Chapter 2: Unwanted guests

Bearclaw Camp's chieftain is unsure of where is daughter is, and as his men look around to find her, he has to deal with an Overseer representative trying to assimilate the camp into his Order's ranks

He had given them one job. One, simple, easy, job: “don’t let Lilith get out of the camp”. And what did they do? They looked the other way and let her leave the camp without anyone noticing.

David was pacing around his office, stroking his unkempt beard, fiddling with his ponytail and rubbing his eyes, heavy for all the recent sleepless nights he had to endure because of the way too frequent Wisp attacks. He was nervous not just because his daughter had been missing for close to four hours now, but also for the elderly, slim, gaunt-looking Overseer standing at the other end of the room. 

Outside of his footsteps, there was an uneasy, morbid silence filling the surroundings, something that usually was present after David discussed things with the Overseers, not before. Much like the other times one of them had come to Bearclaw Camp, they were there to force David’s hand to join their side and stop living as Outcasts, something he, as a leader who had the freedom of his people at heart, never accepted, no matter how insistent the zealots got. Now, more so than usual, David didn’t want to deal with him. 

To the messenger’s credit, he was fairly silent, probably because he felt that angering him was only going to make things harder. Unlike David, the Overseer stood motionless in front of a shelf full of books, quietly looking at the titles: most of those books had colorful covers and titles, and a lot of them were classic fairytales, old and modern. All, the representative quickly noted to himself, were children’s books. With that notion in mind, he decided to finally break the silence.

-”Are these your daughter’s?” 

David had grown accustomed to the lack of noise, and he didn’t want it to disappear, even less with mentions of Lilith.

-”Yes, they are.” was his dry, annoyed answer.

-”How old is she?”

-”Four.”

-”Oh, that’s good, that’s good of you! It is fantastic that you’re teaching her to read at such a young age! Children are our future, and it is our duty to make sure they are smart enough to build the best society possib-”

-”Are you done?”

The Overseer answered the question with a smirk, clearly he had gotten on the Outcast’s nerves. 

-”Learn how to take a compliment, Lefebvre.”

-”I’ll do so when you’ll learn not to get on the nerves of someone you’re trying to come to an agreement with.”

The tension, already dense from the moment Lilith had gone missing, could be now cut with a butter knife. The two locked eyes, the tired visage of the concerned father meeting with the piercing gaze of the older Overseer, something that was almost physically hurting David. The silence, for one brief moment, had come back, this time enhancing the scorn between the two men at the opposite sides of the office. It wasn’t long before the Overseer decided to talk again:

-”I wouldn’t talk to a Chancellor of the Overseers like that if I were in your place.”

-”Any other sage piece of advice, Morgenstern?”

-”Chancellor Morgenstern, you arrogant fool!”

-”Oh, excuse my impoliteness, Chancellor Morgenstern.”

-”You want some advice? You don’t keep an Overseer representative waiting for too long for trivial matters.”

-”That’s my daughter you’re talking about, you b*****d.”

-”Indeed, and her disappearance is a trivial matter when the fate of your entire village is at stake. One that is having quite an effect on you, it seems. You look stressed, my friend, a little bit more and your hair will become whiter than mine. Have you had a good night's sleep in recent days, may I ask?”

-”No, I haven’t. I was too busy fending off Wisps to sleep.”

-”Then join us! We can take care of them!” 

Chancellor's Morgenstern voice had taken on a strong, upset tone. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was becoming as desperate at Bearclaw’s refusal to join his ranks as David was at Lilith’s unknown whereabouts. 

-”You can’t keep this up for much longer. Think about your people! They need a strong leader, not a man who, in spite of his young age, can’t stand on his two feet because he could fall asleep at any moment!”

That hit close to home. The Chancellor was right, much as it hurt to say. David had tried to defend the settlement as best he could, but the restless nights had made him sloppy: five good fighters had died because of his direct orders. He couldn’t afford to repeat the same mistakes. And yet he knew that he and the people of Bearclaw would rather die by the Wisps hands than serve under Overseers. 

Besides, what good could come out of it? The Overseers only ever properly protected settlements that were strategic in their war against the Mechanists; everyone else was used to reinforce their territories, but they were otherwise expandable. Bearclaw was the biggest Outcast settlement, yes, but almost the entirety of Canada was otherwise Overseer territory, save for a few smaller patches. Whatever tactical locations the Overseer’s Order needed, they had taken, and Bearclaw Camp wasn’t a high priority target. The only reason why they were so adamant about getting their hands on it was for its high population number, which would then be made into soldiers or servicemen, leaving the settlement barren, and therefore not something to be defended. 

-”I’m trying to defend this place. I’m trying to keep its people safe. We both know that after you’ve taken what the Overseers want from here Bearclaw will be left to itself, and then who cares if the Wisps raze it down to the ground? You’ve already gotten what you needed, we’re expendable. So don’t you dare bring my people’s safety, my daughter’s safety into this, because I know you won’t move a finger to keep them safe!”

-”You’ll buckle under the pressure, Lefebvre. Under your own ego, your own absurd, paranoid theories. Do you really think we’d go through all of this hassle, all of these arguments and disagreements, for something we’d use and then throw away like nothing?!”

-”You did so for Eagle’s Nest, Greywater and Leville, and where are they now, Chancellor Morgenstern?”

