"Camp!" Tates exclaimed excitedly, and Ed cheered and rushed forward. Anything that wasn't snow in the snow—dead bushes that stubbornly sprouted from the snow and nodded, dead animals gnawed clean bones—would have excited them, not to mention the barbarian tents they had been looking for.

Excitement was quickly replaced by disappointment.

"Empty!" Tess cried out of a tent, unhappily. Ed and Naria, who emerged from the other tents, were also disappointed.

The camp must have been abandoned for a short time, with a few tents still standing, the entrance covered mostly with wind-blown snow, and a few places leaving only shallow circular pits. When setting up their tents, the barbarians would first dig a pit in the snow that was nearly half a man high, and then build a dome out of animal bones and skins, which would make it warmer and the low tents more difficult to break down by the wind.

"It looks like at least they left on their own. Noway said it wasn't like it had been attacked, and most people left with all their belongings.

"Okay, at least we can stay here tonight?" said Ed. Camping in the snow is a strenuous task, they have to dig holes in the snow, close to each other to barely withstand the night chill, and they have to take care to keep everything dry. He really didn't know how a barbarian survived in such a place.

Norway looked at Nutka, wondering if living in an abandoned tent would violate some kind of barbarian taboo.

Nutka nodded: "We live in a tent, which is warmer and safer. ”

They had just started the fire when Norway heard a strange sound in the wind. He stood at the edge of the camp and looked into the distance, and in his field of vision, several animals appeared on the vast snow

"What's that?" Tess walked over to him, trying to make out the tiny black dots.

"It looks like a deer. Norway said.

"Domesticated reindeer. "Listen, bells." ”

The crisp chime of the bell rang one by one with the unhurried pace of the reindeer, ringing towards the camp. As they drew closer, Tess's eyes widened.

"They're dragging the sleigh!" she almost jumped for joy, "Naria!sweetheart!!, come and see Lura's sleigh!!"

When they left Cam, they had seen dog sledding on the frozen waters of the Vinez River, and Tess was eager to pounce on them and snatch the big furry dogs. And Lula's sleigh, they have never seen it before.

Naria and Ed, who were preparing dinner, also emerged from the tent and looked at the animals with large horns like branches, and the owner of the reindeer, when he saw the people in the camp, stopped his sleigh and asked aloud something.

"He asked us who we were and what we were doing here. Ed said.

Naria looked at him suspiciously, "When did you understand even the words of a barbarian?"

Ed chuckled, "I don't understand." But what else can be asked in such a situation?"

They watched as Nutka stepped forward and talked to each other for a while, and Tess couldn't help but run over to touch the deer, which looked extremely docile, but was pulled by Novi and left in place.

It was a long time before the man on the sleigh jumped down and followed Nutka back.

"This is Hal. "He has some news to tell us." ”.

The man named Hal had the rough skin and tall stature of a barbarian, but his facial features were closer to that of a human, and he came from the Winter Wolf tribe, the tribe of barbarians closest to the Castle Forest and most often dealing with humans, though most of the communication was not pleasant.

The Winter Wolf tribe is in the same situation as the tribe of Nutka, if not worse. They had been attacked by the Ice Dragon, but the Ice Dragon didn't appear very often, and there were other things that terrified them even more. Hal hadn't seen it with his own eyes, but he had heard from those who had fled to their camp that a barbarian who suddenly appeared in their camp seemed to have lost his mind and would attack everyone he came across. When they caught him, they found that he had lost his heartbeat and breath, but he was stronger and more powerful than when he was alive.

"I've never heard of anything like this. Nutka frowned in displeasure, "You must have angered your ancestors. ”

"At first, everybody thought so. Hal said that his lingua franca had an Anktann accent, but was more fluent than Nutka: "Everyone thought it was some kind of warning. But the shaman prayed day and night in front of the fire, but there was no response. ”

Their leader sent brave warriors to gather all their people for a ritual and find out the cause of their ancestors' wrath, only to find that many of the camps were empty, and the chief's son, Tulum, brought back even more terrifying news. There was not only one barbarian who had become that kind of monster, and he saw several humans in black robes, driving a dozen of the same monsters, and almost instantly leveling a small camp and taking everyone with them. He suspected that the uninhabited camps had been subjected to the same attack.

But such a statement was rebuked by the chiefs and shamans.

Like Nutka, they don't believe that humans can have such power. Doubts and fears breed countless speculations, and when the chiefs hesitate, they are attacked. The ice dragons descended from the sky on the sacred night when they held sacrifices and summoned their ancestors, and the roar stuffed fear into everyone's mind, and while they panicked, more monsters rushed into every tent, and if it weren't for Tulum and a group of young warriors to lure those monsters and ice dragons away, perhaps no one would have escaped.

