When Ostara was attacked, more than seven hundred people fled into the forest.
Most of the refugees were women and children, but there were also some cowardly men, and there were even a group of loggers who had long lived in cabins in the woods.
The refugees didn't have much time to pack their belongings. They didn't carry much food, and most of them didn't even have cooking utensils.
All those who escaped gathered in the forest. A group of women with children elected some woodcutter in the forest as temporary leaders. Your home has been destroyed, where to go next?
After some discussion, many people proposed to go to the Melalen tribe.
Because everyone knows that the people of Melalen are the richest in the entire alliance! What's more, maybe when everyone arrives in Mellaren, the alliance leader will be furious because of the Danish attack, lead the army to counterattack, and the Ostara people can regain their lost home.
People fantasize about such results and constantly comfort themselves.
The reality is still cruel and difficult.
To go to the Mälaren Tribe, you must first get to the Hjälmälän Tribe, get on the boat and cross the entire Lake Mälaren.
Among the refugees, some had some traveling expenses, and some had some daily necessities in their linen pockets.
Many more people had their clothes worn out or their boots worn out during the many days of trekking.
By now, the leather boots of the two little girls were almost damaged.
After being let go by the Danes, the two sisters followed the path they had taken to find their lost luggage.
When they found the linen bag lying in the grass, they regretfully found that the clay cooking utensil inside was broken. Anyway, there was still some oats in their pockets, but they could no longer cook the wheat and had to chew it dry.
Two children trekked alone through the dangerous woods.
Fortunately, there were two daggers in his pocket for self-defense. After all, they were both Vikings. The older sister broke off branches and used a dagger to cut out a sharp edge, which she used as a walking stick and a short spear for self-defense.
What they fear most is the wild beasts in the forest. Sister Suo Xing has not forgotten her ability to drill wood to make fire.
After spending two nights in the woods and walking an unknown amount of distance, they finally found the crowd that had gathered. By this time, the girl had run out of food, and the rest of the tribe was in even worse shape.
Those who lag behind for too long are destined to die in the woods and become food for wolves or bears.
Even among the people who gathered, most continued to move forward purely with the will to survive. Some people have even eaten suspicious mushrooms, foaming at the mouth and twitching in public, and stopped moving after a while. Whether it's coma or death, others are really helpless.
The two children covered their heads with linen burqas. Their dirty appearance and many torn clothes completely concealed their identities.
Even the fleeing tribesmen were unable to identify the two children.
They have also been concealing their true identities, fearing that they would be controlled by the almost crazy tribesmen and plunder all the money from their linen pockets.
A small bag of money and the few remaining pieces of amber were what the sisters needed to save their lives after arriving at the Melalen tribe!
Now, the two children sit on the grass and hug each other, waiting for the adults to take action.
After a crazy scramble, some people were indeed trampled to death on the spot, while others were seriously injured.
More people were too weak to grab even a little bit of cheese dregs.
The leader of the Gran people was still standing on the bullock cart, facing the still messy refugees and shouting: "You were our allies, and now we Gran people have fulfilled our responsibilities as allies. I will give you a meal." , what happens after that is your own, I have done my best."
For a moment, people who thought they had found a life-saving straw panicked.
The few loggers who relied on their physical strength to become the natural leaders of the refugee group were the ones who ate the most during the fight.
Now these people hurriedly rushed to the arrogant leader of the Gran people and called: "Sir, we implore you, considering the past relationship, give us some more food. At least, let us arrive in Yell safely. The Maroons’ Dock.”
The leader's attitude remained the same, "It seems that your leader has died in the battle. You guys are men, but you have turned your back on your own people. Why are you alive? Come on! Kill the cowards!"
The leader could see that these guys were the leaders. Although they were all allies, he didn't need them now. To put it coldly, except for the pretty young women among this group of refugees who can be incorporated into the tribe, why should the Gran people care about the lives and lives of the rest of them?
The woodcutter didn't react at all, and even wailed, before he was stabbed to death on the spot with a spear by the Gran warriors who were waiting for him.
Horrifying scenes were witnessed by other refugees.
The two sisters not far away saw the horrific scene of blood spurting and couldn't help but hug each other tightly.
