Chapter 134 (Patreon)

The introduction of biologically altered creatures into the environments surrounding and within the borders of the Holy State of the Veratocracy was a prophetic move by the Gran Verat. With His ascension to the position of Gran Verat, there were many actions taken that could have, in the hands of a non-omniscient and clumsy mortal, left the ecosystems surrounding the fledgling country in shambles. Instead, due to His divine prescience and wisdom, he tasked some of the original High Veran, among the most powerful High Soulspeakers in recorded history, with creating creatures that would fill the gaps left by the necessary exterminations of the unworthy original creatures.

These actions led to more biologically and magically diverse flora and fauna within all the borders of the Holy State of the Veratocracy. Were this all that He and His selected Soulspeakers had performed, it would be a testament to his power and divinity. However, in HIs infinite wisdom, they did even more, what the reader will know as the Nascence.

-Excerpt taken from the High Academy’s reference book, “Wildlife: Which to Respect, and Which to Terminate”

Unsurprisingly, Sybil was the quickest to pick up on the human language. When she’d asked me the name of the language, I realized that I had never thought of it as anything other than “language” as a human. I’d never spoken with anyone who didn’t speak the same language, and I’d never been told any name for the language we’d spoken. In response to the question, I’d simply replied “human language”, and I was entirely unsure as to what I would do if I needed to talk with anything that didn’t speak keelish or human language.

I shook the thought from my head as entirely unnecessary, since long before that would happen, I needed to keep my swarm safe, take full control of the swarm itself, and kill the humans who had decided to attempt to snuff us out.

Beyond the partially breathless language lessons, the journey to leave Treel’s and the humans’ bodies in the wolfstags’ abandoned den wasn’t noteworthy at all. Once we’d dropped them there, I commanded Shemira and Sybil to return to the den, while Took and myself went to retrieve the terrorbird’s corpse to bring it back to the den. I feared coming back to a large group of humans at the location where the fight had taken place, but more than that, we needed food. While my pack wasn’t in dire straits with regards to keeping ourselves fed, we needed every scrap of meat we could get, and while I didn’t want us to be human-eaters or cannibals, it was worth the risk for our two strongest members of the pack to retrieve what I estimated to be over 600 pounds of meat.

As I forced myself not to sprint through the jungle, I couldn’t help but worry about an ambush behind every tree and a human preparing their strongest calling at every step. If I was entirely honest with myself, I could realize that I didn’t dread that anywhere near as much as I perhaps should have. Instead, I relished the idea of proving my strength against those who thought themselves capable of hunting me. Thus, I kept my eyes peeled in every direction and prepared for battle. 

I was disappointed. There were no stealthy humans, predatory creatures, or otherwise exciting events waiting for Took and I to return with the terrorbird corpse. Instead, I quickly cut the body’s legs and neck off, and before I could pick up the heavier torso, Took lifted it up, settled it across her shoulders, and without another word began walking towards our den. I stifled a chuckle at her somewhat childish actions and grabbed the legs and head of our prey. 

Took walked carefully, and though she surely was exhausted from having carried the most weight of any of us, given that Treel had weighed at least 300 pounds, she didn’t complain or groan as she carted the body. We walked in companionable silence for a time, and as we began to draw close to our den, she seemed to resolve herself to say something.

“Alpha. I’m not your Beta.”

I didn’t hesitate to respond, “And who thinks they can command something opposite to what I have declared? I’ll prove to them that you are.”

Took shook her head and clacked her teeth together, the movement almost knocking the body from her shoulders. She took a moment to regather herself and to steady the huge weight settled on her shoulders, then restated, “I am not your Beta. Sybil is.”

“You both are. I already told you and the rest of the pack this when I became a pack Alpha, much less over the pack I have now. Every member of the pack knows you’re my Beta in the hunt.”

Took, having learned her lesson about shaking her head, simply clacked her teeth together in denial, and I tamped down the unreasonable anger that swelled in response. “If any of the pack has a question, they ask Sybil. If anyone wants to tell you something, they tell Sybil. If there are any instructions you don’t give to the pack yourself, you give them to Sybil. I don’t do anything but be strong on the hunt.” She let her words hang in the air for a moment, the most words I’d ever heard Took speak in a row, before finishing, “I’m not a Beta.”

Her tone wasn’t accusatory, angry, or mean. Just disappointed in her own lot, I supposed, and I didn’t have anything to say back to her. She was completely correct, I didn’t treat her as a Beta at all. She was a trustworthy subordinate, and I trusted her, but our relationship was far from that of an Alpha and his second in command. In every way that mattered, Sybil was my sole Beta, and, frankly, that wasn’t going to change. I could and would continue to appreciate Took for who and what she was, but she wasn’t my Beta. 

“You’re right, Took. You haven’t been my Beta for a while.” I could see Took sag slightly under my admission, but I continued speaking, “I just need to establish what your position truly is. Not Beta, but something different. You aren’t just a member of the pack, and I won’t let you consider yourself as such.”

Took began standing taller once again as I spoke, and flared her frills in agreement as we began to maneuver the large and cumbersome body down into the den. Once within the bounds of the den, we could basically roll the torso through the tunnels until we arrived at the den where happily barking wolfstag pups began to beg for a meal as soon as they smelled the food. Arwa snapped at them, and they retreated back only a couple of steps, where they waited with whines and piteous cries, but they listened to their mother. Before long, I offered one of the legs as well as the neck and head to them, and they set to the food with the enthusiasm that only children can.

After I ate my fill and the rest of the pack patiently waited for me to finish, the terrorbird’s corpse was reduced to cracked bones and spare feathers in the space of just a couple of minutes. I’d watched with fascination for a moment, but before long I decided instead to find Foire and Vefir, before beginning my takeover of the swarm in earnest.