Chimera Rising: Beast King Ascension [How a human-turned-lion went from Zero to Absolute Ruler]

The forest came back into view in record time, the smudge on the horizon quickly growing in size and detail. Having their slowest members riding instead of running definitely made all the difference as they'd been able to run through the night without stopping. The only rest they had taken had been through the hottest hours the day before since pushing themselves to run in that heat would have been counterproductive.

In the end it was more than just the elves who rode on the backs of the bigger members – the ullas, the buffalos, Dominic, Nyx, and the amesheks. Several of their allies had very low-level members who struggled with the pace, as did the kesh. Though the herbivores had been even more unhappy about having predators on their backs than they were about the elves, they'd accepted it without too much more argument – especially when Nyx and Dominic had each taken two of the weaker lions and a lillip onto their own backs to join the elves already there. The predators needed to cling on with their claws to stay on board, but Dominic's regeneration was fast enough to cope with the small injuries, and Nyx's plates offered decent claw-holds too. It was a bit annoying for both of them, but they just did their best to ignore the sensations.

The fact that the predators which needed rides were also the smallest and least dangerous of the groups probably helped too. He had noticed that it was the higher-levelled, more armoured members who allowed it – the least likely to be killed in a single attack if the predators took advantage.

Working out how to keep the riders on the backs of those carrying them without using claws had been another challenge – since not everyone had Nyx's plates or Dominic's regeneration. In the end, the elves had offered to hold those who couldn't hold on by themselves – everyone except the kesh, who were riding on top of the amesheks. It worked out well enough.

Dominic had made a point of expressing just how unhappy he would be if there were any misunderstandings about teeth or claws to both the leaders and the riders themselves, so everyone had been on their best behaviour – which was a bit of a surprise considering the low level of some. Perhaps mounted troops were something that they could start putting into practice even in the oncoming beast waves. He had visions of a herd of ullas stampeding into the middle of a group of dungeon beasts, lions, jackals, dingos, and other predators then leaping down from their backs to attack and kill everything around, before returning to their mounts when they needed to escape.

Maybe Leo was right. Maybe he should have pushed this from the outset, reminded his allies that they had sworn to fight for him, not him swearing to make them comfortable. Perhaps he had been softer than he should have been. Certainly, everyone seemed to have settled down after the initial unease. They could have been here a day ago if he'd forced the issue. Then again, maybe it was the trust that he'd built up by not forcing the issue which had led to his demand being accepted rather than a battle being declared.

Hopefully the albuha that Dominic spotted gliding towards them through the sky would be able to shed some light on exactly what had happened.

They kept hurrying forwards even when the albuha got within range – they had no time to waste and they could communicate even with the winged canine still in the air.

'Pack leader!' Shrieker greeted, relief and happiness clear in his tone. 'You're back!'

'We are. What happened?' Dominic snapped, using Telepathy instead of the Pride chat. He didn't have the patience for any social niceties, but he also didn't want to cause a panic or share unnecessary details. Apparently the albuha wasn't upset by his shortness as he got right into it, following Dominic's lead and communicating solely through their telepathic connection.

'We got attacked!'

'I know about that,' Dominic responded impatiently. 'By what? And how come you weren't able to keep them out of the centre? And why am I only hearing from you now?" Fortunately, the albuha didn't waste any time asking how he knew about the attack, but got right into his story.

'First of all by some beasts that the females identified as the same ones that came through the last time you were gone. Small, but ravenous, with teeth sharper than mine,' Shrieker related.

'The vetens?' Dominic asked Leo privately. 'The same ones that had joined the matriarch?'

'It appears so,' Leo replied grimly. They both tuned back into Shrieker's story.

'They sent a stampede of most of the normal prey beasts and the weaker predators through the forest when they arrived. Three of the females were out hunting and would have died to that if they had not leapt up into the trees. The females made it back to the centre before the ravenous beasts approached, to warn us. Much good that did,' Shrieker continued bitterly. 'The ravenous beasts worked with another group of flying beasts to chase us out of the centre. The flying beasts had long jaws, two legs, and claws on their wings. They bit at the females as they tried to defend against the ground beasts and forced me to stay grounded when they ripped my wings to pieces. We fought the beasts and killed several of them despite the attacks from both ground and air but…the ravenous beasts changed targets and went for the cubs.'

'Are they alright?' Dominic asked urgently. He knew that all of the Pride members he'd left there were at least alive, but that didn't mean anything about the cubs. 'Are you alright?' he checked as the thought occurred – though Shrieker was flying well for someone whose wings had been 'ripped to pieces', that only meant he'd levelled up or healed or something. The grim feeling that came across from the winged coyote wasn't hopeful.

'When the first two cubs were torn apart by the sharp teeth of the hopping beasts, the females decided to retreat. We fought our way through the beasts, taking many injuries in exchange for speed. I held off the beasts with one of the females as best I could as the other females got the cubs into the trees. We saved as many as we could, but…we couldn't save them all.'

The news hit Dominic hard. If only we'd been back sooner… he mourned to himself, regret tearing away at his insides. If they hadn't fought the matriarch on the elves' behalf, they would have been back long before now. Then again, Dominic still felt that the matriarch was a threat they needed to take care of. But if he'd hurried back after killing the matriarch and hadn't gone back to visit the elves, they would have been here to face the enemies as a full Pride. Then again, they had definitely benefited from returning to the elven forest. But it seemed unfair that the cubs had to pay for their delay with their lives.

