Gandiva pushed Tulin to his limits but the trip back to Betul still took another day.
The two of them finally saw the village that they were headed to. However, Betul was not the same place as Sierra remembered it.
Instead of the broken down walls. The village was surrounded by fortified wooden trunks that were higher than the hidden fort that they had built.
Betul village looked like an improved version of their fort, except for this one prominent feature that Sierra had never seen before.
Scattered a few feet away from each other were tall wooden towers with steel nets attached to them. Sierra couldn't understand what they were for.
She had a warm familiar feeling about the village with its new enhancements. She asked Gandiva to go near the village entrance.
The reinforced village gates opened and revealed a giant tower that looked like a steel umbrella that covered the village's center.
As the gate fully opened, Sierra saw a group of individuals who were waiting for them. Adder and the Hunters were there along with the other Betulites.
Everybody was smiling with relief when they saw Sierra, all except for Adder. His face was as solemn as a statue.
Sierra looked at Adder and quickly shifted her gaze to the ground as she stepped off from Gandiva's carriage
She tried to look at him again and this time, both of their eyes met and saw each others pain. They were both ashamed of their failure against the Brandals.
Thyrsus came forward and welcomed both Sierra and Gandiva.
"Welcome to the new river-fort village of Betul and this is their village chief Cacique."
Sierra and Gandiva shook hands with Betul's chief.
"Hi, like sir Thyrsus said. Welcome to Betul. We had seen better days, but now that Adder and your men are here, I think we'll see those days again."
Gandiva was surprised to see Thyrsus do the introduction. It was usually Ichaival who made them. She also noticed that Ichaival was not with them. Along with Jinggu and Sharur.
"Wow! I've only been here once but it looks so different. You guys really converted the river-port village into a river-fort village. Not bad, not bad at all. What are those umbrella thingies for?"
Thyrsus answered squarely.
"It's all thanks to the efforts of the Betulites. All of them including the children pitched in to reinforce this place. Those umbrella thingies are Sharanga's inventions. They are anti-exploding barrel defenses. We've learned quite a few things from our destroyed hidden base."
Thyrsus guided them into the inner parts of the village.
"Of course, it was under Adder's leadership that we were able to make this quickly. We've also trained most of the Betulites to use their fishing spears against the bandits. There were originally just twenty Betulites who were there when we were about to rescue you, Sierra. We're truly sorry it wasn't a successful rescue... All of us are really sorry for your death. Adder most especially."
Gandiva screamed at Thyrsus when she heard that Sierra died.
"Sierra died?! How could you have let her die? No wonder she didn't want to talk about what you guys have gone through. Even if she is a 'Sonstwelter', we promised that we would never let them die. Not even once!"
Sierra quickly interjected Gandiva's lecture on Thyrsus.
"It wasn't his fault. It wasn't anyone's fault but mine. If only I was a better leader then Jinggu and Sharur would still be alive..."
Adder tried to talk to Sierra, but his words would not form into sentences. Sierra went on to talk about the noble OrkElves.
"I don't mind dying. I could handle that, but Jinggu Attrayant and Sharur Attrayant were my responsibility. They were truly men among men. If only..."
Sierra's speech about the OrkElves was interrupted, when two pairs of olive green arms hugged her from the sides. The Werebear couldn't believe what she saw. Jinggu and Sharur were alive.
"You... But I saw the fort explode. How could you have survived?"
The twin OrkElves laughed. Sharur began to explain how they escaped the blast.
"Do you remember Ichaival's tour of fort Amitié?"
"Yeah, but vaguely."
"Well, if Thyrsus hadn't interrupted him. He would have said that there was an emergency exit under the piled up pine marten's pelts at the center of the ground floor. Vijaya thought that the place looked too dreary, that's why she placed them there. She said it would act as our 'rug'. The exit would lead out to an above ground exit one kilometer away."
Sierra couldn't believe what she heard. She thought that the piled up pine marten's pelt were just there for Vijaya's aesthetic purposes.
The OrkElves suddenly looked serious as they kept on with their story on how they escaped. This time it was Jinggu's turn to speak.
"We miraculously lifted the emergency exit door on the ground and dove in, barely escaping the explosion. The blast caused a massive cave in and Sharur and I had to literally run for our lives. It was a good thing that Commander Adder insisted on making the tunnel to be wide enough for us to run through."
Sierra was speechless. She smiled as tears of joy flowed out from her eyes. She tried to repress them but her tear ducts were out of her control.
She had spent the last two days grieving over their deaths and here they were alive. It was her own fault for not contacting them. She didn't see any dead body, she simply assumed the worst and her guilt reinforced that.
She didn't mind that she had to suffer through that torture. As long as Jinggu and Sharur were alive then that was all she needed.
She would gladly suffer through that torment if it meant it would bring her dear friends back from the grave. The OrkElves were touched by Sierra's tears. They quickly apologized for having her endure the pain of their deaths.
"We're really sorry. We didn't mean to make you think that we were killed. We tried to run right back to you, but we were too late."
Sierra smiled an even brighter. She wiped her tears and hugged them tightly.
"It's alright. It's not your fault. Everything was really my fault. I didn't confirm anything. I didn't try to contact you once. But all of that is in the past. What's important is that we're all alive and back together."
Everybody joined in on Sierra, Sharur, and Jinggu's group hug and the mood was lighter once more. Thyrsus gave Gandiva a short version of what they had been up to the last few days.
