‘Howler fine,’ Teeth reassured Dominic as he came in for a landing. ‘Hopefully.’
The last word served to undo all the good the first two had done for Dominic’s state of mind and served to distract him from suggesting that Teeth stayed up in the air until too late. He would just have to hope that no one was watching the albuha who might be suspicious.
‘What do you mean, ‘hopefully’?’ he demanded.
‘Howler called by matriarch.’
‘Matriarch,’ Dominic repeated, the word catching his interest. Now why was that ringing a bell? ‘I think you’d better start from the beginning.’
And so Teeth quickly did. By the end of his explanation, illustrated by memories projected into the Pride chat, Dominic knew exactly what the address ‘matriarch’ had reminded him of.
‘It seems like we’re facing an old enemy again,’ he remarked to Leo. The lion growled in response, the sound both eager and spine-chilling at the same time. He, for one, wouldn’t mind a rematch.
‘The sneaky vermin leader will meet our teeth this time. Not our backs,’ the lion declared firmly.
‘It does seem that conflict is inevitable,’ Dominic agreed. ‘But did you catch how she was concerned about her position? From the memory Teeth projected, she seemed to be doing her utmost in that meeting to intimidate the albuhas and stop them from even considering an attempt to challenge her.’
‘That’s natural,’ Leo reminded him, as if it should have gone without saying. ‘I would be concerned about the same thing in her place. Why do you think I don’t want young males around?’
'So they don't mate with the lionesses,' Dominic pointed out.
'That goes without saying – only the dominant males of a pride mate with the females. But I don't want to raise my usurper.'
‘I suppose,’ Dominic granted. But something was telling him it was more than the natural desire to be at the top of the pile, not to mention that as a female, the pressure to be the leader to get access to mates was surely less pressing, not to mention it was a cross-species group. Even Leo hadn’t tried to mate with any of the non-leonine Pride members – yet. This whole situation was odd; unnatural. Or rather, System-made. Why wouldn’t it be such on the beasts’ side just as much as on the elves’?
The conversation with the elves had been enlightening. Pre-System, they hadn’t been an independent town – though were pretty self-sufficient for everyday requirements, they hadn’t sported any sort of military force. They had only been able to avoid that necessity thanks to their territory’s capital which had sent Warriors to them through some sort of quick-travel system when they needed it.
Unfortunately, the System had transplanted them far enough away from their protecting city that they hadn’t yet found any trace of it or any other settlement, even when their hunting parties travelled as far as they dared, and the quick-travel system was out of action until certain conditions were fulfilled. They’d been rather vague about all of that and Dominic hadn’t pressed them on it.
Time enough to do that later once he’d built up a bit more trust – he was certainly interested in a system which might make it easier for him to investigate what had happened to his human family.
The Elders had theorised that the Challenges were a way of testing whether a settlement had what it took to survive in this new world. Unfortunately for the elves, the ability to defend oneself seemed to be a highly prized value while they were constrained by limitations which no one had fully explained. Though the fact that the healing and crafting Challenges had come first seemed to indicate that the System wasn’t actually trying to kill them off – at least not outright. And technically there were win conditions which didn’t require them to actually fight, though to succeed like that, they would have to choose to sacrifice a portion of their population.
What Dominic was wondering was whether this Challenge was just as much for the beasts as it was for the elves. Unlike the previous two Challenges, this time the elves were up against living opponents, and ones that Dominic was fully aware of being, or could become, just as sapient as the members of his Pride were, or the elves for that matter.
What if the matriarch would gain some sort of bonus by leading the beasts to victory? And what if these rewards only went to the leader? Or at least the bulk went to the leader and her most powerful captains could squabble over the rest? That would explain the matriarch’s comments about ‘scraps’. Of course, those same comments could just be about literal food and might have nothing to do with a System-generated Challenge. Still, Dominic couldn’t help but wonder.
Especially since one of the possible win conditions for the elves was to convince the ‘beast lord’ to give up on the attack.
‘You don’t think that we can convince the vermin to give up on this prize, do you?’ Leo asked incredulously, clearly following his thoughts closely.
‘No,’ Dominic answered immediately. ‘But what if the ‘beast lord’ was someone else?’
‘The winged canines are not strong enough to challenge her.’
‘No, they’re not,’ Dominic agreed. ‘But what about Nyx? Or us?’
