AR Chapter 505 (Patreon)

“Bare your teeth and show your claws! Show that your scales mean something,” Brutus called out as I walked out of my home. He’d been inside with me, as he always was, and had seen the moment that I was prepared to leave. Different from when I last left on an excursion, we weren’t blindly going to the north, hoping to find more of our people. By now, our city was established, we’d been through an entire war, and we were, though haltingly, engaging in diplomatic exchanges with different nations.

Instead of the head of a band of ragged, but powerful refugees, I left as an emperor, and the difference in how I carried myself was only the first part of that change. I still carried myself with pride and strength, but now my left hand carried my spear, made of a metal blessed by my goddess. The tisarite was supernaturally tough and sharp, and channeled my magic effortlessly. Also, instead of simply trusting my scales to protect me from the elements (which they could), I wore my purple robe with a thick fur collar and pants.

Thankfully, I wore no shoes, as it had taken some time to get used to the feeling of being dressed once again, especially the waistband. Because of how my body was shaped, there had to be a hole for my tail, and as a result, pants had to involve a lot more tying than those which I had worn as a human. The pressure on my hips was uncomfortable, but I did slowly get used to it. Now, fully outfitted to present myself as the ruler of the nation that had subjugated them, I was ready to go to the Misti Hawar homeland.

Waiting for me outside of the palace, the escort I was bringing along was ready. I continued to walk out the door, Sybil and my children behind me as I took in the measure of this squad.

Just as I had commanded, this was a pack consisting entirely of Keel. Of my original pack, Brutus, Foire, and Vefir were coming, as well as Trai. She wasn’t a member of my brood, but effectively counted as it. She had, after the war against the Misti Hawar, evolved. She wasn’t exactly like the other castes, though she’d pretty confidently stated that she was Sou’Tal, the same caste as Sybil, Shamira, and most of the leadership of the country. Internally, I thought of it as the noble caste, but something about Trai felt off in terms of having that title. She was, in many ways, similar to myself as a Zak’Tal.

There was no time to continue to wonder about that, though, and I instead simply walked out and looked at each of the people who would be accompanying me. Each one wore some clothing, almost entirely simple robes and packs. I was the only one who wore purple, everything else being leather that had been tanned by the Kha’Tal. Instead of fur, most of them had ruffs of thick feather plumage around the neck and shoulder, making their shoulders look broader. In addition, each carried a weapon of some sort, the most advanced being spears and the least being several pouches of stones.

We hadn’t yet figured out how to make a reliable bow, though Foire had continued to hone his abilities with the sling. Several of the other hunters continued learning as well, with the weapons having shown some effect in the battle against the Misti Hawar. As more people became capable of using them, I was sure it would continue to grow in potency, but for now, many of the people who weren’t actively training with the weapons instead carried stones that they could throw hard enough to break bones.

My escorting pack stood directly in front of the door, spread out across the street there. Each stood proud, and I gave personal greetings to each. Ideally, before long, I wouldn’t be able to name every Keel by sight alone. I looked forward to the days when I had to make a special effort to know the strongest members of my people. For now, though, I was the leader of a very small nation, where I had personal interaction with half of the inhabitants of the capital city once every week or so.

Once I was done with my greetings, I fell back in line in front of the palace front. Sybil stood just to my right, with Ragzak, Thia, and Hashthi standing to her side. In truth, they weren’t really standing, they were trying to escape, but with a nurse assigned to each of them, they were largely doing what they were supposed to.

Ragzak, like me, hated the clothing, and kept trying to reach his head down and snap the waistband of his robe, but was being distracted by surreptitiously passed-over strips of dried meat. As such, he pulled at the waistband with one hand while he other constantly stuffed his face. His sisters were slapping each other with their tails, and giggling as their nurses largely left them to it. Now that they’d grown more, the sisters were easier to tell apart, Thia’s black patterns limited mostly from her shoulders to her wrists and along her tail, while Hashthi’s white was a sunburst across her chest and a speckling across her back. Ragzak’s coppery scales shone brighter the older he got, a brown reflection of the silver scales I bore.

Behind my escort, dozens and hundreds of the Saharliard spread, ready to listen to my departing speech. The plaza here, which had been used for very little as we rebuilt the city, had slowly become where I would usually address my people as a whole. As our numbers continued to grow, it wasn’t large enough to hold even close to everybody, but it was enough. I stepped out and got ready to address them, and silence settled over the area. The respect for me and my position tickled my need for superiority, and I spread my arms in a display of my pride.

“It has been nearly seven months since our victory over the Misti Hawar invaders. Since the fools that dared to call us their ancestral prey were humbled and slaughtered. Over half a year has passed since we took the first step of our revenge against the egg destroyers. For half a year, we have settled ourselves in our home and begun to repair and recover. Because of our strength, because of your ferocity, we were victorious.”

Rumbles of appreciation spread through the crowd. I stood in the center of my home’s profile, and strode three steps to the right as I continued to speak.

“You all are the reason why your eggs are unbroken, your children are growing, and your bellies are full. Your ferocity, the blood you shed and the blood you spilled. You are not prey, you are predators. You are all warriors, and you are victors.”

Again, I let a brief silence settle over us. The rumbles of appreciation became cheers, though they only flashed into existence for a brief second before going silent once again. My people stared at me, wanting to hear what else I had to say, and I raised my voice, using my magic to carry it further, even as I didn’t shout.

“Through the flaming crucible of war were we refined, and through the quenching in the blood of our foes have we been strengthened. For those who fell, through those who bled and died on the walls, the sacrifice of their lives has completed us. Now, it is time to remember the next three phrases of the Words of Power of our goddess. We are the blade at the throats of those who are prey, and the Misti Hawar have not yet felt our blade in their homes, the way we have. We are the throne to which the wise submit, and if they are foolish, they will not live to submit. Our peak is the peak which casts the long shadow, and that shadow will never fade from their lands.

“I go now with some of our strongest to remind the Misti Hawar that when you aim for extermination, if you fail, that same blade turns back on your head.

“Victory! Victory by fang and blood!”

Cheers exploded into existence as I finished my address, and I turned and gave my final goodbyes to Sybil and my children. The cheers didn’t fade as I did so, and, with my pack of fifteen following me, I led the way out of the plaza, through the streets, and then over the walls.

It was time to finally wring the blood from the Misti Hawar.