ATPnovel Chapter 597: Put the responsibility you carry on him.
Chapter 597: Put the responsibility you carry on him.
The Cindersteps quickly walked in, because their leader knew the Velmourn tongue, they didn’t have many problems with communication.
Surprisingly, they were also the most well-received tribe till now. Both the Velmourns and the Stonefangs, although they both looked at them with wary looks on their faces, had far less wariness than what they had for the other tribes.
Maybe this was because of the low number of people they had, or just because the Cindersteps seemed comparatively normal compared to the other two. Kael didn’t mind it, obviously.
The more they got along, the better it was for them.
"Take them to the mid-city."
Kael ordered.
This was the Ashen Heights, there was more manpower here than resources. Even a simple artifact like the Communication Crystal was a rarity here, so in almost all the tribes, communication had always been a problem and the bigger the tribe, the bigger that problem was.
For an Alliance that now had six different tribes and Velmourns, who themselves had around ten thousand men?
The communication had become an even bigger problem, even if they took Aurelia’s and her soldiers’ communication crystals, the numbers were still lacking.
In the end, they had to do it in the most original way—
Scouts.
Messengers.
And because of their speed, Kael chose the Cindersteps for that. This was the reason they were sent to mid-city, an area well connected with all others, allowing more communication and ease between the Cindersteps and other tribes.
Others may not matter right now, but the Cindersteps, they needed to get along with others, that was important.
The Cinderstep Leader understood that, so he nodded at Kael with a meaningful look on his face, Kael nodded back as the Cinderstep Leader walked towards his people. Kael saw him and his people leave together with the Velmourn guide and just then, Imperia, sitting inside his Sanctuary—
’They are here.’
The Ant informed and Kael smiled lightly.
The last tribe was here as well. That information eased his heart, at the same time, it also made him frown. The Stormcallers knew what they were doing, they knew what was happening yet...
They didn’t do anything to stop them...?
Why...?
Or were they... planning to attack later, when all tribes were gathered?
That was very much a possibility, after all, the Stormcallers did not know that he knew that they knew what he was planning. According to them, the moment they attacked, it would be a surprise attack.
Not that it was true, his people knew that the Stormcallers knew, and this time, they were more than prepared, for a ground attack and for an aerial one.
In the end, Kael shook his head, then, he looked ahead and his eyes fell on Morvain.
Yes, Morvain and the others in his party were still with the Emberfolks. Kael and Lavinia had left them there to help the Emberfolks with packing, something Kayden did not appreciate one bit.
Kael smiled when he saw Kayden’s displeased reaction. Kayden, seeing Kael smile, was even more annoyed and once he got close—
"You left on purpose."
He spoke directly.
"Of course I did. I had to make sure that everyone settled in properly."
Kael explained with a righteous look on his face.
Kayden looked at him for a good while, then he looked at Lavinia’s hand he was holding and how he was holding it.
"So you were taking care of the lodgings, yea?"
"Yes."
Kael nodded with a smile.
"I thought Elder Aelindra had already done that, but since it seems like she hasn’t, I will need to talk to her."
Kayden spoke as he nodded to himself, almost as if he was making mental notes. That was when Kael shook his head—
"She did what she had to do, I was only making sure everyone settled in according to her arrangements."
"And that was Elder Tarevian’s jurisdiction, I will need to talk to Elder Tarevian then. The Elders in the Heights cannot laze around, not in a moment as important as this."
"N-No..."
Kael didn’t know how to react.
Lavinia laughed, light banter like this was good for Kael’s heart that was already burdened with heavy responsibility.
Morvain smiled as well, it was rare to experience such moments in the Heights, especially right when they were in the middle of preparing for war.
Kael and Kayden bickered for a good few minutes, until Morvain, who noticed the Emberfolks standing behind them, stopped their conversation midway and—
"Alright, it’s already late, the tribesmen need to rest, so stop this pointless chatter and help the Emberfolks settle in."
Kael looked at her and then nodded before he glanced at the Emberfolks.
The air around the Emberfolk was... different.
There were around five hundred and forty of them, one hundred and fifty out of whom were warriors. These people wore thick gloves and carried their tools like hammers, pokers, hooked blades, everything with them.
