Chapter 9 Chapter 6 The Nomads

Kista, son of Regak.He was kneeling on the soft tundra now, his knees sunk in the dirt.For a nomad in Icewind Dale, he wasn't tall, hardly six feet, and he didn't have the muscular frame of most nomads.His long golden hair fell behind his shoulders, and his eyes were like the blue sky with the sun shining.Although he seldom smiles, that bright smile always makes people feel the warmth of his soul. Across the tundra, Kista could see the snow-capped Cone of Cairn.It is the only mountain on the thousand miles of tundra known as Icewind Valley.This tundra is on a wind-eroded belt between the Sea of ​​Pack Ice and the Spine of the World spur to the northwest.Kista knew that if he walked a few miles toward the Cone of Cairn, he would be able to see the masthead weatherbelts of the fishing boats on Lake Denisia, the second of the three lakes in the region.

For Kista, walking just a few miles is a different world for him.He was only a child, and only seventeen winters had been in his life.But he has been to more places than most people in this world know.He once answered Wulfgar's call, and traveled with many warriors from Icewind Dale to the distant Stone Town.His ninth birthday was spent on that trip, and it was also the day he celebrated the time when he finally left his family and lived on his own.By the age of eleven, the young barbarian had fought goblins, kobolds, and drow, as well as Berksga the Brave, leader of Hardstone.It was Berksgar who decided that the barbarians should return to their homeland of Icewind Dale and resume the ways of their ancestors.

Kista has seen a lot and experienced two completely different ways of life.Those are simply two different worlds.Now, he is a nomad, a hunter in the frozen tundra.His eighteenth birthday is not far away, and at that time, he will start his hunting career alone.Looking at the Cone of Cairn, he knew that fishing boats were floating on Lake Dinesia, Lake Duerden to the west, and Lake Redwater to the south.He understands his own smallness and the vastness of this world.Walking a few miles from where he was kneeling, he was able to blend into the vast world.He could picture Bryn Shander's bustling marketplace, the largest of the ten towns by the lake.When spring comes, southerners will come here with their horse-drawn carriages.They wore brightly colored clothes and jewels, and paid big money for carvings of the skulls of knothead salmon from the three great lakes.

Kista could only wear tan, like the tundra beneath his feet, like the reindeer they'd hunted, like the tent he'd lived in all his life. But the young man is not dismayed by this, and like his ancestors, he has resigned himself to this way of life.Kista could not deny that there was a beauty in the simplicity of such a life, where one's body and soul could be tempered in such a difficult environment.Kista is a young man, but his wisdom is beyond his years.It was believed to be due to his bloodline, as his father Regak had led the united barbarian tribes since Wulfgar left.Never out of control, Rejak did not leave Icewind Dale to take part in the campaign to retake Mithril Hall.He explained this by saying that he was too old to do anything to change the status quo.Rejak has been staying in the majority society of the barbarians, working to strengthen the alliance between the nomad tribes and strengthen the connection between the barbarians and the residents of Ten-Towns.

When Berksga came back, Regak was not surprised. He expressed his heartfelt welcome and greetings to his returning son and his clansmen.But this return still raises many questions for the future of the nomadic tribes and the leadership of the barbarians. "Is there any blood left?" The sudden questioning voice woke up the young man who was in deep thought.Kista turned and saw the other hunters standing behind him, and Birxga among them. Kista nodded, pointing to the red patch on the ground.Berksga had just shot a reindeer with his javelin.There were not many men who could kill prey with a thrown spear at such a distance as he did, but he only wounded the beast.These hunters will persevere in pursuit of fleeing prey.They don't let a wounded prey die in vain, that's not their way of life.According to Birxgar, "People who live in Ten-Towns and south of the Spine of the World cannot have such waste."

Berksga walked past the young man kneeling on the ground. The tall barbarian leader was also staring at the giant cone of Kane in the distance. "We must catch the beast quickly, for if it goes into the valley the dwarves will steal it." Several hunters nodded in agreement, and the hunting team launched a full-speed pursuit.Kista followed them, his steps heavy with the leader's words.Birksgar had been speaking ill of the dwarves since they left Hardstone, and they had been best friends and allies not so long ago.The dwarves of Bruenor once fought with them and cheered for victory together.The most vivid memory of his brief years in Hardstone was not the war with the drow, but the celebration and peace that followed.Then they shared each other's joys with the Dwarves, and the strange Snebli, and the warriors who came from the neighboring towns.

Why all of a sudden, these disappeared?Only a week's journey away from Hard Rock, and the life of the savage was completely changed.The good times are no longer spoken of, and only stories of disaster and tragedy circulate among the people.As if the Moose tribe, the Grizzly tribe, or some other ancient tribe had condescended to do much slavery for outsiders like servants.Rumors like this spread all over the Spine of the World and all the way back to Icewind Dale.Gradually, no one even said these words. Now, with rumors that dozens of dwarves have returned to Icewind Dale, Birxgar's remarks immediately brought renewed attention.Kista understood why.Rumor has it that Bruno Warhammer, the eighth king of Mithril Hall, is back.Shortly after the Drow War, Bruenor returned the throne of Mithril Hall to his ancestor Gundaron.He is the founder of the Warhammer clan.For centuries, he has been imprisoned by drow magic.

