The Rise of Rurik

Chapter 23: When Will They Return?

Chapter 23: When Will They Return?

Anxiety spreads in the tribe, and this anxiety is even worse when the crowd gathers together and chats for a while.

They need to get a favorable answer from the priest, of course, Veria has seen this.

Due to the changes in the situation, Rurik estimates that today's training will either be put on hold or postponed. Because those children must be led by their family members who stayed behind, just like themselves, and most of the tribe's left-behind people will gather at the priest.

One gloomy morning, Veria, the most prestigious priest of the tribe, wore a helmet with antlers and a deerskin over a thick padded coat.

Today, she didn't need anyone's support, and just held a wooden crutch with a string of amber hanging in front of the crowd.

There were more than a thousand people gathered in the empty space in front of the priest's spire, and it was overcrowded for a while. There are still a large number of people gathered here, some people do not know what happened, and everyone is walking towards the priest, maybe there will be a grand sacrifice today?

Veria put on a serious face. She held the crutches in both hands and held it up high, also signaling everyone to be quiet.

The chattering crowd gradually quieted down, and the women standing at the front looked at the oldest man in the tribe with a responsible expression.

Veria put down his cane a little and said in a slightly hoarse voice: "I know what you're here for. It's about the fleet!"

"Exactly!" a woman in animal skins asked very boldly: "The great priest, my husband and my son, have all sailed with the leader, and now thirty-five days have passed! According to the previous management, They should have come back! This time, will they..."

Another woman expressed the same feeling: "Will they be attacked by those Gotlanders on their return flight? We are really worried."

As the number of inquiries gradually increased, the crowd began to make noise again.

At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted: "Nia is here! Let her go to the front!"

Nia was the wife of the chief Otto, so she had a high status in the tribe.

Holding his son's hand, Nia and Rurik walked forward, and the people around them made way for them.

Nia finally stood in the front row, she turned around, stretched out her hands to ask everyone to be quiet, and then questioned Veria again on behalf of everyone.

"Great priest, we all want to know when the men will return. I think we need a divination."

Veria nodded: "Let's do it then!" After that, she made Nia come over and whisper a few words in her ear.

Nia has a certain appeal. She makes the wives and children of the men who have sailed away to stay, and the rest will all leave. All those who remained participated in the divination sacrifice.

After some simple preparations, nearly a thousand people gathered at the altar of the tribethe sanctuary made of stones stacked in the shape of a boat.

Even if the sky is already bright, the oil lamp is lit again, and the salted fish as a sacrifice is also placed.

In order to make the tribe believe in the accuracy of divination, Vilia hurriedly ordered the onlookers to take out tokens related to their husbands.

As a result, the women took off their amber necklaces one after another, and in the end Veria only got five.

The most important of these is Nia's, a priceless necklace of amber, sapphire and pearls.

According to the tradition of the Ross tribe, parents will make necklaces for their children, and as the children grow older, there will be more decorations on the necklaces.

Not only the Rus tribe, but also the Sithian tribes living in the Svealan plains in the south, have such a tradition.

When boys and girls grow up to the age of marriage, young couples will exchange necklaces, so for them, necklaces are precious things.

Five necklaces are placed in a wooden plate and placed on the altar.

Veria motioned all the lower priests and all the onlookers to kneel down, and she herself was driving her aging body, kneeling beside the altar.

She closed her eyes and muttered something in her mouth. On her right hand, is the clay pot that reflects Otto's opinion, and the gems for divination have been placed.

So, can Otto and his men return safely?

In fact, for Veria, she is not worried that Otto and his party will encounter trouble, especially if they encounter a sneak attack from a hostile clan. After all, it happened before, and it may happen again now.

Another thing that worried her was that on this voyage, Otto took away many young people in the tribe, so-called taking them to meet the world.

After all, they are young people, and their bodies are not strong enough. Will this make the Swig people in Novgorod feel that the Ross tribe is no longer strong?

In any case, Otto must have encountered something, whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, if time continues to drag on, it will inevitably become a bad thing.

Why?

Look at this bad weather! Veria has lived a long time, and she estimates that it is about to snow. As long as it snows, the days ahead will be colder and colder.

The sea will be frozen, and if they have not returned, the result will be disastrous.

Veria, who was kneeling on the ground, thought of many things, and she had to recite some more prayers to make her mind think more for a while.

In terms of feelings, Veria is really optimistic about "Odin's Blessing" Rurik, and this child is also present today. But Rurik was only seven years old, and he showed so many extraordinary talents that he was too young after all.

If something happened to Otto and his party, the tribe had to re-elect a leader.

So who can be as good as Otto? Vilia felt that his clan was simply lacking in intelligence. Among the two thousand warriors of all ages who could participate in the fight, only six or seven hundred were truly elite. Now Otto has taken 300 elites and more than 200 inexperienced young people to participate in the voyage.

If Otto and his party were lost in the cold of winter, the remaining 1,500 warriors could only choose from the last 300 elites.

Through the traditional competition, it is indeed possible to choose a leader who can convince everyone.

However, this leader is only good at fighting. Veria especially remembered that when he was young, the tribal leaders at that time were quite wise, otherwise he would not have been able to take this Rosberg from the Urals.

The dozen or so leaders that followed were all very good at fighting, and as a result, they always died in all kinds of fights.

Compared to those people, Otto was noticeably smarter. Now, Otto is no longer young and strong, but the Ross tribe under his rule has been living smoothly for more than ten years. Although the relationship with the "Danish" people in Gotland is bad, the tribe and the southern thinking Asians have become brothers. .

Think about the future of the tribe with the worst idea. Once Otto encounters an accident, the stable tribe will be restless again. The young and strong members of the clan will desperately compete for the position of leader, and those who lose are also rebellious, and are very likely to take their families away. In that case, the stability of the Ross clan would be lost.

I'm afraid there is only one way.

Veria was glad that Otto's only son Rurik came to the altar, and Rurik was wiser than Otto.

If he could live another ten years, he would be able to witness Rurik grow from a child to a young warrior of his tribe. And by that time, the seventeen-year-old Rurik was full of wisdom, and the fighting talent he showed early on could be brought into full play.

After a long prayer, Vilia felt that his knees hurt, while the others, they had already knelt down on their bodies to make themselves feel better.

Finally, in the anxious waiting, people saw Veria pick up the pot, and the exciting moment finally arrived.

Finally, a red gem was taken out.

In fact, everything has already been settled. For the stability of the tribe, Veria must let everyone settle down.

She took out the ruby in the clay pot very naturally. Today, this gem represents "the fleet will return safely as always".

Veria gestured to the two low-level priests, and they quickly helped Veria, whose legs were weak.

"Now the results are very clear!"

Veria was supported, her legs were weak, and she still held the ruby high, "This is Odin's revelation, Odin told us that the fleet will return safely. We must believe that this is the correct revelation, so we now only need to One thing to do, go and wait quietly! They must be sailing on their way back! I believe that it is likely that the Swigs have paid us more treasures, which delayed the fleet a lot of time. Don't worry. , we will have a happy winter."