Chapter 479

I wanted to lead my people to pursue the fleeing ambushers, but I decided against it. There was no way to tell what kinds of additional traps they might have in store, and my little pack’s numbers had already been reduced by about one fifth. Instead of potentially throwing my people’s lives away, I gestured for them to gather up the corpses left behind, our own as well as the spawn, and retreat.

“I’ll do whatever you tell me to,” Oula said as she walked up, “but I wish to make it known that we are all willing to continue on this path. Striking down as many of these beasts as possible is more important than one of our lives, Zaaktif.”

“Your willingness to sacrifice for the continued survival of our people is noted,” I said. “However, there’s no reason to offer ourselves up as easy prey simply because we feel like it might offer us a speedier resolution. There’s no point to winning the battle if we all die in the process.”

“My apologies, Zaaktif,” she repeated, “but every one of our lives, with the exception of yours, is an easy price to pay to strike a decisive victory against the Misti Hawar menace.”

“Duly noted.” I flared my frills and reached a hand out to her neck. I grabbed the back of it, carefully avoiding her frills as I cupped the back of her head and leaned our foreheads together. “Your willingness to do what is necessary to protect our people is surely part of why you were able to evolve to Keel. However, I repeat, we will not be able to strike a killing blow at this time. Instead, we’ll have faith that Nievtala’s strength will guide us to survival and victory.”

“Yes, Zaaktif, victory by fang and blood,” as she said that, she bowed low, her frills flaring as she did so. I stepped past her, grabbing two of the corpses of my people as I went, and gave the command to return. Nobody else voiced any complaints or disagreement as we did so, and our path quickly took us back toward our city.

The path we’d already cut through the snow-choked forest was easy to follow, and we made good time before we arrived at the edge of the forest. There, 100 soldiers were ready to greet us as soon as we made our appearance. At their head stood none other than Foire, and he flared his frills at me in acknowledgment as we started to leave our dead there.

“Ashlani,” he said, still bowed, “will you allow me to accompany you when you return to the forest?”

I flared my frills as I strode past him, and he stood up to continue his path at my side. I explained, “We are done for today, but yes. I don’t think that we’ll set out tomorrow, but maybe the day after. We can’t spend too long simply waiting for them to continue to wear us down as they grow stronger.”

“And your command to keep lone scouts out of the forest remains in effect?” he confirmed.

“Yes. The Misti Hawar are tricky and powerful enough that they’ll just pick off any individuals. After all, some of this blood on me is my own, and I know that no scout’s defenses can compare to my own.”

He confirmed as much as we continued on our path to Nievtra’s walls. My people continued to follow behind us as we went, and as we entered, one of Sybil’s immediate subordinates greeted us.

“Is there anything that the city will need to react to immediately as a result of this hunt?” he asked as he kept his head down.

“Not for now,” I clacked my teeth for emphasis. “Have we heard from the colonies?”

“No, Zaaktif.”

I bit down a groan of displeasure and simply nodded. “Thank you. Go report to her, I will be there soon.”

I quickly dealt with all of the other to-dos that I could think of before going to meet with the rest of my elites. There was nothing new to talk about there; we’d all been in this siege for a couple days now, and nothing had really changed from my excursion. I could give a small bit of information regarding the spawn that we’d killed and the casualties I’d suffered, but there wasn’t anything of note to add. Instead, we could only get some rest and prepare for the siege. After all, Kusi’Wi the Nyust’taa herself had said that they would be coming again tonight.

Once we finished our brief meeting, I retreated to my home to see the three children. Each was continuing to grow larger, babbling and saying the beginnings of words as they crawled on all fours and took faltering steps. I smiled down at them, reminding myself that this is why I was fighting, as well as to protect my people as a whole, and eventually found my rest with my children attempting to bite through the scales on my fingers.

As had become more and more common in my life as a Keel, my dreams weren’t just dreams. I saw thrashing tentacles from the spawn, shadows cutting through the walls and razing my city. Then, I saw a different vision, of us gaining victory over the Misti Hawar, then leading a march into their lands, their snowy mountains consumed with flames, their deepest shadows ripped apart with harsh sunlight. I saw their cubs shackled and enslaved, and I saw a growing army of the Saharliard that spread over the mountains and into the plains of the Indlovu.

I saw massive tortoises, their shells covered with the blood of their inhabitants as stone shattered before spear and claw, but before my people could continue onward, a bolt of lightning fell from above and destroyed my spear. Then, again, I saw the deaths of all of the inhabitants of my city, but this time, nothing followed but oblivion and confusion.

“Ashlani,” Sybil’s voice woke me from my slumber, and I knew that if I was capable of it, I would have been sweating. Instead, I blinked, my secondary eyelid underneath fluttering, as I caught my breath. “My mate, are you well?”

Instead of saying anything, I flared my frills as I pushed myself to my feet. The three children were curled up against me, and I thanked the goddess that I hadn’t managed to thrash and harm them in the possibly prophetic dream.

“Was I threatening?” I asked in a low voice.

“No, only twitching,” Sybil flicked her tail. “Another of the dreams? Was it a new one?”

“Yes. I can tell you later, but first, is it evening yet?”

“The suns have yet to set over the Shandise,” she comforted me. “There should be an hour yet before the shadows can use their greatest strength.”

I hissed and poked my head out of the room. One of the Keel Kha’Tal nurses stood there, and I gestured for her to go in and keep an eye on the children as I went to make all the last-minute preparations for the battle that I could.

“I have an idea for something to change,” I said as I walked with purpose. “There may be something we can do to shift the tide of battle in our favor once again tonight.”