Demon Wolf

“Someone’s coming,” Wolf whispered, motioning Kira to stop.

His senses were dormant, but even without Anima, an ordinary person’s hearing could not compare with a Truthspeaker’s.

Maybe I shouldn’t have refined this world’s Qi? The capacity to detect dangerous lifeforms from a kilometer away borders on cheating. Unfortunately, enraging every living being when burning Qi renders the ability useless.

“Let’s hide in the bushes.” Wolf led Kira into dense shrubs as the rustles and barely audible snaps of twigs drew closer.

“A small group is approaching from ahead,” he said, inwardly cursing his injury. Back home, he would burn a sliver of Anima to improve his perception without a second thought.

I’ve become a scrooge. While Wolf entertained that notion, Kira held her breath, hoping it was her mom, rushing to her rescue.

After an eternity passed for the young woman, she first heard the indistinct rustle, then saw a brightstone’s steady light before five warriors in leather outfits with green hares painted on their chests dashed past her and Wolf.

“Mother,” she shouted, halting the hunting party dead in their tracks.

“Kira?” Fiona exclaimed, and despite attempting to appear broody and disinterested before her subordinates, a relieved smile touched her lips.

Then she focused on the unknown, dainty male stepping out of a bush behind her daughter. Who’s that? He’s dangerous. Kiki’s afraid of him, but she trusts him with her back. What’s going on?

Seekers and Truthspeakers thought fast. As did warriors who danced with death too many times to count. Fiona’s experiences when courting Judges gave her an innate feeling of Monster Beast and manlings which could threaten her. And she recognized Wolf as a mortal threat.

Fiona tensed, swallowing her spit and moved her hand, ready to summon an ax. Luckily, her daughter spoke. Kira knew her mom; an encounter with an unknown combatant might lethally escalate in a blink.

“Mother, this is Wolf,” she introduced the beauty who rescued her. “He’s a powerful warrior and an expert healer. He saved me from elder Mona’s henchmen, killing them in one strike each in direct combat.”

Wolf did not spare Kira a glance. He interpreted the messages she sent her mother. ‘He’s strong. Do not fight, we have bigger problems.’

It’s a pleasure dealing with intelligent people. Then he recalled the Seeker Academy’s cackling headmaster. When they are sane, he added.

Fiona cupped her hands and bobbed her head curtly, gracing Wolf with a warrior’s greeting reserved for women.

Wolf returned the gesture, eliciting frowns from warleader’s confidants, but Fiona herself remained calm, even though her pupils widened, revealing shock.

I shouldn’t do this again. Wolf once more regretted not internalizing Biba’s lifetime before heading to check the rift and falling into the damn abyss. It was a waste of time then; something to do while flying back to his post. There’s no undoing the past. I’ll pretend I did it on purpose.

Unfortunately, Wolf’s eccentric gesture killed the conversation.

“Thank you for saving my daughter,” Fiona performed emergency treatment, hoping Wolf would refrain from pulling anything else to slay the newly resurrected patient.

“My pleasure,” he said, noting his trivial words caused two of Fiona’s lieutenants to raise their eyebrows. The male, however, smiled.

That’s a rebellious smirk. The Seeker Academy’s commoners often gave me those looks of hollow support. Wolf realized it would be safer to act like a Silverhound woman. Fuck that. Might is right; it was back home, and even more so in this savage world. If they want to treat me like a breeding tool, I’ll beat them ’til their ovaries fall out.

“Kira offered me warm shelter for several days. Since I’m passing by, I took her offer.” Wolf disguised the truth with accurate and well-placed words.

Fiona nodded.

“I’ll see to your food and housing,” she said, her voice brimming with fake generosity. She wanted to add that she would give him some better-fitting clothes, but she would never utter such potential tactless offenses. Instead, she planned to present Wolf with a fine hunting jacket and sturdy leather breeches.

Fiona faced her daughter. “Kira, you tell me what happened while we run back home. I’ll carry you.”

She cradled her child, despite Kira’s protest, and the group dashed towards Hare Tribe’s stronghold.

Kira narrated her experience, using nearly identical words she told Wolf.

She either told me everything, or believes I can hear their whispers. Wolf opted to believe the latter. Even Truthspeakers lied to him, wishing well. He would never trust random savages he just met.

