The forest was thick with old burlraizes, and the paths of escape for the Scaled Deer were limited through the intertwining foliage and root systems. The most likely path of escape had been where the rest of the pack had laid in wait to ambush the fleeing prey. Our job, however, wasn’t simply to reunite with the rest of the pack but to finish the kill on any stragglers.

Their focus had been on maiming and gimping instead of killing, so as to ensure that we could track and finish off as many as possible. The consumption of meat among all five to six hundred members of the swarm was massive, and thus needed a comparably large amount of meat to consume. Thus, this provided a perfect opportunity to ambush and slow many of our prey to bring them back to the swarm.

It wasn’t long before we came upon the first casualty. A stumbling Scaled Deer was attempting to flee deeper into the woods, its leg gimped. I gestured to Illne and she stepped forward, quickly dispatching the suffering creature and beginning to haul it back to the clearing.

“No, I still hear combat. We’ll need you.”

Illne nodded, dropped the corpse, and followed as Crolt and I continued following the evidences of the hunt.

We quickly dispatched any we crossed, but the continued keelish shrieks ahead pushed us to continue without bringing our prey back to our gathering point. Instead, we ran on even faster than before and quickly came across a bloody scene. The pack stood surrounded by no fewer than eight deer corpses and twenty living Scaled Deer that lashed out with hooves and antlers alike.

Without thinking, I, disregarding the sudden spike in pain from my ribs, hurled my spear forward and killed one of the attackers. Crolt, Illne, and I rushed in and immediately began tearing into the exposed flanks of the deer. I sunk more deeply into my [Combatant’s Bloodlust] and the flashing weaknesses of my foes stood out more clearly in my eyes. I realized, in a detached part of my brain, that these weak points had only been subconsciously registering in my mind in the battle before, and now were bright spots of light.

I retrieved my spear and began stabbing out without any conscious thought of what I was hitting. A flash, then my stab, then the sensation of my spear parting flesh. I moved, almost danced through the battlefield as I thrust, dodged, and slew my way through the press of bodies. The deer continued falling before me until I realized that there were no more. My heaving breaths sent shocks of pain through my chest, but we’d been victorious.

The echoes of fleeing hoofbeats resounded, quite a few prey had fled, but in total there were nineteen corpses of prey before us. I was satisfied, but looked around the pack to ensure there were no casualties.

Fortunately, there were no deaths, and only minor injuries… except for Joral. His right arm hung limply, dragging on the ground. He looked up at me, hope gleaming in his eyes when I approached. He’d been gored through the shoulder and upper arm; his flesh hung in ribbons and, looking at it, his injury was even more severe than the one I had sustained at the teeth of the wolfstags.

Nonetheless, I looked him in the eye. “You have two assignments now. I trust you.” Joral nodded, excited. “First: I need you to let the swarm know where we are and how many we’ll need to carry the prey back, probably 30. Second: I need you to find Vefir and Second. They can heal you. I need you whole for my plans. Whatever you need.”

Joral nodded, ecstatic, and began trotting through the trees while holding his injured arm close to his body. I watched him go–I really did have big plans for him, and fully planned to see him grow into a lieutenant.

I turned to Cazala, “What happened?”

“They realized how few of us there really were. Came back on the attack. Here we are.”

“And how did Joral end up like that?”

A sigh. “He was focused on completing a kill instead of keeping himself safe. Took a hit to kill another. Twice.”

“That’s… weird for him.”

Cazala shrugged and looked around at the corpses spread before us before looking back at me. “You ready?”

I nodded, sinking back into [Combatant’s Bloodlust] in the hopes that it would help mask the spasms of pain from my ribs as I carried the weight.

It didn’t.

…

With a groan I dropped the fourth corpse of the night before sinking to the ground myself. In total, across the hobbled ones in the forest, the three protectors, and the attackers on the pack, there were 29 in total. I guessed it could cover the eating necessities for the swarm for now, and we could continue on as soon as the meat was all brought back. Luckily for me, at that point the vast majority of the carcasses had been brought to the clearing so I could rest without feeling guilty.

A small part of me had thought to take a seat earlier but I couldn’t bring myself to. Now, at the end of the exertion, I could sit and actually relax… enough to see flashes of warmth approaching through the forest. I slowly rose to my feet, but a familiar whistle in the distance had me quickly relaxing.

A large pack, about 35, walked into the following a now-healed Joral. He crooked a smile at me before nodding pointedly at Vefir, who quickly noted my deliberately shallow breathing.

“O-our friend here says you g-got yourself hurt?”

“I would say no, but it hurts like a kreerlk. Help me out?”

Vefir sighed, “Must y-you be so crass?” then the initially burning hot then comfortably warm magic flowed into me. Before too long I could breathe easily and stood tall. I approached Joral.

“Thank you for leading everyone here so quickly. Also, thank you for realizing I needed healing ” He nodded and grinned. “You did well on that. I did, however, hear about why you were so injured. Why didn’t you keep yourself safe?”

“They were dangerous. I killed them to protect myself and my pack.” He stood proud, expecting praise.

“But you didn’t protect yourself. You nearly lost your arm. This made you a liability and less fit for battle. And this was simply–”

“I just did what you would do!” Joral interrupted, his face confused.

“Why do you say that?” My tone was flat, almost dangerous. I didn’t notice.

“You did the same thing when you were only a pack Alpha. Your arm didn’t work because you protected your pack from the wolfstags!”

I stepped forward, into his space. “And that day was a failure for me. Cazala, you were there. How many of us died?”

“Two, Alpha.”

“Do you remember my main command?”

“But Ashlani–!”

I whirled to Joral, surprised by the vehemence, anger, and rage in my voice, “You will address me as Alpha! I didn’t ask YOU!” I turned back to Cazala. “What was my main command?”

“Prioritize survival above all else.”

“Joral, you misunderstood why I was injured that day. I was weak and made mistakes, that’s why I was nearly permanently disfigured.” I took a deep breath. He looked up at me, confused and hurt. “I say this for a reason. I expect you to be better than me. You have me to learn from when I had nothing. You were stronger and better than me at your hatching. Don’t throw it away.”

I turned on my heel and walked over to the pile of corpses, grabbing the largest protector, throwing it over my shoulder, and grabbing a smaller corpse with my good left arm.

“Let’s get moving. Joral, walk with me.”

It didn’t take long for the group to gather and begin moving out. Joral walked hesitantly at my flank until I called him forward.

“I’m sorry, you’ve seen an imperfect part of me more than once today. I don’t know what to do from here and I’ve messed up. I just have high hopes for you.”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“No, I–... I didn’t mean that. It was just… in public, I need to be seen constantly and always as Alpha, and if you call me by my name, then others may think that I’m treating you well undeservedly.”

“Ok… Ok!” A spring slowly entered Joral’s step, and we spoke comfortably the rest of the way back to the camp.

When we got back to camp, Joral nodded formally at me, contained a grin, and jogged off towards a group of females with his haul in tow. A couple of them were from my clutch, old companions of Shemira’s, and all the females began fawning over him as he approached. He gloried in the attention, moving his body sinuously and grinning down at these new companions.

I wondered if I would have been in his position without Sybil, but before too long Foire approached me.

“The humans moved past the den quickly. They have something that has caused them to not tire, and they aren’t far off from where we are now.”