CHAPTER 23: Invitation

The delegation of vikings from Ancient Island were on their way to the Northern Market islands. Sailing to there was of absolutely no concern to them as they'd considered the island their own in light of the recent events there.

Unbeknownst to the delegation however, the new Chieftan of the Northern Market island, Kurt the Kourageous, had already planned on meeting Yurlin in an attempt to directly address the situation. By talking to the Ancient leader, Kurt had hoped that he'd be able to soothe out whatever ambitions Yurlin had against the tribe he now led.

The reality was that the Northern Market tribe was being torn apart from the inside by Ancient agitators, but the tribe still felt threatened by the words and actions of the Ancient Tribe. Since Kurt was appointed, the riots and the disorder had vanished, but he feared it'd only be temporarily. By meeting Alfa Yurlin, he'd potentially be able to make sure that'd end up being permanent.

The Ancient delegation of vikings, on their wooden ship sailing across the calm seas of the Barbaric Archipelago, sighted the Northern Market islands in the distance. They'd already arrived. The towering formation of pillars and rocks of the island gave it a very formidable look, and an island not to be messed with. The Ancients saw it as no such thing.

"Turn us into their docks, they wouldn't be so stupid as to try anything with us given the situation they'd unleash upon themselves if they ever did."

"Aye sir."

The delegation was arriving with a letter of invitation, written by the Ancient Chieftan himself, aimed at the newly appointed Kurt the Kourageous of the Northern Markets. This letter was simply an invitation to come to Ancient Island for a meeting to discuss the ongoing situation between their two tribes.

As the boat swiftly turned left and right between the other boats already near the docks of the island, a couple of Northern Market vikings on the docks had noticed an incoming boat, this one being the Ancient Tribe's own. Not that they didn't know that yet, but they quickly noticed it.

"Aye lads, there's a rogue boat heading our way?"

"There's a what?"

"A rogue boat, look in the water, it's coming past all of ours!"

Upon looking, all the vikings on the dock indeed saw an incoming boat. Despite this, not a single viking on the dock had reacted as a means of defending their island. They seemed to be so utterly horrified and distraught from what's happened on their island recently that they were afraid to do anything that'd potentially risk their families in the hands of the Ancients, which was ironic because the boat coming was literally the Ancient Tribe's own delegation.

"Keep an eye on em lads, if they come to our docks, question em..." one of the sailor vikings said.

Another five minutes had passed as the boat turned and rotated past the empty wooden boats that belonged to the Northern Markets, and it eventually made contact with the wooden docks that extended from the Northern Market island briefly onto the waters. The Ancients on board had thrown their anchor into the shallow waters to fully halt their boat into place, and one by one the delegation made their way to the side of the boat where the wooden docks extended.

"Gentlemen, Our Yurlin."

Hearing that greeting instantly made the vikings on the dock freeze in place. They instantly knew these vikings were from the Ancient Tribe. They didn't utter a single reply or greeting in response.

"We seek your new Chieftan. Permit us to meet him for our leader has an invitation to make to him."

Again, not a single word was uttered from the Northern Market vikings. The atmosphere had suddenly become extremely tense as the reality had kicked in that the Ancients were clearly carrying on with their maneuvers and tactics regardless of the condemnation they'd received from the assassination of their previous Chieftan.

The one bit of relief that they could conceivably relax in was the fact that Kurt the Kourageous had already spoken about wanting to meet Alfa Yurlin, so potentially this invitation that the Ancients were about to deliver could hopefully lead to a path of peace and a backing off.

"Lead the way."

Kurt the Kourageous was chairing a council meeting with his team of vikings. He'd discussed ways in to approach the ongoing situation with the Ancients. As he was about to carry on speaking, a knock had emerged on the large wooden doors of the hall, shortly followed by the opening of those doors and the emergence of some of the dock vikings, with four intimidating looking vikings following through.

"What's going on here? we're in the middle of a vital meeting?" Kurt said, the Chieftan looking with a raised eyebrow to the four unusual vikings in his hall.

"These are the Ancient Tribe delegation vikings, Kurt. They come with an invitation from Yurlin himself," gulped the dock viking who'd led them to here.

Instantly, Kurt stood up from his chair, with the legs of it sliding across the floor so quickly that the noise echoed off all the corners of the hall like a sore thumb into everyone's ears. He stared solemnly at the four vikings who were from the Ancient Tribe, and one of them did indeed carry a letter of sorts. They all walked up to Kurt at their normal pace like nothing was out of the ordinary here in the hall, like they hadn't just walked into a tribe's council meeting unexpectedly uninvited.

The other council vikings remained nervously silent as the atmosphere of doom roamed the air suddenly. You could hear a pin drop to the ground it was that quiet with intensity.

"Chieftan," said one of the Ancient vikings, holding a hand out to Kurt, who had reluctantly took the hand to shake it, "please, from our leader, read this invitation, he seeks to resolve the ongoing issues."

Kurt was tempted to snatch the letter from the delegation, but he didn't want to look like he was intimidated or anything, passive aggressive, anything of the kind. He took the envelope and proceeded to open it up. He pulled out a yellow-coloured bit of paper with writing on it from Yurlin himself.

Dear Chieftan,

Tensions have recently arose between our two tribes. There are many questions we must address to resolve these tensions. It is no good for us to stay in our comfort zones and expect all of this to go away overnight. That is simply not the reality of these things, so I'm offering you a proposal.

I will arrange to meet you on Ancient Island, as early as today, given your recent appointment. I still believe you have an unvikings problem and there's a matter of liberating this archipelago from the rising stench of Warlordism, of which your tribe is contaminated and infected with given its past affiliations, and I do detect a will among your vikings to become one with us.

But we must discuss this matter man to man, on my island, with no hesitations. I am inviting you, Chief to Chief, to meet with me so we can ensure that our futures are not of violence and threats, but of diplomacy and soothed relationships.

Alfa Yurlin, leader & chieftan of the Ancient Tribe.

"You really want to know something, fellas?" Kurt the Kourageous said, rolling the yellow letter up after reading it.

The Ancient vikings listened with intent at what this new Chieftan had to say.

"I was actually intending on arranging such a meeting myself with Yurlin. When he says there's issues to be resolved, he couldn't be more right. In my opinion, there's an issue more on one side than the other, but I will accept this meeting today if it means this can all be put to a stop once and for all."

"Very good decision, Chieftan, very good. We will sail you to our island as our leader awaits your presence. As you say, there are issues to be resolved between our tribes and we cannot be complacent in solving them."

The Ancient delegation, the four of them, had nodded and made their way out of the hall. Kurt the Kourageous was left with solemn, worried expressions across the hall of all his vikings.

"You...you're really going to meet this warmongering TYRANT of a viking?!" said one of them.

"Listen...what other choice do I have? we have to do this if we want to get them off our backs. They will never be so stupid as to annex us or try to destroy our existence. Meeting with Yurlin directly, showing him how much empathy I have for all of you here as your new Chieftan, will mean he'll get the message straight on, that our will is NOT the false will he claims our vikings have."

There really wasn't an easy way out of this, but Kurt had instantly considered that meeting with Yurlin could potentially be the problem solver. It was no good to Kurt meeting with a lower level Ancient viking who didn't have any authority, it was much better to just meet with the man himself who called all the shots, whose voice _was_ the tribe, and whose word was final no matter what.

The question was whether Alfa Yurlin could be deterred by a direct face to face meeting. Kurt the Kourageous was surely about to find out.