Chp.29: The challenge

After his return, Sarpa's name was quickly on everyone's lips. Again. His soldiers spread the story of their battle like wildfire until virtually everyone knew about it.

Ostar had been shocked to say the least when Sarpa told him what he had done. That strange 'turtle formation' he had described to him was like nothing was ever heard of in the history of the ogres. Sarpa had told him that he had simply learned from his experiences, especially the way he defended the Bolvek tribe, and used them to his advantage; however, Ostar still found it hard to believe that he had designed such an innovative battle strategy by himself.

Under normal circumstances, Ostar would have already thought about how to exploit that new technique... but Sarpa, to his surprise, had not rested on the laurels of his victory, but on the contrary had immediately started preparing his soldiers not only so that they would learn the 'turtle formation', but also new strategies that no ogre had ever seen. It seemed that Sarpa wanted to transform his army from a group of individually charging ogres to a veritable collective mind that acted as if it were a single being.

Ostar had initially thought that was impossible: it wasn't in the nature of ogres to behave that way. He was sure Sarpa's plan would have failed in a matter of days. Instead, he was soon disillusioned: there had been no protest, but on the contrary all of Sarpa's soldiers had strove to do his bidding as best they could. It almost seemed that discipline had become their new rule of life.

It wasn't hard to understand why: Ostar could hear what the soldiers were saying all over the camp. Sarpa had gained enormous fame from his recent exploits and the other ogres trusted him and his ideas. Not only that, but Sarpa didn't keep his distance from the common soldiers like the other chieftains did, but he trained, ate, and slept with them, which made them look up to even more. He was a very charismatic leader and the soldiers supported him.

And it wasn't just the soldiers who had fought with him who admired him. After Sarpa had returned, he and the other chieftains had divided up the soldiers left by Hoortar. Of course, being in charge of one of the larger armies, Sarpa had taken more, such as Ostar. But once the division was complete, many of the soldiers entrusted to Ostar had refused to do his bidding and had asked to be entrusted to Sarpa. Though they didn't say it outright, Ostar knew their motive was that they didn't want to be led by their chieftain's supposed killer. Unfortunately, Ostar couldn't do anything to stop them: he was not their chieftain and could not impose on their choices. For the law of the ogres, even if the council had decided how the soldiers would have been distributed, they could refuse if they deemed their new commander inadequate and could ask to be turned over to another.

Eventually all the soldiers of the Frakuard tribe had deserted him and requested to be entrusted to Sarpa. In their eyes, he was a charismatic leader who had already accomplished extraordinary feats, and therefore they didn't mind being led by him. Sarpa, in a bold move, had initially placed himself as a mediator, giving the impression that he wasn't a power-hungry ogre; this had earned him even more respect and fame and when he finally relented and 'humbly agreed' to take the soldiers of the Frakuard tribe under his wing, everyone admired him even more. Ostar knew that Sarpa's humility was actually just a farce, but there was nothing he could do: even if he said it aloud, no one would have believed him.

And so, Sarpa had become the leader of nearly half the army. Ostar had tried to console himself: he was sure that now that other soldiers besides those who had fought with him had joined him, they would surely have created problems in executing the new strategies. But Sarpa had proved to be a skilled trainer: he gave short but convincing speeches on the importance of learning to fight together, dispensed generous rewards to those who proved worthy, and was relentless with punishments for those who disobeyed him. These characteristics of his, combined with the fact that Sarpa didn't behave in a superior way to the others but ate and slept like one of them, had meant that the new soldiers wanted to independently integrate into his army and follow his commands. Within a few days, all traces of rebellion were gone and everyone was doing the workouts imposed by Sarpa without any resistance.

