Most sections of the Mander River have a gentle current, but from Tumbleton onwards, going further upstream, the riverbed becomes narrow and turbulent, with numerous waterfalls, making boat travel impossible.
This is because the mountains near Tumbleton abruptly rise in this area, as if a giant underground had pushed the ground up with its back.
The highest peak in this area is called Snow Deer Peak, because the snow on its summit looks like a giant running deer, while the other surrounding peaks have a collective name, Deer Herd Peaks, as the snow on their summits resembles a herd of deer surrounding the giant deer.
The melting snow from these peaks forms numerous small streams that converge into hollows formed by small hills at the foot of the mountains, gradually forming lakes of various sizes. These lakes are much higher in elevation than the nearby Tumbleton, feeling like lakes in the sky, which is why some scholars have named this mountain range the Sky Lake Mountains.
Buttocks Ridge is located next to one of the largest of these lakes, which is also one of the most important headwaters of the Mander River.
Because of this, the area around this lake has always been inhabited, sometimes by mountain folk, sometimes by Savage Tribes.
The Savage TribesLynd is going to now is called Gravel, because the tribe's founder was born among a pile of gravel.
They crossed the Blackwater Rush more than ten years ago and came here. There used to be a mountain village here, but since their arrival, many conflicts occurred, and eventually, the mountain village was forced to leave and settle elsewhere.
The population of the Gravel Tribe, who settled down, has also increased significantly over the past decade, from over a thousand to nearly three thousand people, all of whom are newborns. If the Gravel Tribe is given enough time, their warriors will multiply, which is definitely not good for Tumbleton.
"Do you see that moss-covered hillside? That's where the Gravel Tribe's stone houses are," Wenda said, standing on a rock and pointing to the distant hillside.
Although Wenda had pointed out the location of the Gravel Tribe's stone houses, Nymeria and the others still couldn't see any connection between the opposite hillside and the stone houses.
"That hillside is indeed full of stone houses, but they are very cleverly disguised; you can't see them from a distance at all. You can actually look at the reflection in the lake," Lynd said. Compared to the others, he was more familiar with this place, perhaps even more so than the people of the Gravel Tribe who lived there. He easily pointed out the key to seeing through the disguise of the hillside stone houses.
Upon hearing this, everyone looked towards the lake formed by the converging snowmelt. The clear blue water reflected the hillside, and they quickly saw some of the true conditions beneath the disguised roofs of the stone houses in the reflection.
Lynd turned to look at Wenda and asked, "Are you from the Gravel Tribe?"
When Lynd decided to go to Buttocks Ridge that morning, Wenda, who was resting in Tumbleton, suddenly rushed over after hearing the news, stating that she was familiar with the Buttocks Ridge area and could lead the way.
Although Lynd had already thoroughly understood the situation around the Gravel Tribe through Honor, and even had a clear understanding of the internal situation of the Gravel Tribe, he did not refuse Wenda's kindness and agreed to her request to lead the way.
He just wanted to see what Wenda truly intended, because during their interactions over the past days, Lynd was well aware that Wenda was definitely not the kind of person who liked to proactively seek things to do; she would only act if he gave an order. This was the first time she had actively stepped forward to offer assistance like this, which made Lynd curious about her intentions.
Afterward, Wenda was indeed as familiar with the Buttocks Ridge area as she claimed. Even the paths Lynd chose might not have been better than those she selected, and the path she led was very suitable for the cavalry team. There were no obstacles like gravel, steep slopes, cliffs, or valleys, and they smoothly arrived at the hills near Buttocks Ridge by noon.
When Wenda mentioned the Gravel Tribe's stone houses just now, there was a hint of special emotion in her tone, which made Lynd make a bold guess.
Hearing Lynd's guess, Wenda remained calm, neither denying nor admitting it.
"Lynd, shall we go now?" Nymeria looked at Wenda, showing no unusual reaction despite her possible origins from the Gravel Tribe.
Lynd shook his head and said, "No, we'll go when Honor arrives."
