Chapter 7: The Outsider of Emberfrost

At the edge of the stone pit, the women of Emberfrost stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at the spectacle unfolding beneath their feet.

Moments ago, they had been howling for the bloody death of a brazen fraud, but now not even a whisper escaped their throats.

The massive Homotherium sprawled across the stones, its pale belly bared like a lazy house cat. Its front paws kneaded the air, its heavy head bumping against Seraya's hand again and again, begging for more scratches.

How on earth had this bloodthirsty beast, which had lunged at every woman approaching the pit for three days straight, suddenly turned docile as a damn rabbit?!

The warriors traded stunned looks. Wolf and fox ears swiveled, tails hung still, and fingers clenched around wooden shafts slowly loosened.

Several women turned toward the elders in the rear, clearly expecting some kind of explanation.

The elders, however, looked as though someone had cracked them over the head with their own staves.

Of everyone gathered, only Niva refused to stand there with her jaw hanging.

She hopped with joy, clapping her hands together. Her fluffy white rabbit ears stood straight up, and her snow-fox tail lashed behind her.

"See?! I told you! She's the warrior who saved me! She wasn't lying!" she shouted, grabbing her mother's arm and dragging her toward the rim. "Look how calm the beast is!"

At the bottom of the pit, Seraya heard the shouts and felt smug satisfaction swell in her chest. She straightened her spine, tilted her chin, and cast a look of triumphant scorn at the women standing above.

What's the matter, you old hags? You had so much to say a second ago! Did your tongues crawl right up your asses?!

Tempting as it was to yell it out loud, she didn't stop rubbing crushed leaves near the predator's nose. The Homotherium still had a full set of teeth, and she had zero desire to find out how quickly the high would wear off.

Meanwhile, the elders' faces turned grim. The five women huddled close, heads bowed as they muttered behind cupped hands.

"What do we do now?" one muttered. "She truly calmed the beast. Are we to let her stay?"

"Have you lost your mind?" another hissed. "This outsider crossed the Obsidian Maw! Have you forgotten how powerful their tribe is? We take her in, and we'll all pay for what she did!"

"But she passed the trial..."

The goat-horned elder tightened her wrinkled fingers around her gnarled staff. She glanced down into the pit, her mouth setting in a stubborn, sour grimace.

"Then we change the terms."

She turned, walked to the edge, and cleared her throat loudly, trying to reclaim her composure.

"Warrior! You possess some skill after all!" she called down. "Now kill the beast, and we shall consider the trial passed!"

An uneasy murmur rippled through the crowd.

Seraya froze, hand poised beside the Homotherium's snout. For a second, shock left her unable to speak.

Then she snapped her head up, fixing the elder with a look of pure disbelief.

"You want me to what, fucker?! Kill it?!" she choked out. "You said yourself it was enough to pet it and calm it down! Now you're changing your mind?!"

Fury brought her up onto her knees. Her sweat-soaked shirt clung to her back and stomach, a seam creaking at her shoulder.

Seraya yanked the fabric down without looking, her focus locked on the old cheat above.

She really wanted her dead!

The catnip was a distraction, not a weapon; it hadn't pulled the cat's claws or turned it into a harmless kitten. If Seraya tried choking the beast or bashing its skull with a rock, it would fight for its life in an instant.

And who would be stuck in this damn hole, face-to-face with an enraged predator?

Her, obviously!

Not the old hag standing comfortably above, gambling with someone else's life!

"Why don't you climb down here yourself?!" Seraya yelled, pointing to the stones beside her. "Show me how you kill a beast like this bare-handed, if you're so smart!"

The Homotherium stirred against her knee. Seraya lowered her voice at once, waving freshly crushed leaves beneath its nostrils, feeling a drop of cold sweat trace her neck.

"Easy, kitty... Not talking to you. Just stay down."

Niva nodded hard, stepping closer to the rim.

"She's right! You said taming it was enough! We all heard you!"

"That's true..." one woman murmured hesitantly. "Those were the terms."

"The beast lets itself be touched. Wasn't that the point?"

With those first questions, other women of Emberfrost began eyeing the elders with open disapproval. The voices started faint and scattered, but grew by the second.

Finally, one of Niva's mothers stepped forward. She stopped a few paces from the horned elder and spoke firmly:

"We cannot break a promise made in the tribe's name so lightly. The warrior did what you asked of her."

Several women behind her chimed in:

"It's true."

"She passed."

"Pull her up!"

The elders turned their backs to the crowd, huddling together again. Their expressions darkened, their hurried whispers carrying far less confidence now.

"What do we do?" one hissed.

Before anyone could answer, a shout rang out over the crowd:

"Let the warrior out!"

This time, a whole chorus answered.

In this brutal world, the ability to best a massive beast carried far more weight than pretty words. Before, the women of Emberfrost thought the stranger was merely taking credit for someone else's kill. Now, they saw a predator rubbing against her leg and purring like a house cat with their own eyes.

