NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Make Us Stronger
It was hard to think about wrenching himself away from his three companions – the two lionesses and the female ameshek were comfortable to cuddle with, even Nyx with her hard plating. But duty called. His allies were coming back to the centre and they should probably deal with the bodies of the recent fight before then.
Fortunately, it would not be a big funeral this time – only two albuhas had died. While Dominic wasn't willing to lose any of his Pride, not even the newcomers, he had to admit that losing only two was a testament to the efficacy of both their tactics and their new armour. Though only a quarter or so of their forces had been armoured, it had still made a difference. By putting the armored lions and amesheks at the front and keeping the unarmoured lions towards the back of the group, they had sustained fewer injuries than expected. And having their healers scattered throughout had stopped anyone falling to the killer vetens' vicious, Bleed-inducing teeth even when they did get hit.
Nonetheless, they needed to have a funeral, and then clean up the rest of the bodies littering the space. The ones here were made up almost entirely of the rabbit-like vetens and the remains of pterodactyl scouts; the only exception was the kesh leader.
Pushing himself to his feet with a heavy sigh, Dominic shook his mane so the hairs fell back into place. He was grateful for the ladies' efforts – wearing armour was great for increasing his defenses, but it did make his fur itch. He suspected that that was part of the reason for the lionesses coming to groom him – they had probably experienced the same discomfort and wanted him to groom them in kind. Why Nyx had also done so was another question – it seemed unlikely that her armour irritated her keratinous plates in the same way.
'Why are you leaving?' Jenkins complained with a slight growl, raising her head to stare accusingly at Dominic.
'We need to say goodbye to the two members of our Pride who died,' Dominic reminded her grimly. The lionesses looked at each other and then pushed themselves to their feet without another word. Nyx, too, stood up, towering above them all.
'Then lead on,' she prompted Dominic. He didn't tarry in doing just that, heading towards where the bodies of the two albuhas had been pulled off to the edge of the clearing. They were far cleaner than he had expected – obviously one or more of their companions had decided to groom them despite knowing what would happen during the funeral – or maybe because of the funeral.
Dominic went to stand over the bodies. As he passed the members of his Pride, they stopped what they were doing and rose to their feet in respect. Even the newcomers had been part of the funeral rite the last time and seemed to understand what was coming. For a moment he hesitated, searching for the right words.
'Losing one of our own is always painful.' he started, 'It doesn't matter how long you have been part of the Pride – while you are loyal to the Pride, the Pride is loyal to you. These two albuhas fought for the Pride. They fought for us. And we will remember them and their sacrifice. They fought to regain this territory for us, a territory which will help us grow and become stronger. But the fighting hasn't finished. There will always be those who seek to take this territory from us, to take whatever we have, even if it is our very lives. I am not willing to cede my life to them without a fight; are you?'
He wasn't actually expecting a response, but he got one anyway – an almost resounding 'no' in the Pride chat accompanied by growls around him. Even if he couldn't hear the individual voices, he could still tell that there were different emotions behind the almost unanimous reaction. There was confidence and uncertainty alike, anger and sorrow, determination and fear. Nonetheless, it heartened him to hear their agreement.
'No, we will not. We will work together and fend off any attackers, using their deaths to make us stronger. We will act as a Pride, each supporting the others, even if those others were once our enemies. The world has changed and we have to change with it.' Then Dominic paused, hesitating over whether this was the right moment. Something told him that it was and so he continued. 'Traditions may need to change too. The world is more dangerous for individuals than ever before. I do not have her body, but I wish to use this funeral to mourn another member of our Pride who is most likely dead. Menhit, a lioness who went away to have her cubs, as is how it has always happened, is no longer in the Pride. I fear her lost – and her cubs with her.'
Though not all of those present knew her, Dominic sensed the sorrow among the female lions, both those from the original prides and the recently-absorbed one. Clearly even lionesses from another pride entirely could feel sorrow for the loss of one of their own. Or perhaps it was the loss of the cubs which they grieved.
'I ask you now, if you are close to giving birth and you wish to leave the Pride to find somewhere safe to have your cubs, please, please reconsider. We can protect and support you if you stay here with the Pride; we cannot if you go somewhere else and there are far too many powerful beasts and groups of beasts out there now for you to face on your own.' He gestured to the two bodies that lay before him. 'Please don't be the next body we cannot truly mourn because you were lost somewhere far from home.'
Dominic pushed as much of his genuine sorrow and pleading as he could into the message he sent through their Pride chat. His allies would mostly need to take care of themselves, but his Pride was his responsibility and in Menhit's case, he felt he'd failed.
This time, there was no response, but Dominic wasn't expecting any. Triggering Consume, he stepped back from where the carcasses had been and let the Pride members take their turns. The first to go through the small dust cloud were the albuhas who had been the closest – both in physical distance and emotional connection. There was little left of the cloud after that, and it was absorbed quickly as the rest of the Pride joined them. Nonetheless, even after the last of the glimmering motes had vanished, the Pride members continued to rub against each other and Dominic himself, reinforcing their intra-Pride bonds.
'Do you think they will think twice about leaving the Pride?' Dominic asked Leo as he spotted a heavily pregnant lioness – one of the new and still unnamed ones. If he had to guess, he suspected that she would be the next to give birth.
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'Perhaps,' Leo answered, his mental voice troubled. 'Instinct is a powerful thing.'
