Tyranny Of Steel

After several hours of riding in the wagon, Berengar, Kahwihta, and the Austrian Marines arrived at their destination. The Austrian King poked his head out from under the canvas and examined The Mohawk village, which was relatively sizable. Various longhouses were spread throughout the town and surrounded by a primitive wooden palisade that acted as a defense against hostile tribes.

If Berengar had to guess, this village could entirely sustain hundreds of people. This was reasonably impressive when considering the severe technological limitations that the native peoples of North America had when compared to their old-world counterparts. Nothing exemplified this stark contrast greater than when the Mohawk people laid eyes on the Austrian wagon.

They were in as great a shock as Kahwihta was when she first witnessed the foreign beasts that powered the device. This simple supply wagon was beyond the limited understanding of transportation for a people who lacked beasts of burden and the wheel.

The village guards gazed upon the pale skin riders at the front of the wagon with trepidation in their eyes, as they did not know how to react to this strange occurrence. However, when Berengar stepped out of the back of the wagon with Kahwihta and her brother by his side, they immediately relaxed and greeted their Chieftain's children in their native tongue.

"Kahwihta, Shosheowa it is good to see you return; your father was worried when we heard that you had not yet returned even after the Algonquin's attacked the foreigners village."

The Chieftain's children gazed upon their brethren with a pitiful expression; they had not witnessed the incredible feats these golden-haired gods had achieved. Thus, they were unaware that the Austrians repelled the Algonquin without a single casualty. However, it was not their place to inform these sentries that hundreds of their enemies lie dead. Instead, Kahwihta merely demanded access to the village.

"I must speak with my father about something important regarding the future of our tribe. Swiftly open the gates!"

The two men looked at each other with awkward expressions before sighing heavily; after doing so, they pushed the gates open, allowing the Austrian Marines and the Mohawk delegation entry to the village. Berengar and the chieftain's children hopped back into the wagon as they continued up towards the Chief's Longhouse, which his daughter provided directions towards.

When they finally arrived, Kahwihta jumped out of the vehicle with a bitter expression on her face. She did not know how she was going to convince her father that all the things she witnessed were reality and not some strange fever dream.

However, she was determined to bring lasting peace between their two peoples after witnessing the destructive power that the Austrians wielded. Thus, she halted Berengar before entering the longhouse with her brother. She struggled to speak in the little German she understood.

"Wait here..."

In response to this, Berengar smiled and nodded his head; he was confident that she needed to discuss much with her father. Upon seeing his agreement, the girl smiled before entering the longhouse, where her father and sister were gathered with several of the veteran warriors of her tribe around a table that had a map sprawled out across its surface.

This map represented the Algonquin village responsible for the attack on the Austrian fortress; believing the Algonquin would be weakened after a significant victory against the foreigners, the Mohawk were now preparing to attack their enemy and claim their village's resources as their own.

Truthfully, the Chieftain had little faith in the Austrian's ability to hold their position. Though the fortifications seemed impressive at first glance, he did not know how effective they indeed were, nor did he know how advanced the Austrian weapons were.

By the sheer volume of numbers, he believed the mighty Algonquin warriors would quickly overrun the Austrians. Yet, right before he could complete his plan for attack, his son and daughter, who he thought to be dead, appeared before him.

When the aging chieftain witnessed his children's safe return, a broad smile appeared on his face as he walked over to her and hugged the two of them fiercely. As he did so, he immediately inquired about what events had transpired to lead her home.

"My sweet Kahwihta, tell me, how have you survived the Anishnabe's attack? We were certain that they would have driven out those pale-skinned foreigners by now!"

The Chieftain's daughter struggled to voice her thoughts; after all, had she not been there to witness their might, she never would have believed what the Austrians had managed to achieve. After a few moments of silence, Shosheowa was the one who spoke up to his father.

"Father! These foreigners are no mere mortals! They are, in fact, gods! We both act as a witness to their ability to control thunder and fire alike! Not only the two of us but also the entire delegation have seen them command beasts of the land with absolute authority!

The Anishnabe attacked that day with well over a thousand men, and yet, with the forces of nature at their charge, these golden-haired gods repelled their enemies with ease, killing hundreds in the process and suffering no casualties!

Look outside your longhouse, and see the methods we have used to travel here! We must not make the mistake of our rivals! If we show the slightest sense of hostility to these deities from across the Great Sea, they will wipe us out as quickly as a man would swat a fly!"

The Chieftain was flabbergasted by his son's hysterical comments. Just what had the delegation witnessed to praise these foreigners to such an extent? He quickly gazed over to his daughter with a curious expression before asking for confirmation of her brother's wild tales.

