Dominic rushed back towards the elven settlement, using Fleet Foot, Quick Strike, and his wings in turn to move as fast as he could. It wasn’t his most stamina-efficient means of travelling, but it was certainly effective. While he ran, he reached out to his messenger chain through the Pride chat.

  ‘Tell the Pride to prepare for a potential battle. Ask Sekhmet to inform the elves and instruct them to get ready.’

  ‘Yes, Pride leader,’ Anuke answered succinctly, evidently one of the five Pride members taking the current shift as relays. Dominic heard her repeat the same message, almost perfectly word for word, but it was slightly muffled since it was more directed at the next relay member than him. The next relay member should then do the same to pass the message on. At least, he assumed that that was what was happening as he couldn’t personally hear the response.

  Running through the savannah, Dominic raced to be back in time. Teeth hadn’t been able to come immediately in order to not arouse suspicion so the army had a bit of a lead on him. Still, he was faster than most, especially so when he used his movement Abilities, and not all of the beasts chosen to attack the elves were fast movers anyway – at least he assumed as much. But if he wanted to make sure he was fully recovered before the fight, it would be best to get there ahead of time.

  The elven settlement had never truly disappeared below the horizon – it was big enough and the savannah flat enough that he’d only lost sight of it completely when it had blended in with the dark night sky behind it. Now, with the rising sun casting its rays into the sky and brightening the background behind the massive trees, it was once more obvious to see.

  What was also obvious was the black blob of creatures against the pale grass and red earth of the savannah. The winged creatures in the air were evidence that this group was indeed the small army of beasts sent by the matriarch.

  They were closer to the settlement than Dominic was and made him realise just how long it had been before Teeth had managed to come and warn him about the incoming army. They had clearly arced around slightly as they weren’t moving parallel to Dominic and his relay members, but the angle between them wasn’t massive. Dominic aimed himself at a point where they would meet near the forest-town if the army continued on its current trajectory.

  Teeth hadn’t told him where the group was, but, to be fair, he hadn’t asked either. The albuha clearly hadn’t thought of it by himself, perhaps too concerned about the fact that they’d been sent against their own Pride. Their position indicated that the little army had set off quite a while ago. Long before dawn, was Dominic’s guess.

  Which made sense, of course – when better to take enemies off guard than when they’re still sleeping, and the sun is in their eyes? Though if the latter had factored into the matriarch’s calculations, Dominic would have to consider her a far better tactician than he had ever thought she could be. Though if they wanted to catch the elves with the sun in their eyes, they would need to arc around the forest first. Their current trajectory didn’t indicate that as an objective.

  Seeing as he was away from anyone who might get hurt, Dominic decided to use Rage. Thanks to the way the Ability worked, he’d double his speed for two minutes and no additional stamina, and then have a minute and a half of recuperation time. That meant a net win in speed. Every little bit extra would help. Besides, he desperately needed practice using this Ability

  While using Rage, he focussed on using Fleet Foot and combined it with Quick Strike and, after a moment of consideration, Sharp Bite Attack.

  The effect was significant – he could only thank Sure Feet for the fact that he didn’t stumble over his own toes at the sheer increase in speed. It wasn’t only the doubling effect of Rage to his base speed, but the fact that even his three speed-enhancing Abilities seemed to be affected by it. Not doubled, he was pretty sure of that, but increased by a bit nonetheless.

  Unfortunately, the boost died away all too quickly. He’d made noticeable progress in closing the distance between himself and the elven town, but the crawl he was reduced to when Rage wore off was even more frustrating in its comparison with his speed before.

  Choosing to take to the air, Dominic used Airborne to reduce his weight and built up his speed as much as possible first. He glided through the air, touching the ground only to recoup the speed lost to air-resistance.

  The advantage to using his wings for part of the journey instead of just enhancing his running with Fleet Foot was that his stamina drain was reduced. Although he was faster on foot with all his Abilities working together, the way Rage’s recuperation period worked was that it was actually slightly faster and more efficient to glide through the air while moving minimally than try to continue running.

  Dominic could only guess that it was because of the nature of the Ability that when he tried to run while in the recuperation period, he felt like lead blocks were wrapped around his feet; the effort to move had significantly increased compared to normal. If he was trying to beat his wings, he’d probably find the same with them. But since all he was doing was stretching them out and keeping them steady, the effects of the recuperation didn’t seem to affect them as much.

  Once the recuperation period was over, he switched back to using Rage and boosting his speed as much as he possibly could, repeating the process time and time again as the elven forest-town grew larger and larger before him and the distance between him and the enemy army narrowed.

  He was pleased to note that he had been right about Rage – with no target to focus his anger on, it simmered in the back of his mind like Leo’s discontent whenever Dominic did anything with a male lion other than going straight for his throat. If he could get the fury that accompanied the Ability muted to this extent even when he was in combat, Rage would become a viable part of his combat strategy. Until then, though…. At least his use now was doing wonders for his progress towards its next level – with any luck, the ‘rage’ would become less prevalent as he levelled it. Hopefully.

  It was relatively close in the end, though Dominic managed to earn himself a bit of extra time by contacting Howler. He’d suggested that the albuha advise the army to pause for a little bit to allow their weaker members to recoup their stamina in preparation for the battle. It might mean the army was a little stronger than they might be otherwise, but it was worth it for Dominic to have the added preparation time.

  Dominic met his Pride standing between the oncoming beast army and the edge of the elven settlement. A group of about twenty elves were arrayed behind them with their weapons held tightly in white-knuckled grips, their faces pale and set with determination to protect their home. The beasts were close enough that Dominic could see more details of the creatures that formed the army than he’d got from Howler’s message passed through Teeth.

