Cadin spent the night huddled with the soldiers, staying silent for the most part. He rested next to the fire's warmth until the first gleam of the morning.
Orange tinted light shone through the tree line, hitting the camp with the embrace of the waking sun
Cadin and the rest woke up shortly after, stretching their arms after a night interrupted by an attack.
Soldiers and civilians alike prepared to go on the move, starting to pack up their things to begin leaving.
"Take everything men, we need to use all of these to the fullest, we can't spare more resources to replace." The leader ordered. The entire camp was slowly stripped and deconstructed, leaving an empty plot of grass in its place.
With everything taken, and resting on the backs of soldiers, they went back on the march, behind the leader. A group of soldiers stood behind Cadin, still pointing their blades at his back.
Birds chirped on the treetops, the sun continued its rise to the top giving off more light for them to see on the ground, warmth embraced them on the march as quietly headed forward.
An hour or so passed, and the smell of fires burning with the scent of cooked meat in the air hit Cadin's nose.
As they went off the path, they arrived at a large camp, a small wall of wood surrounded the entire place, soldiers similar in appearance to the men with the leader standing posted in front of their gate, one made of logs of lumber. At the sight of their leader, the soldiers pulled the gate open for them to enter. They stared at Cadin as he entered inside, their eyes squinted at him suspicious at the newcomer with their leader.
Children ran around playing with toys made of wicker while people of different occupations were at work, most were eating on the ground, filling their stomachs for the morning work, a small group of people wearing aprons were hard at work in a hut with smoke belching out a hole in the ceiling.
"Welcome to one of our camps, Cadin, here we try to survive while living our lives in this forest." They walked by more people who looked at Cadin with suspicions. The leader pointed at a hut with smoke belching out a hole in the ceiling, "These are the blacksmiths, here we forge with what resources we have." They were already hard at work, different people in different processes of making swords, the clanging of metal can be heard from the hut as black smoke continued rising out.
"Over there are the farms," A section of the camp was used for plots of soil, already growing plants with a fence surrounding it, "And over there," He pointed at a large tent with people already inside it, "Is where the leaders stay to manage. We are small in number, but we will fight to survive."
continuing on their walk, Cadin overheard the soldiers behind him talking.
"We should attack that scouted village for more resources, the people are starving and the men here are wearing weak used armor."
"And risk more deaths? It's best we scavenge from the dead or find smaller camps that are easier to raid." As they finished talking, another opportunity sprouted in Cadin's mind.
They stepped inside the open gate guarded by a few guards with spears, inside were shelves of rolled up paper maps among other things, stands for armor and swords rested on the walls of the tent with 2 large tables in the middle, carrying an unrolled map held by candleholders.
"Maxus, Vekin, you two guard him outside, we need to discuss inside here."
The two soldiers began escorting him out, letting him stay just next to the entranceway.
The guards exchanged looks at Cadin, whispering to one another on the newcomer that looks nothing like them.
The leader and other soldiers discussed, their voices managing to be heard from the entrance.
"My lord, attacking this camp will result in us taking more deaths, we can't sustain any more losses, we're losing enough already."
"I understand your grievances, subordinate, but we must attack this camp. I have already begun the plans we can use on this attack to limit as many deaths as possible on our side." The leader replied to the subordinate.
"Even then, we will still suffer losses my lord, our situation at this moment is critical, any more losses and we will have to start forcing civilians to fight, thus weakening our camp and our nation as a whole." He retorted, the leader let out a deep sigh upon hearing the response.
"Hmm, what about this proposition?" A silence followed, the soldiers stared at the leader, waiting for what new plan he would say.
"What if we use the new foreigner." The soldiers moved back from the table in shock at his proposal.
"My lord, I do not wish to insult you but are you mad?"
"We can use him to attack them. I may not trust him enough, but he has proven himself twice at this point. A coward or spy won't perform this much if they weren't genuine to help." The leader's words silenced the soldiers, forcing them to reconsider.
"Very well, but a compromise must be made if things go awry." A soldier spoke up, his voice was more faint, making it difficult to listen.
Soon, their talk ended with soldiers stepping outside, heading off to eat with the village folk. The leader exited with them, stopping just beside Cadin to talk.
"Cadin, you have proven twice this time. And I have some more trust in you, thus, if you wish to join as one of us. We'll need you to provide support for this mission. It's one of the largest we will ever perform in our lifetime." He unfurled the map of the forest to Cadin, encircled spots were scattered around the forest, all with names under them, all written in black ink.