The promising young one returned, bloodied and alone. He had lost his entire pack to only two humans. Joral kept gibbering sothing like "they were so strong, too strong. There were only two... All dead, only ..." Vefir quickly ca and did what he could, then Joral went to his pack's space. It was empty, quiet... just like Foire's and Took's own spaces.
The bubbling anger that she'd kept packed down threatened to bubble over. Took wasn't particularly close with the spawnling, but the loss he had experienced was one that she wouldn't wish on any of her fellow keelish. The trust engendered by the bonds of hunting together was strong, and losing your entire pack to what you had believed to be an easy hunt would be devastating.
Suddenly, Took couldn't stand still any longer. She stood tall and whistled, and her pack imdiately fell in around her. Her beta (not Beta in the sense she was, but her second-in-command on the hunt) was Foire, but Shemira was finally showing willingness to listen to commands, and might take that position over soon. For so, that would be humiliating, but Foire would welco not having to stand in a leadership position.
Regardless of who would take which position in the future, it was currently Foire's place, and he looked up at her quizzically. Took simply replied, "Let's see what's coming" and went to speak with Sybil.
Sybil looked up at her approach, "What's going on?"
Took responded, "We're scouting, I think they're coming soon."
Sybil nodded. "Be back soon. If you see that the human's are on their way, co back imdiately and let us know, so that we can be ready."
Took nodded in response and had turned to go when Sybil's voice followed behind her, "Stay safe. We need you to stay careful and smart before Ashlani wakes up." Her voice was surprisingly caring, and Took looked back to see Sybil looking directly in her eyes. Then, Sybil's eyes hardened and she continued, "When he wakes up, I'm sure he'll direct us all to drag them down. Just wait--it'll be soon."
Took grinned back, baring her fangs. "We'll sharpen our teeth on their bones and whet our thirst with their blood."
...
Foire ranged out from the rest of the pack, flanked by Shemira. Illne stayed with Took, taking more and more after her by the day. She had grown bulkier in every way, but still wasn't as big as Treel had been. The thought of her old companion again brought an acrid twist of her stomach, and again, Took swore to avenge her by killing all the humans in the forest, and ensuring that they too felt the loss of parent, child, friend and family.
Took was still musing over how she would split the skulls and carve the chests of the humans when a panicked looking Foire rushed towards her.
Took cocked her head, curious, when she realized that Shemira was missing. As she looked past Foire, beginning to fear, he spoke.
"She's keeping an eye out. You need to see this." His screeching voice no longer took her by surprise when he spoke, and she began to gesture for the rest of the pack to follow. Foire shook his head and spoke again, "They should go back to the den, speak to Sybil, and get her to get everyone ready. Tonight at the latest."
Took looked at his earnest face, then called for Brutus to lead everyone back to the den. He was disappointed, but imdiately followed the order.
Took then followed Foire for a short while. As she moved forward, he whispered, "Change to the other vision." She did, and, shortly thereafter, found Shemira, who crouched nearly to her belly beneath a thick bush. Shemira gestured for Took to approach, and she did so while Foire stayed back, looking around nervously.
Shemira pointed for where to look, and, after a solid minute or so of looking, Took finally realized what she was looking at. A group of about 20 little dwellings were scattered around the nearby space. Each one was big enough to house at least 20 humans, and there were several that Took eventually saw that were looking around, keeping an eye out for any keelish that ca near.
Took realized for the first ti that this wasn't going to be a hunt. No, this was going to be sothing much bloodier, and not so one-sided. This was, as she had been told but hadn't believed, a war.
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