Nymeria happily said, "I haven't seen Honor in a long time. I wonder if it has grown bigger now."
Lynd thought for a moment and said, "No, it hasn't grown bigger; it's still the same size, but it's much more muscular, not as plump as before."
At this moment, the twenty count's guards behind Nymeria were conversing in low voices, mainly the newly joined free riders and mercenary knights asking the Tumbleton guards who Honor was.
Ever since he met Wenda, Lynd had let Honor, whose body shape was too unusual, roam freely outside. Although many people saw the beast-like Honor that night and often mentioned it afterward, they rarely spoke of Honor's name, and what they said was rarely believed. People only regarded it as a ridiculous legend, similar to the Others or the Children of the Forest.
When the free riders and mercenary knights heard the guards' descriptions of Honor's size, they all looked unimpressed. They felt the guards' description of Honor's size was a bit too exaggerated. In their opinion, Honor, the Shadowcat, might only be slightly larger than a real Shadowcat, after all, they sometimes liked to exaggerate the size of their opponents when bragging.
About half an hour later, a rustling sound suddenly came from the nearby bushes. Everyone drew their weapons and looked cautiously in that direction.
"Don't be nervous, it's Honor," Lynd said, raising his hand to signal to everyone.
As Lynd's words fell, Honor, with its black and white stripes and extremely large body, slowly walked out from the bushes.
Just as Lynd had said, Honor's body had become much more muscular; as it walked slowly, the movement of its muscles could be seen through its fur. However, Lynd had also misjudged, because Honor's size was a bit larger than before he let it roam freely. When it stood in front of Lynd, it was already a head taller than Lynd, nearly level with Nymeria's height.
Although Lynd and Honor's spirits were connected, and Lynd often possessed Honor, they had not seen each other for many days. When Honor reached Lynd, it eagerly nudged its head against Lynd's chest, urging Lynd to pet its head.
Lynd, as it wished, held its head and rubbed it. Honor's eyes also narrowed, showing a happy expression.
Nymeria also came to Lynd's side at this moment and tried to reach out and stroke Honor's fur. Honor dodged Nymeria's hand but did not bare its teeth threateningly at her, though this still made Nymeria very unhappy, and she couldn't help but curse.
As for Wenda, as soon as she got a little closer, Honor would let out a threatening growl from its throat. Clearly, Honor's personality had not changed.
The awe brought by Honor's appearance was still strong. Even though it wasn't the cavalry team's first time seeing Honor, the shock in their hearts still made them hold their breath, fearing that a slightly louder breath would anger the giant beast in front of them.
As for the other mercenary knights and free riders, they were even more pathetic; they were so scared by Honor that they almost sat on the ground. If it weren't for the fact that no one else around them made any attacking moves, they might have already drawn their swords out of fear.
Only at this moment did they realize that their colleagues' previous descriptions of Honor were not exaggerated at all, and even somewhat conservative, because in their opinion, Honor's size was even larger than described just now.
After playing with Honor for a while, Lynd let go of Honor's head, turned and mounted his horse, comforted his warhorse which was a little weak in the legs from being scared by Honor, and then signaled for the others to quickly get ready.
"Let me go first! To avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings," Wenda said at this moment.
Lynd looked at her and nodded, agreeing to her suggestion.
Then Wenda spurred her horse and galloped towards the hillside where the Gravel Tribe was located.
A mercenary knight asked, "My lord, won't letting her go like this allow the Gravel Tribe to prepare in advance?"
Before Lynd could speak, Nymeria quickly interjected, "Do you know who she is?"
The mercenary knight shook his head blankly.
Nymeria chuckled, "If you knew who she was, you wouldn't have asked that question."
The mercenary knight said nothing more after hearing this and retreated back into the guard formation.
About ten more minutes passed, and everyone had recovered from the shock of Honor. Lynd did not see any signal from Wenda, who had entered the Gravel Tribe, so he did not wait any longer. He led the cavalry team slowly towards the Gravel Tribe.
Honor, under Lynd's command, also walked at the front of the team, transforming its fur into pure black, becoming the Shadow of Death, the Stranger's messenger, a legend in this area during this time.
