The Orc Lord turning to him upon the logistics chief's words had a wrinkled forehead. It was as if the manifestation of thoughts inside his head was reflected on his skin.
"Kurugölge, speak quickly!"
The bead-like eyes of the scrawny orc rushing forward immediately rubbing his hands were darting around.
"The construction of the structure given to us by the Gray Hyenas Organization is about to finish, and thanks to this, I assume we can keep the attackers waiting for a while."
"Very good, very good! Say we will keep them waiting at our door for at least a moon cycle!"
Siyahayı's anger was passing. Since he didn't want to receive any other news, he emptied the inside of his tent by signaling get out with his hand. He was laughing when he sat down, suddenly throwing himself onto his throne standing right behind him. While nodding his head slightly up and down, winds of happiness were practically sweeping across his face.
Both sides had made their plans, and when the ten-day period Nafız gave arrived, the army was waiting ready to set off. They would advance when daylight started to appear tomorrow; the same conditions were valid for warriors waiting in the Glacial Region too.
There was a feverish work in the headquarters of the first army, expected to spend their last night calmly. First, before dark, all mines were emptied; their interiors and entrances were sealed with poison specially prepared by Kitapkurdu.
The First Army positioned in the Arid Region placed all ammunition outside the tribe on mechanical tools intended for transport. Hundreds of thousands of warriors lined up in a circle outside the tribe were looking at a single place. The person hypnotizing them so much was the orc standing where Alyon's tent used to be.
Nafız had chosen a fire-red battle armor from her master's creation. She was standing tall in the middle of tens of thousands of destroyed tents. There were only rustling sounds made by the gently blowing wind in the environment. Even the breathing of orc warriors, whose tensions could be read from their faces, had slowed down.
"Listen to me, hero orc warriors!"
Then suddenly Nafız shouted with all her might. The timbre of her voice was practically tearing apart the silence of the night covering them like a sheet.
"I opened my eyes in a tribe where orc warriors were offered as sacrifices to filthy creatures for meat! We were side by side with your Chief Alyon!"
Her words were spreading in waves among the large crowd, and all warriors were listening to her carefully.
"Together we killed the tyrants, ended the pain the tribe suffered for years. Then, as we continued on our way, another tribe fallen into the claws of betrayal and cowardice appeared before us. That tribe was located here, on the lands you are stepping on with your feet right now!"
"Honorable orcs were exhausted under incompetent administrators. We gathered our army, saved them from the bad situation they fell into in the war they waged with humans. We rewarded the brave, gave the necessary punishment to those in treachery!"
"We brought Nikonya and Parthenia to their knees! We watered their lands with the blood of those deeming slavery proper for orcs. We made those taking refuge in humans by selling their lineage bow down. We set out on this path to exalt the orc name, and here remains one last struggle before us! Now, are you ready to return the Orc Steppes to its old free state together with us?"
When Nafız's words ended, orc warriors hit their shields on the ground twice. This movement of hundreds of thousands of orcs caused an incredible noise and ground shaking.
"Are you ready to crush and pass the fraud calling himself lord with our weapons in our hands, our orc honor in our hearts?"
After the last things they heard, orc warriors went thoroughly crazy. They were showing their enthusiasm sometimes by hitting their weapons on their shields, sometimes by stomping the ground with their feet. These states of theirs would also ensure the ambition inside their commander Nafız swelled up. Turning to her student Sangre watching her in a distant place, she shouted.
"BURN IT!"
Suddenly fires started burning on all four sides. Orc warriors carrying torches in their hands were setting the tents they destroyed on fire. It was a sign that there was no return from the campaign embarked upon. Either they would go and capture the Main Orc Tribe or leave their dead bodies there.
Walking calmly inside the flames rising to the sky with the effect of the blowing wind, Nafız looked like a demon emerged onto the earth from the corridors of hell. This scene, touching the hearts of hundreds of thousands of orcs too, was causing them to cheer madly.
Drinks started to be drunk, dances performed wildly as if they lost themselves. While going on a road with death at the end, orcs were living their last happy night. However much they wanted to create a community taking decisions with logic, complying with the chain of command, the scene would turn completely opposite in the following hours.
The most basic instinct was survival. While attempting a job where they would disregard this, orc warriors were expressing their other wild impulses to suppress their logic. Alyon and Nafız were watching what happened together; they deemed it appropriate to turn a blind eye just for once.
However much they let loose, they were all people who passed through strict training. When the morning sent its first lights onto them, they had already finished their preparations. Just in case, the vehicle with Nafız, Alyon, and commanders was in front of the army. Gathering all important people together would be a dangerous move in other situations, but those inside were not types to be intimidated by empty threats.
The ammunition convoy lined up right behind them was advancing in coordination with soldiers surrounding it all around. Since most of the army consisted of infantry warriors, its speed might be slow, but all precautions were taken. It was proceeding in a way to face an attack at any moment.
While Alyon and Nafız sat side by side, four people lined up opposite them were looking at them. The calmest among them was Kitapkurdu; he was like in a family meeting right now. On one side was his sister, on his other side his nephew Han. Beside the weak-physiqued male orc, Miloş stood like a poor relation. The former bodyguard had a troubled state; while sweating bullets inside the wagon where the tribe's big guns were, the wind hitting his face lightly was freezing his skin.
"Miloş, don't tense yourself up so much! You are considered family now?"
Alyon, seeing this state of the human warrior, tried to calm him down by laughing. Everyone except the crazy orc beside him and her student had uneasiness on them, but his state was very conspicuous.
"Hold on there, Mr. Alyon! You were the one who wanted him to join us for only five years. The given deadline will expire in a short time; the friend hasn't told us anything yet!"
Nafız didn't hesitate at all while tensing up the slightly softened atmosphere again. As she said, a very short time remained until her rule over Miloş was lifted.
"Ma'am, I won't lie to you. I have been thinking about this subject for quite a while, but I haven't made a definite decision yet. Along with the end of the war, I will say the final word about my future by clearing my mind!"
Curling her lip, Nafız turned her gaze outside. Inwardly, she wanted Miloş to stay in the tribe and continue his duty. Although she didn't say this to his face, she had implied it seriously a few times.
"Services you did for our tribe and the new orc race will never be forgotten. With us or not, you will always be welcomed and respected on the Orc Steppes!"
The speaker was Han, the youngest orc in the environment. The seriousness permeating his voice increased the weight of his words several times. Since he was born, what he was taught was that he should respond to good and evil tenfold. Making promises on the lands he would be the ruler of in the future wasn't for nothing; it was to persuade a tribe member he deemed valuable.
"Master, good thing Sangre is not here. Otherwise, I don't even want to think about what we would suffer until we reached the Main Orc Tribe!"
Just as Kitapkurdu was about to straighten up slightly from where he sat, suddenly spreading more, he threw himself back. He was reinforcing this comfortable attitude with the words he said for Sangre, with whom he was a fellow student.
"Sit properly, man, in front of your father! You spread yourself like a water buffalo calf seeing a shadow!"
Nafız scolded him harshly upon these movements. Although she always appreciated her student's calmness and comfort, she had no tolerance for laxity. The environment was entering into chaos. As her student formed roundabout sentences to redeem himself, Nafız went after him; a pleasant spectacle was born for those watching.
Even in these moments, one person was sitting inside the vehicle with absent-minded eyes, silent as the grave. If Yarmagül didn't move slightly due to the vehicle advancing at a slow speed shaking occasionally, she had isolated herself from the environment enough not to be noticed.