Chapter 471

Foire

He was being trusted in this newest wave of the siege. Trusted to ensure that there were no others that experienced what he did. Perhaps it wasn’t very Keel of him, but Foire couldn’t bring himself not to care at the thought of another child left parentless or a mate left bereft of their lover. The rest of Ashlani’s leadership was willing to throw away dozens and even hundreds of lives for success. Perhaps that was a better way to rule, to embrace the reality of death, but he could not, not when he was once a victim of the suffering of the one and been a close witness of a second.

“There,” he pointed. A flicker of shadow had dipped through the shadows provided by one of the spawn and was barely entering the bounds of the city. Nievtra would never be despoiled, never again. The Misti Hawar had once broached these walls and allowed to run rampant, but Foire would do everything he could to ensure their blood fed the little ones they so desperately sought to slaughter.

At his command, a pack of twenty Kha rushed forward, each one holding a torch and under the command of a Khatif with minor magical abilities. That intruder would be easily dealt with, as had the dozen that had attempted this same tactic before them. Sure of his call, Foire turned his attention back to the edges of the battlefield. The fight itself wasn’t under his command, but ensuring that the slaughter remain outside of the reach of those not yet ready for the siege was his battle.

And he was already successful on that account.

***

Joral

It had been frustrating to learn that, though his magic bore a similarity to Sybil and Shemira’s, it lacked their ability to dispel hostile magic within its reach like theirs did. The bit of experimentation that they’d done had led him to the conclusion that his magic was, frankly, too gentle. Instead, he could only communicate openly with the herds and calm them in times of worry. Though that was helpful in his position as the leader over the herds, it certainly wasn’t as impactful in battle as any of the other magics he had seen.

He’d always felt like Ashlani had high expectations for him, ever since he hatched. At first, though he was just an Alpha over them, it was obvious that Ashlani would be great. Then he became the swarm alpha, and now the Zaaktif, and Joral had constantly felt as if he had disappointed his mentor. After all, a Keel was supposed to be strong, indomitable. He was strong, could carry himself well in a fight, but every one of the elites who survived the escape from human lands could do the same. In truth, Joral was pretty convinced that, other than Ytte, he was the weakest in direct combat of all of the Keel. Then, with her magic? He couldn’t compare.

But now, his abilities could finally be considered one of the most valuable to be found within the Empire. Without him, the herds wouldn’t be able to exist in the way that they did here in the mountains. Yes, Sybil and Ashlani had been the key reasons that the Empire had any herds in the first place, but nobody would deny the reality that Joral was the reason the swarm had kept the herds alive and had eventually been tamed. His work to understand how the various types of animal needed to be treated and cared for immediately granted the Empire another avenue to provide for themselves while the farming efforts slowly bore fruit.

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Despite that, and knowing how much he contributed to the Empire, Joral had suffered from no small amount of self doubt because of his relative weakness in battle.

As he commanded Arwa to flash forward and rip a lurking Misti Hawar from the shadows and set the rest of the wolfstags on it, much of his feelings like that melted away. After all, the fights that they had until now were so structured and fast that he couldn’t take the opportunity to coordinate the herds in a battle. The closest thing to that that he done was keep the herd from revolting while under constant attack by the Indlovu. Even that had been more limited to maintaining calm, and was therefore better done by Sybil than himself.

Now, though, the most capable of the swarm were freed and ready to rip their enemies to pieces.

Listening to the Misti Hawar scream in fear was enough justification for the path he had taken until now. Finally, he felt like he had lived up to his title as the Herdsman-in-Chief.

Before he could lose himself in those thoughts, he re-doubled his focus on the battle that was being waged behind the screaming lines of his allies. They were trusting their backs to him, and he would not fail.

***

Farahlia

Even without words, Sybil and Shemira communicated to her that they thought they were better than her. In reality, after years of cooperation, Farahlia knew that wasn’t the case and their magic seizing control over her own was only an expression of their strength being so much greater than her own. Though, that said, it wouldn’t have been the first time that Farahlia suffered at their claws.

When first she had been integrated into the swarm, Farahlia had been treated rather poorly, especially by Shemira. There’d been nothing she could do about that but suffer in silence until she was more fully integrated, which hadn’t taken too long, as it seemed to mostly be Shemira being petty. Farahlia didn’t mind the bullying, if it was coming from the alpha, now the Zaaktif, the one who had shown her how little she understood about what truly dominating keelish and then Khatif and even Keel was. She thought that the brief glimpses of power she saw while slowly twisting the minds of males that mated with her was intoxicating.

What Ashlani had was true power. He had the voice to command mountains and destroy stones. His mere presence shaped the world to his will. And he’d commanded her to hold this line. That she was constantly fighting against the minds of dozens of enemies, each of which was manipulating shadows despite her best efforts didn’t matter. She was told to keep the enemies away, to protect her home, and she would do it.

“Come along, little ones,” she laughed as many of the Kha looked to her for help. “Under my command, you’ll be undefeatable!”

There was nothing else left to say as she strode forward. Sybil served as the central nexus of their magic and was taking the brunt of the difficulty away from Shemira and Farahlia. So, as a Keel whose presence strengthened these pathetic children, how could she do anything less than serve as their commander?

Farahlia’s claws sliced through flesh as blood coated her scales. A dozen Misti Hawar lunched out of the darkness, their shadows ripping the weaker Saharliard’s scales and shedding their blood. The sweet scent of life filled the air, and Farahlia laughed as she let loose. The sensation of her magic draining from her was enough to keep a small part of her mind focused on disrupting whatever magic she could. Then, the rest of her gloried in the opportunity to fight, kill, and find victory for her Zaaktif’s people.

Before she could get oo comfortable, though, something shifted on the other side of the wall, and she pulled her attention away from the simple battle that surrounded her.

“Oh, Goddess above, strengthen my fangs,” Farahlia breathed as she saw the next wave of enemies approaching.