AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I needed to shave. I never kept a beard, but now the beginnings of a mustache peppered my upper lip, and a few thin patches of hair sprouted from my chin. It was hair I rarely saw as an enlisted man who was ordered to stay clean shaven, and I found it hard to grow a beard in the first place.
I knew my eyes had bags under them, my skin rough and red from the cold. I probably looked like a monster, and I felt like one too. Shutting my eyes at my stark assessment, I groaned.
Once I opened my eyes again, I knew I had to face myself first if I had any hope of facing them. And there, in the shadows cast from the setting sun, I saw my form.
If they’re monsters, what does that make me? I mused as their dead king’s inky shadow stretched behind my head like I was growing spider legs.
Even though I couldn’t see Alhadya properly yet, I could feel his presence.
Omnipresent.
Ominous.
Oppressive.
I was a part of him, and he was part of me, and it was all so twisted and treacherous.
What was I to do with those warring emotions, of wanting to be free to serve my people, and the reckless desire to see Alhadya risen, just so I could cut their king down, as I’d fantasized about for nearly two decades?
Closing my eyes and ears against the gruesome sounds of their collective feasting, I nibbled on my rabbit skewer. Somehow, after fucking Clem, I didn’t feel as hungry. Sex was fueling us, seeing as I was full from our “exchange of mana.”
My hunger was gone; my strength had returned. I was never one to waste food, but the thought of finishing the meat was unappealing at best, nauseating at worst. Even with it cooked. There was no way I was finishing my first proper meal in ages, which filled me with regret.
“Kiar?” I called out to him, hoping to give him the meat. Bracken, after all, had taken the lion’s share from the hunt as the biggest of us.
However, I was stunned to see him arguing with Bracken in a hushed voice as Clem cowered by his master’s legs. How long had I been zoned out?
“Sun!” Clem cried out, wringing his hands together, “We’re a team, right? So, it shouldn’t matter if we act independently if it helps us all, right?”
What a loaded question, I thought, not following what the hell was going on.
“…We’re a team,” I agreed, slowly, waiting to hear more.
Despite everything in my rational mind trying to prevent me from going astray, I considered them comrades.
For now, I reminded myself, not forever.
“Enough!” my batbeast bellowed.
Stunned, I watched as Bracken and Kiar growled at each other, with Clem hiding behind Bracken’s raised wings now. First, they were gobbling down a deer and rabbits, and now they were at each other’s throats! What was going on?
“I won’t tolerate it. Don’t drag Clem into your pity party and assert your dominance,” Bracken grumbled. “Or ignore my good counsel, you fool.”
He released a gusty sigh, flapping his wings, instantly turning my smoking pile of embers into smoldering ashes even from a distance. It seemed I wouldn’t be eating much other than shrubberies tonight if I got hungry, since I didn’t feel like relighting the flame.
“Compose yourself, Kiar. Clem?” Bracken scooped him up and took him to only the Gods knew where inside the forest. “Come. Let them quarrel. I need your help with something.”
“What’s a quarrel?” Clem asked, his head falling in an unnatural angle as their bodies and voices were swallowed up by the woods.
This left me alone with Kiar, who was acting strangely. I knew he wanted to fight with me over something from Bracken’s dramatic exit; but what, I had no idea.
“Kiar?” my voice raised in question as he shot over to me.
The tip of his tail wrapped around my ankle, raising his body above me before gripping my arm a little too tightly.
But his eyes weren’t angry. They were stormy, confused, and hesitant. He was sending mixed signals.
Kiar clasped my shoulder, rising on his tail some more so that he towered over me. He was threatening me now, and I couldn’t fathom why.
