My expectations soared. I didn’t know what a blood-debt was, but it was serious enough to give pause to this group of elite keelish hunters. I motioned for the rest of the swarm to follow my lead and begin to flee through the woods while our pursuers were tied down in whatever this political maneuvering was with this hostile party.

“Thinking and communicating creatures should well know when to flee and when to STOP and LISTEN.” The Bloodpriestess’s words cracked violently on the two words and I involuntarily stopped midstep before turning to look at her. Looking over, her face was not smiling, but actually baring her teeth. The teeth were much like most humans, but for the jutting canines that must have nearly reached out of her mouth even if her lips were closed.

“Good, Saharliard you have proven yourselves with this. How have you wronged the warlocks of the One?”

“Our swarm was attacked without warning multiple times by a village of the… warlocks. After their greatest attempt, we took the fight to their home. We wiped them out to the last, just as they would have done to us if we were the weaker party.” I’d tried to speak as reasonably as possible, but there was a bit of involuntary acid in my last words. Whether it was because I remembered that child’s face as I’d ended her life or thinking of what the humans would have done to my swarm, I didn’t know.

“And the truth begins to reveal itself. You see–”

“These vermin have no rights! They’re murderers! They–!”

The Bloodpriestess was interrupted by the single human child in the squad of High Speakers, her voice quaking with impotent rage. All around her, her companions went to shush her, but right as they did so, the Bloodpriestess made her approach.

She seamlessly changed from her threatening upright stance to rushing forward in a smooth, quadrupedal stance before standing bolt upright again a threateningly close distance from the humans. “You have no authority to speak, whelp. Do so again and I will demand payment from your betters.”

The Bloodpriestess stood, stark in the light, and I finally was able to pry my attention away from her eyes. She was short, probably 1.4m tall, and dressed all in pure black leather and fur. Wait, no… She was naked except for a loincloth, and had pure black leathery skin covering her body with the exception of long hair growing down from her head all down the spine. Her arms were longer than a human’s would have been, and her fingers were disgustingly long as well.

Calling her fingers long was like calling a keelish a lizard. Sure, the idea was communicated, but did not emphasize the size and impression given by them. Each finger ranged in length from 15 to 30cm, and each one was obviously built for a different function. Her thumb and index finger were the shortest, only twice the length of a normal human’s finger, but the middle finger was where things got weird.

Her middle fingers were the second longest on her hand, at about 25cm, and capped with shining, sharp nails. These fingers had an extra joint (as did the rest) and were obviously meant to be used as a weapon. The fourth finger was the longest, 30cm, and capped with a club-like protuberance. The final finger was permanently curved into a sickle shape, and I had the sneaking suspicion that it could function like one if given the chance.

Both of the Bloodpriestess’s middle fingers were pointed threateningly at her interrupter, and I got the feeling that if she’d wanted to, she could have put the outspoken child’s eyes out of her head before any of the humans could have reacted.

“Careful, butcher. Lay your hand on one of mine and you won’t live to regret it.” The captain stepped forward, a miniature gale beginning to form in her hand.

“I’d love to offer your lifeblood to the Bloodsoaked Mother Narsha’at and test myself against you… but I offer a question first: If one of the ‘High Speakers’ of your people was to lead a war band across the Samutelia and spill the blood of this Bloodpriestess Ana… How long do you think it would be before all the peoples of the Wilds decide that they have become sick of your attempted plays at superiority? Could you escape the rest of my people here on our banks? Or would they offer your lifeblood to the Bloodsoaked Mother and march across this river and begin to taint your rivers with your own blood? That is… if you could manage to kill me in the first place.” Bloodpriestess Ana shivered in what could only have been borderline orgasmic excitement at the prospect while she looked deeper and deeper into the captain’s eyes.

For a moment, I thought the captain would be captivated just as I had been, but she quickly wrenched her eyes away before discarding any semblance of courtesy.

“Attempt to sooth-sight me again and I will flay the flesh from your bones, you maggot-eating monkey.”

“Oh, but I was close. Did I see your home? Thnufir?”

The humans began to bristle and prepare themselves for conflict as Ana stood absolutely still, gauging them. Finally, “Leave our shore if you are too coward to enter the blood-debt. We have no hospitality for weaklings too mewling and fearful to lay their own lives on the line for their self-appointed vengeance. Flee back to your warlock castles, tell your mothers that you have yet to wean yourselves from their milk, and return to your soft lives of killing the powerless. We. Don’t. Fear. You.”

The girl in the combat unit began to rage, and was about to scream when one of the Earthspeaker men quickly reached out and forcibly muffled any complaints she had. Ana chuckled and made a shooing motion with both hands.

“... We are not able to make diplomatic decisions at this time. We will return when diplomatic power is given to us.” The commander’s face was hidden beneath her beralt, but I could hear the grinding of her teeth as she acquiesced to the Bloodpriestess’s demands.

“So your people always say. But,” the manic bearing of her pointed teeth returned, “they have yet to spend even a single night on this side of the Samutelia.”

“But they reside all around the Shakran.”

The people all around us in the forest bristled at the captain’s final words. Ana blinked, then slightly twitched her head in what should have been a sort of respectful acknowledgement of the point the captain had made.

The captain made the same gesture in return, and the humans began their retreat into the river.

Once the humans had retreated to an unthreatening distance, Bloodpriestess Ana turned to me, her eyes cold and distant.

“So, talking keelish spawn. What are we to do with you, now that I’ve had my fun?”