Chapter 116: You are becoming very comfortable commanding me
Inside, Nahla took out the remaining half of the Cleanbirth Seed.
The pale seed fragment glowed weakly in her palm.
"This is all we have left."
Soren took it.
He swallowed without water.
The effect struck immediately.
His body arched.
Pale light flashed beneath his scales as the Seed burned through lingering rot and cooled the damaged venom channels.
Soren’s claws tore into the stone.
Black blood poured from his mouth.
Then his breathing steadied.
Only slightly.
Nahla examined him again.
"The Seed bought time."
"How much?"
"Not enough."
He closed his eyes.
Outside, Riverbone began counting its dead.
Ashclaw had fallen.
Dagan was dead.
Garran was dead.
Varek was dead.
Several wounded survivors had died because Garran exposed their position.
Fear spread faster than grief.
A former Riverbone elder stood before the survivors.
"We cannot keep him."
Raku’s head turned.
The elder pointed toward the stone behind which Soren rested.
"He killed surrendering males. He nearly killed one of our guards. What happens the next time his core breaks?"
Several frightened survivors murmured.
"He saved us," Tilla said.
"He also terrified every cub in this camp!"
Kairo pulled Miko and Nilo closer.
Arion stepped forward.
Blood still covered his chest.
His father’s body lay beneath a hide only a short distance away.
Maela knelt beside it, silent and hollow-eyed.
Every remaining Sunmane survivor watched the prince.
Arion’s voice remained calm.
"He lost control killing the people who betrayed us."
The elder turned on him.
"And when he loses control beside the cubs?"
Arion looked toward Soren.
Fear moved through his amber eyes.
He did not hide it.
"Then we stop him."
The elder laughed bitterly.
"You saw what he did. Who can stop him?"
"All of us, if necessary."
Arion lifted his chin.
"But we do not abandon an injured leader after using his strength to survive."
His gaze moved toward Garran’s covered body.
"We do not become Garran."
The Sunmane survivors went silent.
It was the first order Arion gave without his father standing over him.
No crown.
No throne.
No ceremony.
Still, they listened.
Behind the stone, Soren’s eyes opened.
He had heard every word.
He said nothing.
Thalara approached after Nahla called her.
The survivors backed away as soon as her roots began moving.
Thin black strands emerged from beneath her claws.
Soren looked at them.
"No."
Thalara stopped.
Nahla folded her arms.
"The Seed did not repair the split."
"I noticed."
"Her roots can bind the core temporarily."
"No."
Swanly walked over.
"Sit down."
Soren turned toward her.
"You are becoming very comfortable commanding me."
"You are becoming very comfortable bleeding on everything."
Raku coughed into one fist.
Tilla looked down to hide her smile.
Soren stared at Swanly.
Then he sat.
Everyone nearby looked stunned.
Thalara knelt before him.
"This will hurt."
"Everything hurts."
Her roots entered beneath his scales.
Soren’s entire body locked.
The black strands moved under his skin, wrapping around the damaged core and tightening the split together.
Several survivors gagged.
One backed away so quickly he fell.
Soren’s claws sank into the stone.
His face remained expressionless, but blood ran from beneath his fingernails.
Thalara trembled.
Her forehead eye filled with pain.
"I can slow the venom."
"Do it."
The roots tightened.
Soren’s back arched.
His tail struck the ground hard enough to split stone.
Swanly caught his shoulder.
"Stay still."
His hand closed around her wrist.
The scale embedded there burned between them.
His breathing steadied.
When Thalara finally withdrew her claws, Soren remained upright for three breaths.
Then he lost consciousness again.
Nahla caught his head.
"Move him carefully. If those roots tear, his core may split completely."
Raku and two guards carried him toward the protected center.
Kael was ordered to lead hunters through Ashclaw’s abandoned camp with Raku once Soren had been settled.
They needed their stolen food, water, weapons, and medicine.
They also needed to confirm no surviving Ashclaw warriors remained inside the gorge.
Kael did not want to leave Swanly.
He looked at her.
Then at unconscious Soren.
Then back at her.
Swanly pushed his shoulder.
"Go."
"I do not like this."
"You do not like anything that breathes near me."
"Correct."
"I will stay with the cubs."
Kael kissed her forehead.
"Do not leave the center."
"Go recover our food."
His tail wrapped briefly around her leg before he followed Raku.
Near the cub shelter, Lumi argued with Kairo.
"I can guard too."
"You hide."
"I do not hide."
"You cried."
Lumi’s white rabbit ears shot upright.
"Miko cried louder!"
Miko gasped.
"That battle scream."
Nilo nodded.
"Very loud battle scream."
Lumi folded her tiny arms.
"Kairo also shook."
Kairo’s face became serious.
"I shook while protecting."
"That still shaking."
Ena sat nearby with one bandaged leg, watching her daughter.
Her exhausted face softened.
Kairo picked up a small stone spear.
"If bad thing comes, you stay behind me."
Lumi grabbed the other end.
"No. We fight together."
"You little."
"You little too!"
"I older."
"Only little older!"
They pulled the tiny spear between them.
Miko joined Lumi’s side.
"Rabbit wins."
Kairo stared at his brother.
"Why?"
"She have ears sad."
Lumi’s ears immediately stood straighter.
"Not sad."
Nilo quietly took the spear from all three of them.
"No fight. Mama says sharp things not toys."
Kairo pointed at Lumi.
"I still protect."
Lumi pointed back.
"I protect you first."
"You cannot."
"I bite."
Miko’s eyes widened.
"Rabbit scary."
Tavi nodded from Tilla’s lap.
"Very."
Ena covered her mouth, laughing softly for the first time since the battle.
Swanly watched them.
Kairo was trying so hard to behave like a strong male.
But he was still a tiny cub arguing with a rabbit girl over who would save whom.
Nilo quietly checked Lumi’s bandage while she continued fighting with Kairo.
Miko offered her half a dried fruit, then tried to take it back when she accepted.
All three brothers cared about her.
They simply expressed it through nonsense.
Swanly’s chest warmed.
Then she noticed Selka watching.
The red fox’s face was twisted with hatred.
Hours later, Nerin and Arion left to examine a possible water source along the eastern Splitstone wall.
Nerin carried carved route markers.
A bloodstained cloth remained wrapped around the base of his broken antler.
Selka watched them go.
Then she began moving.