Chapter 99: Are you not afraid of me?
"All thirty-two cubs are here."
Silence fell.
Thirty-two.
Every cub had survived.
A broken sound escaped one of the mothers.
Relief moved through the tribe, painful enough to resemble grief.
Tilla pressed both hands over Tavi’s back.
"All thirty-two," she repeated.
Swanly’s knees nearly weakened.
Kairo leaned against her right leg.
Nilo held her hand.
Miko was wrapped around the other leg so tightly she could barely move.
Miko looked up.
"All babies alive?"
"Yes."
"Good."
His little face became serious.
"Adults too?"
Swanly’s throat closed.
"Not all of them."
Miko looked toward the crying families.
His ears lowered.
"Oh."
There was no clever little answer this time.
Kael tightened his arm around Swanly.
Tovan and the builders counted the survivors who had crossed the final passage.
The count was done once.
Then again.
Then compared with Tilla’s family groups and Raku’s guard groups.
Six were confirmed dead.
Three were missing beneath Riverbone.
Nobody said "probably dead."
The families still had hope.
Cruel, shaking hope.
Soren ordered three stone piles built at the edge of the ridge.
One for the confirmed dead.
One for the missing.
One for those who had died before the escape and whose bodies could not be carried.
People placed small belongings on the stones.
A broken claw cap.
A carved bead.
A strip of hide.
A child placed half a dried fruit beside the missing pile.
"My father likes this."
No one could answer him.
Swanly turned away.
Her eyes burned.
Kael noticed.
He touched her face with the back of his uninjured hand.
"Do not hide it."
"If I start crying, I may not stop."
"Then cry."
"We still have to move."
"I will carry you while you cry."
Her mouth trembled.
"That was almost sweet."
"It was sweet."
"You said it like a threat."
Kael pulled her closer.
"It can be both."
A rough cough cut through them.
Soren stood several steps away.
His face was pale.
Very pale.
A thin line of black blood slid from his lower lip.
He wiped it away before most people noticed.
Swanly noticed.
His scales darkened beneath his jaw for one heartbeat, then returned to pale silver.
She stepped toward him.
"Soren."
"I am occupied."
"You are bleeding."
"I am still occupied."
Nahla looked over.
Her expression changed.
"You. Sit."
Soren did not move.
Nahla stood with bloody hands and pointed at a flat stone.
"Sit before I knock you down and examine you on the ground."
Raku coughed into one fist.
"I recommend sitting."
Soren looked at him.
Raku added quickly, "Because the healer asked."
Soren’s eyes narrowed.
Still, he sat.
Nahla ordered Swanly and Raku to stand in front of them so the tribe could not see clearly.
Then she pressed two fingers beneath Soren’s ribs.
His entire body went rigid.
Black veins flashed beneath his pale scales.
Nahla’s face darkened.
"You forced too much venom through a broken core."
"I am alive."
"For now."
"Then speak quickly."
Nahla slapped her palm against his chest.
Soren’s tail struck the stone.
Raku took one careful step backward.
Nahla did not blink.
"Your core is tearing itself apart."
Swanly’s stomach tightened.
"How bad?"
Nahla looked at her.
"Bad enough that another release like the one at Riverbone may split it completely."
Soren’s voice became colder.
"I have survived worse."
"No. You survived different."
She pressed harder.
Black blood appeared beneath his lower lip again.
"Your venom channels are burning inward. Your senses may become too sharp. Your temper may worsen. You may stop separating threats from irritation."
Raku looked at Soren.
"That sounds inconvenient."
Soren’s silver eyes slid toward him.
Raku lifted both hands.
"Already beginning."
Nahla continued.
"If your core flares, you may attack before thinking."
"I always think."
Swanly folded her arms.
"You threatened to remove three people’s heads this morning."
"They were being stupid."
"That does not help your argument."
Soren stared at her.
His pupils thinned.
For one brief moment, something dangerous moved behind his eyes.
Then it disappeared.
Swanly saw it.
So did Nahla.
The healer lowered her voice.
"You need rest."
"We are being followed."
"You need less venom."
"We are being followed."
"You need to stop using your power."
Soren leaned closer.
"Would you prefer I ask the creatures politely not to kill us?"
Nahla struck him on the forehead with two fingers.
Soren froze.
Raku turned away to hide his face.
Swanly failed completely.
A tiny laugh escaped her.
Soren looked at both of them.
"Leave."
Nahla began binding medicine-soaked bark around his ribs.
"No."
Across the ridge, Thalara walked toward the edge.
The survivors nearest her moved away.
Whispers followed.
"She knew those things."
"She brought them."
"She hid the truth."
Thalara heard every word.
Her wide smile did not appear.
She knelt and pressed both black claws against the gray stone.
Her forehead eye closed.
The ridge remained silent beneath her.
No living roots.
No wet soil.
Only dead stone warmed by the weak morning sun.
Thalara opened her eye.
"They cannot travel beneath this place easily."
A guard frowned.
"How do you know?"
"The ground is dead."
The male backed away when she looked at him.
Thalara’s fingers curled.
"They need living roots or wet earth to move quickly beneath the surface. Here, they must climb above."
Another survivor whispered, "She knows too much."
Thalara lowered her head.
Still, she continued.
"The ridge will protect you for a short time."
Swanly approached carrying a water skin.
Thalara looked up.
Swanly held it out.
The Aelari did not take it immediately.
"You are angry with me."
"Yes."
"You do not trust me."
"Not completely."
Thalara’s forehead eye dimmed.
Swanly pushed the water closer.
"You also held the tunnel open while my cubs were falling."
Thalara stared at the water skin.
"You came back for me."
"You nearly died."
"I thought you hated me."
"I can be angry and still refuse to leave you behind."
Thalara finally accepted the water.
She drank carefully.
Black blood had dried along the cracks in her arms.
Swanly crouched beside her.
"You will tell me everything you know."
Thalara’s claws tightened around the skin.
"Not now."
"Soon."
Thalara gave one small nod.
Behind Swanly, the cubs whispered.
"Go."
"No, you go."
"Kairo oldest."
"That means Kairo give."
Kairo sighed with the exhaustion of a male who had been burdened with two impossible brothers.
The three cubs approached.
Nilo carried two small pieces of dried meat.
Kairo carried a crushed berry.
Miko carried one dried fruit in both hands.
Thalara watched them.
Kairo placed the berry beside her knee.
"For helping."
Nilo added the meat.
"For roots."
Miko stared at Thalara’s branch horns.
Then at her forehead eye.
Then at her black claws.
His body leaned backward.
Only his hands moved forward.
"For root lady."
Thalara looked at the fruit.
Then at him.
"Are you not afraid of me?"
Miko thought very carefully.
His small face tightened with concentration.
"Little afraid."
Kairo whispered, "Say nice thing."
Miko pushed the fruit closer.
"Still hungry?"
For several breaths, Thalara did not move.
Then her strange smile returned.
Not the wide, frightening one.
A small one.
"Yes."
Miko nodded as if he had solved a serious tribal problem.
"Eat. Then less scary."
Thalara picked up the fruit.
"Will that work?"
"No."
Kairo covered his face.
Nilo quietly turned away.
Swanly bit her lip to stop herself from laughing.
Miko patted Thalara’s knee.
"But try."
Thalara ate the fruit.
Tavi toddled over from Tilla’s group and placed a crumb beside her.
Thalara stared down at it.
Tavi whispered, "Mink share little."
"Very little," Miko said.
Tavi glared at him.
"You gave one."
"One big."
"It small."
Miko gasped.