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  From what Teeth had said, Dominic had theorised that this battle was a bit of a test. Why she hadn’t led an all-out assault on the settlement yet, he didn’t know. Maybe she was too cautious, or maybe there were limitations imposed by the System that he didn’t know about – it would make sense for the System to slowly increase the difficulty for the elves. Though how it would ensure that in practicality when dealing with thinking beasts, he didn’t know.

  Either way, the army was a clear hodgepodge similar to the one before with five different animal species present. Dominic identified the medium beast species as trodils and wild dogs. Then, of course, there were the albuhas. The large and small species were unknown to him. The small one had carapaces on their backs like large cockroaches; the large species appeared to be some kind of thinly-furred bison, large horns and thickly-armoured skull included.

  ‘The elves want to speak to you,’ Sekhmet told Dominic as soon as he skidded to a stop just in front of his Pride and they exchanged quick greetings.

  ‘Alright,’ Dominic accepted. ‘Are we all ready if this comes to a fight?’

  ‘Nyx suggested spreading apart and creating a pincer-like manoeuvre. She’ll hold the line here; the rest of us will close in from the sides.’

  It was a good strategy, and one that most of the hunters would understand, But perhaps there was a way to make it even better.

  ‘Good idea. I’ll quickly talk to the elves. I’m hoping this won’t come to a fight, but if it does, we’d best be prepared.’

  Heading to where the elves stood, several pale and smelling of fear, Dominic went straight for Ilastir. The Elder had apparently decided to join his troops.

  ‘These are the only hunters you have?’ the lion asked slightly incredulously. With as many elves as he had seen the day before, surely there had to be more than just twenty.

  ‘We have many injured who are still recovering, and we did not want to draw all of our strength to this one location in case they attack elsewhere or some break through,’ Ilastir explained grimly. ‘We have watch-huts throughout the city ready to respond, though half of them are empty at the moment. They would usually be manned by true Warriors, not my hunters.’

  ‘Yes, yes,’ Dominic acknowledged impatiently. He didn’t need to hear excuses. Not with the beasts coming towards them so quickly. ‘Are any of them able to quickly create a pit or a hedge?’

  Ilastir looked at him keenly.

  ‘Three of them have some degree of control over plants; two over earth. But they are not mages or farmers.’

  ‘Alright, good enough. Then here’s what I want them to do.’

  Dominic explained his idea and Ilastir nodded in understanding, turning to command the elves in question. The five magic-users hurried forwards and followed directions. Meanwhile, Dominic told Ilastir to keep back as much as possible unless it looked like it was turning into a proper fight. Perhaps Dominic was being a bit selfish in wanting to keep as much of the Prey Points for his Pride, but considering that he was defending someone else’s home, he decided that being a little selfish was fine. If it looked like the Pride was in difficulty, though, they were to work together and strike whichever flank seemed most appropriate, making sure not to kill any of Dominic’s Pride, of course. Though that did cause Ilastir to ask a question.

  ‘Within your…pride, you have several albuhas. Yet there are several of those in the enemy’s forces too. How would you have us manage that?’

  Dominic was glad the elf had asked as his albuhas getting arrows through them was the last thing they wanted. He did note that the elves seemed to recognise the winged coyotes indicating that they might be from the elves’ original world.

  ‘Don’t attack the albuhas,’ he instructed Ilastir. ‘They’re friendly.’

  The elf looked a bit dubious, but acquiesced.

  ‘Pack leader!’ Howler’s communication in the Pride chat sounded like he was holding onto his calm by the skin of his teeth. ‘What do you wish me to do? When do you wish us to come to the pack?’

  Dominic had been thinking about that as he ran. While there were certainly arguments to be made for Howler immediately abandoning the army and joining Dominic’s side, there were plenty of arguments against him breaking cover too.

  ‘For now keep your cover,’ Dominic instructed him calmly. ‘Don’t attack our Pridemates, obviously, but don’t reveal yourselves either. You can always use the excuse that you’re supposed to be scouts – stay in the air and watch everything going on without intervening. But that’s only if it comes down to a fight. Otherwise, follow my lead.’

  ‘But how will it not be a fight?’ Howler asked, clearly confused.

  Dominic just sent him the emotional equivalent of a wink.

  The sound of the army of beasts charging towards them rumbled through the air like thunder. It was an impressive sound, at least seventy beasts approaching them. Maybe over a hundred. With a bare thirty-eight Pride members clearly standing against them, backed up by twenty or so elves more suited to hunting weaker prey than fighting in battles, they were obviously outnumbered.

  But Dominic didn’t let that cow him – with their advantages granted by both his own Abilities and the Pride Enhancements, he knew that the smaller numbers on their side weren’t an accurate depiction of their true strength.

  So, with that confidence bolstering his spirits, instead of considering turning tail and running to save his Pride from a suicidal fight, he stepped next to Nyx. On either side of them now stretched a thorny hedge, angled gently towards them as a sort of funnel. In front of them was a ditch, dug by the elves capable of controlling the earth. It wasn’t as deep as he’d have liked – he’d wanted it to be something of a pit that would offer a significant blockage, but instead it ended up being more of a five-foot ditch which was only about four feet across. At least it was filled with stones of all different sizes to make the footing harder for any who couldn’t jump that – they were easy enough for the magic-user to leave behind when she drew away the rest of the dirt.

  Stepping right to the edge of the pit, Dominic warned the elves behind him to cover their ears. Then, taking a deep, deep breath, he opened his jaws and let out a Roar. Into it, he packed all his sense of strength, fearlessness, and challenge. ‘Come and attack us – if you dare’ was what he aimed to say.

  The army of beasts before him, baying for their blood, feet pounding the ground like hobnail boots, prey in sight…slid to a halt.

  here!