Chp.28: Return to the camp

Ostar had a big headache. He'd spent a sleepless night and the stress didn't make it any easier for him to stay calm. The previous day someone had unexpectedly attacked Hoortar's tent, burning it and killing the chieftain of one of the strongest tribes in Karbraland Great Forest.

Initially, when he had seen the fire, Ostar hadn't even thought about the death of his rival: fearing an attack by the fairies, he had mobilized the whole army and prepared for the worst, which fortunately had never arrived. Finally, he'd accepted the idea that this hadn't been an attack, but a murder.

Though Hoortar's death was exactly what he wanted, he was now in a precarious position. It was clear that the whole army was suspicious of him: after all, who else would have had an interest in killing Hoortar? Even if they didn't voice their doubts aloud, he knew that the soldiers argued that he might be the killer, and that the members of the Frakuard tribe (the trobe commanded by Hoortar) were basically sure of it. Even his own soldiers talked behind his back.

His prestige and honor were terribly ruined, and if he tried to demand command of the entire army or even proclaim himself king of the ogres, surely he would have only confirmed their suspicions and trigger an uprising. Even if he was now the strongest, no one would have wanted an unworthy assassin as their king.

He clutched his temples in an attempt to ease the headache. Damn, whoever had killed Hoortar had to do it now? Right now that the two of them were at loggerheads, and he was going to be the prime suspect?

But it wasn't just anger that kept him awake: he was also afraid. Whoever had killed Hoorgar must have had considerable strength and surely had been waiting for that very precarious moment, now that Volgor was gone to die, to eliminate him. It was clearly a pattern. Ostar couldn't know for sure, but he suspected it was the work of the fairies, who were seizing the opportunity to weaken the enemy by eliminating its commanders. Due to Volgor having left with a third of the army, their sentries now could not cover all the area; it wouldn't have been difficult for the fairies to infiltrate. Also they could have sent some of their ninjas...

If that was true, then he clearly would have been the next. He was now the last remaining level diamond ogre. Once he was eliminated, the army would have completely lost its three central figures, creating a power vacuum within which other chieftains would have fought for the highest positions. The entire military camp would have fallen into chaos in a matter of days.

Either way, his life was clearly in danger. Ostar had strengthened the guards around his tent, but if the enemy had been strong enough to kill Hoortar, then what hope had they? He was so worried that he couldn't sleep through the night, only giving himself a bad headache.

While he was busy rubbing his head and wetting his forehead with a wet cloth to ease the pain, he began to hear a lot of noise outside. He was about to go out to check, but before he could get up one of his guards entered the tent: "Chieftain, great news!" he exclaimed.

"Have you found the killer?" Ostar asked while his eyes opened wide, hoping for an affirmative answer.

The smile on the guard's face faded. "No, chieftain… not yet" he said, dashing Ostar's hopes.

The chieftain snorted. "Okay. So what's happened so important?"

The guard regained his smile, "Chieftain, they are returning! Chieftain Volgor's army is returning!"

"WHAT!?" Ostar couldn't believe it. "You mean there are survivors?"

The guard shook his head. "Chieftain, they've all survived! The army is as large as when it left!"

Ostar didn't say another word: he stood up and ran towards the tent exit, nearly pushing the guard away in the process. Once outside, he was able to see a dark spot in the trees that was moving rapidly towards them. A clump composed of armor, swords, shields and axes, and which at first glance seemed no smaller than when it had disappeared into the forest the previous morning.

Ostar gaped in surprise. Had Volgor survived? Not only that, but had his entire army gotten away with it? Impossible! They had clearly gone into a suicidal battle!

A horrible doubt seized him. What if... Volgor never actually went to face the fairies? What if it was all a trick? What if in reality Volgor had feigned his insanity, and actually his had been a well-conceived plan to kill Hoortar while he was 'away', thereby casting all suspicion on Ostar, the only one left able to do it and with a reason to do so?

Ostar didn't believe Volgor would have been capable of such a plan, but it was possible that someone had suggested it to him. It all added up: Volgor was the only other level diamond ogre, so he was also the only one who could have killed Hoortar… he'd taken his army away, hid them, sneaked back to kill Hoortar, then he was returned from his army and was now returning to military camp. Once he arrived he would have told of how he came to his senses along the way and decided to face the fairies together with all the tribes, and he would have feigned absolute surprise when they revealed that Hoortar was dead. After that, he would have started a fake investigation and create false clues, and finally he would have accused him of being the murderer. He already had a motive and all suspicions were aimed exactly at whoever he wanted: it wouldn't have been difficult for him to convince everyone of Ostar's guilt.

Ostar's heart was pounding as he thought of that possibility. "Volgor... you bastard... so that's what you wanted to do!" he screamed in his mind, now completely convinced that what he had imagined was true.

Very soon, however, rationality got the better of his paranoia. To begin with, how was Volgor going to get back unseen? His face was well known. Even if he had disguised himself, someone would have noticed him. Besides, how was he going to get all of his soldiers to lie? It was impossible. If his soldiers learned that he was actually orchestrating an assassination, they would have rebelled to him.

There was something wrong. Ostar decided the best thing was to stop thinking about it and go see for yourself. Very quickly they reached the edge of the military camp, where the soldiers were massing to greet their returning companions. Now that he looked better, Ostar could see that Volgor's army had slightly decreased in size, a sign that it must have suffered losses; just a few, but still he had suffered them.

