War chief POV
"Erik, good job forcing that old man to send Irons-bane down here. If you hadn't made him, we would have lost far more for the same effect. SKAL." Says the rando 7th rank commander taking in a drink and feasting with the rest.
"Don't mention it again, ever. You want to have that beast in human skin tear your limbs apart." I say
"Look, we are blessed the gods so saw fit to bless the clans with a man such as he. We are also blessed that this happened in the frost wastes and not further south, or he would still be full of energy and smashing your skull in."
"While Irons-bane rests for the next 2 to three days, to recover, we need to clean the battlefield and prepare for a real fight. While both us and the giants treat this as a tempering session for talents, don't forget a loss like this may cause the giant's anger making them more serious this time. So prepare for a hard winter." Chugging down my last horn of mead, I head back to the war room.
Walking in, I look over the map of the known frost wastes. There are four known giant settlements within a hundred kilometers of our fort. Assuming travel time and grabbing the needed supplies, that should put them at a week out for the full forces. However, if they choose to bombard us from far enough away and keep the hit-and-run tactics up, we might suffer some heavy losses.
"Hildr. Come to the war room." Sending a request through the rune stones for the head of the scouts, I hope she will be able to get word to the local towns to prepare for loose raiding parties slipping around the encampments. She soon arrives and takes a seat at the table.
"Hildr, can your scouts' break out stealthily and send words to the clans that the war may soon escalate. Jotunheim may descend." I say. This statement is a code. when it is relayed to the head of a clan, it means all-out war with the giants.
"They can. How many scouts, which clans, and how soon to return." She responded with a serious look on her face.
"All of them, of course. We only need one to get through with the message. Then spread it to all the clans. Before this is over, the ancestors of the clans may be called out. And if it reaches that point, the damage to our clans would be immeasurable. Leave one to return immediately, so we know how bad the blockade is. Also, tell them to only return with reinforcements. Otherwise, there is no point."
"Do you think this was caused by the massacre, or do you think it was planned from the beginning."
"I am still unsure if we have reached the point of no return, but if we have, it was from the beginning. Now go while there is still a window to act."
Hildr stands, hits her chest with her fist to salute, and walks out of the room. Sitting back down, trying to imagine the movements that will take place over the next several weeks, I feel exhausted. Fighting on this battlefield for the last 300 years, the battles are monotonous. Only every 25 to 50 years do we get some ambitious giant who thinks he can take over the battlefield and cause a ruckus.
*****
On this dark night, as the feasting hall is full of merriment, shadows fly from the walls of the fort. Indiscernible from their surroundings, they move with a swiftness. Southward they go before more than a hundred shadows disperse in all directions. Each tries to get to civilization as swiftly as possible.
With the area surrounding the fort quiet and empty, lacking in all manor of things, a bloodbath is happening not far off in the depths of the wood. With so many scouts sent out to have just as many fail very quickly, for the giants had circled back towards the south, setting ambushes to capture any messages sent back.
The giants' war chief was dead set on causing as much destruction to the earth clan as he could get away with. Even though he had suffered irreparable losses in this latest battle, he intended to get his pound of flesh tonight. There exists an invisible line drawn up many millennia ago by their ancestors. Going across this line with any significant force would draw the truly horrific experts out of their holes. Toeing that line as he is was already playing with fire.
Even with all his plans, two still managed to get away. Deciding to go all out, he sent 3 groups of two to chase after them. If only the six enter and don't reach a fort, things shouldn't get too out of control.
As the last two remaining scouts flee as though their lives depend on it, they are pursued relentlessly by the 3 groups of giants. With only a thousand kilometers to go before reaching a settled territory, they put their all into this game of cat and mouse. Shooting out all manner of distractions to throw them off the trail, followed by finding obscure hovels to hide in, waiting for an opportunity to continue on. But no matter what method or skill they applied, it only gave them moments of reprieve.
By the time the sun had risen and begun to fall only one scout remained alive. Stepping foot and crossing over into wolf clan territory, our scout manages to find a drop point obscured beneath a tree. Placing the rune-stone and message within the drop point and removing all signs he passed through out scout continued rushing to wolf clan.
After going another 4 kilometers he pulls out the emergency signal flare launching it into the sky. This will notify the local clan of an important occurrence needing warriors as quickly as possible. But it just so happened that the moment this signal flare went off one of the giants was very close.
The giant knocking and flinging a tree right where the man launched the flare caused him to hastily dodge resulting in an injury that will surely slow the speedy scout down. Now right on his heels he manages to catch up and grab the man just as warriors rush into the fray.
The giant outnumbered and with no idea what to do he clenches his fists as tightly as possible. With the scout now squeezed to death, there will be no message delivered and all is good the giant thought to himself. Turning to run his vision starts to fall out of alignment, as the left side goes up and the right falls down.
With the threat dealt with the clan head tells his men to split up search the drop points within 10 kilometers heading towards the warzone. The signal launched was to ensure they knew something important was left. Knowing it wouldn't be found immediately the clan head returns back to rest thinking its going to be another long winter.