AR Chapter 511 (Patreon)

Still owe two chapters this week. Gonna get all the way to full four a week!

The journey continued on, and the more time that the Misti Hawar saw us, the more they realized that physically they couldn’t compare. Though it was largely incidental, Maksulah’s point was a good one—I was terrifying to the few who had wanted to continue to stand up against their subjugation. I very clearly displayed that their magic could do nothing to me, and there were a couple others who could do the same.

Once I had seen the impact of me completely stifling Inuksuza’s magic, I guided my people to subtly or not so subtly use their magic. Solia used flickers of fire, Vefir healed the most minor and inconsequential of wounds, and so on. With careful effort being taken to show it wasn’t just me, the surly attitudes drained away to become more reticent and fearful by the day. At the end of the second day, despite the clear and present hatred towards us, we were invited to a meal.

“You are guests within my range,” the Clan Head said, the words seeming to stick to his tongue as he spoke them. “I have already chosen the prey for tonight, and if you so desire, you are welcome to join us on the hunt.”

I narrowed my eyes, looking down at the much smaller male. He seemed to be forthcoming enough, so I flicked my tail, glanced at Foire, and was immediately understood.

“I’m unfamiliar with your range,” I said. “Also, I can’t say I know what prey is found here. As such, I invite my trusted subordinate to accompany you. He is an experienced hunter of creatures from the forests and swamps near the humans, the mountain paths stretching between the Wilds and the indlovu lands, as well as in the mountains and plains of our homeland. Regardless of his lesser familiarity with your own range, I’m sure he’ll be able to keep up, if nothing else.”

The clan head then nodded, raising a hand and wreathing it in shadow. He looked up at me, then glanced towards Maksulah. She nodded and took over.

“The way in which the… There is no word for it. Meenga’atch, the invitation to hunt, is sealed with blood. With his shadow, he will cut three lines in the forearm of the one who is to hunt with him, and as he is the Clan Head, he will receive only one cut in return. In exchange, the cut received by Foire will be shorter while the cut on the clan head will extend completely around the middle of his forearm.”

True to what she said, along the male’s forearm was a white ribbon of fur that grew through scar tissue. With that explanation made, he remained with his arm extended, and Foire didn’t hesitate to extend his own.

With a smooth, practiced motion, three shadow claws dragged down the back of Foire’s arm, shedding his blood. I could tell it was only the shallow cut, and my old friend nodded slowly as he reached his own finger out and cut a precise line in the same place as the existing scar on Inuksuza’s arm.

“With this blood shed, we have attempted to give our prey a chance to escape,” the other male said, his tone ceremonious. “Surely, they will still fail to measure up to the combined might of the Liertuk Clan and our guest.”

I didn’t need to say anything verbally for Foire to follow after the person who was supposed to be leading the hunt. He flared his frills and made some of the hand signals back to me, those same ones that I had come up with when we were all just hatchlings. It brought a smile to my face, and I gestured for him to go. As he made his departure, the rest of the delegation from the enemy country remained where we camped, with the exception of four hunters and my old friend.

“Do you think they’re going to try anything?” Vefir asked as he settled into a crouch near me.

“They’ve got a strange obsession with honor,” I answered. “He was being much too formal for this to be a trick. Then again, if they are so stupid as to attempt to take this as an opportunity to murder one of the people who have come in an effort to allow their pitiful race to live, then there will be no peace talks, there will be no further opportunities for surrender. There will only be destruction.”

Beside me, another of my oldest friends nodded as he settled into a comfortable position. He removed his pack as he did so, rummaging through until he found what he was looking for. Then, Vefir started sewing.

“May I ask,” Maksulah interrupted as she came close to me, her head tilted deferentially, “what it is that he is making?”

I adjusted the way my tongue sat in my mouth to shift from my own people’s language to the human’s tongue. “If I’m not mistaken, it’s a gift to give his children once they hatch.”

“It looks rather like a doll made of my people’s fur.”

“I would be surprised if that was not how it appeared,” I answered. “It is soft and will teach them how their claws and fangs can be used for play as well as to rip and to tear.”

She tried her best to hide it, but I could feel the shudder run down her back through Tremorsense. I was able to hide my own grin as I reminded her of the stakes of these upcoming negotiations. There would be countless opportunities, I was sure, to continue to drill home the reality that we stood in a position of power, and their continued existence was largely a courtesy and a mercy from the people whose children have been slaughtered at the hands of the Misti Hawar’s previous leader.

Before long, Foire returned with the other hunters, and now, for the first time, I saw a hint of genuine respect from those who weren’t veterans of the war against my people. There was no open dialogue, no friendly camaraderie to be found. However, instead of a mix of fear and disgust, much of the disgust had been drained away by looks towards him that seemed to be sizing up the way he moved, the way he carried himself.

“They are so used to hunting through reliance on their magic that they have lost much of the physical skill to be found in stalking and hunting your prey,” he said by way of explanation as we began to prepare to eat the brace of goats. “I cannot consider them anything other than failures as hunters, due to their exceptional overreliance on that magic.”

I grinned, interested to have learned that tidbit, and set about eating my own meal. There was so much yet to do, even before we finally arrived at our destination.

It was so exciting.

***

After five full days of traveling into the Misti Hawar’s land, finally, we saw the first sign of the place we would have this Conclave and would demand the complete surrender of these people who had engaged in the slaughter of the Saharliard.

It was finally time to make them, as a people, regret their actions.