"Luubu," Harm said, walking towards where she still straddled Rebo's corpse. His body was mutilated, a pool of mangled flesh all that remained of his chest. "Get up."
Luubu slowly rose, and she looked between Rebo and Harm, her body visibly shaking and eyes wide. She was covered in gore. Harm reached out and gently took the sword from her hand.
Harm towered over the goblins, and those who had come with Murgo looked terrified. He looked at them and those of his clan. His fighters had torn into the group of twenty-plus, and six lay dead, including Rebo. Each of them looked half-shocked, and Harm noticed that Jillew had a nasty gash on his arm, where his target must have attempted to defend itself from their frenzied assault.
"Dafu," Harm called. It took a few moments, but Dafu sprinted over to him from where he had gone to speak to Nathic. He had no weapon, having been disarmed by the others. That hadn't stopped him or any of the others from fighting. His hands and claws were red, and blood coated his chin where he must have bitten whichever goblin he had attacked.
"Harm," he said, his eyes still frenzied.
"Listen up—all of you. Murgo is dead by my hand. Therefore, I claim his position of chief as per clan law." Harm looked at Dafu. "This is Dafu. He is my second in the clan, and this fair maiden is Luubu." Luubu turned to look at Harm and frowned at him, which made Harm smile. "She is the clan's primary fighter. I will offer all of you the same option as those before. If you wish to stay in the clan, you may do so; if you wish to leave, that's fine as well. I will not stop you, but be warned that all territory that falls under the clan is now mine. That means using Murgo's words, I now control the west of the valley. I will give you fifteen minutes to decide, and while you do, Luubu and my warriors will be collecting all weapons from you. And don't think you can hide anything in your inventory, as our sage has foresight and will be checking each of you. Nathic," Harm called.
Nathic came sprinting over. He looked worse than Dafu did, his entire face covered in blood, and it took Harm a moment to realise that none of it was his own.
What the hell did you do? Harm thought.
The demonic voice giggled like a child. Fun! I had fun!
"Nathic here is our sage. I want you, one at a time, to step forward and lay your weapons down."
Murgo's ex-clan members all stood frozen. They still outnumbered the clan by more than three to one, even with those who had run. Most of them looked terrified, and Harm didn't believe it was because of him. The way the clan had suddenly turned feral would probably have routed the sturdiest knights—their sheer ferocity and willingness to fight, not something that many could ever reach.
As Harm looked at the goblins, Nathic leaned towards Harm.
"What do you mean by foresight? I didn't know I could do that?"
Harm turned to Nathic, smiling wickedly. "You can't, but they don't know that," Harm winked.
Nathic looked at Harm for a moment, his eyes wide, before smiling. With a very sickening smile revealing his blood-soaked teeth, Harm thought he saw green goblin flesh trapped between them.
"Do as the chief says," Nathic bellowed, taking up position in front of Luubu and Dafu. It took a minute before the first of Murgo's goblins approached. He stopped in front of Nathic and placed a spear on the ground. Harm watched Nathic place his hands on his face as he said some jibberish. The goblin that had dropped the spear opened his eyes in panic as a dagger appeared in his hand, and he quickly dropped it by the spear.
Harm almost burst out laughing and had to look away towards where the others were. "Dafu, come with me," he said as he walked towards where Nathic and the others had gone feral. There were only four of his clan with at least thirty of Murgo's. The young and weak had never been discovered, and they walked from the woods' edge towards Harm.
On the ground in a pool of blood was Cassew. He had been struck by a blade across his face. The wide, deep cut stretched across from cheek to cheek, and his lifeless eyes stared at Harm.
"FUCK," Harm screamed. Litterally scaring the shit out of two of Murgo's clan while another fainted, from the sheer ferociousness of his scream. The other goblins backed away, including his own. Only Dafu had not moved.
He took a deep breath, calming his anger.
"Cassew shouldn't have died," Harm said.
Dafu looked at Harm and replied almost gently. "He fought bravely and died protecting the clan. He will be happy in the requiem."
Harm looked at Dafu, pained by the loss of another. His face softened, the rigidity relaxing, and the twitching muscles in his jaw stopped.
"I suggest you join the line and drop your weapons over there," Harm growled, turning back to look at the goblins. It took only moments before they hurried towards where Nathic stood with Luubu.
"Do you know where Murgo's clan was based?" Harm asked.
"No. I have never been there. Ullu, who was one of the pricks who left with Rebo, was with them. He is an idiot, but I'm sure he will tell us."
"Grab him and bring him to my hut," Harm said as he turned and walked away. He couldn't look at Cassew's body again.
His clan members were gathered near the large fire pit and watched as Murgo's clan members handed their weapons over. A few were talking excitedly, and several of Murgo's members had approached the fire pit. Others were staying back warily.
Harm ignored them as he walked to his hut, ducking inside and grabbing a waterskin. As he took a seat outside, Dafu walked over with whom Harm assumed was Ullu.
"Ullu, I assume?"
"Yes, chief," Ullu replied sheepishly.
"You know where Murgo's clan is, don't you?"
"Yes, chief," Ullu nodded enthusiastically, fear in his eyes, wanting to please the man who had slain two of his chiefs now.
"Good. You will be accompanying a scout party there."
Ullu looked confused. "Why?"
Harm frowned. "What do you mean, why?"
"It's worse than here," Ullu said shamefacedly.
"What do you mean, worse than here?"
"Many of the clan sleep on the hillside in tents. Murgo and his closest used to live in a small cave network, but there isn't much there."
Harm's frown deepened. "So, you left to join a clan with less than you had here."
