By this time the leader's subordinates arrived, surrounding the table, a few stood behind Cadin, the leader waved his hand at them to not bring Cadin out, leaving him inside the tent to read the map.
"We will march with an escort towards the camp, by then I will attempt to appeal with them and gain some relations, an alliance or pact with them to avoid conflict in the future, a diplomat was already sent and we managed to convene a meeting with them. The meeting starts just around this time of the sun. We should begin heading out." The leader unfurled the map, all soldiers inside left the tent, preparing to leave.
After placing the map onto the shelf, the two exited the tent, without another word spoken.
The escort was a small group of soldiers, still wearing the worn armor and weapons. Heading to the very front, they began to leave, the gate closing behind them.
The sun was directly above all, its rays piercing into many spots of the dense forest, the ground beneath them was hotter than earlier, with the sun's heat hitting the soldiers on the walk as they tried using whatever they could to block the sun.
The walk soon shifted from marching on the open pathway to moving past trees or foliage, brushing them aside with the lingering thoughts of an enemy hiding in whatever shade is left.
Minutes pass, and the tribe's camp lay open in front of them, sitting on a small clearing was a decently sized camp, medium sized walls of stone protected the entire area with a gate made of sturdy planks stood at the front, soldiers clad in metal armor and longswords walked around, patrolling.
"It's best to be as unthreatening as possible, let's go." The group exited out of the forest, guards quickly took notice, running towards them with swords drawn.
"Calm yourselves, I come from the Klismin tribe, we sent an emissary just a few moons ago." The soldiers slowly lowered their weapons, they walked alongside Cadin and the leader, escorting them to the inside. They entered inside the gates as they opened, small homes made of wood and stone stood on the sides of the entire camp, in the middle was an entrance to a cave down below, soldiers were already hard at work, many hauling off their bounties or entering back inside to help. The people were all burly, their hands were worn and rough, having embraced the harshness of the cave's inside. Groups of them descended down on a wooden platform, carrying pickaxes.
Past everything, a tall building hovering above all stood, mostly built in chiseled stone, guards walked around the large wooden entrance to its inside.
They walked closer to the door, the soldiers stopped walking, noticing them.
"State your purpose." One of the soldiers spoke in a deep, clear tone.
"We are here on diplomatic matters with your leader."
"Leave your weapons by the door," The soldier turned to one of his comrades, "Borla, alert the leader of diplomatic presence." The soldier immediately started walking inside the building. The group took out their weapons, placing it on a rack sitting next to the doorway.
The soldier stepped out the door, looking at the leader and Cadin, "He wishes to see you now."
The entire group walked inside, A long hallway of gray walls and smooth stone flooring awaited them, ingots of iron along with swords of different forms hung on both sides.
Stepping up a few flights of stairs, they finally reached a large brown reinforced door. The soldier slowly pushed it open, inside, more swords and shields to even armor adorned the walls of the entire room. A long wooden table stood in the middle with chairs to sit on.
"Ah, the leader of the Klismin. Take a seat." They all sat down on the empty chairs, looking at the leader.
"So you desire to seek a pact of sorts with us, am I correct?" The leader took a seat.
"Indeed, we see to it that we both have similar interests, in that we seek safety and to lessen the enemies that surround us."
"In that you are right, and for a pact we must also strengthen one another if we are to align." The leader of Klismin nodded his head in agreement.
"We suffer from an excess of metal and resources. Due to this we are having to put ingots below the dirt just to keep them. Trade with other tribes is risky, however, your tribe isn't as hostile as the others. Thus, we can see possible agreements in this pact. These ingots may be of far more use to you than us."
"We lack the resources to create better weapons and armor, securing this deal will greatly benefit both of us."
"In return for this though, we want trade of our own." The Klismin leader looked at the other tribal leader with attentiveness.
"Food, we lack food and mostly rely on small-scale hunts and foraging to survive." The Klismin leader looked away, trying to think up what to say next.
"We have gained a bounty of food from one of our exploits, perhaps we can use this to strengthen our ties. Although it will only last for a few weeks at most."
The leaders stayed silent for a few seconds.
"Very well, a temporary trade agreement is better than none, but after this if you cannot uphold the shipment of food, we will have to cease our own trade." Concern grew on the Klismin leader's face at the last set of words.
"Can we offer a compromise?' He quickly asked. The other leader stared at the table, thinking. After a few seconds, he took out a map, a smaller map.
"We have observed other nearby smaller tribes attacking, besieging and even raiding a small camp we formed. We may protect ourselves from them, but we lack enough manpower to protect the important camps and our own home."
The Klismin leader looked at Cadin, "Perhaps we can aid in that. We can bring support to you and push back or destroy the nearby camps leeching off of you."
"How many can you bring to aid us?"
"One." The tribe's leader laughed loudly.
"You think this is a joke?"
"On the contrary, we have Cadin, a soldier of our tribe that has proven his worth on fighting against greater odds." The leader pointed at him, still sitting on the chair, Cadin looked back and forth at the two leaders, listening to each word they had said.