"Jael," I called out. He was sitting by the water’s edge, right on top of the singing stone. He was already helping the sheep tie the wool into long, heavy bundles using dried kelp and vines.
From there, he would drag the wool into the water. Since it would be soaked before he even got anywhere, he would need a lot of strength to swim down.
"How are the currents?" I asked him and he lifted his head.
"The water is still fighting," Jael reported, his voice low, and I felt ’Here we go again with his water lore’. "The poison is slowing. If we can drop the wool now, I’m sure everything will work out."
I nodded and then gave him the thumbs up.
"Well, I don’t think we need to wait any longer. Load them into the sea, Jael."
Jael dived into the water, his shimring tail flapping behind him. He pulled the vine that was connected to the first massive wool bundle and yanked it under. It was heavy, soaked through almost instantly, but he was a warrior of the deep; he swam with a desperate, powerful strength I couldn’t help but admire.
Deep into the sea I could not venture into, in a quest to save his people.
And then, after a while, his head broke through the water again with a thumbs up of his web fingers.
Seeing this, everyone cheered.
"Alright, let’s not lose the montum. Get ready to push in the next one."
One by one, the bundles disappeared beneath the churning surface. The sheep worked like a well-oiled machine, their pink, shorn bodies huddling together for warmth while their hands stayed busy binding the next load.
I shifted the weight of the strap on my shoulder, my eyes tracking Jael’s shadow as he darted back and forth between the surface and the deep below. It was working.
The water near the rocks was already losing that sickly brown tint, turning back into a clear, crystalline blue.
I felt like I had accomplished the impossible. I was definitely taking this beastworld by storm. There’s just nothing I can’t do.
But just as the very last bundle of wool was being, the air suddenly turned cold. Not the natural chill of the evening, but a heavy, suffocating pressure that made the hair on my arms stand up. It was that feeling when you know an uninvited guest has co to ruin your plans.
A sharp, grating laugh echoed from the top of the cliff, bouncing off the stones.
"How touching," a raspy, ancient voice called out. "The livestock and the fish, playing together in the dirt."
It felt like soone had poured cold water down my back.
That voice... it sounded like dry leaves being crushed under a boot. I don’t know who it belonged to but it did feel like the voice of a villain.
I looked up and then saw him.
Standing on the very edge of the high ridge was a small, hunched figure wrapped in heavy furs.
Beside him stood a wall of hulking hyenas and scarred wolves, their spears glinting under the rising moon.
It was Garrow. The old badger himself.
He didn’t look like a terrifying monster; he looked like a grumpy, overgrown rodent with a an streak.
He also looked like that grumpy old man you’d see trying to make a fuss with the new generation for no reason.
But the way he looked down at us—with eyes that saw us as nothing more than pieces on a board—made my blood boil.
"Garrow," Noah growled, his eyes turning dark as he stepped in front of the sheep and .
His fists were clenched, like he was holding himself back from throwing the first punch as soon as he saw that wrinkled face.
Seriously, why hold back? In a war like this, the first to strike mostly wins without effort.
"You’ve wandered far from your council room, old man. Did you co to see the ss you made?"
Garrow chuckled, a sound that ended in a wet cough. He leaned on a gnarled wooden staff, his dark, beady eyes scanning the shore.
"I ca to see why my ’bitter dust’ was being wasted," Garrow said, tilting his head. His gaze landed on , and a slow, toothy grin spread across his snout. "And here I find the little Tiger Queen I’ve been hearing so much about, leading a flock of naked sheep. Tell , girl... Do you truly think a bit of hair will stop the poison I spread on the tide? You are simply delaying the inevitable."
I stepped out from behind Noah, ignoring his protective arm for a second. I needed this old man to see . I needed him to know I wasn’t scared of his sches.
"It’s not just hair, Garrow the fool," I called up, my voice steady despite the adrenaline thumping in my ears. "It’s a shield. And while you were busy playing chemist with your poison, we’ve already cleared the nursery and are clearing the main cave of the r folks as we speak. You said I was delaying the inevitable? Well, watch beat that inevitable."
Garrow’s grin didn’t falter, like it was all in the plan... as if this was a variable he expected.
"Bold words for soone standing at the bottom of a hole."
He raised his staff, and the hyenas behind him stepped forward, their growls vibrating down the cliffside. "The r-folk are a relic that protects the beast of a weak era. The West Way belongs to the strong, to those who know that rcy is a disease. If you want to die for a handful of fish and sheep without living your reign as queen, then so be it."
"Fenric! Damar!" Noah barked, his voice commanding as he sensed Garrow was about to launch an attack.
Damar, despite his paleness, got up instantly, his tail uncoiling from around the cubs’ basket as he placed them safely behind a large rock. Fenric dropped his knife and cracked his knuckles, a feral light igniting in his eyes.
The sheep retreated toward the water’s edge, trembling but refusing to leave. Jael broke the surface one last ti, his eyes wide with terror as he saw the army above.
"Take the last bundle and go, Jael!" I scread. "Don’t look back!"
As Jael vanished with the final filter, Garrow gave a sharp signal with his staff.
"Kill the King," Garrow commanded, his voice cold and flat. "And bring the female. I want to see if her spirit stays so bright when she’s in a cage."
His words infuriated my mates, and they bared their fangs.
"You’re going to put who in a cage?" Damar hissed. It was final. He was going for that old man’s head and no one was going to stop him.
The first wave of hyenas began to scramble down, yipping and howling, like they were beasts. I an, yeah, they are beastn but they’re currently in their human form. Can’t they just make the sounds humans make when excited?
I knew I couldn’t fight, so instead of that, I decided to beco the commanding officer, standing between Damar, Noah, and Fenric, and the flock of pink-skinned sheep.
"Okay, boys," I muttered, my heart beating with excitent. "Let’s show this old badger who he ssed with."
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