Even the most suspicious warriors couldn't pretend nothing had happened.

"Pull her up! She passed the trial!"

Seraya looked up at the women crowding the edge, feeling her anger give way to cautious relief.

Look at that... So not all of them are completely brainless.

The horned elder clenched her jaw tight. Her companion leaned close, muttering:

"Don't you hear them? Pull her up first. We'll figure out what to do with her later."

After a long silence, the elder waved a hand in disgust.

"Pull her up."

Before Niva could even fetch help, several tall warriors were already bringing thick vines. One, a broad-shouldered futa with wolf ears, knelt at the rim and lowered the woven line into the pit. The dark red mark on her right cheek tightened as she set her teeth and braced her feet against the stone.

Seraya let out a breath. She set the rest of the catnip right beside the Homotherium's snout, carefully slid her leg out from under its heavy head, and grabbed the vine with both hands.

"Don't drop me, damn it," she muttered, finding a foothold on the rock face.

The line pulled taut. Digging her fingers in, Seraya hissed through the sting of raw palms and scrambled up the uneven wall.

When strong hands finally caught her beneath the arms and hauled her over the rim, she could have kissed the ground.

She knelt on the stones for a moment, catching her breath. Her shirt had ridden up during the climb, exposing her waist, so she quickly yanked it down and straightened her collar.

Only then did she stand, brush off her knees, and give a brief nod of thanks.

"Thanks, sisters. I thought you were actually leaving me down there for the night."

Niva was at her side in an instant, beaming as if she were the one who had just escaped death's jaws.

The elders didn't share her joy.

Their sour faces looked as if each had swallowed a handful of fat, live flies.

One turned to the warriors standing nearby and ground out through clenched teeth:

"Bring stones."

Seraya glanced back, confused.

"What do you need..."

The elder pointed her staff at the bottom of the pit.

"Kill the beast. Throw until it stops moving."

An uneasy chill ran down Seraya's spine.

One look at the woman's grim face was enough to know she wouldn't wait another second. Having failed to kill the outsider, she was venting her rage on the animal that had failed her expectations.

Several warriors hoisted heavy chunks of rock and walked to the edge. A dull thud echoed up, followed by a startled roar. Stones rained down one after another, kicking up a cloud of dry dust from below.

Seraya stepped back, setting her jaw.

Moments ago, she had been down in that hole herself.

If not for that stray clump of catnip, they would probably be hauling up her mauled corpse right now.

Damn it all... What a fucked-up place.

When silence fell over the pit, a few young warriors climbed down the vines.

They shoved the stones aside, bound the dead Homotherium in thick vines, and with the help of the others hauled the heavy carcass to the surface.

Seraya watched in mounting confusion. Once the animal was laid out on a flat rock, she glanced at Niva beside her.

"And now what? Why bring it up here?"

The girl didn't answer right away. Instead, she turned to Seraya, dropped to one knee, and drew a stone knife from her belt. She laid it across her open palms, holding it up with solemn respect.

Seraya stared.

She looked at the blade, then at the girl's bowed head and white ears.

"Sister... what are you doing? Proposing to me?"

Niva looked up, caught off guard.

Before she could explain, the women closest to them began kneeling as well. One by one, they drew stone knives and took the exact same posture.

Seraya stepped back half a pace.

Before her knelt Niva, small and flushed, flanked by several burly warriors with crimson marks on the right side of their faces. Every one of them stared with solemn gravity, blades resting in their hands.

"Whoa, hold on, sisters!" she blurted out. "One girl kneeling before me is fine, but why are you all doing it at once?! What kind of group courtship involves knives?!"

Niva's mother cleared her throat, looking on with mild embarrassment.

"In our tribe, prey belongs first to the one who bested it. She holds the right to begin the carving. The beast fell into the pit on its own, but you tamed it, so the honor falls to you."

Seraya slowly turned her head toward the carcass.

"Wait... You want me to butcher it?"

The women nodded.

The grand gesture lost most of its charm in an instant.

"No way!" she protested, holding up both hands. "I faint at the sight of blood!"

A brief, telling silence hung in the air.

Niva stared at the dried python blood coating Seraya's shirt, then slowly shifted her gaze to her face.

Seraya looked away, pretending not to notice.

"Sister, do it for me," she said quickly, pointing to the knife in the girl's hands. "I pass the honor to you. Really, no need to thank me."

Niva hesitated for just a moment before rising obediently.

Seraya expected the girl to ask one of the burly warriors for help. Instead, the slender, cute thing knelt by the kill and set to work with such practiced skill that Seraya raised her brows.

The stone blade moved deftly in her grip. Two women helped roll the heavy carcass while Niva separated cuts of meat, piling them onto prepared hides.

Seraya swallowed and looked away.