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'I'm sorry,' Shrieker told him, sounding miserable. 'I would have come sooner, but I needed to heal my wings, and then it was getting dark and I didn't want to miss you.'

'It's fine,' Dominic said automatically in response, then decided to rephrase. 'No, it's not fine. But it sounds like you've done the best you could. I'm sorry we weren't back earlier than this.' Then he suddenly realised that the story had some holes. 'I haven't heard you mention Procyon or Sirius. They should have been part of the fight – where were they?'

'The big male canines found a hole in the ground and disappeared into it a little before the first wave of beasts attacked. We haven't seen them since. One of the females investigated but didn't want to risk being swallowed by it as they had – and leave us with even fewer adults to defend the cubs. She had to jump back into the trees when a group of ravenous beasts came sniffing around not long after so she couldn't investigate much. We've kept a watch but they haven't emerged to my knowledge.'

'They've found one of the dungeons,' Dominic concluded privately to Leo, anger at their irresponsibility kindling in his chest.

'Sounds like it. But why would the flea-bitten canines choose now of all times to explore it?!' Leo snarled. "I thought you asked them to identify the entrances but then wait for us to return!'

Dominic hesitated, thinking back to the instructions he'd given.

'I…that's what I intended them to understand, but it's possible that they misinterpreted my words as an instruction to explore the dungeon when they found it. Still, they shouldn't have gone in when they knew they were the main protectors of the Pride that remained,' Dominic agreed firmly.

Leo just growled with frustration even as Dominic urged his paws to take him forward just a little faster, wordlessly encouraging the rest of his entourage to do the same.

'And what happened with the wretched primates of yours!'

'I definitely want an answer to that one too,' Dominic agreed, passing the question over to Shrieker. 'What about the kesh? Was there no warning from them? Did they not try to help regain the centre?' Or were they another set of allies he'd have to set straight?

'There was no warning. After we realised we didn't have the numbers to regain the centre, we travelled towards the tree-climbers to seek their aid. But what we didn't know was that the tree-climbers were already under attack – in some sort of drawn-out battle. We only realised that when we got closer and saw the hostile stand-off between them and others of their kind. With only a few adults present and cubs to protect, we didn't dare to weigh in on the argument. That's when we decided I needed to come to find you. We found somewhere for the females and cubs to hide and, when my wings healed, I came to find you. And here I am.'

'Kesh, killer rabbits, and flying beasts – some of those that refused to join us after the fight with the matriarch? Is it just me or does this seem like-'

'Like several of the species you offered mercy to have turned around to take our territory from us?' finished Leo, sounding angry. 'Yes, it definitely does. This is why we should kill all of our enemies – otherwise we risk them attacking us when we're vulnerable!'

'Not all of them have!' Dominic argued. 'There were eleven groups which chose not to join us – these are only three of them. That makes those who haven't attacked us far more numerous than who have.'

'Yet,' Leo countered ominously.

'They'll have to survive the dungeon overflow first,' countered Dominic, but then realised something. 'Maybe that's why these three have come together. The kesh are probably the ones who left the forest while we were away in the dungeon, and who have now returned. They know what this forest holds – at least to an extent – and most likely have a grudge against us for killing their leader and confining them to a small area. Maybe they were able to convince the killer rabbits and pterodactyls to attack with them with the argument that it would be a better place to weather the oncoming dungeon beast waves. Though they should have known that we'd be back and that we'll kill them for this.'

'We definitely should have killed them when we saw them with the vermin leader's army,' Leo growled at Dominic. 'They already had their chance when we let them go from our forest without hunting them down.'

'We'd have had a hard time doing that,' Dominic argued, 'considering that we were away in the dungeon at the time. And if we'd just gone and started slaughtering one group of beings without obvious provocation, none of the rest would have agreed to ally with us. Besides, the kesh slipped away quietly enough – there was no indication that they wanted to further our conflict.'

'No, they just realised that with us and the main part of our Pride being absent, their previous territory was ripe for the taking,' snarled Leo. And that, Dominic couldn't argue with, for all that he felt it was terribly short-sighted of the kesh. Unless they thought that they would somehow be in a strong enough position to repel Dominic when he returned to retake the territory.

'Well, we're almost there. We need to decide our priority – chase the killer rabbits and pterodactyls out of the centre first, or help our allied kesh be rid of their unwelcome kin?'

'We must stop our territory from being taken over,' Leo argued immediately. 'Fewer of the monkeys left than stayed – they should be able to handle the numbers. Besides, it's already been more than a day since the battles – the fighting among the monkeys is probably over already. One way or another.'

'True, though Shrieker did say it was something of a stand-off – perhaps the battle hasn't been decided yet. If not, and we deal with them first, we'll have additional numbers to help us retake the centre.'

'We do not have enough as it is?' Leo asked, pointedly throwing images at Dominic of the last time he'd glanced around their Pride and the allies who travelled with them.

'Point taken,' Dominic admitted. 'Alright, we'll go for the centre first, and then the kesh. And then, if Procyon and Sirius haven't yet resurfaced, we'll figure out what's going on with them. Though it would have been good to have some ranged back-up,' he mourned. Then a thought occurred as he remembered recent changes among the Pride. 'Although, perhaps there's a way of having that anyway.'