Reincarnated to the Past 20.2 - Ghigari 2 (Patreon)

So I already completed this by the time the poll votes had changed...

Reincarnated to the Past
Interlude: Ghigari II

-VB-

After four days of slow travel on horseback, they arrived at the tribal village of the Higher River Kettin tribe.

Because of their proximity to both the Great Plains of the Scythians and the Mahk’s Kettin, the Higher River Kettin were never able to flourish like his Lower River Kettin had to be. It was a shame, considering that their two tribes used to be one only three generations ago.

Still, they kept their ties close. 

The chief of the Higher River Kettin greeted Ghigari and his party with wide open arms as they entered the tribal village.

“Ghigari-arn!” the burly, hairy, and sturdy chief of the Higher River Kettin opened his arms up with a grin, calling him with honorifics of “brother-chief.” Ghigari slid off of his horse and walked up to his brother-kin, embracing the man with a meaty hug of his own.

“Gahaha! Daran-arn, it’s been years since we last met!” 

They separated from their embrace and stared at each other.

Then Daran pulled back a little further and hung his head. “I… must seek amends, arn. When help had to be sent, I could not.”

Ghigari placed a hand over the taller chief’s shoulder. “I know the circumstance of the confederation, arn. I do not blame you. I only ask that you support me in the coming meetings of the arns of the Kettin Confederation.”

The man looked up and nodded fiercely. “If that is what I must do, then that is what I will do. Thank you for this chance, Ghigari-arn.” He nodded deeply. It wasn’t a bow, but one of thanks and acknowledgement; chiefs could not be seen bowing to another without a formal pact of allegiance.

“Then meet my new son-in law, Wiseman Alan!” Ghigari laughed as he quickly gestured for Alan to come beside him. Alan separated himself from the rest of his guards and walked up to the two of them, bowing just slightly. 

Ghigari smirked as he saw Daran’s eyes widen. “You got a magnificent warrior for your daughter, braher-arn,” the man said. “You are a wiseman?”

“I am,” Alan replied with that firm and direct method of speech he was fond of. No flowery language or ego-stroking involved. “I have helped my father-in-law’s tribe in many ways.” 

“He speaks the truth,” Ghigari agreed. “We use less children and women to draw our waters. They are sent to do more important tasks.”

Daran blinked. Ghigari knew that the man would get the implication soon enough. Daran may not be the smartest or the quickest of the Kettin chiefs, but he would always get it within a reasonable amount of time. His son, on the other hand, was very quick. Once Daran told his son, the next Higher River Kettin chief would get the implication and would come begging for the same help.

Or so Alan insisted regarding the last part of Ghigari’s thought. Just yesterday night, he and his son-in-law went over how they would leverage Alan’s wisdom and knowledge against the other tribes. 

For sure, they would get the remuneration for the lack of help from the confederation. Alan initially suggested that they should take slaves, children preferably. Ghigari nearly shot that disgusting idea down with righteous fervor before Alan explained why he suggested such a thing. 

Children ate less food, could be educated how Alan wanted them to be, and would not harbor deep-seated dislike of their tribe. In fact, Alan said that they would “integrate” into the tribe fairly quickly, unlike the adults who were set in their ways - especially men. Slave children with their parents would attain the culture of their parents to a large degree. 

Children without parents? They could be reared and then freed from their slavery, and only thing they would feel would be a sense of loyalty to the tribe. If taught correctly, then they could be the next generation of helpers Alan needed to further improve the livelihood of the tribe without compromising the population for his experiments. 

They would be Kettin, not slaves. They would bolster the tribe, not hinder it with paranoia of an eventual runaway slave or even a slave revolt. 

Ghigari admitted that the idea had merit, but had quickly countered it with the straining of food stocks of the tribe to feed the children.

Alan asserted that he could feed all of the children on his own.

How many did Alan want?

At least two dozens.

The Higher River Kettins had also come up in their discussion as the closest westward Kettin tribe of the Lower River Kettins. 

Alan had suggested…

“Say, Daran-arn, do you not have a marriageable daughter?”

An alliance forged by blood would ensure that they would be under the “wings” of the Lower River Kettin.

“I do…” Daran replied slowly.

“I also have a son who’s been stubborn about not getting married. Now, I am not suggesting that we wed them, but I want to send my son over to your tribe for a year to see if the two of them will like each other. Arranging a blood tie is much easier if both the man and the woman are willing, no?”

Daran smiled weakly, obviously hesitant with the idea but the harsh reality was that he wasn’t exactly in a position to refuse. It wasn’t like Ghigari was asking for an arranged marriage, just a chance to see if their children would like each other. 

Refusing such an inane request would be … 

Well, it wouldn’t reflect well on the Higher River Kettin’s reputation.

