"I did not an tha—"
He tried to explain himself but—
The cloaked figure completely ignored his statent, as if he never said it and while this forgiveness would have filled the leader with lifelong gratitude, the cloaked figure’s next words instantly took away any little gratitude that might have ford.
"You no longer have ti.
You need to move.
And you need to move now."
The woman leader clenched her fists in anger.
"...why? Why now? Why so desperately...?"
She couldn’t understand.
The cloaked figure moved his head towards her and—
"Because the plan is now in ruin because you were too slow to act. That man has done this much in the few weeks he has been here, imagine what he would do if he is given more ti.
The situation will only get worse from here, the support he has will rise, the tribes you still have on your side will start doubting you, the support we provide will no longer matter.
So win while you still can.
Win when you are still stronger.
If you hesitate, you will lose all the advantage you thought you had."
He explained in perfect Stormcaller tongue.
The Stormcaller leaders clenched their fists when they heard those words.
The worst part?
They couldn’t deny them.
They knew it was the truth.
It was only a matter of ti before what happened to them would spread to other tribes, and if the claim that the Flying Man could give unlimited food spread together with that—
Many tribes would defect.
But...
"And what of our losses?"
One of the leaders asked as he clenched his teeth.
"Do they an nothing?
Our people died!
Our hos were broken!"
He raised his voice, letting out all his frustration, fury and resentnt.
But...
All those emotions didn’t make any difference. The cloaked figures just looked at him and—
"That loss is acceptable, we will give you enough compensation to recover it."
"Compensation...?"
The Stormcaller leader snapped.
"Lives were lost! Our territory was half destroyed! Our Holy Sign no longer exists!"
He scread in rage.
"You think you can compensate for that!?
You think so resources you throw at us are enough to make us move however you want us to!?
WE ARE NOT YOUR TOOLS!"
He scread and this ti, he felt no fear.
He only felt rage.
For a mont, the room felt like it might explode.
But...
"You are exactly that."
The cloaked figure spoke.
"Tools.
You have been that from the very beginning. We didn’t co to you because you were special or you had an unexplored potential that we thought could be used.
We chose you randomly.
Any tribe could have been where you are right now because to us, that is what you are, replaceable."
The cloaked figure paused for a mont, as if he wanted to let those words sink in.
"It won’t take us a mont to take what we have given you and give it to soone else who is willing to do what we want them to.
And believe when I tell you,
If we take what we gave you, the people you seem to cherish so much won’t survive a month in this winter, not when their bodies are already used to the resources we provide.
So yes, your loss is acceptable, disheartening even.
But nothing more.
You will be compensated for your loss and everything you do from here on out, and you will be compensated generously.
But..."
The cloaked figure looked at all the Stormcaller Leaders once again and—
"Do not force to take away everything you have."
And the mont those words were said—
Silence.
Absolute silence fell in the eting Hall.
The Stormcaller Leaders clenched their fists, they glared at the beings in front of them in anger but...
But their heads were down.
They did not move, they did not kill these beings standing in front of them because they knew that not a single one of their words was a lie.
Their people were alive because of them.
If they abandoned them and took away the things they had given them—
Their people would not survive.
So no matter how much they hated everything that was going on, there was nothing they could do.
They could only... follow the command and...
Survive.
"You have been given one last chance to serve your purpose, gather the remaining tribes, declare the War and win.
Kill the Outsider Kael and if possible, Lavinia Dragonborn with him."
The orders were given.
The Stormcallers lowered their heads even more, but one of them raised his voice.
"The Tribes won’t gather."
The cloaked figures tilted their heads at those words.
"The Tribes won’t gather, especially when they see our state."
"You are not going to call them here."
The cloaked figure countered, the Stormcaller leader shook his head.
"That doesn’t matter, even if we go to them, quite a few of our n have fallen, they will notice that and they will ask about it.
And we...
We will have no way to answer.
It would either look like we are trying to keep so of our forces behind while sending them to the frontlines—
Or if we tell the truth, or if the truth is revealed on its own since rumours would start on their own.
We would appear weak."
The cloaked beings thought about it for a mont and that gave the Stormcallers a bit of hope.
Maybe he would understand what they were trying to say, maybe they would be given the ti they so desperately needed but—
That was all these things were.
Hope.
And the cloaked beings crushed it the very next instant.
"Force them."
"...what?"
"Use force.
Threaten them to align with you, or you will attack them first."
"But that would build resentnt and break Unity..."
The Stormcallers didn’t understand.
That was the worst thing to do during a War.
But—
"It doesn’t matter."
The cloaked beings shook their heads.
"There are only two sides to choose in this War, make them choose you once, no matter what tactic or trick you use.
And once they stand by you, they can no longer be against you because the enemy would not accept them."
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