'Perhaps their instincts to protect their cubs will help them make the decision to stay,' suggested Dominic hopefully.
'Perhaps,' was all Leo would venture again.
They were silent for a few moments. Dominic continued rubbing against his fellow Pride members.
'It is sad about the female,' Nyx told him as she took her turn to rub against him. 'Perhaps we should make a den in the roots of the great tree. I was planning on doing that when I need to lay my eggs next.'
Dominic was momentarily taken aback by the reminder that amesheks laid eggs and it took him a little time to understand what she was suggesting.
'That's a good idea,' he told her after a long enough pause for them to have moved apart again. 'Thanks.' And he decided to try once more to forget the fact that Nyx laid eggs, equally unwilling to examine why he was so discomforted by that knowledge.
'Have you considered sacrificing the rest of the bodies to the female goddess?' Leo asked thoughtfully, apparently not listening to Dominic's thoughts at the moment.
'What?' Dominic asked, gratefully seizing on the sudden change of topic.
'So many carcasses – it's sure to impress her. Maybe she will join our Pride as a result.' Now it was the lion's turn to sound hopeful.
Dominic scoffed. 'Why am I not surprised that that's your reason.' Leo growled indignantly, but before he could speak up agan, Dominic continued thoughtfully. 'But actually, it's not that bad a suggestion. Not because of Selessa joining our Pride – I think we'll have to present her with a significantly better prize than a bunch of vicious rabbits and flying dinosaurs to have any hopes of that – but because we need to talk to her. Giving her some god juice has to be a good way of extending the time we have to speak to her, and potentially let her say more than she would otherwise be able to. Maybe she'll even be able to help a bit with the dungeon overflows, even if only with some more information about them.'
Leo harumphed, but he didn't sound too displeased when he spoke. 'If you have to rationalise it like that for yourself. As for my part, I'll make it clear that the kills are to prove our strength as a male, made while defending our territory and our Pride – what's not to love about that?'
Dominic decided not to reply – Selessa had surprised him before in her reactions to Leo. It was possible that the lion was actually right and dedicating such kills to her would somehow get Leo closer to his ultimate goal. But in the meantime, there were enough logical reasons for Dominic to agree, too. If there had been any Pride members who were still injured or if they needed to get into another fight soon and required the stamina, he wouldn't do it. But their healers had done good work and resting for a bit had restored plenty of stamina by itself.
Stepping through the battlefield, Dominic triggered Consume on every carcass he touched, focussing on it going to Selessa as a sacrifice.
As before, the dust sank into the ground and vanished instead of going to Dominic or any other nearby living creature. He was aware through Spatial Awareness of other Pride members following him through the field. They seemed confused about the golden dust which didn't react to him or them as they walked through it. Dominic had to admit that he was interested to see that, once the sacrifice had been made, no one else could take it. Perhaps that was a way of dealing with carcasses if the golden dust was likely to benefit his opponent more than him.
When he had finished dealing with the carcasses, he went through the field again, picking up the Cores left behind. I really need to deal with all of these, not to mention the rewards from the Challenge fight, he thought to himself. The carcasses of the kesh and veten leaders were the only ones that he hadn't yet Consumed or sacrificed – he'd do that after looking through the rewards he'd earned from the Challenge.
Sekhmet came to join him, helping him to find the glinting marbles of the Cores and nudging them towards him.
'Why did the dust not go into you? Or anyone else?' she asked curiously and Dominic suspected that the question was why she had come over for all that she could have asked it from anywhere in the clearing. 'I remember this happening once before too.'
Dominic hesitated, looking at her thoughtfully. While he wasn't intending on trying to convince anyone else to join Selessa, he didn't see the harm in perhaps sharing something about her.
'I have….an ally. A, uh, goddess. Of the hunt, apparently. She isn't able to speak to anyone but me and Leo, not at the moment at least. She's actually in a bit of a difficult situation and needs my help, but she's helped us in return too. You know when Jenkins and the albuhas were attacked by the elves and Jenkins said that she suddenly had a burst of speed? That was thanks to Selessa.'
'Is she one of the Pride?' Sekhmet asked curiously.
'Not…exactly,' Dominic responded. 'Though Leo wants her to be,' he added, needling his companion slightly.
'And this…what you are doing with the carcasses is to help her? It is what you were doing back at the other forest when you wished for us to block the view of the two-legs?'
Dominic was a little impressed with how quickly Sekhmet had connected the dots.
'Yes – to let me speak to her.'
'Then if I do the same, can I speak to her?' the lioness asked next, surprising Dominic again.
'Uh…maybe? I'm not sure,' he answered hesitantly. 'I'll have to ask her.' Something else to add to the already long list. Could someone who wasn't connected directly to the goddess make a sacrifice to her and by that contact her? She was going by a fake name, after all. They'd connected through the Place of Power, but could others reach her without that even if they didn't know her true identity?
'Do that,' Sekhmet commanded him firmly, rubbing her head against Dominic's jaw. 'I wish to thank her for helping my sister. And if Leo is interested in mating with her, I want to meet her too.' Dominic growled mentally at Leo when unbearable smugness rolled from his side of their shared mind.
But he had other concerns for now than his annoying mental companion. Sekhmet's movement had pushed his head up and his eyes had noticed movement – their allies had started to arrive.