TORI HELD the reigns of the chestnut-colored mare tightly. Even with her glove-covered hand and heavily covered body with bear's pelt, she could still feel the numbing cold of the night as she stood atop of the cliff that was the border of the Arin Tribe. She could see the telltale sign of the opposing militia's camp as torches surrounded them.

Two days passed since the fated first meeting that Tori attended. After giving Chief Keiran her insights and suggestions, she felt that the young chief respected Tori after hearing what she had to say. Tori could still remember what transpired on the night of her first meeting.

Tori was calmly sipping her favorite Chamomile Tea that Lily thoughtfully wrapped inside her pouch. She was the one that brewed them thanks to Akasha gave, who her earlier a kettle and the closest thing to a teacup, a mug.

She was contemplating on her next move against the House of Zoliel as she sat near the fireplace with a knitted blanket on her lap when three successive knocks disturbed her quality time.

When she opened her door, Tori was taken aback by the looming silhouette of Chief Keiran. Smiling at the straight-faced young chief, Tori curtsied. She was secretly thankful that she was wearing a well-covered nightdress.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your night visit, Your Grace?"Fixing her messy golden ringlets to the other side of her neck, Tori gave Chief Keiran an alluring smile.

"Can I come in?"

If we lived in my time as Talia, I would have expected a different outcome from your question.

Opening her door to give him access to enter her room, Tori replied. "It would be my pleasure, Your Grace."

The stiff-looking young chieftain walked briskly to the seat that Tori occupied earlier. With his back on her, Tori looked slowly towards him. "Why are you here, Chief Keiran?"

He only glanced at his back where she was standing, not fully facing her. "Your strategy. Where do you learn to make something like that? It's – "

"Barbaric? Savage" Sliding her bare hands to his well-tones bare chest, Tori waited for him to pry her hands away from him which he never did.

What a naughty boy, Chief Keiran.

"Tell me, am I not what you expect, Kei-ran?" Tori whispered his name to his left ear. She was now leaning toward him. "That strategy will bring death to your fellow northerners but is it now what you want? The moment that you usurped the throne from your father, you should have expected this, my dear young chieftain. The death of those poor souls will be on your hands, forever."

Tori could feel his frantic heartbeat beneath her hands on his chest which made her grin slyly. In the end, you are still a man.

Chief Keiran refused to hold her but he was gentleman enough not to pry her hands away from him. He just let her teased him.

"I know that, Lady Victoria. And I will forever bring their deaths as I open the northern region to the world. With that, I will need your wisdom."

"And in return?" Tori hugged him now from the back as he sat while she crouched. Her golden ringlets touching his bare shoulders and her warm breath blew into his ear.

For the first time, Chief Keiran touched her. He grasped her right wrist and in one strong pull, Tori was now standing in front of him as he still sat straight. The young chief tilted his head to look up to her, his firm hand holding her dainty wrist.

"I will deliver the empire beneath your feet."

And now she was here executing her plan. Hiding under the darkness of the night, Tori pulled the reigns. Running back towards the Arin Tribe's camp near their southern borders, she galloped as she leaned to her horse. She needed to deliver the news from to south.

Letting go of her right hand from the reigns, Tori kept her control of the horse with her left hand. As she raised her right arm, the flapping of the wings echoed in the darkness of the snowy forest. Her new messenger, Talia, which name's she got from her past life, landed on her leather-covered arm. The talons of the gray-colored hawk failed to pierce her well-protected right arm.

"It is just as I anticipated. The number of the militia beyond the Arin Tribe's southern territory matched to my calculations." Tori talked to her newfound messenger before whistling.

Talia, the gray-feathered hawk, flew away from Tori. It was now flying above her as she went straight to their camp which was kilometers away from the residential area of the Arin Tribe.

Tori pulled the reigns abruptly when she arrived in the camp where a battalion of Arin Tribe warriors awaited for her. Her horse stopped right in front of Tyhen, the commander of this battalion.

"How many?" Tyhen secured the reigns of her horse as Tori descended to the snowy grounds. Men around them were busily gathering weaponry. No shields on their bodies, instead, they were wearing their traditional animal skin with black markings littered around their bodies and faces. Tori, on the other hand, wore a thick red outdoor equestrian dress covered by a polar bear's skin. Her hair on a ponytail with her bone-like pieces of jewelry adorning her neck and ears given by Akasha to her.

"Two thousand men at least, the main force left just as I expected." Tori's smug reply made Tyhen clenched his jaws. Not minding the battalion commander, Tori went straight to the circular tent where Chieftain Keiran was waiting.

The moment she stepped inside the enormous tent, the elders and the young chieftain snapped their attention to her whom they waited for hours.

"From fifteen thousand men with the intent to stop us from gathering our food supply from beyond the Arin Tribe's territory by setting their camp right outside the boundary, their militia's force reduced to two thousand men."