Their leader stepped forward and stared at Kael in silence.
Kael stared back.
All the easiness on his face when he was bickering with Kayden was gone, he now looked at the Emberfolk leader like he was ready for anything he was going to ask him.
But the Emberfolk Leader—
"You keep promise."
He only said one thing.
"I will."
Kael nodded with an earnest look on his face.
Honestly, even if he hadn’t promised it, he was already planning to send the Emberfolks to the Forge.
After all, that was where these people belonged. If the Emberfolks and the Velmourn Forgers worked together, he believed they would be able to create something that would have massive potential.
He was actually looking forward to it.
For now, however, he didn’t say anything. He just let the Emberfolks walk into the Wall. The Velmourns and the Stonefangs on the Wall looked at this scene with grave looks on their faces.
Everything that was happening went way beyond the limits their minds had usually set upon themselves but...
Could they even do anything at this point?
The Stormcallers were coming, it was only a matter of time.
And the only way to fight them was for them to work together with other tribes.
As for the generations of enmity that had been instilled in these tribes, the same enmity that had caused all the past wars, the same enmity that had stopped any two tribes from working together before?
They left it to that man.
If that man managed to bring the two of them together—
They could only believe he would somehow find a way to make all these new tribes work under him as well, however impossible that might feel.
"Take the Emberfolk to the outer lanes."
That was when Kael’s words were heard, the Stonefangs and Velmourns came out of their reverie and watched everything play out.
This was it.
This was the last tribe.
So once the Emberfolks were in, the Gates closed but this time—
The people inside the Gates did not feel safe.
The Wall... no longer felt like home.
Neither to the Velmourns who had been living here for generations, nor to Stonefangs who had only been here for five days but had started to accept the people here.
Right now, the Wall felt more like a cage where wild, untamed animals were put together, with hopes of miraculously turning them into a dangerous beast tide.
Velmourn soldiers stood on the wall walkways, staring down at the new quarters being filled with new people, listening to the new languages that most of them did not recognize.
Stonefangs were the same, they stood below, watching the new "allies" with suspicion.
And in the centre of it all, there was Kael, holding Lavinia’s hand so tightly, as if he refused to be separated from the only steady thing in his life.
Morvain watched him from a distance. Kayden was no different, he watched him too, but his thoughts were... more complicated.
He respected this man from the bottom of his heart.
But...
His actions, his decisions—they all unsettled him in a... terrifying way.
He feared what everything he was doing would result in. It wasn’t that Kayden couldn’t see Kael’s vision, he could see how this could work but...
The plan was... dangerous, far more than dangerous.
One thing, one wrong thing, one wrong command, one wrong miscommunication, and everything Kael had built, everything the Velmourn people had built relying on Kael’s back—
It would all fall down.
"Calm your nerves."
While Kayden was thinking all this, Morvain suddenly placed her hand over his shoulder and spoke with a gentle, motherly smile.
"Mother...?"
Kayden called out, a little surprised.
He could tell Morvain was currently talking to him as his mother, not the Matriarch, which was... quite rare.
"I know what you are feeling. I feel the same, so do Korvath and others."
Morvain spoke the truth, then, she looked at Kael standing ahead and—
"But one good thing that comes with letting go of power is that the consequences are no longer yours to deal with."
"If he fails, we will be the ones dealing with the consequences."
Kayden didn’t understand what his mother was saying.
Morvain, however, just let out a hollow laugh—
"If he fails, the only thing we will face is our deaths."
Then, she looked at her child and—
"And trust me, death is oddly peaceful compared to what that boy is shouldering right now. I know because I have been in his place, I’ve carried the weight he is carrying, mine was only far, far lighter yet it still made me unable to sleep at night.
Makes me wonder what the boy’s going through."
Hearing those words, Kayden looked at Kael’s back with an unreadable expression on his face. Morvain did the same, then, she turned towards her son and—
"So for now, do what me and everyone else are doing.
Put your trust in him.
Put the responsibility you carry on him.
From here on out, whatever happens, be it good or bad, put it on him.
And you...
You just do what you have been told."