Kira described how he dispatched her kidnappers in great detail. Erin’s catcall, which proved he came across them by accident, the brutal way he ended their lives… This girl knows how to use words. I wonder whether I missed more hidden messages?

Fiona listened and only asked questions after Kira concluded her report, showing maturity, good memory, and attention to detail.

“The sun will rise soon. If something happened, it’s already over,” she muttered once Kira answered the last question. “We’ll return in two hours. If Mona really planned a coup, she would’ve done it in the dark, an hour after the five of us departed.”

Fiona’s thoughts raced. She was the strategist; she was supposed to mind rebellions and uprisings. Mona certainly had the ambition, but lacked the ability to play the elders against each other, and I cut off most of her finances to prevent her from saving enough to bribe them.

In theory, tribal elders acted in their tribe’s interest. They controlled their tribe’s wealth. Meaning, the richer the tribe, the better off they were. They were Blood Saturating warriors, the tribe’s backbone in times of unrest. The stronger the tribe, the safer they were, because nobody targeted powerful tribes. That was how an ideal tribe worked.

However, that was empty idealism. In reality, elders plotted for their own benefits. They had minds of their own. They had enemies and vendettas, which their social standing forbade them from pursuing. Ronit became a matriarch following her mother’s passing. In part, it was thanks to her being the elder and more talented twin. In part, it was due to benefits Fiona granted key people to support her.

The more Fiona thought about it, the unlikelier it seemed Mona could gather support for her coup. Elder families’ feuds were public knowledge, but they were too powerful and could not fight openly.

Carrying her daughter, with brightstone shining behind her back, Fiona hoped Kira had misheard. She was one of those elders. She had vested interest in Hare Tribe’s wellbeing. A bloody rebellion less than six months before Treasure Rifts closed could topple them.

I already collected Treasure World’s bounty. The scouting party we sent didn’t return, meaning Greater Fiends have fortified the other side. The rift is useless, but it’s like fresh blood; it will attract predators who wish to take a chance, like the Foxes or the Moles.

***

A beautiful red dawn rose for the newly ascended matriarch Mona. Ever since Treasure Rifts appeared and her elder sister’s scouts discovered one, she was left in charge of Hare’s Burrow while Ronit ran to harvest riches.

Ronit earned merit while her sister sat on her ass. It was typical. Expected. Exploitable.

And everything went according to plan. Mona visited every elder. With some she made idle chit chat, with others she made deals. Her targets were weaker parties of blood feuds. According to the plan, they were the indignant ones, the likelier party to take a risk, even if it damaged the tribe somewhat.

It all worked out. Of eleven elders, three lay dead. Four, if Fiona followed her daughter to death. But even if she survived, the most important part was to separate Ronit from Fiona’s council.

I severed my dumb sister’s brain. Fox Tribe should’ve attacked her outpost last night. Her hands and feet are bound, her brain is dead and her loyal warriors are dying while whittling away my outside enemies. Dumb bitch. She only became matriarch because she plotted against me and because she bribed the elders.

Well, I too can plot. I can bribe. Now, her supporters lay dead. I bought some and cowed the rest into submission. I even got rid of that stinking weasel. Mona smiled. She sat on her sister’s throne, four bodyguards watching her back, giving off enough pressure to intimidate the gathered elders.

“… Saoirse had most Kelly family wealth in her holdingring…” Aithne reported the gains of last night’s bloodshed. Mona would take the lion’s share, immediately becoming wealthy enough to keep her position. The rest she would distribute to her followers.

Talulla, an elder who stayed out of this matter, wanted to protest, but the four warriors guarding Mona made her bite her tongue. All four of them recently ascended to Blood Saturating realm. It seems Mona nurtured four wanderers to escape Fiona’s suspicion. That was clever. Too clever for Mona…

Talulla kept her gaze down. Thinking how four Blood Saturating warriors just barely made up for the damage this coup had caused. The problem was, warriors of those families followed Ronit. Once they returned and found their kin slaughtered, they might fight to the death. Ronit stood no chance of reclaiming her lost throne, but a desperate attack could further damage the tribe, consigning them all to hells.

I hope the matriarch considers the bigger picture.