"Sister, aren't these people allies? How could they..."
"My dear, don't cry and don't look. We will always be together."
Many refugees felt that the so-called cheese reward from the Glen was the last supper. In the panic, many people, especially women holding children, began to run away subconsciously, for fear of being killed by this group of irrational "allies".
After a while, there were about fifty warriors, with their shields on their backs and their swords and axes inserted into their belts.
They were ordered to walk into the group of refugees and immediately began to inspect all the refugees closely.
Soon, some young women were identified and taken away crying.
There were even some women who were holding their children. They saw warriors ordering mothers to abandon their infant children, or even young children, and forcefully take her away. The mother, who couldn't bear the separation of her flesh and blood, held on to her child, and even worse, she opened her mouth and bit the warrior's hand.
The women who had just seen the bloody scene were deeply stimulated. Now, they are trying their best to protect their children. Even if they are taken away by the Gran people, they must take their children with them.
But the leader of the Gran people had no such intention.
The fifty strong warriors sent by the leader were ordered to identify young women and girls who were about to grow up among the refugees in a very short period of time.
The Gran people must take advantage of the warm period of summer to move to a new area and build a new settlement to survive the severe winter that will soon come.
Tribal people don't have much surplus food on hand, because almost all of them are herdsmen, and all their means of production are cattle and sheep on hand. On weekdays, their food mainly consists of dairy products and some wheat traded with the Melalen and Hjelmalen people. The cattle and sheep are forced to travel, so don’t expect that the cattle and sheep can still produce milk stably during this period.
Cattle and sheep are the basis for the survival of the tribe. For the sake of his tribe, the leader is reluctant to slaughter any cow to help all the Ostara people in trouble. Besides, even if you slaughter cattle and sheep, the meat and blood will be supplied to your tribe immediately.
Otherwise, it will be the Gran people who die.
The leader of the Gran people only plans to save some young women among the refugees and integrate them into his tribe. As for everyone else, they are not worth saving.
Now, the scene where the Gran warriors select refugees seems like a market for selecting slaves.
The two sisters who survived the disaster were still huddled together, they just hugged each other and didn't know what to do. They felt that the Grans were no longer allies and were almost the same as the Danes who had sneak attacks.
The two sisters hoped that the Gran man would disappear quickly. In this way, with limited food and catching some bugs or even a marmot along the way, they should be able to reach the Jälmalun tribe.
Once there, everything is safe!
Finally, a Gran warrior noticed the two huddled children.
Although both of them wore linen hoods and tried their best to pretend they didn't exist, the hoods couldn't cover up the sisters' long golden hair.
The soldier stepped forward and lifted the linen cloth without warning.
"Two girls? Very good, a bigger girl." The soldier murmured to himself, and a big hand suddenly stretched out and grabbed his sister's chin.
The girl gritted her teeth in pain and wet the soldier's hands with her hot tears.
"You are a beautiful girl and you are very lucky. Now come with us."
The soldier wanted to pull his sister up, but at this moment, her sister rushed over and hugged her waist tightly. "No, you can't take her away."
At this moment, my sister was also struggling hard. In the crisis, she followed the soldier's hand and opened her mouth to bite.
"Ah!" the soldier screamed and subconsciously threw away the girl in his hand. Out of his fighting instinct, he raised his fist and was about to hit him.
Finally, when he saw the two girls hugging each other with their eyes closed, their fists relaxed.
The soldier covered the hand that added a line of teeth marks and said angrily: "Hey, girl, do you want to die here? I can save you, but I can't save your sister. Come with me now, otherwise you will be killed soon. The wolf eats it.”
"No! If we want to die, we will die together. We will not be slaves of your Gran people. You, like those Danes, are not our allies at all."
The sister's words offended the soldier. The man squatted down and gave his sister a slap in the face with a sullen face, knocking him completely to the grass.
"How dare you say such a thing? You're pretty. I'm giving you a slap as a warning. Follow me now."
My sister, who was lying on her side on the grass with her face covered, had a murderous look in her eyes. The younger sister hurriedly threw herself next to her older sister, but accidentally, her younger sister's body touched her older sister's knee.
Who would have known that the girl's right knee has become an untouchable place.
"Ah! It hurts!"
