his men were not to take any orders from the Outlanders. In fact, he kept reminding them, they were under Foré's guard, not the other way around.

As Tarkanyon expected, Altana and his men were not very approving of camping in any wood for quite some time and the rest of their journey had been on either more farms or in inns. Otherwise they would camp at the roadside or in an open area away from any forest of any kind. But this unspoken rule was broken once they arrived close to Raud, which was about mid-afternoon. That evening, considerably cooler than the nights before (as they were closer to the Great Mountains now) Altana sent out two scouts to spy out the village. Poiternium, who was on watch, woke up Tarkanyon and reported that he had seen the two scouts leave the forest. Tarkanyon sent out Merexia and Turrik (who was particularly good at spying) to investigate the scouts and the village as well. This they did and reported back to him only two hours later.

"All seems very quiet and peaceful," Turrik rasped to Tarkanyon, looking at him enigmatically under the hood of his cloak. Merexia agreed, adding, "The scouts have only done as ordered. They did not do much more than only spy."

"Very well," Tarkanyon replied. "We shall wait for the morning and see Altana's next move. Keep a sharp eye."

The coolness of the night dropped to colder temperatures as first light approached. The morning began to reveal the extraordinary snow-capped peaks of the Great Mountains, which seemed to be more grand and exquisite in the rising light. From these blew in a fresher breeze. The forest trailed out into a small valley which contained the village before them, still dark and sleeping.

Tarkanyon had been up most of the night, with an eye on Altana, who eventually approached him while everyone was getting ready.

"I am well aware of your watching us," he said.

"Cheerful in the morning, I see," Tarkanyon said.

Altana frowned. "We march now to the village. Your choice is either to march with us, or observe from here."

"We haven't established exactly what the grievances here are. Why are you marching against them? If they are at peace, as our scouts say, perhaps things have settled."

"These villages have defected," Altana replied. "They are hostile and without excuse. They must submit to our king. These were our orders."

"Perhaps it would be better if we proceed first, before you arrive," Tarkanyon said. "We are neutral here. This may escalate beyond reason as soon as they see your dragoon."

"Is it your country or mine?" Altana snapped. "It is mine. We are to march in and take the village. It belongs to us. It belongs to our king."

"We came to help to make peace!" Tarkanyon said. "Because your king asked us to! We are here to assist you. Therefore, let us go in first. The northern villages have long wanted independence from Foré... they are a very different people."