“No way. Under absolutely no circumstances is the Sharu allowed to leave the camp grounds,” Valeria stated with utmost gravity, physically blocking the path. Her mother, Neria, had repeatedly hammered this command into her head before setting out with the warriors: the Sharu must remain in the safe center of the tribe, no matter what.
Chief Neria acted with extreme decisiveness and pragmatism - to secure the new territory and gather materials as quickly as possible, she had taken virtually every available Totem Warrior with her.
“Why exactly am I not allowed to leave?” Elizabeth furrowed her brow. A few cold thoughts flashed through her mind.
Is this some sort of house arrest?
Are they afraid I'll run away, or do they just want to control me?
“It is entirely for your own safety,” Valeria hurriedly explained, noticing the mounting coldness on Elizabeth's face. “There are far too many dangers lurking outside. You are the new pillar and the heart of our clan. What will we do if something happens to you?”
“And what danger could possibly threaten me on the outskirts? You're right here with me,” Elizabeth relaxed her shoulders slightly.
As long as it's genuine concern and not imprisonment, everything is fine…
“Sharu, you have only just assumed this role and do not yet understand the full cruelty of these lands,” Valeria lowered her voice, a shadow of ancient fear surfacing in her eyes.
“There are wandering Totem Warriors out there… savage bands of outcasts who raid smaller clan camps specifically to kidnap their Sharu and force them to join their ranks. Such an event has already happened in the history of our ancestors. Ever since that tragic day, an ironclad rule was established: the Sharu never leaves the camp without a full escort.”
“So things like that actually happen…” Elizabeth murmured in surprise.
She pondered for a moment and quickly connected the dots.
These wandering warriors are most likely the remnants of destroyed tribes who lost their own Sharu.
Without one, they cannot awaken new Totem Warriors, so they resort to kidnapping just to ensure their clan's survival.
“That is why it is so treacherous outside. You are completely safe here in the center of the camp,” Valeria argued passionately.
“Our tribe only has a handful of Totem Warriors, and only a portion of them go out on daily hunts. Does that mean the rest stay in the camp exclusively to guard the Sharu?” Elizabeth asked, narrowing her blue eyes.
“Exactly!” Valeria confirmed. “My mother, Chief Neria, is the most powerful warrior in the entire clan. Usually, she wouldn't leave the camp for long either, just so she could personally oversee the Sharu's safety.”
“That is a horrendous waste of manpower,” Elizabeth shook her head disapprovingly.
If the tribe numbered hundreds of warriors, dedicating a permanent guard detail wouldn't be an issue. But with such meager resources, grounding their strongest individuals - including the leader herself - drastically suffocated the clan's development.
No wonder the camp lacks basic supplies and food. We lack hands for work, and above all, Totem Warriors.
I can't solve that problem overnight, but establishing a steady water supply would at least relieve the warriors from the grueling task of hauling it.
Elizabeth knew she had to convince the stubborn warrior to escort her to the lake - after all, she didn't know the forest paths herself.
“Sharu, I repeat: you are not allowed to leave the camp,” Valeria insisted.
“But if I survey this lake, I can solve our water supply problem once and for all. No one will ever have to risk their lives hauling it again,” Elizabeth threw her hands up in exasperation.
“Be that as it may, my mother's orders were absolutely clear,” the horned girl retorted firmly.
Elizabeth sighed with pity. She narrowed her eyes and, with a theatrical grimace, sniffed the air loudly:
“Tell me honestly… do you girls really not smell how horrendously you reek?”
She ostentatiously took another step back, demonstratively pinching her nose.
“What?! I don't stink at all!” Valeria snarled indignantly, her cheeks instantly flaming red.
“Really? Then take a proper sniff of yourself instead of denying the facts,” Elizabeth lifted her chin mockingly.
“Fine, I'll smell myself!” Valeria gritted her teeth.
She brought her nose down to her leather collar and inhaled sharply. The pungent, sour stench of sweat and grime that assaulted her nostrils instantly made her dizzy, and her stomach lurched into her throat.
Seeing her friend's reaction, Lily raised her arm and hesitantly sniffed her own sleeve.
“Oh heavens… I stink… I smell like carrion baking in the sun!” the rabbit girl squeaked, her face draining of color in sheer horror in a fraction of a second.
Valeria stood as if paralyzed, her expression turning grimmer by the second.
Spirits of the ancestors… do I really reek that badly? Could the others smell this?! What an utter disgrace!
The human nose quickly adapted to its own scent, completely filtering it out. Both girls hadn't bathed in over a dozen days, blissfully convinced everything was fine - until Elizabeth brutally dragged them back to reality.
“Well? Still think everything is fine?” Elizabeth tossed out with a wicked smirk, crossing her arms. “Imagine what the others in the camp must think of you.”
“I…” Valeria was completely robbed of speech by sheer embarrassment.
