A new beginning

The sun was high in the sky and the mists covering the valley were at their thinnest. Aidan stood atop the hill overlooking the ancient city of Bannagh Macht, now reborn under his banner. Not that he had a banner yet, but it was on his rapidly-expanding ‘To Do’ list. The vast majority of the city was still little more than rubble and ruins, but he could see a gratifyingly large cleared space near the central hill and the entrance to the tunnel leading to his Place of Power, Caer Macht. His Automatons may not be suitable for complex jobs, but for hard, menial labor they’re close to perfect.

A hand touched his shoulder and without even looking Aidan brought Brighid’s hand to his lips. “So, this is home now. Shall we go down and see what we can make of it, love?” Though he tries to make his voice sound light and carefree, it is clear to all nearby that this is merely a facade. Everything had not gone according to plan in the last two weeks; in fact, very little did. Aidan had hoped to return to his nascent city with at least a significant portion of the Starchaser tribe behind him, but his only companions on the hilltop were Brighid and his vassal-bodyguards Cai and Llwyd.

While only those four stood atop the hill, they were not alone in their journey. Aidan’s efforts were not entirely wasted, and stretched out behind him was a train of almost a hundred wagons carrying food, furniture, building materials, and other supplies for the forty-odd Starchasers who were even now making their way towards a new beginning. In truth, more would have come if he had allowed it; of the forty-five warriors who survived the Battle for Bannagh Macht, almost half had offered to join him. With most of the tribe remaining in their old village, however, Aidan refused to deplete the ranks of the village protectors any more than he had to.

It wasn’t that the Starchasers were still hostile to him. Rumors of the events at Bannagh Macht had spread through the village even before Aidan returned from his latest dance with death, and by the time he brought the issue before the Council everyone believed that he was favored by a Power and had been instrumental in not only saving their warriors and the village but also returning the city of Bannagh Macht to habitability. No, the problem was that the Starchasers as a whole were incredibly stubborn and risk-averse. It frustrated Aidan to no end that a group of people who earned their name by uprooting themselves from their ancestral homeland and travelling for no one knows how long guided only by the stars was so conservative.

No matter how much goodwill he had earned in the last month, too many of the tribe simply saw no reason to relocate. While the village moved from time to time as the soil and the hunting grounds became depleted, that actually worked against Aidan. The Starchasers were used to migrating around their territory as their circumstances dictated, and the thought of taking up a permanent settlement went counter to the way they had lived for centuries. Even with extensive help from Ailis, too many of the Starchasers were too resistant to change. All of the centaurs with him, save for a couple of the scouts and hunters who had been at the battle, were between fifteen and twenty-five years old -- barely considered adults by the long-lived centaurs. Few of the older centaurs were willing to give up their ways, and those who were, like Ailis and even Fionn, were too important to the tribe to leave.

That left him with himself, Brighid, Cai, Llwyd, six experienced scouts and hunters led by Maeryn and Lail, seven farmers who would not inherit their own farms, three teenage herders with a small herd of Nairn Tuskers Aidan traded for, a carpenter, a mason, Brighid’s seamstress friend Siwan, an apothecary and herbalist, a bowyer, five warriors, and eleven less notable craftsmen and laborers. Forty-two souls in all, barely a hamlet, let alone a city. None of his citizens aside from Brighid were any more than high-end Apprentices in their craft, and even she was still at the low end of Journeyman.

“Do not worry, my Lord.” Llwyd spoke from beside Aidan, “We may be few now, but more will come. You have allies on the Council, not to mention the help of the Sapphire Sky Horde. People will come around, they just need time to grow accustomed to new ideas. Once you show that this is not just a passing fancy, that we are here to stay and can operate on our own, more will come. Then others will follow those, and with enough time the tribe will be reunited again.”

Aidan frowned and shook his head. “That’s the problem, though -- time. I don’t know how much of it we really have. I feel like there is an enormous target painted on my back with the new Age and all. The end of the battle wasn’t exactly subtle, from what I hear. Soon enough someone dangerous is going to hear of it and take action against me -- against us.”

“You worry too much!” replied Cai. “Even if someone were alerted to you already, they wouldn’t be able to act for quite some time yet. For one thing, we are in the very heart of the Wildlands, and not easy to reach. For another, your capabilities are unknown aside from destroying an entire army with a single spell. There is no way for any outsider to know whether you can repeat that at will or not, which means they must assume you can, and they must also assume it is not your only powerful magic. Rest assured, my Lord, we have time.”

“All that means is that when the attack comes, it’s going to come like the fist of an angry God.” Aidan grumbled, but then shrugged. “But you’re right. All I can do is keep moving forward. And speaking of moving forward, let’s get going, we’re wasting daylight.”