Chapter 114: The Fight 2
One former Riverbone elder crawled toward the rocks.
Soren caught him.
"You opened the rear."
"No! Garran did!"
"You followed him."
"I was afraid!"
Soren’s tail wrapped around his waist.
The elder screamed as his back bent.
"You should have feared me."
His spine broke.
Another traitorous elder ran toward Ashclaw’s camp.
Thalara’s root shot from the ground and caught his ankle.
The male fell.
Thalara stared at her own hand.
She had only meant to stop him.
Soren reached him.
The elder rolled onto his back.
"Please! I made a mistake!"
Soren crushed him against the ground.
Again.
Again.
The begging stopped after the second strike.
Soren continued until the body no longer resembled a threat.
Raku took one step backward.
He had served Soren for years.
He had watched him kill challengers.
He had watched him take Riverbone from elders who believed they could control him.
But he had forgotten what happened when Soren stopped controlling himself.
This was why Riverbone feared him even when he said nothing.
This was why elders watched his tail before opening their mouths.
This was why he rarely needed to shout orders.
Soren had no gentle middle.
When he moved, people died.
Garran saw Dagan’s body.
Saw the traitorous elders crushed across the gorge.
Saw Soren turn toward him.
He ran.
The former Sunmane ruler shifted into lion form and charged for the upper path.
Arion saw him go.
"Father."
Garran did not stop.
Soren’s tail shot forward.
It wrapped around one hind leg.
Garran hit the ground so hard his jaw struck stone.
He clawed forward.
Soren dragged him backward through blood.
"No!"
Garran shifted into human form.
"I was ruler of Sunmane!"
Soren lowered his face over him.
"My son is Arion! He leads the surviving lions!"
Arion stood several steps away.
Blood covered his arms.
His chest heaved.
Garran reached toward him.
"Arion!"
His son’s face twisted.
Maela screamed, "Help him!"
Arion did not move.
Garran had exposed the wounded.
He had handed families to men who wanted to rob, enslave, and kill them.
Arion’s hands closed.
He looked away.
Soren’s claws wrapped around Garran’s throat.
"You gave them my wounded."
Garran kicked.
"I was saving Sunmane!"
"You gave them my people."
"I am a chief!"
"Not anymore."
Soren lifted him.
His fingers closed.
Garran’s neck broke.
Maela’s scream tore through the gorge.
"Garran!"
She threw herself beside his body and pressed both shaking hands against his face.
Her mate was dead.
Her tribe was gone.
Her son stood near her, unable to look down.
Selka had not moved.
She stood beside Varek’s body with her face drained of color.
Garran had been her path back to power.
Dagan had been her new alliance.
Both were dead.
Around Arion, the remaining Sunmane survivors gathered.
Not close.
Not yet.
But every frightened face turned toward him.
Authority landed on his shoulders before his father’s blood cooled.
Arion felt it.
He looked sick.
He did not want it.
No one cared what he wanted.
Someone had to lead them now.
Soren kept killing.
The remaining Ashclaw warriors were retreating.
Some were wounded.
Some had fallen to their knees.
Some had never fired an arrow.
The giant white snake moved toward them anyway.
Thalara raised thick roots around the cub shelf.
Miko cried out.
"Root lady!"
"I am protecting you," Thalara said.
Her voice shook.
Kael shifted back into human form and caught Swanly’s arm.
"Do not go near him."
"He is going to kill everyone."
"He may kill you."
"I know."
Swanly opened the system shop inside her mind.
Find something that can stop him.
{Searching.}
Soren caught a surrendering male by the throat.
The man kicked helplessly.
"Please!"
{Emergency item located.}
{Core-Calming Injection. Cost: 280 points.}
{Purchase?}
The confirmation remained open.
One thought would place it in her hand.
Kael tightened his grip.
"Swanly."
"Trust me once."
"I trust you."
His golden eyes fixed on Soren.
"I do not trust him."
"Neither do I."
She pulled free.
Soren’s claws tightened.
Swanly stepped into his path.
"Soren."
The huge snake turned.
His pupils were black.
Blood coated his scales.
Ashclaw blood.
Riverbone blood.
His own black blood.
Swanly’s body screamed at her to run.
She raised both hands and pressed them against the sides of his face.
Gasps filled the gorge.
Raku looked horrified.
Kael’s claws cut into his own palms.
"Look at me."
Soren tightened his grip on the male.
The man choked.
"Soren."
The scale on Swanly’s wrist burned.
His blood recognized her.
Her scent cut through the blood.
Slowly, his silver eyes focused.
"Swanly."
"Yes."
"They betrayed us."
"I know."
"They will do it again."
"Not this one. He dropped his weapon."
Soren bared his fangs.
"Move."
"No."
His claws pressed deeper.
Kael took one step.
Raku caught his arm.
"If you attack him, she dies between you."
Swanly did not blink.
"He surrendered."
"He will betray us."
"Then we watch him."
"Move."
"No."
Silence swallowed the gorge.
The system waited.
{Purchase?}
Swanly held his face.
"You killed their leader."
Black blood slid from Soren’s mouth.
"You killed Garran."
His claws trembled.
"You killed the people who opened our wounded to attack."
His breathing became rough.
"That is enough."
For one terrible second, she thought he would crush the male and her with him.
Then Soren opened his hand.
The Ashclaw warrior fell and crawled away.
Soren stared down at Swanly.
The blackness receded from his eyes.
His enormous body shifted.
Scales withdrew.
His human form appeared before her.
Pale.
Blood-covered.
Barely standing.
"Soren?"
His knees folded.
Swanly caught him.
His weight drove her backward.
His arms closed around her without thought.
Then he coughed.
Black blood poured across her shoulder.
"Soren!"
She wrapped both arms around him.
His forehead fell against her neck.
The gorge went silent.
Kael stared.
Raku stared.
Nahla stared.
The cubs peeked through Thalara’s roots.
Swanly pressed one hand against Soren’s burning back.
Then his entire body went limp in her arms.
...
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