Introduction

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Chapter 15: The Raiders

Medicine Woman had died, and Little Mother and her generation were the Leaders of the Settlement. There had been raids, beginning two years after the founding, and a number of the people had been killed, despite the warning and attacks of the dogs, the defenses, tunnels, and martial training of the people. The Raiders were not nearly as many as the Slavers the Wolf People had wiped out, but still outnumbered the real warriors by over four to one. They had their own dogs, and spear-throwers. The pastures and fields couldn't be walled in. Their defenders were few, and most died protecting the tenders and farmers as they fled, along with many of the dogs. The raiders paid for the animals they drove off and harvests they stole in blood. The guardians carried shields and reinforced boiled leather armor, as well as superior melee weapons, and were superior warriors. Even the dogs wore spiked collars to protect their throats from their counterparts, and fought more viciously than the outs...
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Chapter 14: The Settlement

  Medicine Woman was the defacto leader of Little Mother's new tribe. She was a venerated elder, Little Mother's mother, Discovers Things' adoptive aunt and adoptive mother...although the people ignored most of this: Medicine Woman was who she was, and all accepted her leadership instinctively. Most of the Wolf People remained with the tribe, but one in five stayed with Little Mother. Few of these were as young as Quiet Menace and Little Mother.  Most were much older, and virtually all of the elderly and physically impaired stayed in the new settlement, as Medicine Woman had predicted: "The old and impaired will stay, but so will some of their children. The wisest and least selfish will stay with us, but all will be committed, and diligent. We will have the wisest, if not the strongest." More children would be born alive. More mothers would survive the births. The elders would live longer, and remain productive. While some couldn't hunt or scout, most could fi...
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Chapter 4: Waiting

Sees More, Spinner, Sees Far, and Finds Tracks arrived at their landmark tree with Scout; a "trusted" young female dog, and settled down to wait. It was mid-morning, and they didn't expect Goes Alone, or Light Foot with the Sea Warriors, to come before the middle of the next day at the earliest. They'd left Log Pusher in charge of 28 other warriors a fifth of a day's walk north, to avoid detection, and allow them to hunt and cook. Scouts with dogs circled both the camps at distance.  It was possible that the Enemy had deployed scouts in every direction, and if any were discovered, they were to be killed (if capture and interrogation was not realistic). Most of the boys (and some of the girls) were skilled hunters who were accustomed to stealth and killing, as were the older men at the base camp. All of this was normal for all peoples. The dedicated scouts were the best of these, and those at the camp worked in pairs, so that one could go for help, or th...
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