"Hmm, the ice dragon, does it only have one front paw?" Ed had to ask again.

"Nobody has ever mentioned this, so I don't think so?" Hal hadn't seen an ice dragon, and he wasn't sure about it.

"Aren't you there?" asked Naria, "didn't your leader bring all the people together?"

Hal had an embarrassed look on his face, as if he didn't seem to want to answer the question.

"He's a half-breed. Nutka said, with a hint of contempt in his tone, as if that would explain everything.

Hal hung his head, even though he was taller than Nutka, who always seemed a little cowering in front of Nutka.

"We stayed in ...... Another camp. He said.

Hal was a half-breed and other half-breeds in another camp, and no one informed their leader of the orders. Far from the meeting place, they narrowly escaped, but the news from the fleeing men frightened them just as much. Half-breeds are mostly not as strong as savages, and they rarely have the opportunity to learn how to fight, and if they are attacked in the same way, they have no choice but to die.

They abandoned their camps, some to larger tribal settlements, others to the Kasdan Forest or the mouth of the Kuz River. Hal and a few companions had intended to go to the mouth of the Kuz River, a human town with strong walls to defend against the undead, and whose rulers were willing to accept any barbarians and half-breeds who asked for help. But before they got there, they heard that there was a disturbance in the town, and that it was now cordoned off and no one was allowed to enter.

In desperation, Hal and his companions had to find another safe place to live. They had heard that the leader of the Benlu tribe was gathering the barbarians of all the tribes to gather around the deer lake to deal with the crisis they were facing, and even the half-breeds would be welcomed. After deliberating, Hal ventured into the ice field again to see if the leader of the Black Deer tribe really treated the half-breeds equally, while another of his companions went to the Castle Forest, where a group of barbarians is said to have settled in the forest.

"We've probably heard of the barbarians who settled in the Castle Forest...... Ed said, assuming that's what they've heard about when they were in the Glowsdam Caverns, the barbarians who attacked and overtook human villages. But he didn't know if they had been driven out now, or if they had reached some kind of agreement with the Anktans, after all, when they left, Scott was going to "talk" to the barbarians, not attack them.

"The people of Isaac are not supposed to live in the forest. Nutka's serious expression was like what a serious mistake that was.

"It's better than staying on the ice and waiting to die. "Shouldn't they have robbed human villages?"

He didn't hate Nutka, and after a few days together, the female warrior didn't look so unapproachable, she was resolute, brave, and worthy of respect, but many of the barbarian's thoughts were really incomprehensible.

"We can go to Deer Lake with Howl. Narya said to Nutka, "If there are many people there, maybe someone will know...... News of the Ice Dragon. ”

Nutka glanced at Hal. Perhaps it was Novi who had won her over beautifully, and she had not shown any disgust or contempt for the need to walk with humans and elves, but she looked like she would be insulted for walking with half-breeds. Even what Hal said, she didn't seem to want to believe it.

"Aren't you afraid you'll be discovered by those undead monsters when you enter the ice field alone?" Norway asked Hal.

Hal smiled, he had been somewhat instinctively afraid of the elves, the legendary sharp-eared demons, and now, as if his pride had diluted his fear: "My deer run fast, and the monsters can't catch up with my sled." ”

"And what if the dragon flies over?" Tess asked, knowing why Norway asked the question suddenly, "no matter how fast a deer runs, it can't be faster than a dragon." ”

"Well, I guess, I'm going to have to be a little lucky. "We can't always run around, we have to have someone to look at the situation and find a safer place to stay." ”

"It takes luck and courage. Norway said, "Hal, you are a brave man. ”

He could understand Howl's situation. As a hybrid of elves and humans, it is difficult for half-elves to be recognized by elves. It's just that half-elves are usually more proud, and they don't allow themselves to live in the contempt of elves, but are more inclined to prove their abilities in various ways - a priest as powerful as Celebrian is extremely rare among elven chanters.

Such a blunt compliment was probably something that Hal had never heard before, especially from an elf, which made him overwhelmed, and even glanced at Nutka with some trepidation.

The female warrior looked at the elf. She began to think that half of that sentence was meant for her, but she had to admit that it would take courage for any Isa, let alone a half-breed, to enter the ice field alone, knowing all the dangers.

"We're going to Deer Lake with you. She said to Hal, her tone still stiff, "We'll know if you're true or not." ”

"Great!" Tess excitedly raised her hands, "Can I sit on the sled?"