Even the underground had its kind of snow. In the tall caves where a mist formed, a sort of ash could start to flow down. It wasn't quite like the dust the tremors snatched from the ceiling. Rather, those flakes floated a bit, black specks that dissolved before ever reaching the ground.
Lower caves and dens saw none of it, except here where a legged rapt, fluffy beast full of mana, forced the phenomenon to occur regardless.
So she watched the underground snow dance in the dark.
Wounded beasts still wailed and roared in this space, with more rumors outside, muffled by the boulder that blocked their entrance.
The silver chains restraining the rapt's body were her only memory of the day past. She was rubbing the floor with her short legs, bored or more.
Rapts were exceptionally good at doing nothing. Those fluffy worms could pass as rocks.
Twice the jailors had come to make sure their harvest remained wounded and weak. Twice the beasts sent for this task had stopped had her to wonder if those chains were wise and twice they had let it slide.
For a third time now someone was moving the boulder to enter.
However, this one was struggling. Once in place, the boulder required pulling on chains with a fair weight at that. It usually took two beasts or quite the strength.
So when that door finally opened, she wasn't surprised to see a single magnal walk in.
The fire lizard looked around, ready to leave already when he caught the slight hint of silver chains in the dark. And she, in turn, noticed he had her ribbon in his maw.
So she stood as still as she could while he cautiously approached, always looking back at the entrance while doing so.
"It's me!" He wanted to mutter and still talked too loud.
She didn't turn her head. Playing the chained monster part.
"You look okay! I... I had no choice, you know."
And before he could say anything anymore he remembered the piece of fabric between his teeth.
Few monsters had proper hands and so manipulating the tissue in any meaningful way, let alone tying knots, should have been beyond their ability. But magic had its ways.
"I brought your cloth!" He trembled a bit. He was struggling to tie it behind her head. "I thought you would... That it would... If you wear it, maybe the humans..."
What was wrong with him?
He had shut up, at least while finishing the knot. In the dark. With claws. The result was a bit pathetic but still, she had her ribbon back.
The legged rapt couldn't help but jolt when that magnal put the chitin plates on his head against her. He failed to notice it, busy weeping as he was.
"Stop looking at me like that! I only did what I had to! I finally have my lucky break, my one shot! You can't ask me to give it up!"
She was utterly confused. The rapt struggled to stay calm while that beast was breaking down against her.
"Tell me you'll make it... and we'll meet on the other side! We'll meet in the haven and then you'll be free to yell at me all you want..."
Monsters didn't know how to cry. They weren't born for this.
"Just make it..."
And with that conviction he turned back, walked to the entrance, along the other beasts whose own fate he had not even considered.
Not that he could be blamed for that. As hypocritical as he looked, there was only so much a beast could do. It was already baffling enough to see a monster feel sorry for another.
But of course, he had his own incentives.
He stopped at the entrance, glanced outside to make sure the tunnel was still deserted.
Then, he looked at the silver chains in the dark, sighed, wanted to move on and couldn't. His legs just would not let him. It was choking him, that guilt. Feelings guided not by virtue but survival.
So he came back to her.
"What am I supposed to do?" He was getting angry and scared. "What more do you want out of me?! It's not my fault you got caught!"
For all his resistance, the urge was just too much. Just like predators needed to feed, he could not stand the sight of those chains anymore.
He knew that freeing a feral beast was the best way to die and still, to not do it felt even worse. Like a maw open on his neck, that would easily crush his plates and rip through the scales. Survival could be that blind.
She thought he was attacking her, let out a shriek when he lunged and snatched the chains. Even he got surprised at how easily they broke.
Then, the moment he realized what he had done, the magnal, leapt back with terror in his stomach.
Before her the cute rapt looked at the broken links falling at her round feet.
"Why did you do that?!" She complained.
"I... I didn't..."
"Put the chains back!"
He could not believe her words. In fact, he could not believe he was still alive, and not being devoured where he stood. That should have been the natural course.
Instead, that legged rapt was just rubbing the chains in a small panic.
"You... wanted to be chained?"
"No! But now Kaele will be mad at me! Help me put them back on!"
Kaele was standing a few meters away from them and I could not believe her either.
"You... Who are you even?" He was completely at a loss.
She stopped to look at him and her expression changed, hopeful all of a sudden.
"I am Caline! What's your name?"
"Me? I am just a young magnal from Rike. I'm called Coquin."
"Nice to meet you Coquin!"
And she waited impatiently for the confused lizard to answer.
"Nice... to meet you too?"
Her hopes vanished in instants.
"I don't understand." He was starting to panic. "You are going to be sacrificed! You need to flee before it's too late!"
"Nuh uh!" She shook her head. "Kaele said we were going to save everyone! I trust Kaele so I will stay right there and play the prisoner!"
"You are going to die!"
"Kaele protects me!"