The girl screamed and gently lifted up her badly worn skirt in pain, exposing her knees that were already dripping with water.
Seeing this scene, the warrior who originally wanted to take the girl away like a wild duck stopped completely.
He cursed and said: "What a stupid kid. Some beauties are just injured. We don't have any medicine to save you. Death will find you soon!"
Then, the soldier actually left.
Sitting on the grass, her sister gritted her teeth and pinched her right leg with both hands to relieve the pain in her knee. Seeing that the warrior had gone away, she tried her best to pretend that nothing was wrong, and tried her best to put on a gentle face to comfort her crying sister.
She wiped her sister's face: "It's okay, I'm okay. I said we will never be separated."
"But, your knees."
"It's okay, I'm okay, we will all be okay..."
Even my sister didn't expect that her injured knee would actually start to ooze. This is not a good thing!
Although she didn't know the exact reason, the girl knew that some people's wounds were filled with foul-smelling pus. If they could not receive timely treatment, the injured would soon become feverish all over and eventually die in pain.
This is septicemia caused by wound infection, and it is also the main cause of death for wounded warriors after various tribal battles. Living on the southern border, both sisters knew the seriousness of this wound.
Now, my sister is no longer afraid of death. She felt that she might not be able to reach the Yelmalen tribe. No matter what, her life might be lost. At least she had to save her sister's life. If possible, it is best to entrust your sister to a kind person. In any case, she cannot be a slave.
The Granites selected more than forty people among the refugees, and the rest were abandoned by them.
Fordgen, a businessman who has been in the Gran camp, has been monitoring the actions of these guys.
By now, Fo Degen could no longer stand it.
He felt that the Gran people were completely interpreting what hypocrisy was.
With several followers, Fodegen approached the leader who was still standing proudly on the bullock cart.
"My leader, you should save all the refugees. I saw that you just dragged some young women over. Where are the others? You just watch them starve to death?"
The leader looked unconcerned.
Seeing that the other party was ignoring him, Fordgen gritted his teeth and called the leader by his name: "Oke! You are hypocritical. Do you think it is honorable to save some people? More people will die! You We obviously have the ability to save them.”
The leader would not be happy to be criticized in this way.
The leader jumped out of the bullock cart, his old face almost touching Fo Degen's forehead. "You call me hypocritical? What do you know?!"
As he said this, he spat Fu Degen's face with his curses.
"You! As a leader, don't you want more tribes? You are now fully capable of taking in these Ostara refugees. After all these years, are you still willing to be the leader of a small tribe?"
"You don't understand anything at all!" the leader retorted angrily.
"I understand, you just don't save them. You have so many cattle and sheep, kill some to feed them. Your tribe will soon exceed a thousand people, don't you hope that you will have a larger number in the alliance? The right to speak?"
"No, you still don't understand." The leader curled his lips and criticized: "We are also looking for new settlements, but we don't have so many supplies. You said, I want to kill a few cows to feed them? Why? ?Many women’s husbands died in the war, and they should be buried! I selected some of them and fed them with our scarce food. This is my greatest kindness. You actually say that I am hypocritical? Okay, Ford Root, you are merciful and you come to save everyone.”
"I..." Fo Degen was stunned on the spot.
The leader continued to chase and fight: "Aren't you running away with us? Do you have food? If you have it, give it to the refugees and save everyone. Without food, how can you save them! Otherwise, you can use your cart to pull the cart." reward them with oxen.”
At this moment, Fo Degen looked at the refugees sitting around. He was really unable to do what he wanted.
Fordgen calmed down and sighed, "I'm sorry, I'm just an ordinary businessman. Maybe only big businessmen can save them."
"You also know your abilities. My friend, I thought you forgot that you are a businessman! Remember, you are just a businessman, do your business well! I am different, I am a leader. I As a leader, I must protect my people’s lives before talking about saving others.”
After calming down, Fordgen thought for a moment. He thought that if there was a famine, he would definitely hoard food and give priority to feeding his family and servants. If a crisis comes, even a loyal servant will be abandoned.
this is the truth.
Putting himself in his shoes, Fodegen estimated that if he were the leader of the Gran people, he would probably be able to do similar so-called "heartless" things.
