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12-12-2020, 06:35 PM
There hadn't been any deeper census conducted in Nurali since, well, ever. Kiirweyä instead considered what she knew about who lived in the holdfast and made a quick estimate. While most had moved to more settled areas in recent times, there were still some who held on to their old way of life, and while these would be hard to organize they would surely all fight for their home. She knew her people. They were not warriors, but hunters and fiercely protective of their lands. They would come.
The settled ones were the hard estimate. She didn't really know their numbers in detail, but from what she'd seen there were at least some hundred warriors among them, as well as their large trading ships and corresponding crews. Although these were under the merchants' ownership and likely to be spread across the sea.
"Our numbers are uncertain," she finally said. "But we should be able to muster a force. My sedentary cousins will be 300, 500 if they abandon the holdfast's defenses entirely. Our merchant fleet is in the order of two dozen ships, meaning there are around 800 crewmates manning them, but most of them are not fighters. Which ones among them will come if called is uncertain."
"We who still live as our ancestors did, however." She straightened a bit as she continued, motioning to her companions demonstratively. "We are ready to hunt for you. The Sikosanala do not abandon their friends and we will defend our homes. Every hunter with wind in their wings would come if called. We are not trained fighters but we are hunters. If we empty our homes there will be thousands, maybe seven. But if only the hunters come there will be fewer, perhaps one thousand, but they will be ready to hunt our enemy. And there will be a home for them to return to."
"This is what we offer," she said, quickly drawing her crystal knife and laying it across the table in front of her. "My blade will hunt for your sake. As will many others. We listen to your word, and if you say we fly for a final time we shall, all of us. My sedentary cousins will be slow in responding, as they tend to be. But we of the peaks and winds will come quick. Shall I call everyone, and let fate decide if the Sikosanala live?"
The settled ones were the hard estimate. She didn't really know their numbers in detail, but from what she'd seen there were at least some hundred warriors among them, as well as their large trading ships and corresponding crews. Although these were under the merchants' ownership and likely to be spread across the sea.
"Our numbers are uncertain," she finally said. "But we should be able to muster a force. My sedentary cousins will be 300, 500 if they abandon the holdfast's defenses entirely. Our merchant fleet is in the order of two dozen ships, meaning there are around 800 crewmates manning them, but most of them are not fighters. Which ones among them will come if called is uncertain."
"We who still live as our ancestors did, however." She straightened a bit as she continued, motioning to her companions demonstratively. "We are ready to hunt for you. The Sikosanala do not abandon their friends and we will defend our homes. Every hunter with wind in their wings would come if called. We are not trained fighters but we are hunters. If we empty our homes there will be thousands, maybe seven. But if only the hunters come there will be fewer, perhaps one thousand, but they will be ready to hunt our enemy. And there will be a home for them to return to."
"This is what we offer," she said, quickly drawing her crystal knife and laying it across the table in front of her. "My blade will hunt for your sake. As will many others. We listen to your word, and if you say we fly for a final time we shall, all of us. My sedentary cousins will be slow in responding, as they tend to be. But we of the peaks and winds will come quick. Shall I call everyone, and let fate decide if the Sikosanala live?"