“I’d like to revisit our old camp location, down the coast,” I told my council.
“Why?” a big, heavily marked Uli asked. “That’s uqandu territory.”
“That’s part of why. It was resettled by a new, small tribe after we left—I met their leader during my time away—and I’m curious if they survived. If they have, perhaps we can learn something about the uqandu, and if not… well, it was a good camp location, the uqandu issue aside. We’re a lot stronger now than we were in those days. It’s also a lot closer to the tar pits, for advanced boat-making.”
“You want to relocate the tribe?”
“No, not relocate,” I said. “But… maybe establish an outpost? Create a… vassal tribe, or something like that. Our number has grown, and if we can’t manage expansion, we risk fracture.”
I looked over my council to gauge their thoughts on the matter.
The tribe had come a long way since I first took control. The early days were a challenge, as I felt the need to do everything myself and manage countless moving parts. At first, I simply managed as best as I could, but I soon realized that if I wanted to succeed, I needed to establish trusted allies and delegate.
It still took years to reach this point, where I had a functioning council of people I could rely on. Each Uli was responsible for overseeing a different part of our tribe’s development, particularly with regards to the changes from tradition.
The heavily marked Uli was named Ra-unaq Ilim. He had been one of the previous Roba’s strongest warriors, practically a second-in-command to the former chief. While I had issues with most of those Uli, Ra-unaq very quickly saw the writing on the wall. He was unequipped to Blood Bond, unable to fully trust any of his peers in power, but he saw the benefits.
Rather than oppose me, he wanted to find a way to ensure that he, and those like him, wouldn’t be left behind in the new order. He was our traditionalist voice, responsible for the growth of the tribesmen and boys who couldn’t Bond.
Despite the existence of the Bond, there were still boys coming out of creches who looked up to their “old guard” fathers and elder brothers and wanted to perform the First Blood ritual. Ra-unaq oversaw all challenges, which were far fewer in number, and limited to those willingly Bloodied.
Those under his purview were our primary defenders from the outside world, particularly other tribes of Uli. I had some concerns about the long-term viability of it, but so far, we were managing to find a balance.
Duno and Orma, the first two Uli I had helped to Bond, were both on the council, as well as Aqir and Ubo, who had Bonded later. Duno and Orma were responsible for the Uli who had turned away from the traditional path and successfully Bonded. They worked alongside Ra-unaq when it came to defenses and hunting, but also led the way when it came to many of the changes, like internal peacekeeping and stone construction. Aqir and Ubo were responsible for training and overseeing the fishermen of the tribe, as well as continued boat building.
Bimi had been on my council for a while, to represent the grandmothers, but it had been a bit too much for her. Her replacement, Mio, was a younger grandmother, who had learned what was needed for fishing boats while also managing the traditional tasks for the elderly Uli females.
Nadi and her Bonded partner, Luba, held the last two seats on my council. The two females were responsible for overseeing our budding religion and the youths who chose to Bond, boy and girl alike.
Things were a lot better in the tribe, but it was still a work in progress.
Part of me wanted to do more; tear down the things I didn’t like and replace them wholesale, establish modernized education, and push hard for development. But big moves could become big failures, and end up doing more harm than good. The goal was progress, not perfection, and establishing the means for more progress to follow.
We still hadn’t found coal, which was part of why I wanted to expand our range. I honestly didn’t know if we would be more likely to find coal near the tar pits, but if nothing else, that was a resource that might allow us to advance in other ways.
“The journey down coast is difficult,” Duno said. “You traveled by boat though, right?”
“Yes, and I would recommend that again. As long as the weather behaves, it’s more or less a straight shot over water, which makes the journey significantly shorter.” During migration we had needed to veer inland to avoid other Uli tribes, stop to hunt, and were slowed down by challenging terrain. “If we could establish territory down coast, and lay claim to the tar pits, we may be able to produce larger, stronger sailboats which would expedite future travel between locations.”
The council and I discussed it a bit more, debating the value and limitations, who would go, and so on. In the end, I was still the Roba, so it was a foregone conclusion. It was just a matter of making sure everything else was managed while I was gone.
Truthfully, my reasons were a bit selfish. After establishing the council, I was slightly bored. There was still so much to do, but I had to slow down and temper my expectations so I didn’t destroy the balance we had created. Without coal, I couldn’t continue working on my [Smithing], and with the next generation leaning towards Bonding, I was feeling the boost of my blessing fade.
It was time for me to get back out there and spread the good word.
I hoped the young tribe whose Roba I met had survived at the old camp, but it had been long enough that something had probably changed since. The land was too good to ignore, though, so even if they had died or left, there was likely another tribe there now. Or maybe it was overrun by uqandu, but I would happily deal with that, if so, to reclaim it myself.