While they were catching up with Gandiva. Sierra went to talk with Adder. She noticed that he was still silent the whole time.
Sierra decided that it was time for her to apologize. However, she was shocked to hear Adder speak instead.
"Listen, I'm really sorry. If I only listened to your advice and stayed away from the Brandals like you said. Then you wouldn't have died. It was my fault that you died. I haven't contacted Smoke about the incident as well. I wanted to apologize to you first before I'll tell him that I will quit his private army. I'm not fit to be a Commander at all. I was just waiting for your return before I was going to leave."
Sierra had enough drama in the last forty-eight hours.
"No! No, stop that. We'll learn from this mistake and grow from it. What's done is done. From now on, let's just work together. If I didn't believe that wiping out the Brandals was the right thing to do, then I would've stopped you from the start. I didn't regret with agreeing with you. How do we get rid of these Brandals?"
"Shall we have our meeting now? I'll have Thyrsus prepare the materials and discuss the plan that we've come up with."
"Oh, not right now. Let's just have a quick joyful reunion first. Come on, let's join in on the party."
"Alright, I'll join you guys in a bit. Let me do a quick check on our sentries. Please go with Village Chief Cacique. He'll prepare a special table for you."
Cacique and the villagers prepared a long table and asked them to wait for a bit. It took them less than twenty minutes to prepare three meals.
Sharur and the Betulites had cooked a special feast in honor of Sierra's return. They had bluegill soup, barbecued blood pheasants, and steamed catfish.
While they were eating. Sierra asked her OrkElf cooking instructor about how each dish was prepared. The village was filled with laughter again.
Adder was busy talking with Cacique. Sierra noticed that he still looked troubled. She asked Sharur how he was after their failed rescue mission.
"Adder was the one who was affected the most. The Brandals had already left when Jinggu and I were reunited with them. He didn't believe that a 'Sonstwelter' would revive like the legend says."
"Sonstwelter? What's a Sonstwelter?"
"Why you of course. That's what we ordinary Zectians call people like you and Smoke. A person who lives in two worlds at the same time."
"Smoke and I are called Sonstwelters and you are all called Zectians?"
"Well, technically a Sonstwelter is also a Zectian but a special one. This is a legend that was passed down from my mother. She said that she learned this from her elders and her elders' elders.”
The young OrkElf made a fist with both his hands, he intended for them to look like worlds.
“The legend goes that there will come a time when our world..."
He looked at his right hand and said.
"Zectas will be populated with Sonstwelters. Beings who originally comes from another world called Sonst."
Sharur then looked at his left hand.
"A Sonstwelter can freely move in between these two worlds. They have the same potentials as a normal Zectian but they have other amazing abilities unique only to them."
"Abilities? Like what kind of abilities?"
"Legends say that a Sonstwelter could disappear into thin air and reappear in the same spot. Most of the time your kind doesn't age at all and the best out of all the legends was that when a Sonstwelter dies, they will always come back to life after four days. A Sonstwelter's return will be a complete rebirth. If a limb was lost then they will grow back that limb. Even if their heads are chopped off, they will still come back as if nothing happened. The end of the legend states that when the day comes that Sonstwelters own most of Zectas, that will be the day when the great gods will return."
"How come I never heard or read about this before?"
"Well, it's kind of taboo for an ordinary Zectian to tell a Sonstwelter this legend, because if an ordinary Zectian would do that then they would become that Sonstwelter's slave forever. Or at least that's how the legend goes. I don't think that part is true though. I mean here I am and I'm not your slave or am I?"
Sharur laughed as he finished his explanation about Sonstwelters. After he stopped laughing at his own joke. Sharur asked Sierra a serious question.
"If you don't mind can you tell me what's it like? I mean dying as a Sonstwelter?"
Everybody in the table fell silent and wanted to hear Sierra's answer. Sierra looked around and saw that all eyes were on her.
"I can't really put it into words. I mean, every 'Sonstwelter'? Did I say it right? Well every one of us experiences a different feeling when we die. That was my first time dying. I felt like my heart was being crushed even when I got back home to Sonst. If it's alright with you I don't want to re-live that experience again."
The silence around the table continued. All the members of Smoke's private army made a vow to themselves not to let Smoke or Sierra die again.
The serious tone in the atmosphere remained. Gandiva said her farewell to everyone, as the meals were taken away. She needed to head out to Coatl. She was already late as it is and didn't want to anger Smoke.
* * * * * *
With their long table all cleared out. Thyrsus took out a small scale model of Otaczac forest, which contained the Brandals' ruined castle. There were currently seven small figurines that roughly resembled Sierra, Adder, Thyrsus, Vijaya, Sharanga, Jinggu, and Sharur.
Sierra and the rest of Smoke's private army were gathered around the table. They were joined by Betul's chief Cacique and twenty Betulite Fishermen armed with their fishing spears.
Adder stood at the head of the table and started the meeting.
"This plan was mostly conceived by Thyrsus. He's knowledge on the fighting potential of the Fishermen of Betul and the dimensions of the Brandal's base were the main points of this plan. As such, I'd like for him to lead this meeting."
Adder stepped aside and Thyrsus stood in front of the attacking party.
"Thank you. I came from a long line of Fishermen, I knew that the Betulites had a great fighting potential. They just needed someone to encourage them to fight and to assure them that they will have a shield to protect them from the bandits' melee attacks."