"Kahwihta, is this true?"

The young woman nodded her head and responded without hesitation.

"It is, father. He is not lying. These foreign men must be gods, or at the very least the children of them, to conjure such forces of nature, and to command the beasts of the land. I implore you to greet them as guests, and treat them well. For even if our entire tribe were to fight against them, I fear as if we would be no match.

I would also like to remind you that this is a small host, likely a scouting party, sent to investigate these lands. If more of them were to arrive, it would be disastrous for our people if they were to become our enemies!"

The man could hardly believe his ears, but after witnessing both his son and daughter compliment these foreigners so greatly, he had no choice but to listen to them. Ultimately, he waved to the guards at the entrance of his longhouse to allow Berengar entry.

As Berengar entered the longhouse, the Chieftain gazed upon him with a curious expression. Berengar was tall, far taller than their greatest warrior. However, the most striking part of his character was the eyepatch, and the scar concealed beneath it. The chieftain could tell by one glance at the foreigner's features he was a veteran of many battles.

From one warrior to another, the Mohawk chieftain treated Berengar with respect as he pulled out a peace pipe and offered Berengar a smoke. Kahwihta translated what few words she could between the two leaders.

"My father offers you a smoke from this pipe as a sign of peace between our two peoples."

Berengar instantly nodded his head and grabbed hold of the pipe, where he pulled out his lighter and took a long draft. He held the smoke in his lungs for several moments before blowing it out into the air. After doing so, he handed it back to the chieftain, who was still shocked to see the device that the Austrian King had used to light the pipe.

After taking a large hit of his own, the Chieftain exhaled a large plume of smoke no greater than the size which Berengar had released. Now that the two of them had smoked the peace pipe, negotiations could begin. Berengar immediately discussed his terms of trade that he wanted to establish between his encampment and their village.

"I would very much like to establish trade with your people. We are merely a forward outpost, and are relying entirely upon imports from our fatherland at the moment. However, our Kingdom is a great distance away, and it will take many days for our supplies to arrive. In exchange for food, I would be willing to trade you iron, which can be used to make superior weapons and tools."

Kahwihta could only really understand the gist of what Berengar was saying, and struggled to communicate his intent towards his father. In the end, Berengar was forced to resort to a more primitive means of communication. He grabbed a hold of a stalk of corn from the table nearby and took off his cuirass.

The chief looked at him with a questioning gaze, as Berengar motioned for Shosheowa to give him his flint dagger. After a brief exchange of glances, Shosheowa handed his weapon over to Berengar, where the Austrian King used all of his force to stab his cuirass with the stone dagger.

Upon impacting against the high carbon steel, the flint dagger broke apart, and the Mohawk chieftain, as well as his gathered warriors, stood in shock. It was at this moment they realized the value of steel. Of course, Berengar would not be willing to trade high carbon steel to the natives, but an iron breastplate would have the same effect.

With the durability of metal established, Berengar pulled out his own steel bayonet, and placed it next to his breastplate, trying to communicate that despite the difference in color, they were made of the same material.

"Iron, I give you iron for food, yes?"

Kahwihta suddenly understood what Berengar was trying to convey and immediately began to translate for her father.

"I think he is willing to give us this material, in exchange for food..."

The chieftain gazed at his daughter with confusion in his eyes. Why would they give away such a valuable material for mere food? When he asked her this question, Kahwihta shrugged her shoulders. She did not know. Thus, she tried to translate her father's question to Berengar.

"Father... wants to know... why you are trading iron for food?"

Berengar smiled, as he stocked the corn in to a giant pile, while leaving a single stalk of corn in a pile of its own. After doing so, he pointed to the two piles of corn and tried to communicate his thoughts to the native chieftain.

"I have a lot of iron! But I have very little food!"

After a few attempts, Kahwihta finally understood what Berengar meant and conveyed his thoughts to her father.

"He says he has a lot of the material, but very little food. Hence why he will trade it to us for something as simple as food."

With this being the case, the Mohawk chieftain immediately nodded his head in understanding and spoke to Berengar in his native tongue.

"Very well. We will accept your trade. We will provide you and your people with food in exchange for this so-called iron."

After Kahwihta had successfully translated her father's words, Berengar wore a wide smile before extending his hand in friendship.. It took the native chieftain a few moments to understand the gesture, but in the end Berengar and Kahwihta's father shook hands on the agreement, in doing so conducting the first recorded instance of trade between the old world, and the new world.

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