Chapter 94 - 95: Get the cubs!
Selka stood beyond the inner boundary with a guard gripping her arm.
Her rust-red hair hung around her pale face. Dirt stained her clothing from the punishment pits.
She pointed at Thalara.
"She led them here!"
The frightened survivors nearest her recoiled from the Aelari.
A female clutched her infant to her chest.
"Is that true?"
Another impact struck the barrier.
Boom!
The wall bent inward.
Thalara flinched.
Selka raised her voice.
"Isn’t it true that riverbone was safe before Swanly dragged that thing from the Rot Nest!"
Kael appeared at the entrance in human form, blood splashed across one shoulder.
His claws were wet.
"Call her a thing again."
Selka stepped backward.
Soren moved between them.
"Kael. Entrance."
The panther’s golden eyes remained fixed on Selka.
Swanly pushed the food sack into another carrier’s arms and walked toward Thalara.
"Did you know?"
Thalara’s forehead eye shifted toward her.
Around them, Riverbone continued moving.
Guards ran past.
Cubs cried.
The warning lines rattled without stopping.
Swanly stood directly in front of Thalara.
"Did you know killing the Rot Heart would wake other beings?"
Thalara’s black fingers curled.
"I knew it might loosen things beneath the roots."
Swanly’s stomach dropped.
"You knew?"
"I did not know what would wake."
"That is not what I asked."
Thalara’s small smile trembled.
"Yes."
The answer struck harder than Swanly expected.
Behind her, frightened voices rose.
"She knew."
"She brought danger here."
"Selka was right."
Thalara’s shoulders folded inward.
Swanly wanted to defend her.
She remembered Thalara holding the tunnel open.
She remembered the roots protecting the cubs from being crushed.
But she also remembered asking for the truth the night before.
Thalara had not given it.
"You should have told us."
"I was afraid."
"We could have prepared sooner!"
"I did not know they would come this quickly."
Another voice cried from the forest.
This one sounded like Tavi.
"Mama, outside!"
Tilla covered her cub’s ears.
The real Tavi buried his face against her neck.
Thalara looked toward the trees.
"They should not be here yet."
Swanly’s anger sharpened.
"What does that mean?"
Thalara’s forehead eye widened.
"They are not wandering."
The ground vibrated beneath their feet.
"They were called."
"By what?"
"I do not know."
Selka laughed wildly.
"She lies!"
Thalara turned toward her.
Pain crossed her face so clearly that even Swanly felt it.
"I came back to warn you."
Selka spat at the ground.
"You came back because your monsters were behind you."
Swanly stepped between them.
"Enough."
Selka glared at her.
"You still protect her?"
"No."
Thalara went very still.
Swanly looked at her.
"I am not blindly protecting anyone who hides danger from my family."
Thalara’s smile vanished.
"But," Swanly continued, turning toward the tribe, "she is the only person here who knows anything about what is outside."
The frightened whispers quieted.
"So until we survive this, you will follow her instructions."
Selka’s face twisted.
"And afterward?"
Swanly looked at Thalara again.
"Afterward, she tells us everything."
Thalara lowered her head.
"Yes."
A scream came from the northern path.
Raku shouted, "Hold the wall!"
Roots burst inward.
Not enough to reveal what pushed them.
Only long cracks spreading across the barrier.
Soren’s voice thundered across Riverbone.
"Travel groups to the western exit! Guards hold position! Hunters fall back in turns!"
The tribe obeyed.
Not because they were all fighters.
Because they had prepared.
Tilla moved the cub families.
Mora carried those who could not run.
Nahla and Sari dragged medicine bundles toward the exit.
Tovan sent food carriers behind them.
The injured were placed between the strongest guards.
No one stood alone.
Swanly lifted Miko because of his wrapped foot.
Kairo held her clothing.
Nilo stayed pressed against her side.
Kael returned, grabbed a heavy food bundle with one arm and pulled Swanly close with the other.
"We leave now."
"We still need the rear medicine group."
"Raku has them."
Something struck beneath the ground.
The stone jumped.
Nerin cried out.
His knees hit the earth.
Swanly turned.
"Nerin!"
He pressed both hands against the floor.
His broken antler shook so violently that a thin line of blood ran down his forehead.
"Not outside."
Soren looked at him.
"What?"
Nerin lifted his pale face.
"They are not only outside."
The temporary seal beneath Riverbone groaned.
Every person froze.
A crack raced across the central stone.
Swanly clutched Miko tighter.
Black water forced itself through the line.
The sealed underground barrier exploded upward.
Stone, roots, and foul water burst into the air.
The ground opened beneath Riverbone.
And from somewhere deep below, a human voice began laughing.
The sound rose through the broken stone.
Soft.
Happy.
Wrong.
Then something climbed out.
A bark-covered hand struck the edge of the hole.
Another followed.
Then three more.
Long jointed arms bent against the stone as a narrow body dragged itself upward.
Its mouth opened.
Human teeth filled it.
A female screamed.
The creature lunged.
Chaos swallowed Riverbone.
Families scattered in every direction.
Cubs cried.
Weapons fell.
A male shifted into his beast form and slammed into three others trying to escape the same passage.
"Move!"
"Something is underneath us!"
"Get the cubs!"
"There are more!"
Pale shapes poured through the broken barrier.
Some crawled on too many limbs with bones layered across their backs.
Others unfolded from the roots like starving pieces of the forest.
Above Riverbone, wings beat against the darkness.
A woman’s voice called from the trees.
"Help me."
Another answered from the opposite side.
"Do not leave me."
Soren’s tail struck the stone.
Crack!
"Silence!"
His voice cut through the panic.
Every head turned.
His silver eyes swept across the settlement.
He saw the broken underground barrier.
The creatures pushing through it.
The outer roots bending beneath attacks from the forest.
The frightened families running without direction.
Then he gave the only order that mattered.
"Riverbone is abandoned."
The words struck the tribe harder than the creatures.
One of the former elders stared at him.
"What?"
Soren’s claws lengthened.
"Move!"
Riverbone erupted again.
Garran pushed through the Sunmane survivors.
His golden mane-like hair was disordered, but he still lifted his chin like a chief standing before his old tribe.
"Sunmane stays together!"
Several survivors stopped.
Garran pointed toward the inner caves.
"The deeper walls are stronger. We remain behind them until this attack passes."
Soren turned toward him.
"The ground beneath those walls is already open."
"You do not command Sunmane."
A former elder nodded quickly.
"Garran is right. The inner caves have protected us before."
Raku’s eyes widened.
"Before what? The forest grew teeth?"
Garran ignored him.
"Sunmane survivors, follow me!"
He turned toward the inner wall.
A deep impact shook it.
Boom!
Dust poured from the ceiling.
Garran froze.
The stone behind him split.
A long pale arm punched through the wall.
Its claws closed around the former elder standing beside Garran.
The male screamed once.
The arm dragged him through the crack.
His blood sprayed across Garran’s face.
Something chewed on the other side.
Raku pointed at the wall.
"Anyone who wants to argue may explain it to that!"
Garran’s face emptied of color.