His strategies were so brilliant and his charisma was so great that many of the other chieftains started approaching him, trying to win his friendship. Sarpa hadn't hesitated to accept them into his circle, constantly repeating the need for ogres to fight as a united army, not as divided tribes. This declaration had made the most conservatives turn up their noses, but many other chieftains were open to similar ideas. Very soon a circle of chieftains formed around Sarpa, just as it had with Ostar, Hoortar, and Volgor. But unlike the first three, Sarpa didn't just use the other tribes, he helped them and taught them his strategies, so that the ogres were ready to fight together. This clearly made him a much better chieftain than Ostar, and indeed several chieftains didn't hesitate to abandon him to join the new superpower of the army.

Ostar had quickly realized that Sarpa wasn't a rival like Hoortar... he was much worse.

Sarpa had total control of half the army and alliance with numerous other chieftains; he also enjoyed absolute fame among the soldiers, so much so that many had begun to define him as 'the hero who led them to victory' or even as 'the chosen one sent from Baat'. Some even claimed that his sudden growth in strength and strategic intelligence were given to him by the god Baat himself to lead the ogres in warfare. Ostar, by contrast, had a smaller army and lacked the support of several chieftains and soldiers, since they suspected him of murder. Even the chieftains who remained loyal to him or his own soldiers regarded him with hatred and suspicion. To put it simply, Sarpa had support, strength and charisma on his side, while Ostar had none left.

Ostar seriously began to suspect that the killing of Hoortar had been done by Sarpa. Maybe he wasn't responsible, but he could have been the instigator. Unfortunately, however, he had nothing to accuse him with, and if he had tried to say something he would probably have just covered himself with ridicule.

By now Ostar was beginning to descend into madness. He had become extremely paranoid, sure that sooner or later Sarpa would have snatched his position from him or kill him. Now he never moved with fewer than ten elite guards and slept little and badly. Because of this, he was often short-tempered and rancorous. His behavior clearly did no good to his reputation, as discontent with him only grew. Many soldiers had begun to whisper that his paranoia was due to the spirit of Hoortar who came to torment him in his dreams for revenge. This obviously increased more and more the certainty that he was the killer.

Towards the end of the week, as the chieftains met at the council as they did every day, Sarpa suddenly made a proposal: "I am about to say something that will cause a debate. As you well know, I am absolutely convinced that to win this war we should stick together. To improve the cohesive relationship between our soldiers, I would suggest that they train all together, without distinction between the various tribes"

The chieftains were surprised by those words. Up to that point each tribe had always kept to itself and performed its own training regimen. "That would be absurd. It would mean denying our ancient traditions" someone murmured.

Sarpa shook his head. "With all due respect, these traditions were conceived many centuries ago by our ancestors. At the time, their strategies worked very well. Today the situation is different. We have been here for months and still have not made any progress against the fairies. We have to change if we want to win" he said in a very confident voice. "What we need is a united army, that march as it was one-minded, based on discipline and obedience to their commander. Only in this way we will be able to execute better strategies and defeat of our opponent"

The chieftains in his circle nodded vigorously, and even many of those not on his side looked dubious. After all, that long war had shown that the old strategies were no longer effective: something new was needed. But executing more complex strategies required discipline and unity, just as Sarpa claimed. For a logical point of view, he was absolutely right.

But Ostar didn't see it in that way. "And who should be the one to lead this united army? You, I guess" he hissed through gritted teeth.

"I don't intend to lead the entire army myself" Sarpa replied. "What I ask of you is to allow our tribes to train together. In this way, not only will the soldiers get used to working together, but we will also learn to do it, or at least do it better than we do now. In this way, even without a supreme commander, we will be able to lead the army efficiently and make the best decisions"

The other chieftains had to admit that this made sense. If they were forced to train their soldiers together, then they would have learned how to trust each other better. They certainly wouldn't have built much trust, but they would have gotten just enough to lead the army efficiently, without needing long discussions for every move.

But Ostar didn't give up. "Bullshit! Your voice sounds like honey, but your words are poison! You just want to gain control of the entire army and train us to obey you!"

