The burden of victory had made the boy quiet, Pataran mused. The shifting sands of tribal policy had finally dampened his inhuman vigor.

The first test of their might, the great assault against Kition, the prove of their resolve, the last step before the great alliance of free men was ready to take Egyptian soil. And what were his allies concerned with? Petty bickering.

At least that's what it looked like to Pataran and Apollas.

When the Sherden started to take land, they developed a need for men in arms. Bronze and swords suddenly were plentiful as the Hittites lost in battle and abandoned their Steward kings and the mighty garrisons at the of the Sharden lands. Men born as people of different names soon integrated into the growing Sherden forces.

Pataran and Apollas themselves weren't born Sherden, but these differences had long ago ceased to matter, at least as long as the gods of all the people seemed to smile upon sherden ambitions.

This was not the case for their allies though.

Blood feuds between kings, handed down from father to father, sworn never to be forgotten, still haunted their reigns. Claims for cities lost a hundred years ago nearly paralyzed efforts to combine forces against Egypt. Beder of Dor king of the Tjeker, on the first day would not set foot into the same tent as his blood rival Achish of Gath. For him to enter and his forces to fight alongside Achishs, he demanded nothing less then the fortress of Ekron. The ancient city his grandfather himself had lost to the Peleset king.

A futile gesture, but a necessary spectacle for his people. The Tjeker provided a sizable army and many voices within their ranks still called for war to reconquer their ancient homeland from the Peleset.

Three days it took them to settle the issue. Livestock and slaves were exchanged, not directly, but between mediating parties, the blood of 20 bulls was spilled and wine liberally consumed as Beder and Achish finally congregated under the same canvas roof, swearing oats of allegiance.

A myriad of these petty feuds had to be settled and Patarans wisdom and experience with tribal politics showed his use. Apollas on the other hand was tired by the process.

In his eyes petty and despicable men came to seek the favor of the hailed Sherden wolf and he had to pretend goodwill were none was, for the sake of men and spears and shields.

He grew up a Sherden, forgotten his childhood, this was the life he knew. Battles were fought people were killed, enslaved, employed. It didn't matter which gods they brought, as long as they gave their favor to the brave and the willing to fight. Men would show their mettle and earn a place among the Sherden ranks.

In the end the Peleset, Denyen, Ekwesh and Shekelesh put their trust in the Sherden wolf, the Tjeker, Karkisa and Weshesh threw their lot in with the Lukka.

The Lukka turned out to be the biggest stumbling block among the nine nations gathered. Without it being made a public declaration, the sieges on Ugarit and Kition were to decide the Nine nations fate.

They were either to be let by the brash bull, a former high ranking Hittite General who deflected and lead the Lukka forces against his own people, tearing up what was left of the Hittite empire.

The other choice was Pataran and his Sherden. Though everyone knew the people came to follow the Wolf and his fierce reputation.

The bull was on his way towards the camp, although this was to be the battle to test the Sherden leadership. But the bull had no choice, but to intrude.

The campaign against Ugarit was not as decisive as he had hoped, it would not grant him the leadership over the nine nations. Especially as many warriors from the Tjeker and Karkisa had lost their lives to the bulls faulty plan of attack. He was at a position of weakness and as was his nature he tried to regain initiative.

It was a delicate situation, Pataran thought as he mused how much times had changed. How much the Sherden had changed. When Pataran had joined their people they were raiders. Sailing up the coast sacking villages without protective walls, skimming riches from atop the Hittites empires wealth. Although annoying the Sherden proved to be too resilient, too dangerous, to be conquered as easily as the Ugarithians and also to small in numbers to pose a threat to the Hittite empire. After a few failed military campaigns into the Sherden heartland, the Hittites arranged themselves with their presence. They settled conquered tribes along their borders, in order to act as a shield against these fierce people. Pataran remembered these times well, as it was his own introduction to the Sherden people. Although the Hittites always fought the Sherden, they also valued their fighting prowess and employed them as mercenaries.

Then peace with Egypt was made and the mercenary armies were disbanded, leaving young Sherden warriors with nothing but bronzen swords, the same sword they now raised atop the fallen giants carcass.

The last obstacles now was the bull and mighty Kition. Fortress city of merchants. Nothing but naked rock in its back, the city was as much a trap as it was a bulwark, but to make the trap snap one had to conquer its walls. Not an easy task. With garrisons well outfitted and provisions notorious well stocked.

Still even with such perilous challenges ahead and his own life running out, Pataran could not help, but feel hopeful as he thought of the future.

When he took to the sea with his people they were aimless, but now there was direction and it all came from the boy he once saved and disowned.

The boy who claimed his place among his people and whose fierce energy had set in motion a wave of flesh which would drown the old world in its own blood, to give violent birth to their new one.

Already they ceased being raider and become conquerors, settling on former Hittite and Egyptian territories, burning to ashes palaces and their stuart kings with them.

The old world was collapsing around them, the Hittite kingdom in the north was on its last dying breath. Their splintered armies meant to enforce Hittite order were cut off from their generals who had retreated to the north. The few which still stood the course in forts and garrisons across their former territories had long ago ceased to mount significant resistance against Sherden swords.

There was talk about human sacrifices day in and day out at the hittite capital. As their god of tempest did not see fit to give more then a meager yield to Hittite fields for over 10 years.

The Hittites now depended on grain from the south, provided to them by their former enemies the Egyptians. They seek to stabilize the north, but only prolong its death throws.

For the north had become a land of terror now, marauders on all boarders and civil unrest. Only the armies cruel grip there to keep the kingdom together, but the iron fingers were already bursting from their joints.

In the south the Egyptian kings lost territory after territory to the tribes they once conquered, subjugated and humiliated. Fierce folk driven into the desert by their masters and abandoned, now taking back their land from the whip wielding hands of their oppressors.

And here before the Sherden swords the Ugarithians. Their capitol already burned to the ground, their trade routes so utterly destroyed that the kings brother had to marry the daughter of a tribes leader just to secure a route for their precious bronze trade.

Now their final struggle had come. Inside the fortress city of Kitions walls resided their last king, with barely enough soldiers to man the walls.

It was a volatile situation, Pataran was aware of an Hittite commander on his way to Kition. Unable to ship his army to the main land and escape to the north, he placed his bet on the last Stuart king in the region, prepared to make his last stand.

Half of his men had deserted by now, still his assistance to the Ugarithian king would considerably strengthen the defenses of Kition, for in the fortress city of Kition, one man on the wall was as good as a hundred below.

Yet with all these worries on his mind Pataran was more concerned about Apollas, was the emerging quietness a sign of a more profound change in character? To much depended on the boy now, maybe he should have given him control over the Sherden already, most of them came to follow the wolf anyway.

There was no way around it, Pataran had to step down.

After Kition, only after the siege of Kition was he sure to forever be a part of his people stories.