The threat to the settlement becomes obvious.

For the next couple of days, you and your assistants are busy with the procedures of mobilizing the militia and supplying the militia with weapons, protective gear and ammunition.

On the third day, something very unpleasant happens...

A pile of severed bloody heads - that's what the guards find near each of the four gates of the settlement.

Soon, your subordinates manage to identify in these pieces of corpses the remains of the bodies of members of the three missing groups of scouts.

"Probably, someone threw these "gifts" at the gate at night" - Ben answers your indignant questions about the gate guards not being able to say how these severed heads ended up here.

In the evening, the reason becomes clear...

A couple of armed groups, who were assigned to patrol the nearest area of ​​wastelands, return to The Green Oasis.

Most of these guys were ordinary humans.

A lot of those who returned were wounded.

"We were attacked from the sky!" - one of them explains the situation in fear, appearing before you.

"Who? Who attacked you?" - you demand an answer impatiently.

"It was... We were attacked by windriders!" - it is difficult to suspect a lie in this answer from a frightened and shocked human.

You order to double the armed guard at the gates, walls and towers.

Soon Tina reports that the movement of enemy forces has been noticed by observers stationed on the towers.

The enemy is advancing from every direction.

From the north.

From the south.

From the west.

From the east.

The enemy is numerous.

And this enemy can fly. After all, these are huge groups of windriders moving among the gloomy evening sky.

And also: you have been informed that a small group with a white flag of envoys is approaching the southern gate of the settlement.

You go there.

Your gaze looks down past the battlements of the wall.

You see a group of two dozen armed windriders.

And you see someone familiar among them.

Ashandra.

Female-shaman of the tribe of Skyblooded.

One of the leaders of your former tribe.

Female-windrider, who is dressed in ritual clothes, covered with symbols of Spirits of the Mountain Peaks.

She also notices you.

Her face, covered with wrinkles, twists in a contemptuous grimace. The gaze of her cloudy-gray eyes looks straight at you with an expression of unyielding determination, which does not bode well for you personally.

"Good to see you, Ashandra! I hope that we can come to an agreement and restore peace!" - you shout.

"I am only here to give a last chance to some windriders who live in this settlement! Your lies and blasphemous speeches are of no interest to me, Traitor of the Faith of the Ancestors, who was once called Dar Vanlu!" - Her voice is filled with barely restrained fanatical hatred towards you.

"The Traitor of the Faith of the Ancestors and a dozen of his closest servants will be destroyed. There will be no other outcome. The forces of all the windriders tribes have gathered warriors for the Great Sacred Campaign against the unholy teachings of the Traitor! Know, inhabitants of the settlement The Green Oasis, for you the only chance to survive is to go over to our side or immediately hand over to us the Traitor and his minions. And then you will leave this damned desecrated place, which will be given over to the purifying flame." - this speech is clearly aimed at influencing the minds of your subordinates.

And there really is a certain effect. The militiamen who stand among the battlements or on the towers clearly hear everything that is said.

"But why? Why are you attacking us? Why don't you want to live in peace?" - you ask in shock.

"You speak vilely and hypocritically, Traitor... It is obvious that you are defiling the sacred faith of the ancestors of all windriders. You are seducing young windriders from the true path of worship of the Spirits of the Mountain Peaks. You are calling on windriders to abandon the sacred way of life of mighty hunters who soar among the mountain peaks. You are encouraging windriders to live in this settlement among the grounders, to engage in agriculture, to become weak wicked people whose souls will rot in the stinking earth instead of soaring to the sky. To any pious windrider, you are simply disgusting, the Traitor to the Faith of the Ancestors, who was once called Dar Vanlu!" - the voice of Ashandra is permeated with indomitable confidence in her own rightness.

You feverishly consider her words.

Unfortunately, there is logic in these words.

At first, only a few outcast windriders came to your settlement. They were from different tribes. But then groups of young windriders began to come to the Green Oasis. Obviously, this became a factor in the weakening of the tribes. There were fewer who could hunt and get food. And also: this completely contradicted the ancient traditions and requirements of the religious cult of the Spirits of the Mountain Peaks. In your settlement, The Green Oasis, the usual way of life of the hunting tribes of windriders was completely disrupted.

It is not surprising that all this caused fanatical hatred among the leaders and shamans of the tribes. And among any fanatically religious windriders.

From the standpoint of their morality: what you did is blasphemous sacrilege.

You look closely at the guards of Ashandra.

Indeed, among the armed windriders you see not only representatives of the tribe of Skyblooded.

You also notice warriors from other tribes.

Raven-black feathering of wings. Thick eyebrows. Yellowish eyes.

These warriors clearly belong to the tribe of Nightwings.

Tribe of windriders-nomads.

The tribe in a skirmish with whose hunters your father Jeremy died many years ago...

But there is someone else...

A small group of windrider warriors, with a bluish-purple tint of feathers. On their faces you see strange grayish growths in the forehead area. These growths are somewhat reminiscent of scales...

You strain your memory...

This is...

These are windrider warriors from the tribe of Stormhunters. Their tribe lives in extremely hard-to-reach settlements, which are located in the high mountains to the northeast of your settlement. Stormhunters lead a rather isolated way of life, which is permeated with the worship of the Spirits of the Mountain Peaks. In their tribe, shamans have much more power than usual.

"If you love to follow traditions so much, then I have a question why I am talking to you and not to warchief Satlon? According to tribal custom, the warchief must make decisions and speak on behalf of the tribe during a military campaign. Isn't that right, Ashandra?" - saying this, you notice that the female-shaman's face expresses some kind of incomprehensible complex range of emotions.

"Your insidious speeches are useless, Traitor! Satlon died suddenly from some unknown disease. For now, I lead the tribe. But this is not important - what is important is that you will be destroyed as well as your unholy settlement. The breeding ground of filth will be destroyed! Mighty warriors of all tribes have gathered for this and your fate is sealed, unholy monster! " - after this embittered speech, Ashandra gives a command to a group of accompanying warriors.

She clearly wants to leave.

At this moment, an idea occurs to you.

What if you give the order to shoot to kill now?

There are many warriors with firearms on the walls.

Ashandra has not yet managed to move far and will obviously be killed.

Attacking a group of envoys is a treacherous act. But in this way you can eliminate one of the leaders of the enemy army.

Of course, the united army of the windriders tribes will have other leaders.

But what if the **** of Ashandra will be useful for the defense of your settlement?