Chapter 125: New home?
Miko’s little voice ripped across the camp.
Every survivor heard him.
Every wounded male.
Every exhausted female.
Even Selka stopped screaming at the rear.
Swanly’s face exploded red.
"Miko!"
The smallest cub sniffed her again.
"More snake."
"I heard you the first time!"
Kairo walked around Swanly with the grave expression of a tiny elder inspecting a crime scene.
Nilo sniffed her sleeve.
Then her waist.
Then he looked at Soren.
"New smell."
Soren stood behind Swanly, pale hair loose over his shoulders, looking far too satisfied with himself.
His damaged core had stabilized dramatically. The black cracks beneath his scales had faded to thin silver lines. His breathing was steady. His power pressed against the camp like a sleeping storm.
Miko pointed at him.
"New Papa?"
Kael looked ready to walk directly back into the apocalypse and offer himself to the first monster he found.
"No," he said.
Soren answered at the same time.
"Yes."
Kael’s head snapped toward him.
Soren’s mouth curved.
Swanly stepped between them before the tribe gained two corpses and a new crater.
"No one is fighting."
Kairo frowned at Soren.
"You make Mama smell."
Soren looked down at him.
"Your father also makes her smell."
Kael’s claws came out.
Swanly slapped both hands over Kairo’s ears.
"Do not explain mating scents to my child!"
Miko gasped.
"Mama mate snake?"
Silence.
Swanly wanted the ground to open again.
Nilo stared at the silver mark hidden beneath her thigh wrap.
"Snake bite Mama."
Soren’s eyes narrowed.
"She is not injured."
Kairo moved in front of Swanly anyway.
"You bite Mama, Kairo bite you."
He bared tiny baby teeth.
Miko immediately joined him.
"Miko bite both legs!"
Nilo considered Soren’s enormous size.
"I find poison rock."
Soren stared at the three cubs threatening him.
Something strange softened in his silver eyes.
"You would protect her from me?"
"Yes," Kairo said.
"Even if I am also her mate?"
Kairo’s face tightened.
He looked at Kael.
Their father stood bloody and silent, his expression carved from pain.
Kairo shuffled backward until his little body pressed against Kael’s leg.
"Papa first."
Kael closed his eyes.
That nearly destroyed him.
He crouched and gathered all three cubs against his chest.
Miko touched his face.
"Papa sad?"
"No."
"Papa face say yes."
Kael pulled him closer.
Swanly’s heart twisted.
She approached carefully.
"Kael."
His golden eyes lifted.
Fury lived there.
Jealousy.
Fear.
But the worst part was the grief.
Swanly lowered her voice.
"Selka forced the trap. She did not choose what happened between Soren and me."
Kael’s jaw clenched.
"I was drugged. So was he. Neither of us was thinking clearly."
Soren said nothing.
For once, even he understood that speaking would be suicidal.
Swanly continued.
"But I reached for him too. He did not force me."
Kael looked away.
The truth hurt him, but a lie would have cut deeper later.
"I will not call him a thief for something we both did," Swanly said. "And I will not pretend Selka did not create the situation hoping I would die."
Brann stepped forward from the rear.
Selka was restrained behind him, snarling at everyone who looked her way.
"I cut the support roots," Brann said.
His voice shook.
"She told me it was for a supply hollow. She chose the path. She chose the pillar. She already had Nerin’s cloth."
Selka screamed.
"You spineless pig!"
Brann flinched but did not turn.
"She knew Swanly would fall."
Kael handed the cubs to Tilla.
Then he walked toward Selka.
Slowly.
Selka stopped shouting.
Soren’s tail slid around Swanly’s ankles, keeping her behind him even though Kael was not approaching her.
Kael reached Selka.
His claws touched her throat.
"I will finish this after Nahla proves whether you are carrying a cub."
Selka’s lips trembled.
"You cannot touch me."
Kael leaned closer.
"If you lied, pregnancy will be the last word you ever speak."
A roar rolled through the eastern forest.
Not a normal roar.
It sounded like stone grinding beneath a mountain.
Birds erupted from the trees.
The ground jumped.
Everyone froze.
Thalara’s forehead eye opened wide.
Her roots shot beneath the earth.
Then recoiled so violently she staggered.
"Move."
Raku turned toward her.
"What is it?"
"I do not know."
The trees in the distance bent.
Something enormous pushed between them.
Thalara’s voice sharpened.
"This territory belongs to it. Move now."
The camp exploded into motion.
Arion climbed onto a boulder.
"Sunmane survivors, take the left line! Wounded in the center! Do not scatter!"
His people obeyed instantly.
"Tovan, ropes!"
"Already moving!"
"Mora, cubs!"
The bear guard lifted two children under each arm.
Miko kicked.
"Miko run!"
"You run toward danger," Mora said.
"Danger need fight!"
Tilla grabbed Tavi and followed.
Nerin pressed his bleeding hand to the ground.
His broken antler glowed faintly.
"Stable earth runs north beneath the roots."
Thalara’s black roots tore open a path between the trees.
"Follow him!"
The survivors rushed into the forest.
Kael shifted and took the right side.
Soren transformed beside him.
His white body surged across the ground, larger and stronger than before. The thin scars over his core glowed once, then vanished beneath hard scales.
Kael glanced at him.
"Protect the center."
Soren’s silver eyes flashed.
"You command nothing."
"Then fail them and prove me right."
Soren hissed.
Then moved toward the center anyway.
Behind them, the predator stepped into view.
Its shoulders rose above the trees.