Elizabeth decided to press her advantage: “And what about the camp's defenses right now? Didn't Neria take every single Totem Warrior with her?”
“Yes… they all went with my mother,” Valeria choked out reluctantly. Internally, she began cursing her mother's impulsiveness for leaving the camp without proper protection and dumping the entire burden squarely on her.
“Since there isn't a single warrior left in the camp, what exactly are you protecting me from here?” Elizabeth pointed out soberly, her smile widening. “If we set out toward your mother's squad, paradoxically, we will be infinitely safer than sitting defenseless in an empty camp.”
Valeria slowly lowered her head, utterly out of arguments.
“Alright… you are right, Sharu.”
“Excellent. First, we will find Neria and her warriors, and then we will all go together to survey that lake,” Elizabeth decided. She knew perfectly well that in the event of a wild beast attack, they would stand absolutely no chance without the aid of Totem Warriors.
Valeria turned back toward the rabbit girl: “Lily, you stay here in the camp and start tidying up the Sharu's tent.”
“You got it! I'll take care of everything!” Lily called out, energetically flicking her ears and flashing Elizabeth a wide, jaunty smile.
The Blood Fire Tribe inhabited a relatively flat stretch of land situated at the very foothills of a dense, mountainous forest.
Stepping into the wooded wilderness west of the camp, Valeria took the lead vigilantly. Her agile, athletic body moved with the innate grace of a predator.
Elizabeth followed right on her heels, pushing her spiritual perception to its absolute limits, striving intently to sense any potential energy fluctuations or hidden threats lurking in the underbrush.
Snap!
Valeria laboriously hacked away a thick branch blocking the path with her sharp stone knife.
Her ears twitched slightly at every rustle, trying to pick up the sounds of startled game or prowling beasts.
“Do you know this exact route? Are you certain where Neria is right now?” Elizabeth asked quietly, staring at the horned guide's back.
Her gaze involuntarily drifted a bit lower, lingering on Valeria's firm, toned backside hugged tightly by her leather skirt. A sprout of pure curiosity took root in the Shaman's mind:
Since Lily had a little fluffy rabbit tail, Valeria, as a horned Solaria, should probably have a tail too…
She probably hides it somewhere under her clothes…
“I know where to go. They should be at the main gathering point in the clearing by now. Only that area is secure enough for the women and foragers to work relatively safely,” Valeria replied nonchalantly, not slowing her pace.
“And are there a lot of edible plants and fruits growing around this gathering point?” Elizabeth pressed.
“Not really. Almost everything within reach was picked clean a long time ago. In a few days, we will have to venture even deeper and find an entirely new meeting spot.” Valeria shook her head grimly and sighed with resignation.
The clan members felt completely alien in these mountain forests. It was vastly different from their lost Ancestral Land, which generations had explored and mastered over decades - there, they knew exactly where the sweetest fruits grew, where medicinal herbs bloomed, and which caves to avoid due to beast lairs.
Here, they were forced to painstakingly learn everything from scratch, having camped in this hostile, barren wilderness for barely a dozen days.
“Things will definitely get better in the future. We'll handle this,” Elizabeth offered reassuringly.
Deep down, however, she was already calculating whether it would be wise to relocate the entire tribe to an entirely different, far richer region in the near future to ensure the clan's steady, unthreatened growth.
“En, I hope you're right,” Valeria murmured quietly.
They trekked higher up the rocky slope, where the tree canopies grew increasingly dense and the patches of shadow merged into a dark thicket.
Were it not for the horned girl's presence, Elizabeth would undoubtedly have lost her bearings among the identical-looking crags and trunks in a heartbeat if walking alone.
Half an hour later.
“Stop!” Valeria suddenly hissed a warning.
She bent her knees slightly, dropping into a low combat stance, and fixed her blood-red eyes on the dense brush ahead, resting her hand on the hilt of her stone knife.
“Relax, everything is fine. It's just a human,” Elizabeth said casually.
Thanks to her heightened Mental Energy, she easily sensed a human aura hurrying toward them.
“…” Valeria furrowed her brow skeptically, not entirely believing that someone could flawlessly identify a creature through a wall of leaves without relying on their eyesight.
Rustle, rustle…
Barely three seconds later, a figure clad in tattered hides emerged from the thick ferns, sprinting hastily down the slope.
“It really is one of ours…” a shocked Valeria muttered, shooting an awestruck, amazed glance toward the blonde girl.
She quickly waved her hand at the approaching man and called out loudly:
“Verve! Why are you rushing like that? Did something happen?!”
“Oh? Is that you, Valeria?!” Verve called out in surprise, skidding to a halt on the packed trail before them, gasping heavily for air.
But when he raised his sweaty face and his gaze fell on the girl standing right behind her, he instantly went pale, his eyes widening in utter stupefaction:
“Sharu?! By the Ancestors, why are you out here?!”