The other chieftains gave a surprised cry. Those in Sarpa's circle were clearly outraged: that was a very serious accusation. But Sarpa, on the contrary, mantained his calm. "It's not my intention to do that. I'm going to teach you all the strategies I've designed so you can teach them to our soldiers. And when the army trains together, I won't push anyone's decisions, but just give my advice if I deem it appropriate. Advice which any of you shall be free to hear or refuse"

Sarpa's words were reasonable and if Ostar had been more careful he probably would have understood that it was better to withdraw; but at the moment his paranoia, sleep deprivation, and the belief that Sarpa was planning something prevented him from thinking clearly. "I will never accept such a thing!"

"And why shouldn't you do it?" Sarpa growled, this time in a more angry voice. "I explained to you that I don't intend to do anything against you. My intent is only to win this war with as few casualties as possible!"

"You said it, yes" Ostar replied. "But I don't believe it! You are a liar!"

"I'm a liar!?" Sarpa slammed a fist on the table. "How dare you? You accuse me of lying after what you did?"

The atmosphere in the tent was clearly heating up. The other chieftains felt that all the tension built up in those days was pouring out at once. Ostar gritted his teeth: "What do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb. The whole army knows!" Sarpa exclaimed, clearly referring to the death of Hoortar, though he didn't say it outright. "That's why you're rowing against me, isn't it? You wanted command of the entire army, and now you're afraid I'll take it from you!"

Ostar clenched his fists. In fact, Sarpa wasn't entirely wrong... but he certainly wouldn't have said it openly. "Don't try to accuse me of Hoortar's murder! In fact, you know what? I bet you are the one who did it! No more Hoortar and no more Volgor, it was a perfect opportunity for you, right? And now you're trying to eliminate me too!"

The other chieftains were speechless. That wasn't just a serious charge, it was terrible! And also senseless: how could Sarpa have been responsible for the murder if it was confirmed that when it happened he was at the border fighting fairies, with thousands of witnesses who could confirm it? But before anyone could say anything, Sarpa got to his feet and slammed his fist on the table with such force that the wood bent a little. "You accuse me of murder!? Are you really that shameless!? This is too much!"

No one was surprised by that explosion of anger: anyone in Sarpa's place would have reacted the same way. Being accused of murder, and by the one who was clearly the real killer, would have pissed off anyone. "I've endured enough" Sarpa growled. "The soldiers told me what you did, but I decided to ignore it for the good of the army. I put up with your disrespectful behavior, I put up with your blind pride and your ambition, because it was better for our soldiers. But now I've had enough!"

Sarpa pointed an accusing finger at Ostar: "I ask for your allegiance, but you reject me! Therefore, I will do what I must do! I never wanted to go that far, but if that's what you want, you'll get it! Chieftain Ostar, I challenge you to a duel!"

The other chieftains were a little stunned by that declaration, but basically this was normal: after his honor had been tarnished by similar accusations, the only choice Sarpa had was to challenge his opponent. However, they wondered where Sarpa gets so much confidence, as Ostar was a level diamond anyway. Ostar himself was a little surprised, but inside he gloated: he finally had the opportunity to eliminate his rival. "Well, I accept!" he exclaimed loudly. "I will show everyone my innocence using my hands! Baat will favor the right and convict the real killer!"

Ostar thought he could win against Sarpa easily, but that wasn't actually the case. Ostar didn't know that Sarpa now had a strength at the peak of the level gold, and that when combined with runes he could reach a high stage of the level diamond. Basically, Sarpa was the one with the edge! On the contrary, Ostar had only played his game: he had accused him without reason and so Sarpa had had the excuse to challenge him to protect his honor. In fact, if he had challenged him for no reason, he could have lost some of his fame because he would have seemed power-hungry; now, instead, he had the perfect excuse to duel and kill his rival.

"Very well" he declared satisfied. "Tomorrow at noon, then. I will kill you in front of the whole army and wash your shame with your blood: this is my promise!"