All right... maybe it's best not to piss this little sister off.

A tight ring of waiting women formed around the kill. Their eyes tracked every cut laid down, raw hunger written across their faces.

Yet not one reached out, even when meat landed right at her feet.

After a while, Niva lifted the beast's heart, placed it on a broad leaf, and walked back over to Seraya.

Then she knelt.

Again.

Holding the offering up with both hands above her bowed head, her rabbit ears twitched timidly.

Seraya looked down at her in amused helplessness.

"Sister, if you keep kneeling like this, I'm really going to think you've got a crush on me."

Niva's cheeks flushed pink, but she kept her hands raised.

An elder sitting nearby scoffed sourly:

"The heart is the finest cut of the kill. It goes first to the one who bested the beast."

Only then did it click.

"Ah... So it's just about food," she muttered, carefully taking the leaf. "Pity. It was almost sweet for a second."

Niva stood quickly, avoiding her gaze, leaving Seraya with a raw heart in her hands and the expression of someone who had no clue what to do with such a gift.

Meanwhile, several women separated the choice cuts from the rest. They arranged them into seven distinct portions and carried them to the five elders.

Only after that tribute was paid did the rest of Emberfrost surge forward.

Seraya jumped back.

Just a second ago they were standing patiently, and now a tangle of arms, tails, and shoving bodies fought over the hides. The meat vanished into grabbing hands so fast that only scraps remained moments later.

"Holy shit... Just like high schoolers rushing the cafeteria at the bell," she muttered, taking in the scene.

Then she frowned, glancing back toward the elders.

There were seven portions, but only five elders.

Why the hell did they get seven shares when there were only five of them?

She had no time to ponder it further. The elders rose and headed toward her, each carrying meat, each looking just as sour as before.

The horned elder stopped in front of Seraya.

"Since you passed the trial, you may remain in Emberfrost," she stated gruffly. "But you will abide by our rules. You will hunt. Your daily share will depend on what you bring to the tribe."

Seraya gave a slow nod, but the elder wasn't finished.

"You will find your own place to sleep. All the caves are full. There is no bed for you."

Seraya stared at her, not believing her ears.

"So I hunt for you, and you won't even give me a place to sleep?" she asked, irritation flaring. "I just nearly died in your damn hole, and now I'm supposed to sleep under a bush?!"

The elder bristled.

"Taking you in is already a great favor! We risk the wrath of the Obsidian Maw! What more do you want? To be treated as our equal?!"

Seraya ground her teeth.

Her eyes flicked to the hefty cuts of meat in the elders' arms, then back to their indignant faces.

You old leeches... You take the food first, send others to do the work, and have the gall to act like benefactors!

She wanted to lay into them right then and there. But ache pulsed through her arms, her scraped knees burned, and exhaustion weighed heavily on her shoulders.

She didn't have the energy for another fight.

Niva returned with her own cut of meat just then. Overhearing the exchange, she hesitated, then gathered her nerve and spoke softly:

"The warrior can stay in our cave."

The horned elder whipped around, making the girl flinch.

"Seventeen people already sleep in your cave!" she snapped, rapping her staff on the ground. "Where do you plan to squeeze another?!"

Niva opened her mouth, but the harsh glare choked the words in her throat. Her white ears drooped slightly, fingers clutching the wrapped meat.

Then her mother stepped forward once more.

"Elder, there are seventeen people in the cave, but our family only takes up one corner. There are three of us. We can shift our beds to make room for the warrior."

"Aye," a woman standing beside her agreed. "I share the cave with them. She'll fit."

"We don't mind either."

"There's enough room."

Several other cave-dwellers nodded in support.

The elders stared at them, dumbfounded.

For the second time today, they were hearing things they had no desire to hear.

Seraya stood off to the side, still holding her peculiar dinner portion, watching the dispute with grim amusement.

They even had to make a fuss about her sleeping on someone else's patch of dirt.

After a long silence, the horned elder scoffed in disgust.

"Do as you like, then. But don't say you weren't warned!"

She jabbed her staff toward Seraya.

"If this outsider brings any trouble down on us, your entire cave will answer for it!"

"She won't!" Niva chimed, overjoyed at the concession. "Thank you, elders!"

She stepped over to Seraya, tugging gently on her sleeve, trying to coax her into a bow.

Seraya didn't budge.

She glared at the elders with tight lips, anger flushing her face again.

Thank them?

For shoving me into a pit?

For moving the goalposts?

Or for graciously allowing someone else to share a patch of ground with me?!

They've completely lost their damn minds.

Niva tugged the sleeve again, much more gently, but Seraya stayed standing tall.

The elders noted her defiance. They held her with cold, hostile glares for a moment before turning away in annoyance.

"It's dark already!" the horned woman snapped, walking off with the meat tucked under her arm. "Back to your caves, all of you! Time to sleep!"