As they approached their destination a day and a half later, Dominic wondered what the elves would think when they saw the army he was bringing with him. He threw a glance back over his Pride, pleasure filling him at the sight. Well, perhaps the elves would see an army, but as long as they had been straight with him, it was one intended to help them.

  The sandy lions trotted through the dusty plains, their soft paws making little sound and their fur blending into the background. Well, most of them – Luna’s pale fur stuck out as always, and more than one seemed to be going down the route of taking faint tiger-like stripes or leopard-like spots. They also weren’t as uniform in size as they used to be – even among the females there was a wide range as a result of different levels and choices made on level-up.

  The presence of the albuhas, amesheks, and kesh put any differences between the lions to shame, however. The kesh turned out not to be very efficient at travelling on the ground – their lolloping style of vaulting with their hands was fast but seemed to be quite tiring if used for too long, and their walking pace was far too slow. As a result, they’d ridden others for most of the trip, trying different members of the group at various times.

  It seemed that Dominic would have to get the albuhas to level up a bit more before his dreams of a flying bomber battalion would come true – only Howler was able to actually fly with Weak-Eye, the smallest kesh, on his back and that was without any ammunition. They would need to increase their wing power significantly before they would be able to reliably carry the monkey-like creatures into the air. On the ground it was fine, though the albuhas did run out of stamina more quickly as a result.

  Not as quickly as the lions, though. Sekhmet and Jenkins had both refused to let the monkeys even try – with full agreement from Leo – and so it had been the level 13 Anuke who had given it a go. Within half an hour, she’d had to stop and rest – the weight was just too much. The juveniles didn’t try either – they had to keep hopping into Dominic’s storage space to prevent them from slowing the whole Pride down as much as the kesh. And that didn’t work for too long before they needed to come out or risk losing health.

  The amesheks were better mounts than both the lions and the albuhas in that sense – their stamina wells seemed to be deeper as they managed to just keep going without needing to stop often. At least part of the reason was probably their higher levels – the lowest were still three levels higher than Howler’s level 15. No one dared to suggest that Nyx or Dominic himself carry the kesh, though Dominic had noticed a couple of kesh looking at them speculatively.

  Dominic himself had managed to level up before they left the forest. Now at a lofty level 28, he was only two levels away from the next half-tier – and finding out what new form he would gain access to.

  He'd chosen to increase Mana Heart and Soul, eager to finally release some of the restrictions he was under. He pulled up the details of the change again just to remind himself that it had worked.

  - Mana heart level 2 (15 -> 26 MP) - 75% -> 67% penalty

  - Soul level 2 (Resilience to mental attacks standard measurement 7) +2% -> +6% mana regeneration (-80% -> -70% reduction to mana regeneration)

  26 Mana Points wasn't a large amount, but it was significantly better than what he had had before and proved that better was yet to come. Similarly, a 6% increase to mana regeneration wasn’t great, but it was better than 2% and implied that by the time he repaired his Soul stat, he should have at least +90% to his regeneration, which was much more impressive. And maybe more if it wasn’t a linear growth.

  Closing his status, Dominic turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

  ‘I’m going to scout out the meeting spot,’ he told Nyx as they neared the kopje where the dungeon had been.

  ‘Be careful,’ she warned.

  ‘I’m always careful,’ he protested cheekily. She sent him the mental equivalent of a playful cuff. He ignored that and turned his attention to what lay ahead.

  Running forwards quickly, he bent his legs underneath him and propelled himself into the air with a powerful bound. Snapping his wings out, he beat them down as he reached the apex of his jump, the motion pushing him further into the air. He repeated the motion twice more, each time gaining a little more height than he lost, and then he spread his wings out wide and glided, his paws held tightly to his body, his mane blowing back in the breeze. As always, Dominic gloried in the sensation of flying.

  Though he’d been a bit distracted on the way back from the dungeon last time, on this journey now he’d done as much practice with flying as he could fit in. Sekhmet and Jenkins hadn’t been too pleased at his different focus – nor had Leo or the other lionesses in heat – but since Dominic had had a valid reason to justify why he wasn’t mating with them at every opportunity, they’d accepted it. Leo had argued that the ‘winged canines’ were there for scouting. Dominic had just answered that learning to fly would help them stay alive later; the lion had subsided and accepted restricting mating to their rest times.

  Up high above the ground, Dominic’s eyes narrowed on the faint curl of smoke rising into the air. Following it down, he saw the faintest traces of what might be a campsite. It was well-camouflaged, but his sharp eyes were able to pick out the edges of what appeared to be tents that surrounded the source of the smoke and hid it from view.

  ‘Looks like the elves never left,’ he remarked to Leo. They had taken a little over half the time they’d said to return, after all.

  ‘You were expecting them to?’

  Dominic shrugged mentally. ‘I thought they might have gone hunting somewhere, gained a few Prey Points. Or XP or whatever they get.’

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  Leo sent across a feeling of uncaring.

  ‘We won’t have to waste time searching for them, then,’ he answered after a moment, as if that was all there was to it.

  ‘Sure, but I figure it says something about them. Wasting time that they could be using to get stronger when their home is under attack…’ Dominic mused.