When Lynd and his party arrived at the entrance of the Gravel Tribe, the entrance was already filled with Gravel Tribe warriors, roughly three to four hundred of them. Each person was dressed in animal skin clothing, shoes, and hats, holding crude stone axes and wooden pole spears, with only a few holding iron swords or other iron weapons.
These tribal warriors initially did not see Lynd, but rather saw Honor walking at the very front. The moment they saw Honor, they all let out panicked cries, and some even dropped their weapons and knelt down towards Honor, as if treating Honor as a deity.
Seeing the reactions of these tribal warriors, the cavalry team and the count's guards were all surprised. Although they had been greatly shocked when they saw Honor just now, they were not as terrified and completely panicked as these warriors were now. Clearly, the reactions of these tribal warriors were somewhat exaggerated.
However, Lynd could perfectly understand the reactions of the Gravel Tribe people. After all, a terrifying giant beast that could appear and disappear before them like a ghost looked exactly like the terrifying beings from ancient legends.
During the time Lynd let Honor roam freely, he had already begun to plan for the Gravel Tribe. He would often have Honor appear in the Gravel Tribe late at night, and then, under everyone's gaze, use its mysterious stealth ability, which contained divine power, to disappear from everyone's sight, and then silently reappear beside them, repeatedly. Sometimes, it would even silently kill certain individuals who harbored ill will towards it.
Under these circumstances, some people in the Gravel Tribe quickly developed a strong sense of awe towards Honor, and under the leadership of the tribal shaman, they seemed to regard Honor as an Old Gods-like existence.
Although the Gravel Tribe did not believe in the Seven Gods, they worshipped the Old Gods, and most Old Gods were actually supernatural beings. From a certain perspective, Honor now was already in line with the Old Gods who were said to control the forces of nature, so being worshipped as an Old Gods was within Lynd's expectations.
Honor's influence quickly spread throughout the Gravel Tribe and reached the ears of the tribal shaman and chief. They each brought their subordinates to the tribe's entrance and saw the scene at the gate.
However, the chief and the shaman saw completely different things. The shaman saw the incredibly striking Honor and instantly recognized it as the Old Gods that had recently appeared. So, he immediately led his shaman disciples and those in the tribe who believed in the Old Gods, pouring out of the tribe to worship Honor.
The reason they were not worried about being attacked by Honor was that, previously, when they worshipped Honor, Lynd had always made Honor restrain its threatening movements and squat on the ground, accepting their worship like a true Old Gods. In fact, during a few of these worship sessions, he even guided the shaman on where to find food and where to find coins, which were actually things Lynd had hidden in advance.
Not to mention being able to guide people to obtain food and money, merely demonstrating human-like intelligence was enough to confirm Honor's identity as an Old Gods. It was precisely because of this that the shaman and the Gravel Tribe's believers were so fanatical now, worshipping Honor without any regard for the situation.
Unlike the shaman, Kafu, the chief of the Gravel Tribe, did not have such strong faith in the Old Gods. Although he also felt fear and even awe towards the elusive Honor, he did not worship Honor. In his heart, he always believed that Honor was merely a Shadowcat with some kind of physical mutation.
So, when he saw Honor just now, he quickly detached himself from his fear of Honor, and his gaze fell upon Lynd and the others behind Honor. He also confirmed that they were the army of the nobles from the lowlands that Wenda had spoken of.
Although among Lynd's group, Nymeria, who was exceptionally tall and like a small giant, was the most eye-catching, Gravel Chief Kafu's gaze couldn't help but fall on Lynd, because his intuition told him that Lynd was very terrifying, even more terrifying than the giant beast that was being treated as an Old Gods.
And just as he looked at Lynd, Lynd seemed to sense his gaze and looked back at him. At that moment, he felt an extremely strong sense of mortal danger, which made him recall Wenda's words.
He immediately grabbed the collar of his subordinate next to him and ordered in a low voice, "Quick, go to the prison and release Wenda."