Cadin arrived back to the camp, followed by the same soldiers he went with earlier now carrying crates of iron. At the gate, his leader was already waiting for him, unarmed and unarmored.
"Splendid work, it is good that they upheld their end of the bargain. Let's head inside." The wooden gates shut behind the group.
The soldiers immediately went to the small hut of forgers, dropping off their fill. The workers inside stopped their work, joy filled their faces as they looked down at the crates of iron. They quickly took it in, thanking the soldiers.
"First time they smiled in many moons." The leader commented.
With their job done, the soldiers silently walked out of the gate, heading back to their home.
They entered inside the tent, a chair was pulled out from the table, rolled maps were scattered around the dark brown wooden platform, all lit up by a single candle.
"Cadin, for your efforts, and aid in offering support to the other tribe. You are now an advisor, an advisor of battle for your skill in combat. If you can fight on your own and survive, you can surely fight with a few others and all live."
A great feeling of joy filled Cadin's mind, happy at the rise of his rank with his efforts. "Thank you my lord." He thanked him happily.
"Now, the day is dying down, there are no more plans until the next moon. Perhaps we can simply converse on trivial matters. What did you find on your expedition?"
Cadin recalled the large river he spotted with the tribe camps, "A large river, one filled with fish." The leader raised an eyebrow.
"The Kantis river? Indeed it is large, we had a few foragers arrive there who used their arrows and spears to hunt the fish. The fish they brought back was nearly unimaginable."
"If we can create a camp near it, perhaps we can provide a bounty of food and start trade with the other tribes." The leader nodded at Cadin's proposal, now not dismissing it.
"We could, but it is nearly impossible with our crisis, perhaps after securing more pacts and alliances," The leader took out a map, showing the nearby tribes that surround them, "If we can ally with the nearby friendly tribes such as these, perhaps we can let them join us, and use them to create the camp." Cadin nodded his head, a small grin grew on his face.
"Indeed, this can work, we just need to send out a few emissaries to these tribes to request for an alliance or pact." The leader continued, thinking up a plan of action.
"Very well, I shall send emissaries before dawn strikes, for now it is best to rest in the soldier's quarters there." The leader pointed outside to a rather large tent, colored in white with a symbol of a sword painted in black on the top.
"I shall deal with the meeting, with your position, you may only lead operations of soldiers, especially if these tribal emissaries have decided that war is the new course of action." The leader explained, a hint of silent suspicion rose with him on Cadin.
"Let us observe the blacksmiths first. What those soldiers brought in could provide about a hundred or so armor and weapons at best." The leader and Cadin walked out of the tent, walking towards the blacksmith hut, already hard at work with smoke belching out once more and fire rising inside the closed furnace.
"Gunter, how many pieces of armor and swords can you yield with this amount?" The blacksmith at the front, hammering a sword, looked up.
"Oh, my lord, with this much we can possibly yield just enough for the army inside this camp and perhaps more for the other camp." The blacksmith happily explained, others behind him were already taking out ingots of iron, ready to work with the sudden new delivery of metal.
"Excellent, Cadin, as the advisor of our camp's army it is your responsibility to draw out plans for the army to use, furthermore you are to lead from the front with your assigned men."
The leader turned back to the blacksmith, "Continue on with your work, we will need enough armor and swords to supply the entire camp's army, understood?"
"Yes my lord!"
"Let us head to the cooks for early supper." Leaving the blacksmiths to their work, the two walked for the cooking tents.
Large tables stood in front of the open tent, pots among other tools present inside with a few already working on cooking, a few sat down on the chairs, eating or simply resting.
The cook came back with two small wooden bowls, the bowls had a hot stew inside them, composed of meat and vegetables.
"Thank you."
"You are welcome my lord! The food you have brought us shall provide many more moons of delicious supper!"
They sat down on an empty bench, placing their bowls on the sturdy table.
"The meeting is expected to take place tomorrow in the tent, since you are part of the advisory body you may join in, but i will do most of the talking, understood?"
"Yes my lord." The two started eating their stews, silently embracing the warmth and deliciousness of what they ate.
Their supper quickly came to an end, with nothing more to say, they left the table, walking to the military tent already populated with soldiers hanging their armor and weapons for the night.
"This is where the soldiers rest, but the leaders and advisors are given their own room inside this tent.
Inside the tent, the leader brushed up a hanging piece of cloth on the wall of the tent. Inside, a small row of mats accompanied with thick wool blankets to sleep under, the earthy ground was covered by a brown carpet.
"Rest, for tomorrow we must be ready to uphold any request they may have if a compromise is to occur." The leader walked out of the room, passing through the same line of cloth.
"An advisor, what a good promotion." Cadin laid down on one of the carpets, the day slowly coming to an end with lit candles providing heat and light inside the small room, chatter of soldiers can be heard outside the room as they started resting.