Wet feet trampled the frozen grass beneath the melting patches of snow, but even though the cold wind blew into Lev's face, he couldn't keep his thoughts away from what happened earlier.
How did I lose control?
Seeing that his troubled mind wouldn't get any clearer, Lev shook his head and took a deep breath.
We should have lost those creatures for the moment. Looking at his surroundings. Lev thought.
On that line of thought, Lev halted and turned towards his men.
"Let's rest for an hour," he uttered, seeing their exhausted state.
His men sighed in relief and went to relay the order and set the encampment.
Lev inspected the bandwagons, noting down their leftover contents.
Seeing that they'd be left to fend themselves from nature's elements for the next few days, Lev gulped.
Our wood supply is diminishing rapidly, but we should make it just in time.
Lev fetched some wood from one of the wagons and piled them up near their new temporary encampment. "Get a fire started. Make sure the captives get enough food and warmth as well."
The men grumbled after hearing Lev's orders, they didn't want to stay here and besides that, they had to take care of the bird people as well.
"Is there a problem?" Lev asked with a scowl on his face.
Most of the soldiers lowered their heads and averted their eyes but eventually one of them answered albeit anxiously. "Uh, sorry sir, but is it the right thing to bring them to our home?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, didn't they originally attack you? Not to mention those horrifying gifts they left us." He remarked, disgust shown on his face.
"Oh." Lev muttered as he realized what his men were talking about.
The soldier nodded. "That's what I mean, sir. They, or those of their kind that inhabited the city, made sure to decorate it with the remains of their enemies. I don't know what made me shudder more, the preserved head totems or the skull throne. What makes us sure that these barbarians won't disembowel us in our sleep?"
"The fact that they're not the same as those abominations. Their physique is different, their mental state is different, and their reactions compared to those beasts we fought are different."
"But they wear masks. And from what we heard, isn't their language the same?"
Lev laughed. "Masks? You're judging this based on masks? Look closely."
Lev pulled out a mask that he kept on his self and showed it to the soldiers.
"Tell me, does this look similar to their masks?"
"Well, no. It looks more crude and primitive."
"Exactly. I know that this isn't enough to show that they're different from the ones in the frontier but so far nothing says otherwise."
"But still, is it safe to bring them with us?"
"It's better than the alternative. We need their knowledge and we're severely lacking in manpower."
"But everything so far has been going well, sir. The city is being rebuilt and we secured our surroundings."
"For now, but what about later? What if a horde of these deer men or some other enemy bangs at our doors? Would you prefer our people die or would you rather have someone to support our forces?"
The man and the other soldiers went silent.
"And you want to know what makes me sure they won't betray us? Our brethren, our power, and the fact that they need us to survive. Now will you continue bumbling about while fearing shadows or will you go do your damned jobs?" Lev growled.
"Sir, yes, sir!" the men saluted. Eventually, they reluctantly agreed to Lev's demands and started dividing wood and food equally amongst themselves and the captives.
"Useless leeches", a frostbitten soldier carrying wood strapped to his back towards the captives managed to utter before collapsing on the ground.
Lev walked towards the soldier and helped him get back on his feet. "Prepare a tent for this man, we can't lose more men to this expedition."
"Oh we'll lose some for sure," the injured man said under his staggered breath, "and it won't be those vile beasts this time." the man glanced at the captive bird creatures behind the rear. "It'll be those leeches."
Lev's men were losing their morale at a rapid pace and he knew he couldn't keep on going for much longer himself.
Besides the various external issues troubling the expedition force, Lev had plenty of internal questions to combat himself. Something felt different. Lev knew Gherm and his glaive could influence his actions, but he had never expected them to influence him unwarranted. Especially not in an overly aggressive manner.
Gherm would never...
Trying to ease his troubled mind, Lev looked up towards the sky. Snowflakes were slowly trickling down, and the crackling sparks of the fire in front of him eased his mind.
Before he could close his eyes, giving himself a well-deserved rest, he felt another consciousness interrupting him.
Master, I sense distress. Is this about what happened?
Hearing his glaive, Lev jolted back into reality. The ambient noises had disappeared into the background and all he could hear now was the familiar self-acting voice of his glaive. Lev stood up, took one last glance at the bird people and walked out of sight, avoiding any unnecessary attention.
He breathed in deeply, and focused on the glaive's consciousness.
Back then, I'm not sure if I was fully in control. Did you sense something?
A few moments of silence passed, and just as Lev was about to repeat himself, he felt another consciousness joining their conversation.
Gherm.
A familiar voice started getting clearer and clearer.
Leave now, I want to discuss something with Gherm.
If it benefits you, I shall gladly obey.
As soon as Lev had lost his connection with the glaive, Gherm started spewing a ton of questions at Lev with full force.
Why did you do that Lev? What happened to you? Wh-
Stop.