After getting out of the old forest, the group decided to rest for a while. It was Lyra’s idea to rest, and given that the whole group had been awake and walking the whole night, nobody raised a question and agreed to rest.

  They originally planned to rest for about half an hour, but before they knew it, their eyes shut and they fell asleep.

  After two hours, Meilie was the first to wake up. Looking at everyone asleep on the ground, she started poking her staff at everyone to wake them up.

  She went to Tarin first and poked his stomach. He woke up immediately. Upon seeing Arix and Lyra still asleep, he started shaking them to wake them up.

  Arix and Lyra woke after that, stretched, and headed in the direction of the village.

  "Are you sure we are heading in the right direction?" Lyra said from behind. Arix and Tarin were walking ahead of them. Meilie was walking beside Lyra.

  “Yes, we are,” Tarin replied, marching ahead.

  “But all the directions outside the forest look the same. Is it not possible we took a different direction?” Lyra asked.

  “There was a big rock on the path we took to get inside the forest. And we are following that same path after getting out. So we are on the right path,” Arix answered.

  “I see,” Lyra said, watching the sky with both her hands behind her back.

  - - -

  It took them three hours to reach the village, and with the time lost to sleep, they arrived when only two or three hours of sunlight remained.

  Upon entering the village, they saw the houses were empty, and loud cheering was coming from the direction of the town hall.

  “Are they all gathered in the town hall?” Lyra said.

  “Looks like it,” Arix said as he started walking toward the town hall.

  On his way, he saw a dwarf lying by the wall of a house, still as a corpse.

  Arix went toward him and shook his shoulder. “Hello. Are you there?”

  “I will—hic—kill you—hic—you damn horse.” The dwarf dragged his words, half-asleep.

  “He is drunk,” Lyra said from behind Arix.

  Arix tried once again to have a conversation with the dwarf. “Hello! Can you hear me?”

  “I am fine, ch—hic—chief. I ca—hic—can fight more—hic—” the drunk dwarf said and fell to the ground, lying there and snoring loudly.

  Arix stood up and sighed. “Let’s go.” He started walking toward the town hall.

  Upon reaching the town hall, Arix heard cheering and shouting from inside. It was so loud that it could be heard outside even with the door closed.

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  “Seems like they are celebrating,” Arix said.

  “Celebrating what?” Lyra asked.

  “Celebrating their win over the Nyctona, obviously. What other reason would they have to cheer and shout so loud?” Tarin replied as he walked ahead to open the door.

  “Wait. I will open it.” Arix grabbed Tarin’s shoulder, stopping him and moving ahead himself. Tarin didn’t mind and let Arix continue.

  Arix stood before the door. He took a deep breath and pushed it open.

  The door slammed open, and everyone inside went silent and looked toward it.

  Arix and the group entered when Bromgar, standing on top of the table, spoke. “Boy, where were you? I thought you died there at the Nyctona settlement.”

  Arix kept walking toward the table without saying a word. Everyone stepped aside as they saw his eyes fixed on Bromgar, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked frightening to them.

  “Why do you look so angry, boy? Come, this is a moment of celebration. Celebrate with us.” Bromgar raised the cup in his left hand. It was filled with wine, so much that when he lifted it, some spilled onto the table.

  Arix went to the table and stood below it, looking straight at Bromgar. Even with the table beneath him, Bromgar was only a little taller than Arix.

  There was silence in the hall for a while. No one spoke a word except for a few hiccups from a drunk dwarf in the room.

  Tarin, Meilie, and Lyra stood behind, waiting for Arix’s reply.

  “You killed innocent children and women,” Arix said.

  “What innocent? They killed our women and children, so we took revenge,” Bromgar argued.

  “Your revenge had nothing to do with those kids. They were small. You killed their mother in front of them,” Arix said.

  “So? They didn’t think before killing our women. Why should I think for them?” Bromgar raised his voice.

  “But what is the difference between you and them then? You did the same thing they did,” Arix said.

  Everyone stood in silence as the argument continued.

  Bromgar hesitated a bit and said, without raising his voice, “So what do you suggest then? Let them kill us and just watch?”

  "No. We could have hidden in the trees and ambushed them when they arrived," Arix said.

  “Umm. Well.” Bromgar was left speechless.

  Everyone in the room started muttering among themselves. Then one of the dwarves stood up and raised his voice at Arix. “They killed us for ages. We will definitely kill them, even their children—”

  Arix interrupted him and raised his voice too. “And they will return and kill your children again. What will you do then?”

  The dwarf was about to answer, “Uhh… we will fight—” but Bromgar interrupted him. “Silence, Hroth.”

  “Tell me, Arix. What do you suggest we should do?” Bromgar asked.

  “Offer them peace. Tell them you are willing to trade your goods and live together in peace,” Arix said.

  Everyone started muttering and shouting. Some shouted, “No. We should not be friends with our enemies.” Others said, “Yes. We have to end the cycle.”

  Bromgar shouted again, “Silence, everyone.” He then looked at Arix. “You are saying we should offer peace to the ones who killed our children? Who killed my boy?”

  “Yes. This is the time to end the cycle and give the kids of this village a chance to live in peace and grow,” Arix said.

  “But they killed my boy,” Bromgar said.

  “And you killed theirs,” Arix replied.

  Bromgar fell silent for a while before speaking again. “And what if they don’t accept our peace offering?”

  "Then we will fight them, but only the men. And I will help you with my friends," Arix said.

  Arix and Bromgar were at the end of their argument when a loud slam came from the door.

  Rurik was standing there, gasping for breath.

  “What happened now, Rurik?” Bromgar asked. Arix and the group also turned toward him, curious about what had happened.

  “They are here,” Rurik said.

  “Who is here? The Nyctona?” Bromgar asked.

  “Yes. The whole army. And the king too. At the entrance gate of the village,” Rurik answered.