The simple fact was, our “new” Uli way of life needed a backup. Having all my eggs in one basket was not a good way to ensure the changes I made lasted. I hoped to convince other tribes peacefully, but even if it meant a bit of force, it ensured more lives saved in the long-term, and created more opportunities for the Uli as a whole.
*
We coasted past the deserted camp site.
“No sign of any Uli… or uqandu,” I muttered.
“Should we come ashore?” Duno asked.
“Hmm. I suppose. Keep your eyes open, though, and be ready for anything.”
Our survey team hopped out of the boats and carried them to shore, much closer than we would have had other Uli been around. I left my boat and stepped through the ruins of the camp, looking over the remnants of the tribe that had lived here. This had gone untouched for a long time, but as I lifted the hide of a collapsed creche, I found it slashed wide open.
“They were attacked in their camp,” Orma muttered, coming to the same conclusions I had.
“Yeah,” I said, frowning as I looked around.
I had no idea if this was the same tribe I met or one that came after, but I wasn’t surprised the camp was barren now. No Uli that saw this would choose to settle here. When a tribe migrated away from a camp site, they left remnants, but this was total destruction. These people hadn’t left, they had been killed and eaten.
“Fucking uqandu,” someone muttered behind us.
Turning back to the survey team, I considered what we should do from here. The uqandu had driven us out of this camp, and gone on to obliterate the Uli that replaced us, too stupid to realize that no more Uli would replace them. How many more had they killed, beyond this camp?
Further down coast were the tar pits, and I didn’t know what was beyond that, but to reach it, the uqandu would have to head back inland and go around. I had assumed that something had driven them out of their inland nests, which is what drove them to hunt the coastal Uli. If the uqandu migrated up coast, in search of other Uli camps, how long would it be until they reached our own home?
“Change of plans,” I said, looking over the people who had come with me. “We need to figure out where the uqandu have gone, and hunt them down.”
Duno and Orma frowned. “You sure, Roba? What about the kids?”
I had brought my strongest Bonded tribesmen with me, to display the benefits of Bonding to foreign Uli, alongside some of our traditional hunters in case things came to blows. But we also had a couple pairs of Bonded boys who had never been Bloodied, to show that it was possible to train their stats with just the Bond. They would be useless against uqandu, but they were good fishermen, and good with the boats.
“We’ll send them back to inform the others of what’s going on,” I said, before pausing to think about it. “Actually, we’ll head back up coast with them, to the next Uli tribe. We need information about uqandu migration, too. Once we’ve found how far north they’ve spread, we’ll split up and send them home the rest of the way.”
*
The tribe’s hunters faced us in a line, their Roba scowling as he stood before them.
“Leave our territory or be destroyed,” he said. “We will not spare your lives if this comes to blows.”
Looking over the lineup, I could see why he would say that. Many of their hunters were young and weak, and the few older, strong ones were injured. Their numbers were much less than I would expect from a healthy tribe, but our numbers were limited too, since we were only a small survey group.
The opposing Roba was probably weighing the costs and benefits of a battle. He might lose some of his tribesmen, but the way he was looking at us, he was probably coming to think that by killing all of us, it would be worth the loss for the gain in overall strength.
I shook my head. “We aren’t here to fight. Besides, you cannot win.”
The Roba scoffed. “You don’t have the numbers for victory.”
“We don’t need the numbers,” I said with a smirk, giving my Bonded Uli the signal.
Duno and Orma stepped forward and clasped hands, ramping up their [Blood Augmentation]. The other Bonded Uli followed suit. As they began to shine with the immense energy of their shared Bond and the result of all their training since, the opposing Roba’s jaw dropped, and his tribesmen took a step back.
“We have power,” I said simply. “And we can share it.”
The Roba tore his eyes off my people and looked at me with doubt plain in his eyes. “Share it?”
I raised and opened my hands. “The Blood Bond is for all Uli. So commands the All-Bonded,” I said, feeling my blessing start to surge back to full strength as I fulfilled my mission. “It is a new era, one that will save our people.”
Eyes widened among the tribesmen opposite us, and there were some murmurs. The Roba scowled, but looked contemplative.
“Are you in need of saving? From the uqandu, perhaps?”
Surprised eyes darted up at me, before his shoulders fell in defeat. “Yes,” he admitted quietly. “Our hunts are failing, our people picked off by the uqandu. We can’t even risk migration, now, with how depleted we are.”
I nodded, and turned back to my people. “Get whatever fish we have, and bring it here. If it’s not enough, go fish some more,” I said, turning back to the other tribe’s Roba. “Let’s feed our new friends… if they’ll accept our aid?”
The Roba locked eyes with me, and I could see the gears turning in his head. The silence was thick and the tension was palpable, as he deliberated the fate of his tribe. Finally, he nodded.
“We welcome our friends to our camp,” he said, stepping back and turning to the side.