The gaunt Overseer couldn’t answer that question as their heated discussion was suddenly, and abruptly, interrupted by the door of the office, which was sprung open by one of David’s men, a rather robust person with a bald head and a long, braided red beard. His thick Scottish accent masked a certain degree of worry. 

-”Uh, Chief, we’ve found her.”

-”Lilith?! Where was she?”

-”Well, yeah, we didn’t find her ourselves, she just came back but, erm..”

-”Where is she?”

-”Outside the cabin, sir, but…”

The barrel-chested man couldn’t finish his phrase as David stormed out, the news about Lilith briefly giving him a surge of strength he desperately needed. He wasn’t even mad at her for leaving, he was just too worried and the news had relieved him way too much for him to harbor any anger. David was just going to exit his hut, take the little one in his arms and…

...A golem. His daughter had gone off into the outskirts, where Wisps and Outlaws could’ve easily killed her, didn’t show up for hours, giving her father an untold amount of anxiety, only for her to come back, while he was in the middle of a tense treaty with an Overseer, with a f*****g golem.

-”Hi daddy!”

-”L-Lil-”

-”His name’s Rocky, and he needs help!”

-”Lilith...what the hell is that?”

-”A golem?!”

Morgenstern’s voice could be heard from a good chunk of the settlement. It was rare for him to be taken aback. He could get mad, furious even, but it was not normal for the Chancellor to just be utterly baffled. 

-”You have brought a golem to your settlement while Overseers were in its presence, Lefebvre?!”

-”I didn’t plan on it, Chancellor! I’m as shocked as you are right now!”

Arriving as quickly as they could, Morgenstern’s personal halberd-wielding guards appeared, no doubt alarmed by his shrilling screams. Rocky was, needless to say, confused by the hub-hub his presence had seemingly created, so much so that the only thing he could do was staring at the guards, their white and blue hooded robes and shiny chainmail giving them a noble and regal aura, betrayed only by their masks, shaped like three pairs of wings completely covering their faces.

-”Lord Chancellor, we arrived as fast as we could!”

-”Have I done something?”

-”Silence, you walking blasphemy!” Was one of the guards’ swift rebuttal. Evidently, they didn’t like him that much.

-”You know what our Order thinks of these...constructs, don’t you, Chieftain?” Morgenstern asked David, not waiting nor wanting an answer.

-”I...I’m well aware…” Bearclaw’s leader couldn’t muster more than those words. This whole situation, the sleepless nights, had finally gotten to him once more. He needed rest, whether the Chancellor wanted or not.

-”I...can’t deal with all of this right now...I’ll deal with it tomor-”

He was quickly interrupted by the loud blaring of the settlement’s horns.

-”WOLVEN, A WHOLE PACK OF THEM!”

He wasn’t going to get any sleep soon.

-”Well, it appears there’s another unseen distraction.” said Morgenstern with an annoyed voice. -”I’ll retreat to my station and fend off every beast that dares come close to it. Make sure your men do their job since you insist so much on not needing our help.”

With those cold words, the Chancellor made his way to his own tent, radiating with the classic Overseer blue, which stood out starkly against the yellow banners present all over the settlement. David swore under his breath and took up arms.

-”We need to defend the main gate and every other entry point, they can’t let them enter-” as he was starting to give orders, the chieftain fell on his knee, his vision becoming increasingly blurry. He was tired, way too tired.

-”We can take care of this, chief”, said the pudgy man that had given the news of Lilith’s return. 

-”But…”

-”Goddammit David, we have this! You’ll get yourself killed if you go out like that!”

David gave his second a pained look.

-”We .Have. Got. This. Go inside the cabin, it’s the highest part of the village, ergo the last place they’ll attack. Take some rest, and come back when you can stand on your own two feet. Lilith’s already lost her mother, I don’t want her to lose you too”.

Those words had hurt him, but they were what he needed to hear. And yet he couldn’t help but feel unease.

-”What if they do come this far?”

-”Well you do have a big b*****d made of rocks, don’t you?” The second asked, nodding his head at the golem.

-”You there! I need you to keep these two safe! You figure you can do that?”

-”I will.”

His response was quick, almost instinctual. Rocky had started to feel like he had a debt to pay to the little girl, because, for all he knew, had Lilith never found him, he would’ve never woken up.

-”Then we’re set. Don’t you let anything happen to them.”

David didn’t want to stand in the comfort of his office while men and women were fighting for their life. Yet he also couldn’t stand much of a chance in his state. He got up, getting helped by the golem, and as he entered his hut, he turned his head to his second.

-”Good luck, Jason.”

-”Luck? When did we ever need luck?”

And with that, he gave his chieftain a smile, turned back and picked a claymore that had been brought to him by one of the hunters.

-”We know the drill! These Wolvens? Nothing more than pups! Let’s show them who the real beasts are!”

Those words Jason had given were quickly followed by a unanimous hurrah by the hunters. They were ready to defend their homes, Wisps and Overseers be damned.

Author's Note

Initially, this and chapter 1 were one single chapter, with each change of scenery and perspective being separated by three asterisks. I was told the story would've been lighter to read if I just separated it by chapters instead.
Same as the last chapter, feel free to correct me on anything (be it wording, phrasing, language correction, anything) or ask for any clarification on the story. Chapter 3 goes in a bit deeper into some of the world's lore but I rather work on that a bit more, trying to not make it so lore-dump-y.