It was two days after the warband had returned to Bretagne that the first warrior approached the men of Vale as they sat in their small circle. Conversation ceased as four heads turned as one to the interloper, but no words were spoken… he obviously had something to say or he wouldn’t have ventured here, the people had certainly made few enough attempts to interact with the rest of the war band. It was their way, their village was quite isolated and rarely did they see other people’s, it created a very tight knit insular community… one of the great reasons it had taken so much effort on Nathanial’s part to sway them to pledge themselves to the Gauls.

The warrior was large, easily outweighing any of the four men of Vale by thirty pounds of, from the look of it, hair and muscle primarily and was about an inch taller than Luc who was the tallest of those who still lived which put him almost head and shoulders taller than Nathanial himself who was only just now beginning to grow into the size he would one day possess. For most that would be something to be defensive about, however when one had learned to kill without passion or emotion making it a part of yourself… such frivolous fits of ego no longer seemed important; he knew his worth and needed not the judgment of others to verify it so.

“You are not Gaul! You are not wanted here!” The man snarled, his beard slightly matted, not yet having taken the time to truly wash the accumulated filth from the campaign from himself. The four men of Vale looked to each other without speaking and nodded, three turning away leaving Alan to speak to the large warrior. Nathanial allowed himself a small reserved smile, shared in secret with the other two as they squatted back down beside the fire and picked their weapons back up tending carefully to their upkeep as the did every evening.

“And ye are not a man but some kind of beast surely!” Alan said stepping up towards the warrior, a rather infuriating grin on his features. A long jagged scar flowed lividly across Alan’s chest. The scar was actually a momento from a less than happy former lover… however it did look battle earned, it had been a deep savage cut and the Bear-Father had been surprised the young man had survived.

The Gaul growled.

“Ack! It even growls… Nathanial I do think we have a spirit of Brother Bear trapped inside this brute. But who can tell with all that hair in the way? ‘tis purely a mystery…”

“Why you…” the big man reared back a meaty fist and took a swing at Alan who moved his head to the right fractionally allowing the blow to sail through the space where his head had been. In the same motion he stepped forward into the man’s instep and drove his hands hard into the warrior’s torso making him grunt and back up knocked off balance by the blow.

The big man caught his balance with impressive quickness and gave a roar as he launched himself back forward where once again he had but a moment to see Alan’s impassive silent face before he seemed to blur to the side at the last possible instant leaving his foot in the warrior’s path to catch upending the large man who fell with a startled shout into the sand. The other three men of Vale were on the Warrior in an instant holding him down while Alan lined up and took a running start before slamming his booted foot square into the big warriors right buttock drawing out a started bellow and making the warrior lurch forward carrying all three of the other men forward with him.

“That’s it! Now we’ve found a use for ye! You’re to be the warband’s newest ass!”

The other three men of Vale broke into laughter and rolled off the big warrior who bounded up, his face crimson with fury and sputtering his anger preventing him from even forming words as the four young men then stepped together side by side, their joviality suddenly gone. Nathanial reached into his belt removing the knife he kept there and tossed it into the dirt at the warrior’s feet and slid a second out of his boot and simply waited with an arched eyebrow. The big warrior looked confused for a moment and then glanced down at the knife and the color slowly began to drain out of his features.

“Never you think this is over!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it Brother Ass!” Alan called out to him as the man wandered away, eyes vowing vengeance as he glanced back over his shoulder.

Nathanial just shook his head a little bit and bent to retrieve his knife. “I think perhaps you might have overdone it just a touch Alan, don’t you think?”

“Do you want me to go apologize to him Chief? I’m sure that I could find a ripe apple to feed him somewhere around here….”

Again the four men shared a quiet laugh and returned to their labors. It was Luc who took up the conversation next. He was a quiet man for all of being one of the largest men in the village… and prone to deep thoughts which some mistook for being slow of wit.

“What think ye of these “Games”?”

Nathanial paused, his knife kicking free an abnormally large chunk of wood from the side of his spear before he paused.

“War is not something that should be played at.” He said with a big of a nod.

“You know that is not that which I am referring to…” Luc responded. Alan, and Trent the fourth surviving man of Vale were both quiet waiting to see how Nathanial would respond.

“That is not our way and you well know it Luc.”

“Aye,” he said with a nod, “I do, but… one sometimes does wonder my chief if YOU still remember it.”

Nathanial arched an eyebrow, ever so slightly and turned his gaze to each of the three men in turn to gauge their reaction to that statement and then nodded.

“Noted. Alan will stay with me here… Luc.. Trent.. return to Vale, leave on the morrow. You have earned your rest and a fresh war band should be raised from some of the hunters that were left behind this time.”

“What about me?” Protested Alan weakly. He had been the most eager… after dear departed Elrik, in his desire to come on this great adventure. Perhaps some of the eagerness had left him, spilled to ground much like the blood of their friends and cousins had spilt onto the earth in battle. He did not fool any of the three however, they knew he did not really want to return to the village… the others however both had young children at home, a fact which Nathanial well knew.

“You Alan?” Said Nathanial flashing him a quick wink as he leaned forward. “Why my brother we stay here to give Teutates his due from the blood of our enemies.”

Alan smiled and nodded.

“Of course, just so long as I get to stab something…”

“Aye,” Said Luc, “we all know how much he likes to…. Stab.”

The four men shared another laugh and passed around a skin of wine as the embers of the fire began to burn low.