The lion was silent for a moment.
‘If that’s the case, then it has to be us,’ Leo replied slowly after some thought. ‘I refuse to risk others becoming more powerful than us and taking our Pride from us. Vassal or not.’
‘Fair,’ Dominic conceded. ‘But you see my point, right?’
‘I do. Though it would be stupidly dangerous to step into the den of another beast without knowing for sure. Especially when they are as numerous as the winged canine has indicated them to be.’
‘Oh, I agree,’ Dominic replied immediately. ‘Which is why we need more information.’ So saying, he returned his attention to Teeth. ‘Thanks for the information. Please return to the matriarch’s group and find out some more for me. I need to know whether anyone else has challenged the matriarch and if so, why, and what her response was – did she fight herself, send in some of her followers, or refuse the challenge outright? And it would be good to have a more comprehensive picture of what creatures are present in the army itself.’
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‘Especially are there any lionesses,‘ Leo threw in quickly. Dominic sent him an eyeroll but didn’t countermand the order.
‘Yes, pack leaders,’ the albuha answered respectfully. He waited for a moment longer to find out if there was anything else Dominic would like to say, then when it was clear that the lion had finished, Teeth stepped forwards to lick Dominic’s jaw, and then turned around and took off.
Dominic watched the winged shape of his pride member disappear into the night sky. Then he froze as he saw another winged shape cross the path of the moon. Who was that? Another of the albuhas that Howler had apparently won the loyalty of? Or one of those other winged creatures which looked more than a little like giant bats? And if one of the latter, how much had it seen? How much had it understood of their interaction? Teeth had been quick, but he had still been meeting with a creature from outside the army.
Unease going through Dominic’s mind, he slowly retreated into the brush behind him, hopefully hiding his shape sufficiently that even those able to fly in the dark wouldn’t be able to spot him.
Once more, they had to wait. Uncertain as to who might be watching, Dominic decided not to continue with any of his training – the movement required for it was far too visible, especially in the stillness of the night.
Instead, he decided to use the opportunity to sleep for a bit. Even as he laid his head on his paws, he found his thoughts buzzing around his brain too quickly for him to drop off.
He found himself thinking back to the conversation with the elves. The rest of it had gone well – both parties had ended up satisfied with the arrangement of exchanging crafted equipment for help with overcoming this challenge. Dominic had offered to contribute the fabric and metal as well as the sword and sheath they couldn’t use that they’d received in the dungeon. The elves had been rather pleased and said that they’d use the materials to help create their equipment.
That they were displeased about the destruction of the dungeon had come through a couple of pointed comments which had nonetheless still been polite. They’d actually stung even more because of that. Sylmar in particular had practically been thrown into despondency at the thought that his crafters would no longer have access to the materials from there.
All but that particular elf, however, had managed to face the loss more or less prosaically at least after the initial pointed comments as the dungeon by itself had not given them enough advantage to win their current Challenge. Dominic’s Pride, on the other hand, had a better chance of doing just that. Though, Dominic definitely got the feeling that the majority of the elves were moderating their reactions in order not to risk alienating him. He suspected that he hadn’t heard the end of it yet.
That was one reason why he and the albuhas were out here – in order to show that he was taking their temporary alliance seriously, Dominic had volunteered to immediately go and scout the beast forces, to try to work out exactly what was going on from their perspective. He just hoped that the rest of the Pride was doing fine.
Not entirely trusting the elves just yet, Dominic had instructed the Pride to make their home in the outer edge of the forest town, rather than taking advantage of the elves’ offer to stay in the massive central tree itself. Plus, it allowed them to react faster if they were needed against a new attack.
Fortunately, there were some huts which were apparently usually used by hunters coming home late and which served well enough as temporary dens. Nyx and Dominic himself were too big to fit through the doors, but everyone else managed.
Though the Pride and Dominic were unable to communicate directly, they had solved that issue by stationing five Pride members in between him and the bulk of his Pride, allowing him to get word back to them if necessary. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up like a children’s game of Chinese Whispers if so.
Thinking about his Pride quickly led his thoughts onto a certain member of it. Dominic managed to doze off to happy contemplation of Sekhmet and her leonine charms, only emphasised by her sharp intellect and steady personality.