Gray plates covered its back like broken cliffs. Six yellow eyes burned across its long skull. Its front limbs were too long, ending in hooked claws that ripped entire roots from the ground.
Its split jaw opened.
Three rows of teeth unfolded.
The tribe screamed.
"Do not look back!" Arion shouted. "Keep moving!"
The monster charged.
Trees snapped beneath it.
Raku held the rear, slamming his tail into anyone who stumbled and throwing them forward.
"Run now! Cry later!"
The ground cracked beneath a wounded male.
Nerin grabbed him.
His injured hands tore open again.
Swanly caught the other arm and dragged.
Soren’s tail shot between them and lifted both males onto stable ground.
Nerin stared.
Soren did not even look at him.
"Keep moving."
The predator’s claw came down.
Soren coiled around Swanly and ripped her backward.
The hooked claws struck where she had stood.
Earth exploded.
Swanly landed against his chest.
"I had it!"
"I know."
"Then why did you grab me?"
"Because I can."
His tail tightened possessively around her waist.
Kael saw it.
His growl nearly became another natural disaster.
"No time!" Swanly shouted.
The predator changed direction.
Its six eyes fixed on the center.
On the wounded.
On the cubs.
"Mora!" Swanly screamed.
The monster lunged.
Swanly tore herself from Soren’s coil and ran toward a stone ridge.
"Swanly!" Kael roared.
She climbed.
One hand.
One boot.
She reached the top as the creature’s shadow swallowed the center line.
Her black bow appeared.
She drew three arrows at once.
"Hey, ugly!"
The six eyes turned toward her.
She fired.
Three arrows struck three eyes.
Black fluid burst across its face.
The predator screamed.
The sound knocked people off their feet.
Its head swung toward Swanly.
Exactly what she wanted.
"Run beneath it!" she shouted.
Arion understood first.
"Hunters, move!"
The survivors poured beneath the creature’s raised body while it attacked the ridge.
Swanly fired again.
Two more eyes burst.
The final eye fixed on her.
The hooked claw swept across the stone.
Swanly jumped.
Her bow vanished.
A hook-line appeared in her hand.
She fired toward a tree.
The line caught.
She swung beneath the claw as it shattered the ridge behind her.
Soren still launched himself into the air.
His tail wrapped around her waist mid-swing and ripped her against his body.
They crashed through branches together.
Swanly landed in his arms.
"I had it," she repeated breathlessly.
"I know," Soren said.
His expression was murderous.
The predator charged them.
Kael struck first.
The black panther launched onto its forelimb and buried his claws between two plates.
The creature twisted.
Kael held on.
Soren dropped Swanly behind a boulder and shifted fully.
His massive coils wrapped around the monster’s neck.
The predator dragged him through three trees.
Soren tightened.
His almost-healed core flashed beneath his scales.
He did not weaken.
He pulled harder.
The creature’s head slammed sideways.
"Now!" Swanly shouted.
Thalara drove hundreds of roots beneath its feet.
The roots twisted around its ankles.
The monster ripped half of them apart.
Thalara screamed as black blood ran from her claws.
Raku charged from the rear.
His shoulder struck the creature’s hind leg.
The impact shook the forest.
One joint buckled.
Arion lifted his spear.
"Sunmane! Exposed joint!"
The hunters attacked together.
Spears drove into the gap Kael had opened.
The predator thrashed.
One hunter flew across the clearing.
Another disappeared beneath its foot.
Swanly fired into the final eye.
The arrow entered deep.
The monster reared blindly.
"Move!" Nerin shouted. "Ground breaking!"
The earth split beneath them.
Thalara’s roots opened a narrow passage through two stone walls.
The tribe rushed inside.
Raku released the rear only after the last cub crossed.
Kael leaped from the creature’s limb.
Soren uncoiled and struck the monster’s damaged head with his tail.
Its skull slammed into stone.
Not dead.
Only stunned.
"Go!" Swanly screamed.
They fled into the passage.
The predator recovered faster than anyone expected.
Its claw entered the narrow gap.
Four Riverbone guards turned.
Tovan stopped.
"No."
One guard shoved him forward.
"Bring it down."
"We can still cross together!"
"There is no time."
The guards formed a wall of shields and spears.
Behind them, the hooked claw scraped closer.
One guard looked at Raku.
"Take them home."
Raku’s face broke.
Then hardened.
He grabbed Tovan and dragged him toward the support stones.
Tovan screamed as he struck the weakened wall.
Rock thundered down.
The last thing Swanly saw was the guards charging into the creature’s claws.
Then the passage collapsed.
Their screams stopped beneath the stone.
No one spoke for the rest of the journey.
At sunset, the survivors reached the final ridge.
They stopped together.
Below them lay Ironwood Basin.
Fresh water shone around a natural spring.
Fruit trees covered one side of the valley.
Tall stone walls protected the land from three directions.
For the first time since Riverbone fell, the cubs stopped crying.
Miko lifted both arms.
"New home?"
Swanly looked at the wounded tribe.
At Kael, standing close but no longer touching her.
At Soren, whose white tail remained curled near her feet.
At Thalara, bleeding from both hands and still hiding too many truths.
Then she looked down at the valley.
"For now."
Golden light flashed before her eyes.
{Major Task Complete.}
{Riverbone survivors successfully migrated.}
{Reward: 500 points.}
The tribe began descending.
Nerin stopped beside the freshwater spring.
His face changed.
"Swanly."
Everyone turned.
He pointed toward the mud.
A footprint had crushed half the bank.
It was larger than Raku’s entire crocodile body.
Water slowly filled the center of it.
Miko stared.
Then whispered:
"Big foot."