Unto the Ages

AN: Check out my other novel, "Of Arms and Arcane" https://www.scribblehub.com/series/872408/of-arms-and-arcane/

As Grud and those from the Rock Skull tribe made their way to the Long Shadow tribe, they met and merged with people from other tribes.

 

It was Grud’s family's first time traveling with their newborn babies, and it made them worried about their babies’ health, but luckily there were more experienced mothers who were traveling with them, and they gladly shared their knowledge with any new mother who asked.

 

Once they reached the Long Shadow tribe, Grud was surprised to see a sizable number of Moon Spirit tribe’s men helping the Long Shadow tribe prepare for their arrival, and with them was Chieftain Dhun.

 

Grud greeted Dhun and any of the men from the expedition that he recognized, then introduced his wives and children to them. After some catching up chat, Dhun asked to come find him in a week, and that they would wait here for two weeks to wait for all those who want to migrate are here.

 

After his chat, Grud brought his people to find a spot and set up for the two week wait.

 

—

 

A week after Grud arrived at the Long Shadow tribe, all the newly nominated chieftains were called to Chieften Dhun’s tent.

 

When they entered Dhun’s tent, the most eye catching thing was the drawing on the dirt floor. It depicted every landmark the expedition had taken note of on their way to the land’s edge, and scattered along the landmarks, were stones that could fit in the palm of one’s hand.

 

After everyone entered the tent, Dhun spoke, “This, is a map of what the expedition explored so far, and the stones are where the Chief Shaman and chieftains planned the new tribes to be. When I call the name of your tribe, you will come forward and I will tell you where you are assigned to.”

 

Dhun began calling out tribe names and pointed out where their tribe would be located, this went on until the last tribe, “Rock Skull tribe.” Dhun called out.

 

Grud already knew where he was going to be posted, but went along with it anyway and stepped forward.

 

“Grud, you will be posted to the land’s edge, if the beasts come from beyond the waters again, you will be the first one to face them.” Dhun said more for the other people in the room than for Grud who already knew this was coming.

 

Grud nodded stoically and walked back to join the group of new chieftains.

 

After Grud stopped and looked back at Dhun, Dhun started again, “In a week’s time, we will reveal the locations of the new tribes and their chieftains. Use that time to think of a name for your tribe, you will be introducing it on that day.” after that, the new chieftains were dismissed.

 

‘I have been thinking about a name ever since I accepted Froll’s offer, so that should be no issue’ Grud thought to himself.

 

Within the hour of being dismissed from Dhun’s tent, word had gotten out on who the new chieftains were, the rough locations or landmarks certain chieftains were posted to, and what each chieftain’s deeds or reputation was like.

 

In fact, some of the new chieftains were already actively recruiting people to join their tribe, they went around shouting, standing on rocks, and even climbing trees to get themselves noticed.

 

Chieftain A: "Join the Thunderstrike tribe on our journey. We're carving our home in the wild, learning as we go. Together, we'll discover the secrets of this land, gather what it offers, and build our future."

 

Chieftain B: "Join the Frostfang tribe! Protectors of this territory, heed the call. We're young, but our resolve is unwavering. Join us in guarding our fledgling home. Together, we'll ensure safety for our kin and secure our future here."

 

Chieftain C: "I am chieftain of the Stonefoot tribe. Join us in the wild. We learn and grow together. Nature provides our sustenance, and our unity is our strength."

 

Chieftain D: "Sunspear here! Join our tribe, skilled in hunting and gathering. Together, we thrive in nature's abundance."

 

As for Grud, he did not care for advertising himself, but after seeing the other chieftains put in so much effort to recruit people, he thought he should at least try, but his wives stopped him and told him to wait and people would come to him.

 

Grud decided to listen to his wives and stayed, ‘They are more social than I am, they should know what people were thinking better than myself’, Grud thought to himself. 

 

And soon enough, as he was sitting with his wives and kids in his tent, people who were not from his original tribe, came up to him and asked if they could join his tribe.

 

Most were family units or siblings, while some of them were groups of friends, some were striking out on their own and were interested in exploration when they heard of the land’s edge, and then there were the single women who were obviously aiming to join Grud’s harem, those were handled by his wives and told that we would consider it after living in the same tribe for awhile.

 

This carried on for a week, and on the last day Chieftain Dhun and a few of the Spirit Moon tribe men cleared a large area of dirt and drew the same map as the one in Dhun’s tent, but blown up a few times in size.

 

After that was done and the migrating people gathered, he called forth the new chieftains to stand to one side.

 

Once all was settled, Dhun began, “I am sure all of you have heard which chieftain is going where, for the sake of those who have not chosen which tribe you want to join or do not have a clear picture of where you will be going, I will show you where the tribe will be on the map and call up the new chieftain for that tribe, and they will introduce their new tribe names. Let's get started.”

 

Same as before, Dhun started with the tribe that would be established closest to where they were now and went from there. One by one, Dhun pointed out the location of the new tribe, and the new chieftain would come up, introduce the same of the tribe they chose, maybe give a small recruitment speech, and move on.

 

Eventually, Dhun pointed to the last stone representing a new tribe, “Lastly, we have Grud who used to be from the Rock Skull tribe.” 

 

Grud stepped forward and said, “I am Grud, my new tribe’s name will be the Rock Claw tribe, and my tribe will be at the land’s edge to stop any invading beast from beyond the waters, that is all.” Grud then walked back to the lineup of chieftains and Dhun took over.

 

“This your last chance to decide which tribe you want to join, we leave tomorrow at first light.” Dhun said then dismissed everyone.

 

There was some shuffling around of people who did not get a clear picture of the locations before now, but it was settled by the end of the day. By the end of the day, Grud got even more requests to join his tribe, which he accepted.

 

When the next day came around, all the people gathered in front of their new chieftain and everyone noticed that despite Grud having the furthest location, he had the most number of people joining him.

 

Chieftain Dhun nodded and addressed everyone, “I see that you are all ready, some of those who were part of the previous expedition have volunteered to guide you all to the new tribe locations. Now go, tame the wild lands and secure your homes, may the Great Spirits watch over you.”

 

—

 

It took a few more months, but Grud was back at the beach, and those who had never seen the beach or the sea before looked on curiously and carefully inspected the new biome they found themselves in.

 

After giving his new tribe time to satisfy their curiosity, Grud gathered his tribe and went further inland until they were on solid feeling earth and not the shifting sands of the beach.

 

After consulting with Old Crot and searching the area, they chose a spot near a river that flows to the ocean.

 

They set up their tents, grabbed their tools, and went to work building something more permanent. This was especially so for Grud who found out along their journey here that all his wives, excluding Mita, were pregnant again. 

 

‘I am going to need a big house. A really, really big house.’ Grud thought to himself as he knew that this round of his wives getting pregnant again would be far from the last time, and he had to prepare for the future.