It had been two days since the Khuzaab, and our journey had resumed its monotony. Several members of the swarm had approached me to ask about having a Khuzaab of their own, but all had been spurious attempts to bring excitement to their lives. I’d sent them to Wisterl or Took. The first had simply forced them into live combat until they wanted to collapse, and that during the break for lunch that separated the two halves of our daily march, while the second had enlisted their help for the hunt, and had pressed them into the most strenuous, dangerous roles while still keeping them safe.

There had been no additional Khazaabs.

Sybil had confided in me that she wasn’t sure what exactly was the influence on Joral, there seemed to be a blindspot in her network. Thus, she still needed a little more time to find out what the issue was and there wasn’t much else to do than wait, or to ask him outright. I shied away from that option, for the simple fact that it could spark another unexpected reaction from him before we knew what was happening.

While all this intrigue was happening, the area around us slowly shifted and changed, growing more and more damp and even wet. The young Sea Wolfstags took to the area with gusto, their magic slowly exhibiting itself as they walked, worked, and began to work as scouts. Evidently, there was a much larger amount of water in the areas ahead of us, but I wasn’t sure what that was from. There was a different quality of moisture in the air, almost cleaner, and washing away the briny smell of the ocean to our north.

We couldn’t see anything further than a mile away, with the dense jungle covering all visibility, but the vegetation was slowly changing, becoming less dense and intermingled, even occasionally giving way to meadows quite different from the clearings of our home jungle. There, it was more of a cessation of growth, that there had been some cataclysm or something specific that had destroyed the previously sprawling trees and plants.

Here, further to the south, though, the meadows were that–a sprawling opening in the trees filled with green grasses, fruit bushes, and naked rocks. The naked rocks were strange to me, without the heavy growth of lichen and moss that covered everything further north. The prey also changed, with a new species of creature I’d never seen, a Fuzzy Deer, covered in thick fur that was a dark brown. The fur seemed much less useful than the scales on a Scaled Deer, proffering no protection, but the hunting packs didn’t complain as these creatures were much less dangerous, less aggressive, and easier to prepare for eating.

It was in these circumstances that we heard a veritable explosion of sound behind us. I gestured at Foire to do whatever necessary to fill the rest of the pack in on what had happened. He nodded, and just a short moment later he was in front of me, panting. The smell of smoke slowly began washing over the pack, and I felt the need to MOVE.

“A small pack of humans. More powerful than anything we’ve seen before. Huge fire. They’re fast.”

“Chreelkt! They must have High Speakers. How many were they?”

“Eight and a deer.”

“Forget the deer. EVERYBODY, RUN AND FOLLOW ME!”

“There’s only eight of them. Shouldn’t they be easy to defeat?” Foire needed to nearly sprint to keep up with me as I began literally pushing the members of the swarm into a run from their afternoon rests.

“No. We need to see if we can lose them somehow. We could probably fend them off enough to consider it fending them off, but it would be costly. DULVROC TAKE YOU BERK, MOVE YOUR TAIL BEFORE I RIP IT OFF YOUR LAZY ASS! SWARM, MOVE OUT, KICK YOUR PACK INTO MOTION, NOW!” I began channeling my [Innervating Address] into my words as I continued screaming at everyone to continue moving.

The swarm began running after me, but I began to pray internally: Nievtala, unless something divine happens soon, we are going to die today.

[Varali POV]

“Dulvroc take you Norat! Now they know we’re here, you scum-begotten wench!”

“It’s not that big of a deal, is it? There was a pack of them there and I destroyed it.”

“You couldn’t have done ANYTHING smaller? Vaata’lin’qa, I hope they don’t start sprinting immediately.”

“Why?” The band of soldiers looked at their leader.

Varali wasn’t sure what was happening exactly, but High Colonel di’Thnufir was angrily screaming at Norat, the soldier whose incendiary calling had obliterated the small pack of keelish that was watching them. The High Colonel took a deep breath, visibly attempting to calm herself before continuing to rage at her subordinate.

“If I’m not wrong, we’re only a couple of hours’ journey from the Samutelia, and if that swarm rushes a sentry on our side, they’ll wipe them out before crossing the river to the Narsha’at spawn’s side.”

“If they cross won’t they still be killed?”

“Maybe. But we need to kill them to let the souls return to Vataal Sam, villi Vaata. If the Moonchildren take them, then the spirits will fall to Narsha’at’s slaughterhouse.”

“Ah…” Norat looked to Viirla for support, but she had simply shook her head at her wife.

“Again, Dulvroc take you. MOVE OUT! WE’RE GOING AT A SPRINT UNTIL EVERY ONE OF THOSE SCALY VERMIN IS DEAD!”