"Careful on the right!"
"Behind you, there's a shadow!"
"Non-magical, as far as we can tell. Movement on the far side!"
"It's one of our own. Keeping an eye on the flank of the wyrm!"
One of the main forms of approach that we had taken in order to hunt the wyrms in the mountainous forests was now to communicate everything that anyone saw that could possibly be of note at any time. It was, frankly, annoying and loud, but even so, it was effective. At any time, so far as we could tell, there was no way for a shadow wyrm or for one of the Misti Hawar to ambush us. Already, we were in the process of eliminating the second mating pair of wyrms, the beasts succumbing to spear and magic as we'd practiced. The bodies were dragged back into the safety of the walls, where Ytte and her other creation-focused Kha'Tal excitedly set about working with the magical material. Each of the hunts had been near enough to me that I could hear all of my people's communications while still remaining out of sight, just in case one of the Misti Hawar decided only to attack if I was not present.
Despite the success of our hunts, I found myself grinding my fangs and hoping for something to go wrong. Given their status as the premier hunters in the world, they wouldn't throw themselves into a fight this time, now that they knew how potentially dangerous it was to do so. As such, there needed to be some opportunity presented to the Misti Hawar for them to make their move, so I encouraged our people to show some occasional weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Beside me, Iituli watched, his face and body language obviously communicating his pain.
:"Have you spoken with your female yet?" I asked. "I'm sure that there is a possibility that talking with her would be beneficial to your suffering, even if it may cause the pain to continue longer."
"Thou hast seen that there hast not been an opportunity for mine other self to speak with me. It doth appear that she hath made a decision to cut me from her life as much as it be possible. Perhaps, now that our freedom is nigh at hand, she hath decided that she needeth me not."
"Or," I replied, my tone flat, "she doesn't want to be near you and cause her own suffering to stretch on. Maybe, the pain of weakening your bond would be momentarily slowed by going back together, but wouldn't that just prolong the suffering and in the long run?"
"Perhaps it may be so. Even if it that just be the case, perhaps I never was strong enough to be a singular creature as the rest of our kind are."
I growled deep in my throat. "You would give up on achieving you and her dream simply because it's difficult to achieve? If that is the case, then I will tell you right now that you will never become Keel."
I turned away in disgust. Someone who had ruled the closest thing to a nation that the keelish had had was now saying that he would turn away at pain and struggle? I'd had my shoulder shredded a dozen times, been near death a dozen times more than that before I reached adulthood, I had become respected and feared by leaders and warriors of four different nations before I'd even seen the Shandise, and this was the kind of saharliard that was Nievtala's next best choice?
"Perhaps it is so… if that doth be the weakness of mine flesh, then I implore our Goddess that she doth bless mine other half to progress where I cannot."
I couldn't bear to look at the pathetic creature. Instead, I turned my attention fully back to the fight against the pair of wyrms. Suddenly, the death keen of one went up, and the second hissed and rage and fear as my people's cries for battle grew in intensity. I listened as the second was overwhelmed, but before I could emote in any way about it, I also heard the hissing cries of two more wyrms approaching. This was something entirely different from what had occurred every time before now, and I felt my scales bristle all along my neck.
"Be on your guard!" Took cried out. "I'm sure there will be MistI Hawar out there!"
Constant calls mentioning flickering shadows and possible threats rose from dozens of throats as, in the corner of every eye, darkness seemed to loom. More shouts of warning filled the air as two enraged shadow wyrms threw themselves at the flanks of the hunting party. My people rallied, spears held high as Hala sent a gout of fire I could hear crackling through the air at the pair. Cries from my saharliard hunters rushing to battle filled the air and my heart swelled with pride as I personally sought out the sounds of the Misti Hawar's magic. It didn't take long for me to track down the unnatural trail of my enemies.
More than by their sound, it was the absence or dampening of sound that let me find the hunting pack. They were insidiously sneaking towards the opposite side from where the wyrms were throwing themselves maniacally at my people. Though I internally noted that this meant that they could not control or communicate with the shadowy beasts, that wasn't my focus. Instead, I used my [Skills], especially [Soundless Stealth] to erase the sounds of my approach as I went to ambush the ambusher.
When the sounds of my people's fight against the wyrms grew to a crescendo, I felt the shadows of the Misti Hawar flowing forward. I filled my throat with thrumming power and lunged to a mere few feet behind the fools. With a shout of rebuke, I forced the shadows to disappear. The Misti Hawar, four of them, tumbled out of the shadows in a heap. I sprinted forward, but before I could begin to reap the lives that were owed me, hooks and chains of darkness flowed out from under roots to attempt to bind me. I only slowed slightly to rip the chains apart and the hooks failed to pierce my scales. The perfect armor that my body had forced the blows aside and the would-be assassins' leader's face fell.
[Quaking Claws] flew from my hands constantly, ripping flesh and bone apart without issue. The leader's body was chopped into pieces, and they shouted at each other in their snarling tongue. The two smaller ones tried to slip into the shadows, to escape my wrath, but I didn't allow it as I shouted, "Kneel!" with [Conqueror's Rebuke], [Disastrous Discourse], and [Murderous Melody]. The two small ones fell, and I could feel through my [Tremorsense] that they didn't stir.
"You are prey!" The remaining one screamed, her voice terrified and enraged all at once. "You are to be training!"
"You're stupid. And because of that, your family will die."
She was the next, though I left the other two alive for now. They seemed just a hair smaller than the Misti Hawar princeling from… what was the name of that city? I stopped thinking about it as, drawn by the sounds of our fight, Took hustled toward me.
"Finally, we might have some information here." I said, and my Huntmaster grinned as she flared her frills. Hopefully we could communicate.
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