*****
Dominic’s sleep was fitful, more a series of catnaps than proper sleep, but considering he was alone and out in the open, only half-hidden by a bush, that was probably a good thing. He woke properly to the sound of strong wing beats in the air, the albuha exchanging stealth for speed.
‘What’s wrong?’ Dominic asked, their close range allowing for easy use of the Pride chat even if Teeth was still in the air.
‘Pack leader! Howler order by matriarch – go attack two-leg den!’
Dominic felt adrenaline rush through him, wiping away any remaining sleepiness.
‘Howler has been ordered to attack the elves? Alone?’
‘No. With pack. And other packs. Howler give me this, give you.’
With that, Teeth projected a memory into the Pride chat. Unlike normal, though, the memory was rough, the images barely decipherable; the meaning of the body language almost completely garbled. But Dominic was able to understand enough to get the gist. And to his relief, it actually answered several questions he had.
When Howler had been called to the matriarch some hours before, he had been required to take part in a sort of tournament. Dominic wasn’t sure whether the tournament was more for the matriarch’s pleasure or information; perhaps both.
He had acquitted himself well, his ability to fly a definite advantage over several opponents. He had lost, however, against several other opponents, notable among which were a bloody-mouthed killer rabbit, at least three times the size of the ones Dominic had encountered, and a large lion which had Leo growling in the back of their mind. Worse, to Leo’s mind, was the fact that he was bigger than them and had a nicer mane. His desire to go and chase the other male off was almost irresistible. Almost. Dominic was able to talk him down by reminding him that if they were torn to pieces by the rest of the army, the lion would keep his pride and would probably get Leo’s Pride too.
That little blip overcome, Dominic was able to return to evaluating the memories. Fortunately, the fights didn’t seem to be to the death, either intelligence or fear of the matriarch sufficing to stop the combatants before things got too far. In all but a couple of cases, a snarl from the matriarch was enough to freeze the fighters mid-motion and end the fight then and there. In the cases when that wasn’t enough, the matriarch’s physical intervention did the trick to cow the fighters. All except one – a creature that looked like the scrin Dominic had once faced, though this one larger and more deadly-looking.
This scrin had a hyena-like head and a gorilla’s chest. It was bi-pedal, powerful, and vicious. Apparently it thought that it had a chance against the matriarch and, when the large hyena intervened, it didn’t back down but transferred its aggression off its bloody opponent onto the matriarch herself.
Snarling in challenge, it had held its ground even as the matriarch almost seemed to grow in size, her fur puffing out and her presence flaring to freeze everyone else within a few paces.
The scrin had attacked and the matriarch had responded. The two had exchanged blows, ripping and tearing at each other in a fight which was far more in earnest than that which had occurred previously among the other combatants.
Interestingly, the matriarch hadn’t called in any others to join her. Perhaps because she didn’t need to; perhaps because she couldn’t due to the nature of the challenge. Not having been there and barely seeing the movements as it was due to the quality of the twice-transferred memory, Dominic couldn’t say. But he did find it curious to note that she had chosen to take on the challenge alone, neither backing off nor getting others to fight her battle for her as she’d done in their own clash – did her position as ‘beast lord’ force her to accept one-on-one challenges from her own captains? Or had she become powerful enough herself that she no longer needed her hyenas to distract her opponents for her?
In the end, the scrin was left on the ground, bloody and ripped half to pieces. The matriarch was injured too, but there was no doubting her ferocity or willingness to fight again if necessary. No others challenged her, however, and she returned to her place on the top of the rocky hill. The scrin, however, bled out into the earth, his life absorbed by the red soil. Oddly enough, she didn’t absorb him to heal herself. Dominic guessed that she was hoarding that knowledge jealously for strategic advantage, much like Dominic himself did.
From the top of the hill, the matriarch had issued her orders – Howler and his albuhas, along with four other groups of beasts were to attack the elven settlement. Dominic was unable to get a clear image of the attackers, but he gathered that the other four were ground-bound. One group was big, two were medium-sized, and the last was relatively small.
Howler was given additional instructions – to report back about new defences or strategies no matter what. It seemed she was displeased that her last group had been eliminated so thoroughly.
Dominic refocussed on the present, his thoughts racing.
‘Go back to Howler,’ he told Teeth. ‘Thanks for the information – I’ll prepare the Pride to meet the attack.’
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