A day ago, at dawn, upon Tori's instructions to the chieftain unbeknownst to everyone's knowledge, Chief Keiran withdrew the Arin Tribe's forces back from the boundaries of the enemies. Just like Tori predicted, this movement made the opposing team uneasy.

Like a chain reaction, the Arin Tribe's peaceful afternoon was disrupted by the loud sound of the gong which alerted every one excluding Tori who was already anticipating an attack any day. In fact, she was relieved that things moved in the phase that she wanted. After all, she only got a week to unify the northern region. Chief Keiran's action fastened everything.

The next thing they knew, the enemies withdrew the warships and gathered their fifteen thousand men in front of the Arin Tribe's boundary to the south. Tori grinned upon the enemies' tactic since this would cut off the Arin tribesmen's ability to hunt for food at the neutral territory. Being in the northernmost part of the northern region had a disadvantage and that was food supply so the Arin Tribe would compensate by hunting to the neutral zone which was at the center of the region.

Everyone at the Arin Tribe did not expect the imposing number of their enemies. It was clear for them that the three tribes had been secretly gathering together with the previous chieftain of the Arin Tribe. Tori realized that someone was supporting the northern regions to take over the empire. Chieftain Keiran expected five thousand men at most and they were basing their strategies on the fact that they only knew.

They had no choice but to lean on Tori. So help she did. Turning the enemy's strategies back to them, Tori assigned a group of Arin Tribe's warriors to attack the encampment of the enemies when the sun finally set. It was a covert mission with only one aim, to steal the livestock of the enemies. Upon her instructions to the attacking warriors, they split their forces into two. The first one would continue their journey to the destination that she instructed while the second one would go back to the Arin Tribe's territory to deliver the livestock to the tribe for consumption.

And now, Tori just got back from observing the enemies' movement to prove her theory which led her to the moment wherein she had to report what she saw.

"How did you know that the main force will follow them? They can either go back to their territories to replenish food supply or hunt of their own." One elder voiced out his curiosity which Tori gladly replied. "I don't. I simply concluded following the logic in this region. They will get back to you. They won't like being defeated by the same technique they planned to use against you. And the main force was not pursuing them alone for that sake but they would regroup near the port which is nearest to the Noshin Tribe." Tori pointed at the part of the map on the table at the center of the tent.

Looking around her, Tori continued talking as everyone was carefully listening to her every word. "They will go back to their original plan which is to defeat you using your weakness, through the sea. To maintain the element of surprise, they will use the excuse of pursuing the warriors as a disguised to their plan. With the way things are, they will attack us at dawn where everyone was not expecting them since we just saw them chasing our warriors. But their plan is a tricky one. They will have to use one route to attack us at that specific time and to maintain the element of surprise."

Tori pointed out at the valley of the neutral zone nearest to the port and the Noshin Tribe of the Southwest. Her ruby eyes shone with wicked intent as she stared at that specific part of the map.

Aah, the beauty of topography.

"Woah. We do not want to be on your bad side Lady Victoria, no?" Akasha broke the deafening silence that ensued inside the tent. Even the rude, Tyhen, was speechless with how the young imperialist showed cunning abilities in strategies.

Clasping her hands together, Tori smiled sweetly at the young chieftain and the elders. "Now, let us have some tea, shall we?"

IN THE same moment, the thirteen thousand men that marched in pursuit of the warriors indeed used the route where Victoria Rozenreff assumed they would use. Gone were the Arin Tribe warriors that the enemies were chasing which the latter did not mind.

Upon reaching the valley, as the moon started to rise, the water from the once dried stream started to rise in proportion to the moon. The commanding general of the thirteen-thousand-men-army was Chieftain Syzo Teiwar of the Northeastern Tribe of Teiwar. He led his proud army to the familiar valley.

No one cared about the dried up wide stream, but the Noshin tribesmen knew that every high tide, the water from the sea would reach this gigantic stream that would enable their rafts to carry them in groups thus making their travel time shorter. The Arin Tribe did not know this information since they were a close-off community that preferred to stay in the northern mountains. What they did not know was when Tori arrived and as she passed this valley, she took notice of the uneven grassland of the valley especially the ones near the dried stream.

For Chief Syzo, the attack of the Arin Tribe was a blessing in disguised to execute their original plan. He wanted to use the warships instead of starving the entire Arin Tribe. He disliked waiting but the other two chieftains voted for the latter option.

"Load everything up!" Chief Syzo instructed his vassals with his gruff voice. They immediately used the rafts that they discreetly brought with them. One raft could bring fifty men. The torches they brought guided hundreds of rafts.

Crickets and the gentle rustles of the continuously growing stream were the only sounds that could be heard as they stayed silent.

With the air of pride and confidence, Chief Syzo puffed out his chest as he stood at the raft that led the hundred more. Only to be frozen on his spot when the rafts turned to a corner and were met by thousands of yellow paired eyes and growling sounds.