Even during the strongest period of their alliance, the relationship between Burksga and Bruno was very tense.Bruenor, Wulfgar's stepfather, had become an unrivaled hero in barbarian lore.Bruenor once forged him a powerful warhammer—the Fang of Aegis, which became the most glorious weapon in the eyes of the barbarians in Wulfgar's hands. But after Wulfgar passed away, Bruenor refused to give Aegis' Fang to Berksgar. Even after a valiant battle with the drow in Baumin Valley, Berksgar could not escape Wulfgar's shadow.Kista could understand why the barbarian chief was eager to act, to shame Wulfgar.He wanted to convince his proud people that Wulfgar was wrong, that he was not a strong leader, that he had even betrayed his people and their god.Berksga claims that only their old life and this vast tundra that allows them to run freely and freely is really suitable for them.

Kista liked life on the tundra, and he wasn't sure he disagreed with Berksga's views.But Wulfgar had always been loved and loved by the young man, and Birxgar's comments about the late leader had always left him resentful. His feet were running on the soft tundra, but Kista's eyes never left the Kane cone. He wanted to know if the rumor was true.If the dwarves did come back, would King Bruenor be with them? If Bruenor was among the dwarves, would he have brought the most powerful hammer of all, the Fang of Aegis? Kista felt a surge of excitement at the thought.But Birxga soon found the injured reindeer, and the hunters quickly made preparations for the hunt, and Kista put aside his own thoughts and joined in.

※※※※ "I want a cable!" Bruno roared, throwing the hemp rope handed to him by the store owner to the ground. "As thick as my arm, have your brains been eaten by orcs? Do you think I can use this kind of rope?" Something to reinforce the tunnel?" The shop owner hurriedly picked up the rope on the ground and ran into the back room stumbling. Regis, standing to Bruenor's left, frowned at the dwarf. "What's the matter?" The red-bearded dwarf turned to stare at the chubby halfling.There weren't many things in this world that the four-and-a-half-foot dwarf could overlook, and Regis happened to be one.

Regis stroked his curly brown hair with his chubby hands, and giggled, "It's a good thing you can never run out of money," the halfling said to himself, ignoring the angry Bruno He said, "Otherwise Mai Bo will throw you into the street." "Bah!" The dwarf raised his battle helmet with only one horn left, "He needs to do business, and I'll reopen the mine, which means a lot of gold for Mabo." "Good thing..." Regis muttered. "Shut your mouth," Bruno warned him. Regis looked at him with strange eyes, surprise written all over his face. "What's wrong?" Bruno turned to look at him. "You saw me," Regis's breathing became visibly rapid, "you saw me again." Bruno opened his mouth, but the words were blocked in his throat, unable to spit out.Regis stands to the left of Bruenor, who lost his left eye in the fight with the drow and left a huge scar on his face that stretched from his forehead on the right side to his jawbone on the left.During the battle between Mithral Hall and Menzoberranzan, one of Silvermoon's most powerful clerics cast a healing spell on Bruenor.But the scar had been there so long by then that the priest had asserted that his spells could do little more than mend the countenance at best.In fact, it wasn't until several months later that new eyeballs appeared in Bruno's empty sockets, and it took a long time for the newborn eyeballs to grow to their normal size. Regis drew Bruenor in front of him, covered his right eye with his hand, and poked a finger in the dwarf's left eye with the other hand. Bruenor jumped back and grabbed the halfling's fingers. "You can see!" the halfling yelled. Bruenor hugged Regis tightly, swinging the halfling's body back and forth.It is true, the dwarf's left eye has regained its light! Several other customers in the store watched the exciting scene.When Bruenor catches their eyes, and worse, their smiles, he hastily throws Regis back to the ground. Mabel came out from the back room at this moment, holding a heavy coil of rope in both arms. "Does this fit?" he asked. "Is that all?" Bruno continued to yell at him, "I need another thousand feet." Mabel stared at him. "Hurry up and get it!" Bruno growled, "If your hands and feet are not fast enough, I will go to Luskan and bring me and my people a hundred years' supplies in a carriage!" Ma Bo was stunned for a moment, then ran back dejectedly.As soon as Bruno walked into his shop with his heavy purse, his goods would suffer disastrous losses.He likes to sell his wares slowly, making each deal perfect, extracting as much gold as possible from his customers.But Bruno, the hardest bargainer in the mountains, never played that game with him. "It seems that restoring your eyesight doesn't make you feel better." Regis said to Bruno after Mabel left. Bruno winked at him. "It's just a ploy, Glutton. He must be happy to have us back. It will multiply his business." Regis understood that Bruenor had been right.With Bruenor and two hundred Warhammer dwarves back in Icewind Dale, Mabel's shop is sure to prosper.It's the biggest and best store in all of Bryn Shander, and all of Ten Towns. Of course, this also meant that Mabel had to deal with this extremely difficult customer.Thinking of the fight between the shopkeeper and Bruno, Regis couldn't help secretly laughing.Everything seems to be back ten years ago, and the sound of the dwarf's hammer will once again echo in this rocky valley. Regis stared at Bruenor for a long time, and it felt good to be home.