  ‘Perhaps they have been, and they’re now taking a well-deserved rest – we could do more of that ourselves,’ Leo told him pointedly. Dominic sent him the feeling of an eyeroll. There was always the next task to complete, the next way to help himself or his Pride to get stronger. Rest was necessary, but always felt like such a waste. He knew Leo didn’t agree.

  Soaring closer, Dominic saw it when one of the tent edges twitched and opened. A moment later, a figure stepped out of it and waved to him. Dark green hair, nut-brown skin. Berion, if Dominic remembered his name correctly. The leader.

  The flying lion didn’t go down to him straight away – he wanted to be sure that they weren’t setting a trap for himself or his Pride. Yes, they said they needed his help, but that was the point – they said it. Meanwhile, Jenkins and her group had killed one of theirs – clear justification for trying to get retribution, at least for some of them.

  Dominic didn’t really think that they had been lying – they had a better chance of winning that kind of encounter the last time they had met than now and Berion had stopped his two party-members from pressing the attack back then. But there was no harm in being a little cautious and approaching with his whole Pride rather than alone.

  Gliding back to join his little army of beasts trotting or flapping across the savannah, Dominic let them all know what he had seen and got three of the albuhas to fly a little higher to get a better vantage point on the elves. Then, travelling side-by-side with Nyx, they covered the last stretch of land.

  As they crested the low hill that separated them from the elves’ campsite, Nyx dropped back a little so Dominic was head and shoulders in front of her by the time they were making the descent. He sent her a quick glance but then decided to take it at face-value – her making it clear who the overall leader of the group was.

  By this point, all of the elves had emerged from their campsite and were standing with expressions ranging from shocked to grim as they beheld the mass of beasts flowing towards them. Forty-two technically wasn’t a very impressive number on paper, but it certainly was impactful when mostly composed of large predators.

  ‘Stop here,’ Dominic instructed his Pride as they got within a hundred feet of the elves. ‘We don’t want them to think we’re about to attack.’ Everyone obeyed, slowing to a stop but staying standing – they also seemed to realise that they shouldn’t completely relax just yet. ‘Stay up in the air for now,’ Dominic told the three albuhas – Claw, Teeth, and Speedy. ‘Keep an eye out for anything approaching us or any moves to attack from the elves.’

  ‘Yes, pack leader,’ they chorused in acknowledgement, continuing to drift lazily through the air, reminiscent of buzzards.

  Dominic stepped forwards and Berion did the same. They met in the mid-point between their two groups. The lion stood taller than the elf, his eyes at Berion’s hair-line. With their vastly different bulk, the elf was rather dwarfed by the massive Pride leader. To show his good will, Dominic sat down, though didn’t relax further than that. Dominic caught Berion glancing at the even larger Nyx with a hint of awe.

  ‘Honoured brother, you’ve returned faster than you suggested you might,’ the elf started carefully, his eyes wandering from the lion in front of him to the mass of animals beyond. ‘And you have brought…many companions.’ It was still strange for Dominic to hear his words in his head while he didn't understand the words the elf spoke verbally.

  ‘The affairs I needed to sort out took less time than I thought they might,’ Dominic dismissed. ‘Since you indicated that time was of the essence, I thought it would be better to get here sooner rather than delaying until the time we decided.’

  ‘Indeed, we are grateful that you have returned sooner,’ Berion admitted, though his voice was full of tension. Dominic could read between the lines – he was happy to have them there sooner as long as they were there to help.

  ‘I have brought all those among my Pride who were interested in helping you with the problem you described,’ Dominic explained, trying to reassure the elf. ‘They will not attack any of your kind unless they are first attacked.’ He added in the caveat just to make sure that the elves realised that they wouldn’t hesitate to defend themselves – especially if someone decided to continue the violence which had broken out between their two groups before.

  ‘I’m sure that won’t be a problem,’ Berion reassured him, though turned and looked back at the two elves who were looking the most grim at the sight of Dominic’s group. Pelir and Ruthror if Dominic remembered it correctly. The two elves straightened up at Berion’s warning look and while Ruthror’s grip tightened on his spear before it loosened, Pelir looked away, her mouth set in an unhappy line.

  ‘See that it isn’t,’ Dominic warned him. ‘Though I think we should probably keep our groups somewhat separate while we travel, just to make sure there aren’t any…accidents.’

  ‘I agree, though it pains me to do so,’ sighed Berion. He smiled, though it was a thin, worried one more than anything else. ‘I thank you again for your rapid response to our plea for help. Do you need to recuperate from your journey, or shall we depart immediately?’

  Dominic checked with the various members of his Pride.

  ‘We would like to pause for a brief time to rest and eat, but then we can leave.’ He noticed the elves look a little wary at the word ‘eat’ but chose to ignore it. Gazing into the sky, Dominic eyed the position of the sun. It was almost at its zenith – not the best time to travel anyway. ‘Let us rest for the hottest period of the day and then take our leave. How far away is your people’s settlement?

  Berion eyed him cautiously for a moment and then sighed. ‘It is about a day and a half at our speed of travelling. I do not know whether you travel faster or slower than we do.’

  It was a good question, and one Dominic didn’t know the answer to either. They’d find out.

  ‘How do you feel about travelling at night?’

  here!