The sun was now high in the sky. It was hard to believe that so much death could occur before the sun had even reached its peak. Boreen could see the village. He looked down at the chief's spear and wondered how he could explain to the villagers. The villagers started celebrating when they noticed him coming down the path. The jubilation didn't last long. An uncomfortable silence came over the village when they noticed that only he had returned.
"Where is the chief, my brother, our children, and tribesmen?" A worried voice pierced the silence. Boreen ignored it and went straight towards the head shamen of the tribe. She looked at him with sorrow in her eyes.
"My husband?"
"I am all that is left, the chief and the rest are all dead." The shamen quaked at Boreen's words. He didn't falter though. He presented the chief's staff to the shaman.
"How did you come to have this in your possession, young one?" She asked without moving towards the spear.
"The chief gave it to me. My only guess is to return it to your home."
"No young one. Only the chief may hold this spear, and now only you hold it."
"Yes but you can take it, you were his wife it only makes sense you would take his place."
"No young one, or should I say young chief, you bare the spear. My husband chose you. I do not pretend to know why, but he chose you." Her eyes pierced through Boreen's spirit. He could feel her looking at his core. He looked down at the spear still in his grasp and felt something come over him. Not pride as he did on the battlefield, but fear. Boreen was only just old enough to go to war, how could he now be chief. He looked back to the head shaman. She now knelt down before him.
"No please I'm too." Before he could finish his statement someone from the crowd that had formed behind him shouted.
"Young!" The crowd flew into an uproar. Insults flung at one another as if they had hated each other for years. The same fear Boreen felt earlier when facing death was back. He didn't know what to do. How could the head shaman say that he was the new chief? His clan had borne a chief before. Why should it change now? A booming voice roared through the crowd like a crack of lightning.
"What do the laws of our tribe say?" The voice came from the head shaman who only moments before sounded as a calming river did.
"Only the chief can hold the chief's spear!" The crowd responded in unison.
"And who amongst us holds it now?" her voice still making the earthquake.
"The lone warrior returned home!" The words of the crowd struck Boreen, they were true.
"Today we mourn our fallen, but tonight we celebrate our new chief Torikk!" The crowd surged with emotion, some happy and some angry. In a tone more suited for private conversation the head shaman spoke to Boreen, "Come, young man, we have much to do and you have much to tell." Boreen felt now was not the time to refuse this woman who had such power. He lowered his head and began to follow. "Do not bow your head here, you are the chief now. Be proud."
