Chapter 110: The New Leader, Su!

Wei’s aged yet august face softened with the affection of an elder.

“My son, do not grieve. I am only returning to the embrace of the ancestral spirits. For every Wind-Chasing tribesman, that is the best ending there can be.”

“Go fetch Su, and bring me another living scribe. Also, tear down this tent; it is so low it makes me feel as though my chest is being crushed.”

Gang did as he was told, and with the shaman’s help Wei propped himself up, hiding his wounds, once more becoming the imposing chief of the Wind-Chasing Tribe.

Soon, everyone had gathered around him.

Su, his eyes red, clutched Wei’s hand. “Grandfather...”

Wei merely patted his head and smiled with gentle warmth, saying nothing at all.

Then Wei turned to the scribe beside him and said in a voice like rolling thunder, “I hereby declare that Su shall succeed me as the new chief of the Wind-Chasing Tribe!”

The surviving elders surrounding Wei were stunned by the announcement.

“In these dire times, how can a child be made chief?”

“Yes, I nominate Gang as chief. He is the Wind-Chasing Tribe’s greatest warrior!”

“Chief, I beg you to reconsider!”

The elders objected vehemently, and the ordinary tribespeople at the outer ring began whispering among themselves as well.

“Silence!” Gang barked sharply. “This is the chief’s decision. It is not open to question!”

The Wind-Chasing guards protecting Wei also looked darkly at the murmuring crowd, the greatswords in their hands glinting with cold light.

At last the voices of dissent gradually faded.

Gang went to Su’s side and whispered a few words in his ear.

Reluctantly, Su let go of Wei’s hand and walked to the prepared platform, making sure everyone could see him clearly.

Then Su closed his eyes. An instant later, a golden radiance lit up on his forehead, as though a third eye had opened there.

From afar, Wang Chen could not make sense of it, but he heard the people around him suddenly erupt into fierce cheers.

“How is this possible? Su is only twelve!”

“A natural vertical pupil! And golden at that!”

“The ancestral spirits have protected us. So Su possesses such a gift. He will surely lead us through this chaos!”

“Could the legends recited by the scribes truly become reality?”

“I support Su as the next chief!”

...

Amid the rising uproar, Wang Chen caught fragments of conversation.

Among the Wind-Chasing people, a radiance shimmered upon the forehead. One of its uses was to allow them to see by means of that light, which was why Gang had been able to shoot an arrow with such pinpoint accuracy from several hundred feet beneath the cliff.

But this radiance was sealed at birth. Only by using the heart of a Great Wind as medicine, brewing it into a potion and drinking it down, and then forcefully piercing a hole in the forehead with a sharp beak-like implement, could one awaken it.

Once the wound healed, the power of the radiance could be used.

The more intense the radiance, the greater the aid it could provide, and gold was the strongest of all.

That color had only ever appeared in legends, and no Wind-Chasing tribesman had ever awakened it.

Those who were naturally able to use the radiance from birth, without undergoing such a rite, were known as born vertical pupils.

Su, born with vertical pupils and golden radiance alike, was the saint of Wind-Chasing legend, destined to lead the tribe toward prosperity.

Wang Chen thought that Gang and the others had hidden Su’s gift far too deeply, concealing it from everyone for twelve whole years. It was probably because they did not want some schemer to snuff out the boy before his time.

Yet now they had no other choice but to place Su on the platform.

Most likely, they were trying to steady the army’s morale during the period when the Great Wind Standard had been lost.

Looking at Su, who seemed almost saintly, Wei’s lips curved into a relieved smile, and he passed away quietly.

The shaman attending him immediately cried out in alarm.

Su leaped down from the platform and threw himself beside Wei, weeping bitterly.

After a brief silence, one of the Wind-Chasing tribesmen began to sing an ethereal melody, almost like throat singing, in which one could hear the chirping of insects, the cry of eagles, and the whinnying of horses.

The other tribespeople joined in one after another, and in the end they sent their chief off with a haunting, sorrowful song.

...

After Wei’s remains were sealed in a coffin and sent to the sky-burial grounds, the scribe announced Wei’s final words:

Given the urgency of the present war, Gang would temporarily lead the tribe. Once the situation stabilized, Su would formally take up the office of chief, with Gang serving as his support.

This was already understood by everyone. Su might bear the features of a saint, but he still needed time to grow. Having such an unmatched and valiant uncle to support him was the best fortune possible.

Wang Chen returned to the tent with the tribe’s current leadership.

At first the elders had questioned him, wondering how a human could possibly take part in their high-level council, but Gang had overruled all objections and allowed him to join.

Wang Chen found this somewhat surprising. This big fellow seemed to be less hostile toward him than before.

Then they began discussing where the tribe should go from here.

Gang’s idea was to draw a detachment of elite fighters from the remaining tribesmen and send them with him. He would visit each grazing ground in turn and make its owners behave, so they would stop following the traitors in some blind, foolish uproar.

They could also take Su with them and let him display his saintly bearing before those people, so that they would submit and return to the fold.

There was certainly nothing wrong with that: intimidation by force, reinforced by something close to mystical coercion.

But the question was whether the people they could now muster were enough to hold the line.

Unless all the young and able-bodied in the camp were sent out, leaving no one behind for defense.

Yet no one could guarantee that the rebels would not strike back at the camp. If that happened, only a mass of the old, the weak, and the women and children would remain, left to whatever suffering might befall them.

One trembling elder said that he did not need protection; the future of the tribe mattered more, and he supported sending out all available strength to make a show of force.

As for the dangers the women and children might face, those were simply the fate they had to endure.

Gang said nothing after hearing him, and Wang Chen cast a cold look at the elder as well.

Just then, Su spoke up.

“I oppose this plan. If we men cannot protect the women and children, then I do not know what it is we are fighting for.”

Every gaze in the tent instantly turned to Su’s face. The boy who had just been weeping on his grandfather’s body seemed to have grown up in a single breath.

He looked at Gang and said gravely, “In this rebel ambush, earth-burrowing beads were used, and some warriors reported seeing traces of the Deep-Earth Dwarves.”

“We have reason to believe that the Deep-Earth Dwarves are one of the rebels’ key allies. It is because of them that we have been unable to recover the Great Wind Standard.”

“So why do we not visit the Deep-Earth Dwarves, clear up the misunderstanding between our two races, and win back their friendship?”

At this, the others exchanged looks but none dared speak.

Only Gang was bold enough to answer plainly. “Chief, it is not as easy as you think. The Deep-Earth Dwarves may not even agree to see us.”

“After all, with war at our door, if we only now think to make friends, it will seem as though we lack even the slightest sincerity. It will also expose our weakness.”

Su smiled. “If I go personally with gifts to visit them, would that count as sincerity?”

At that, everyone turned pale with alarm.

“Chief, absolutely not!”

“You are the sacred sign of our tribe’s prosperity. How can you place yourself in such danger?”

“We beg you to think again!”

In an instant, objections filled the tent without end.