"They all get to eat," he shrugged.
Harm sighed. "You left with Rebo because they got food daily?" Frustrated to find out what Rebo had sold to them.
"Yes."
Dafu slapped Ullu on the back of his head, making him yelp.
"You fucking idiot. We all eat here," Dafu said.
Ullu looked at Dafu, confused. "You do?"
"Yes. It was the first thing that Harm changed."
"You know how hard it was to get food under the old chief. I thought it would be the same."
"How many of you left for that reason?" Dafu asked.
"All. None of us liked Rebo. He was a bastard to us, but the chance of food every day was too much to give up."
"We will still send a scout party. How many stayed behind?"
"About twenty. Old ones, a couple that are heavy with sproglings, and the sproglings themselves. Think there's nine in total," Ullu said.
Harm had never heard the term sprogling before, but knew that it must mean children.
"They can't be left there alone," Harm said. "They will need collecting. Dafu, send Ullu with four others. Tell them to bring them here."
Harm had been watching his timer; the fifteen minutes that Murgo's members had been given to decide were running out. He stood and walked back to Nathic and Luubu. Dafu followed Harm closely, and Ullu scampered behind.
There was a decent pile of weapons lying on the ground at their feet. A mix of short swords and spears, but most were daggers and knives, although there were five short bows. Also, Morgu's shield and warhammer had been added to the pile. Harm thought most of them were made from iron, but a couple appeared to be steel, at least. It really wasn't much of a haul from so many.
Harm waited for the last few to drop their weapons before he spoke.
"Your time is up. If you are staying, move to the fire pit. If you are leaving, then form up here," Harm said, pointing towards the northern wood's edge.
"That's not where the clan is," Dafu said, frowning.
"That's my point. If they are leaving, then they leave the valley."
"Oh," Dafu said with surprise.
Several of Murgo's members walked towards the northern wood edge, but surprisingly to Harm, the vast majority moved to the fire pit. By the time everyone had stopped moving, there were forty-one by the fire pit. Nine stood by the northern edge, and the remainder were thirteen dead goblins from Murgo's clan, and Murgo himself, still lying where they had fallen. There had been sixty-four in total.
Harm watched as the body of Cassew was brought to the fire pit. He walked over towards where the nine stood.
"You have made your decision. Now you may leave. You are banned from ever entering the valley again, and if you are seen, then you will be killed on sight," Harm said, snarling at them. Several had been looking quietly confident until Harm had spoken.
One of them stepped forward. "What do you mean, banned from the valley? We live on the upper hills."
"You lived," Harm smiled, his smile not reaching his eyes. "As I said, you are banned from the valley, so I suggest you leave and head to the plains," Harm said, turning his back on them and walking towards the fire pit.
A couple turned and walked off, cursing Harm. Others stood in shock at what had been said. "You have ten seconds to get moving before I set Luubu on you," Harm called, not looking back.
Luubu, on hearing her name, grinned and started walking in their direction. That soon got the others moving. Luubu looked demonic, still covered in Rebo's gore.
Harm's clan members stood around the outside of the fire pit. His new members were standing nervously and fearfully. He still carried Florence in his hand, never returning her to his inventory, and it was stained with Murgo's blood. He placed the tip of Florence in the dirt and leaned on her with both hands.
"For those of you who are staying, the rules are very simple. First, my name is Harm. I don't answer to 'chief.' Secondly, clan seniority. If an original clan member gives you an order, you follow it. I don't care what rules you worked under before, or what positions you may have held. You all start at the bottom. If you prove yourself trustworthy and able, then and only then may you be considered for anything better. With so many new members, we will have much to do. Your first task is to clear the clan of all the dead. I want a pyre built and the remains burned. I don't want rotting corpses left lying around attracting predators. Then everyone is going to go for a wash."
At Harm's final comment, many of the new goblins looked at Harm with looks of confusion. The stench of the new arrivals had been overpowering, and Harm's nostrils were struggling to contend with the sweat, faeces, and who knew what else. Never mind the blood and gore that also filled the area.
"Oh, before I forget. We have toilet pits, which are situated across the stream. If I see any of you, and I mean any of you, shitting or pissing around here," Harm cast his arm around, indicating the clearing. "Then Florence here has a strong liking for the taste of goblin blood," he finished as he lifted Florence.
Harm turned to Dafu. "I trust you can get them sorted. Assign our members to oversee them. If any of them try to do anything that looks suspicious, then act first and ask questions later."
"Understood," Dafu said. He turned to address the goblins. "You heard Harm, now get moving."
Harm walked back to his hut, sitting outside. He picked his waterskin up and drank heavily. His clan had just grown threefold once the others from their clan camp arrived. They would be given the same choices if they wished to stay or leave once they got there. The hunting party came back just as Harm sat wondering what to prioritise next. The looks on their faces, seeing the members of Murgo's clan, caused more than just confusion. Lapu of the hunting party jogged over to Harm.
"What's going on, Harm?" he asked on arriving.
"New members. We will need to increase the number of hunting parties starting tomorrow. I see you have done well today. They had brought back two large hoglings.
"Yeah," Lapu said as he counted the number of new members. "We will need at least three hoglings per day, maybe four."
"I'm sure you can sort it out," Harm smiled.
Lapu scratched his head. "We may need to go further afield. Pickings are getting slim nearby."
"We own the west side of the valley now, hunt as far as you like in that area."
Lapu, still trying to come to terms with what he was being told, shook his head in bewilderment.
As he walked off, Harm started to think about what they needed to prioritise again.
Huts. We definitely need more huts. He thought.