“I … shall ask my elders about this.”

“Good, good,” Ghigari exclaimed. “And the other arns. Have they arrived yet?”

“They have not.”

Ghigari grinned. “Then let me show you what my son-in-law can do! Just so only you know our little secret.”

-VB-

Ghigari howled with laughter when one of Daran’s warriors found himself tossed up in the air. 

“I told you that he’s no ordinary man!” he laughed as Alan took the charge of two huge warriors with his own counter-charge, and pushed them back steadily.

Daran watched with a slack jaw as his five warriors continued to lose ground again and again against one man in the sparring sandpit.

This wasn’t Alan’s idea, but it certainly entertained the people.

Any time one of the warriors yielded or got thrown out of the fifty foot wide ring, a new warrior would jump in, swearing to the heavens that he would do better.

And each time, Alan took them on, sometimes all five at once and sometimes in two’s and three’s, and absolutely crushed any opposition. 

The fact that there hasn’t been a single death or serious injury just rubbed it more on Daran’s face that Alan was in full control of this little exercise.

“I thought he was a wiseman,” Daran complained.

“He is. Hates fighting if he can help it.”

“When I heard that a new warrior took the head of the horse raiders, I thought that it was an exaggeration. It was Alan, wasn’t it?”

“It was! According to my warriors, he was fighting with such cold-hearted precision that he looked more like a walking statue than a mortal flesh and blood man!”

“And he wed your daughter?”

“Yes.”

“You are a very lucky man. Wiseman Alan is no ordinary person.”

“No, he is not. Half of my tribe are convinced he is a god-touched while the other half claim him to be a demigod.”

“And the wiseman? What does he say about himself?”

“... To say that he is god-touched would not be false.”

“Truly?”

Ghigari nodded solemnly before breaking out into laughter again when another of Daran’s bigger warriors got tossed out of the ring.

“Wiseman Alan spoke of uncaring gods making and unmaking worlds for their entertainment. That he kept his calm and received blessing from one such god speaks much of him,” Ghigari hummed. 

“I am surprised that he hasn’t … done anything rash.”

Ghigari knew what Daran was talking about. It was natural for any hot-blooded man to rise in status as their strength and power rose. Wiseman Alan wasn’t interested in such a thing, at least until they helped him help others.

It was such a kindness that Ghigari could only claim to be a character of the demigod. Or was Alan a demigod of care and unity? He spoke much of such lofty ideals, after all.

“It is in his nature to not seek unnecessary distress,” Ghigari waved it off. “I believe it so wholeheartedly.”

“... Are you sure I cannot have my daughter have a meet with Wiseman Alan? I would not care if she is not his primary wife.”

“No. My daughter would kill me,” he denied firmly. “They just had their wedding night two weeks ago. It was hard enough to escape my daughter’s wrath when I told her that I will have him accompany me to this meet. If I came home after allowing another woman to attach herself to him?” He shuddered. “My daughter would not care for my authority and come for my head.”

“You let your daughter be so offensive to you, her father?”

“I am soft to her, yes, but I cannot help it.”

“...Are strong woman Wiseman Alan’s preference?”

“I told you no already.”

-VB-

The rest of the Kettin chiefs began to arrive two days after that. Ghigari made sure to talk with each chief in private, but it was clear that Mahk’s influence was quite strong, especially with tribes further inland and close to the mountains. 

Only the Vin’s were amenable to a quick alliance in the meet, but that was because they had the most to suffer should the Mahk’s be allowed to roam freely. 

Wiseman Alan also got a lot of attention from the chiefs, and many went behind Ghigari’s back to give offers to the demigod. He even overheard the chief of the Gettia, one of the two Kettin tribes to his tribe’s east, offer Wiseman Alan the position of the heir of the tribe and any woman he wanted. 

Alan refused. 

He refused angrily and vehemently. He got so loud in his objections that other chiefs must have heard him, because they stopped after that. 

What else could a tribe offer once the position of heir was rejected? Nothing.

Ghigari knew he was lucky to have Wiseman Alan, but he began to wonder.

Why his tribe?

There were others who would do anything he said, and Ghigari knew that if he couldn’t see any reasonable changes to his tribe, then he wouldn’t follow through with Wiseman Alan’s recommendations. It’s why he didn’t touch Alan’s “poop” collection. It just was too disgusting of an activity for him to make anyone else in the tribe do it. 

Yet Wiseman Alan continued to do it, using his slaves to do it when they could be doing something more productive.

Again, why his tribe?

It was only right before the wiseman came to his tribe that he was able to expel the last of his tribe’s raiders and looters. If the wiseman came even a week earlier… could his tribe not have earned the demigod’s favor?

It was a conundrum, one he hoped would solve itself sooner or later because the curiosity was eating him alive.