Another thing he noticed right away was that the army was not led by Volgor. In the front row, where the chieftain of the Bolvek tribe should have been, was a tall ogre. Ostar widened his eyes: it was the same ogre that a few days before had asked to be sent to the city of the Bolvek tribe, and that it was said had strenuously defended the civilian population from enemy attack!

"Sarpa?" he couldn't help murmuring. He'd only seen that ogre once, but since he'd gained some fame throughout the army, his name stuck in his mind.

Sarpa and his army advanced until they reached the edge of the military camp, where he signaled to stop marching. All the ogres behind him stopped immediately, as if they weren't just following orders, but were a true physical extension of him. "Greetings, chieftain Ostar!" he greeted him respectfully. "We are back, and this time to stay. We will never leave this field again! We ogres will fight together from now on!"

The other ogres behind him cheered and pounded their weapons on their shields. Ostar was surprised by so much enthusiasm: it was as if they considered Sarpa some kind of hero. "Where is chieftain Volgor?"

Sarpa shook his head. "Chieftain Volgor died on the battlefield. He fought valiantly and dragged many enemies with him to his grave, but in the end he was no longer able to stand up to so many enemies. All the other chieftains died as well, including my old chieftain Dharon"

Sarpa's voice grew sad at those last words. Ostar assumed that he and his chieftain must have some sort of bond, albeit a tenuous one. "So you currently command this army?"

"I am the new chieftain of the Shack tribe, and I am the commander of this army by the will of its own soldiers" Sarpa replied.

Ostar's eyes flamed. "Impossible! You can't command such a large army!"

"If Volgor could, why can't I?" Sarpa asked rhetorically, and the soldiers behind him nodded vigorously, while on the contrary they glared at Ostar.

It was clear that everyone agreed with Sarpa. But even if a little intimidated, Ostar didn't give up. "You cannot arbitrarily decide to take command of these soldiers. The council of tribes will decide how to distribute them..."

"The council of tribes can decide how to distribute the soldiers of a tribe that has just lost its chieftain only if they are unable to elect a replacement by themselves" Sarpa replied, then he raised his axe. "Let's check immediately! Who wants to be guided by me?"

"WE!" all the soldiers of the army roaref, so loud that their voice sounded like the roar of a river in flood.

"WE WANT SARPA!"

"WE WILL FOLLOW SARPA!"

"SARPA! SARPA! SARPA!"

Ostar gritted his teeth. What Sarpa had said was true: indeed, according to the law of the ogres, it was the soldiers who had to choose who to be guided by in case a chieftain died, and only if they were not able to do so, the council of the tribes would have had to intervene. However, in almost all ogre wars the council had decided, as the tribe's soldiers, without their chieftain, began fighting each other for position, making it impossible to choose a commander quickly.

But this time it was different: not a single one of the soldiers behind Sarpa uttered words of dissent. Everyone wanted to be led by him. Ostar wondered what Sarpa had done to gain such great prestige. "If this is the soldiers' choice, then I apologize for my disrespect, chieftain Sarpa" he said, assuming a more respectful stance. "Tell me, how was the battle?"

Ostar was clearly trying to steer the conversation towards what most interested him, which was to know what had happened. Sarpa was happy to explain: "Initially, the battle wasn't going well for us. Unfortunately, the fairies were very cunning and they killed chieftain Volgor and the other chieftains first, leaving the army in chaos. So I took the lead and I led my soldiers to victory. At the price of a few hundreds of our companions, we have killed thousands of fairies!"

The soldiers cheered at those words, banging their weapons on their shields again. Ostar was speechless: under Sarpa's command, had that army killed thousands of fairies with so few casualties? Really!? It seemed absurd! "How did you do such a thing?" he couldn't help but ask.

"I'll be happy to explain it to you, but I'd rather do it in a tent over a mug of good wine" Sarpa replied. "My soldiers are very tired and deserve to rest. I would therefore ask you to postpone this conversation to a more appropriate place and let us enter"

Ostar realized that his behavior might seem inappropriate. "Of course! Come in. You are welcome here among us!"

Sarpa smiled satisfied and nodded to his soldiers. The ogres entered the military camp, and immediately the other soldiers who had not participated in the battle ran to ask them what had happened, and they were obviously happy to tell their epic adventure. Ostar approached Sarpa and vigorously shook his hand: "You are absolutely right, some things should be told over a mug of wine. May I invite you to my tent?"

"I think it would be more appropriate to go and speak in the council tent, so that all the chieftains can hear" Sarpa replied. "After all, I think that chieftain Hoortar will also be curious about what..."

"Hoortar is dead" Ostar stopped him quickly. "He was murdered"

Sarpa's eyes widened. "Really? Who did it?" he asked amazed.

Ostar shook his head. "We don't know, but I have some suspicions. Come with me, I'll tell you everything while you tell me your adventure"

But unbeknownst to him, Sarpa had already figured out who the culprit was. Or rather, he suspected it, but he was basically certain of his suspicions. Apparently, the dragons were literally paving the way for him! Haku had already made him a chieftain and the commander of one third of the army, and now he was eliminating his rivals!

If he could, Sarpa would have laughed. That dragon's plans were extraordinary. He was seriously starting to wonder if he still hated Haku or if he had come to admire him. "Of course" he said, realizing Ostar was still waiting for an answer. "I'll be happy to listen to you and tell you about my experience. Let's go!"