Chapter 105: You are no son of mine
"A closed mouth hides its teeth."
His tail slid around her waist.
"Let them show me where they intend to bite."
A chill travelled over Swanly’s skin.
He was not weakly allowing Dagan to approach Riverbone’s former leaders.
He was collecting traitors.
One by one.
Dagan spoke privately with Garran near the fire.
"You led Sunmane?"
"I did."
Garran lifted his chin.
"Our tribe was once the strongest in the eastern lands."
Dagan looked impressed.
Swanly almost rolled her eyes.
The wolf was feeding him exactly what he wanted.
Respect.
A title.
The illusion that he still mattered.
"And now you follow a wounded snake?" Dagan asked.
Garran’s face hardened.
"The situation is temporary."
One former elder leaned closer.
"Riverbone has lost its proper order."
Dagan glanced toward Swanly.
"The fox female appears to make many decisions."
Garran’s mouth twisted.
"She has disrupted everything since she arrived."
Arion approached.
"Father."
Garran ignored the warning in his voice.
Dagan smiled at him.
"The Sunmane prince."
"Former prince," Arion said.
"You should not speak to these males privately."
Garran turned.
"You surrendered Sunmane’s future to a snake and a fox."
Arion went still.
Around them, several Sunmane survivors listened.
Garran’s voice rose.
"You stand among them like a guard. You allow that female to insult your mother. You allowed Soren to take command of people who should follow your blood."
Arion’s hands slowly closed.
For years, he would have lowered his head.
He would have swallowed the words.
He would have told himself respecting his father mattered more than speaking the truth.
Not now.
"No," Arion said quietly.
Garran frowned.
Arion lifted his amber eyes.
"You destroyed Sunmane long before they arrived."
The fire cracked between them.
Garran’s face changed.
"What did you say?"
"You heard me."
Maela gasped from behind the nearby group.
Arion continued.
"You protected pride instead of people. You cast out anyone who embarrassed you. You let cruelty grow because powerful families supported you."
His gaze flickered toward Swanly.
Shame cut across his face.
"You called silence peace while others suffered."
Garran struck him.
Crack!
Arion’s head turned.
Several survivors flinched.
Arion slowly faced his father again.
A red mark spread across his cheek.
He did not lower his eyes.
Dagan watched with interest.
Soren watched without blinking.
Swanly saw Garran’s hands shake.
Not from grief.
From rage that his son had finally stopped obeying.
"You are no son of mine," Garran hissed.
Arion’s face tightened.
Then something inside him settled.
"Perhaps that is the first kind thing you have given me."
He walked away.
Garran stared after him.
The Sunmane survivors stared too.
Something had changed.
Everyone felt it.
Near the water containers, a Riverbone female passed two Ashclaw males.
One of them looked at her hips.
Then slapped her backside.
The sound cracked through the camp.
The female froze.
Her face emptied.
The two Ashclaw men burst into laughter.
Her three mates reacted instantly.
Claws extended.
Fangs appeared.
One shifted halfway into a large spotted cat.
The female grabbed his arm.
"Do not."
His entire body shook.
"He touched you."
"I know."
"I will kill him."
"And the others will kill you."
Her voice broke on the last word.
Her mates stopped.
Not because they forgave it.
Because forty armed strangers surrounded their wounded family.
The Ashclaw male grinned.
"What? Is she too precious to touch?"
The spotted cat male made a broken, furious sound.
Raku stepped between them.
"Walk away."
The Ashclaw man shoved his shoulder.
"Or what?"
Raku’s eyes became flat.
Behind him, Soren’s tail lifted from the ground.
Dagan intervened quickly.
"Enough."
He struck his own male across the chest.
"We offered them rest, not trouble."
The man laughed and stepped back.
He did not apologize.
The Riverbone female covered herself with both hands.
Humiliation burned across her face.
Swanly saw it.
She saw the way those men laughed.
She memorized both faces.
Very carefully.
Later.
If a fight began later, those two would not leave it alive.
Kael moved beside Swanly.
His growl remained low.
Nerin stood near the humiliated female and her mates, quietly placing himself between them and Ashclaw.
Arion returned with fury still burning beneath the mark on his cheek.
Even he looked ready to tear the men apart.
Soren said nothing.
But two invisible names joined the list behind his eyes.
Dagan looked around Riverbone’s divided camp.
The wounded.
The former elders whispering.
Garran’s anger.
Selka watching everything from the rear.
The males furious over their females.
Soren sitting pale beneath bloody wrappings.
He saw weakness everywhere.
His smile returned.
A few hours later, the worst wounds had been closed.
The tribe prepared to move.
Dagan approached Soren again.
"Splitstone Gorge narrows ahead."
Soren looked at him.
"We know."
"The upper route collapsed last moon. The lower path is faster, but only Ashclaw knows the entrance."
"Convenient," Swanly said.
Dagan smiled at her.
"Without us, your wounded will spend two more days crossing unstable ground."
Soren’s tail shifted between them again.
Dagan looked away from Swanly.
"I can guide you."
"To where?" Soren asked.
"Through the gorge."
"And what does Ashclaw want?"
"Nothing."
Soren’s mouth curved.
It was the first time he had smiled since Riverbone fell.
Dagan’s confidence faltered.
"No one wants nothing," Soren said.
"We help survivors."
Swanly nearly laughed.
Bodies were buried beneath his fires, and this male had the courage to say that with a straight face.
Dagan extended one hand toward the narrow gorge.
"Come. The safest path is this way."
Nerin stood several steps ahead.
His broken antler trembled.
He pressed his palm against the stone.
Then his entire body stiffened.
Swanly noticed first.
"Nerin?"
He did not answer.
A thin line of blood ran from the base of his antler.
His green eyes lifted toward the cliffs above Splitstone Gorge.
Nothing moved.
Only stone.
Shadows.
Narrow ledges.
Nerin’s face went white.
"Soren."
The snake’s gaze sharpened.
"What?"
Nerin lowered his voice.
"There are beastmen above the path."
Dagan’s smile remained in place.
Nerin swallowed.
"Many."
A faint scrape came from the cliff.
The sound of a bowstring tightening.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Nerin stared at the gorge Dagan had invited them to enter.
"They are waiting for us."