Who was the true believer now, uh? That magnal was speechless. His stomach still churned from his previous burst and yet here was that rapt just covering herself with broken chains and laying down.
So he approached and tried to help with that.
I sighed. Earthworks! Stone to silver flowed into those chains to reform the links where they had shattered. That beast watched himself reattach everything like magic.
"Are you blessed? Did I capture a priestess of Kaele? I am banned from the haven aren't I?"
"Hush! No more talking, I am supposed to be silent!"
"You!"
He had finally realized how she had been humoring them this whole time.
Regardless, his whole realm had been thrown upside-down. Minutes ago the best future he could hope for was to lay his life at the humans' feet in hope to join them. Now his most firm convictions were crumbling at the sight of that childish rapt.
I could have whispered to him, to let him hear what he wanted and that beast would have held for dear life to his haven delusions. But why?
It didn't look like he was going to alert anyone.
"I don't know what you are thinking... But the ceremony is coming soon. When the time comes, I won't be able to save you. You... you are really okay with that?"
She was too busy playing statue with me to answer.
He turned back to leave, still felt the weight on his legs as survival screamed to help the one who had just told her no. The vertigo in his monstrous mind was probably spectacular.
"Okay then. Let us pray Kaele."
He left, put the boulder back in place and never considered how the ribbon on her body would raise so many alarms.
But of course, I was there, and the next two times monsters checked on their livestocks they shrugged it off with the chains.
The second time they were antsy. The ceremony was close enough that the whole sect was bracing for it. Monsters would converge to their hidden temple, raising the risk of being found. And they had to drag the sacrifices beforehand.
Indeed, a few hours later they were emptying the dens.
Beasts entered, snatched the wounded prisoners and dragged them out one by one. They were really emptying the place. For the rapt the tenacl simply ordered her to follow and she got up, all obedient.
"Good girl." The striped gazelle smirked.
I followed behind. Crystals glowed around us, then lingered behind.
The temple had three rooms, but only the central one, separated by pillars, would be used for the ceremony. A ritual, to be technical.
It had a pit at its end, dug deep in a demi-circle with the elevated altar in its middle, dominating the whole cave. Fire licked the walls on the whole length and two more pyres flanked that altar. The four-horned badger statue throned above.
Badger heads had been engraved on the walls and ceiling.
With the sacrifices amassed in the pit, some hundred or so, the cultists blocked the entrances and removed the clay ramps leading up. Up was the assembly ground where their members would assemble, with a small platform for the priest to face them.
They were setting up braziers made of burning rocks held on stone on that ground to better light it and mark rows.
A group of beasts assembled near the platform and started to hum.
This was the signal. One by one, the members entered, monsters of all shapes and origins, all stopping at the entrance where they had to announce:
"I brought one!" And another: "I brought one!" And one more: "I brought two!"
A rocky lizard made a bit of a fuss, claiming that his catch had to count for two. Regardless, the sacrifice they had brought was already marked and so they were allowed in.
This was them talking to the humans, as far as the ceremony was concerned.
Another tremor welcomed them inside. But none paid attention even as debris fell on the assembly ground. The legged rapt near me was among the only ones to fret.
She broke her pretense to glance at me. From her position there was no way to see what was going on above. I could have shared my senses with her but it would have only distracted her.
I kind of wanted for the sacrifice to happen.
But for now, I was preparing for the inevitable moment when it would get disrupted, by me if not anything else. And I suspected that the killer would show up here again. After all, a chained beast had lain around here for quite a while, serving as beacon.
With all the attendants inside, the monsters sealed the crevices behind them and the hum shifted to a chant that everyone joined in, safe for the moaning crowd in the pit.
They were praying Kaele.
While they did, a falcis came out of hiding and walked to the platform. The feline mantis kept his scythes against his chest, crossed in a pious demeanor. He had bone collars and a badger mask on top of the chain patterns on his chitin.
The beast faced the crowd and addressed them with a heavy if rattled voice.
"Servants of the gods, hear the words of Kaele! The human gaze is upon you! They see your deeds, they watch over your piety, they gauge your very essence! Without them, we are but hungry shadows, but no more!"
It was hard for him to be heard, even with the group of beasts nearby repeating his words. The crowd could not help but roar as he spoke.
"You who have pleased the humans! You who have served and proven your devotion! You are invited to stand among the rulers! And live! Eternal!"
They were extatic. They could not even notice the patterns on the ground that had started to glow. All around the flames were bursting up in bouts as powder was thrown at them to excite the flames.
"Cast away your heavy shells, lay there those pitiful remains of a life past! You have endured enough! Abandon those bodies along with the pain and claim your rightful place!"
"Praise Kaele!" They chanted.
There was a misconception regarding falces. Other beasts thought they had two heads when it was just their antennae.
Regardless, one of them fell, and then their preacher collapsed, his body pierced.
The killer had come.