Chapter Four, Seeking the Mountainfolk

Three months were all she had to travel across the continent and ready every Nielda she could find for the coming war. The hardest palce to reach would be the high mountains in the North. Scorch had mentioned once that there were some rather uncouth Nielda living there, barbaric even. Some of the travellers who had come through the Howling Axe clan's town had mentioned savage and ferocious Nielda who hunted powerful monsters in the snowy heights. It seemed to her that the best bet would be to start there while before she grew tired.

The road north was harsh. As she reached the first foothills she saw the roads narrow and grow little more than a narrow ravine, winding steeply up the mountains. Those who lived in the villages by the mouths of the path told her more of those in the mountains.

It seemed that most of the mountain folk had been here little longer than her lifespan. After the war, the battles on Mrococo, Anatolia, Decidua, and the raids across the empire many people had been discontent with the treaty. They felt that the empire should have retaliated in force, which in all fairness most Ga-Vok had expected. Most of these people had simply enlisted, expecting that it was only a matter of time before the Ga-Vok tried again; which it clearly was. Nethen and most of the rangers had been of this cut of the population. Others had not been content to wait, these mountain folks were of that brand. They chose instead to move to worlds like Gasca, where Nielda and Ga-Vok both dwelt, and to launch their own private retaliations.

That wasn't all that lived in the mountains though. One of the towns was lead by a mage, nothing spectacular but apparently quite fun at fairs and birthdays. He said that there had been people in the mountains before the raider clans had arrived. There was a clan in this particular range with a hidden stronghold full of riches. This clan hunted the local monster, a frost breathing reptile of some sort. Apparently they made some of the most amazing armor from the beast's scales. And the gland that allowed it to produce it's signature icy breath was worth millions to the Government, who used it in the manufacture of grenades.

After delivering the Call to Arms she began the journey into the mountains. Narrow ravines quickly gave way to glacial crags. On the tenth day of her journey she reached snd of the road, and camped looking out upon the mountains.