章 65: Chapter 63

Their return was hardly believable. In fact, I'd thought that keelish as a race had been wholly exterminated from the Shandise, so finding the ancient foe reappearing so close to home was a time of excitement for the young. They thought that their reappearance would mean the resurgence of the old holy war, that hunts would once more be exciting and challenging. The foolish thought this meant the descent of the Great Hunter. Illan'Klli does not brook fools, and they were the first to fall upon the reestablishment of Nievtra.

–Notes from the Nyust'taa daily record, spoken by the 21st Nyust'taa Yury'yai, recorded by Kichka

Foire and I both took time to recover before we began our hunt. Shemira was obviously holding back some sort of tease or remark, and my bruised pride simply couldn't allow her to rib me. I forced myself to begin walking with a wince.

"Foire, lead us."

He nodded, and immediately strode off in a direction I hadn't expected–neither of the two locations where we had seen the deer before. We'd seen those hunted by the wolfstags, to the northeast, and had hunted some ourselves to the west, and Foire guided us straight south.

We began the hunt relatively quietly, walking in peace as Foire continued to guide us. Eventually, though, Shemira couldn't wait any longer as Foire scaled a massive tree and began to try to find any scaled deer nearby.

"So why am I here?"

"Because I asked you to be."

After a brief hesitation, Shemira shook her head. "What're you going to do to me? The fear of the unknown is too much."

I stopped. "Do to you? What… Why would I? I want to show you something."

She cocked her head. "Do you expect me to believe that? You've punished me at every opportunity, both personally and through Sybil and Took, or should I say, your Betas? I tried to take control from you, and you've decided to make me regret it. The way I figure it, you've had your fun and you've finally decided to end it." I'd never seen or heard Shemira so… listless. My goal had been to force her to submit, to make her understand her place. Only now did I realize that I'd broken something inside of her.

"Since you've had your fun, I guess there's no use in trying to change your mind or act happy and submissive. You'll kill me and be done with it." She flicked her tail, seemingly resigned to what she was saying, but I could read the frustration and rage bubbling beneath.

I immediately began to try to tamp down the swift coming of frustration. How could she not understand me? Why would she think me malicious? I was only doing what I needed to to ensure she didn't rebel again. I was the Alpha, and this subjugated fool didn't deserve to question me.

I slowed myself. What had been Shemira's life until now? She had spent a short time as the mind behind Tieran and had been wildly successful there, except for the whole me killing him. Then, she'd consolidated control over the largest pack in the brood after his death, and, seeing my own growth, went for additional help. She'd felt confident in acquiring ten followers, all adult, and rightfully so. While Took, Treel, and I had easily dealt with them, they would have been nearly impossible foes to any other keelish at that age. And she had brought them relatively easily under her control.

Then, I'd smashed her ideas and hopes to pieces. When she had tried to roll with the changes and adapt as she had before, I'd smashed her down again. When she had chafed at being under another, something natural to any being used to being in control, I'd pushed her down further through Sybil. Then, I'd largely forgotten about her, except as a constant idle threat.

It made sense that she would think of me as her implacable destroyer. I'd never treated her as anything more than an obstacle.

"Shemira." I looked at her, my tone gentle for maybe the first time she'd ever heard. "You're here because I want you to see something. I want you to listen to me, and I want you to change. I want to trust you. I guess I haven't communicated that well, but we were foes, if not enemies. This hunt… is meant to be an opportunity to change that."

A hopeful tint played at the edge of her voice, "You mean it?"

"Come along. I'll show you, then I have something to say." Again, I went quiet, but I could see Shemira loosen, the sway returning to her step, she seemed to be a completely different creature. I couldn't place why that was so much more unsettling to me than Sybil's nearly emotionless pragmatism, but Shemira's ability to so completely emulate and mask her own feelings set my spine to shivers. On top of that, my growing keelish side wanted to claim her as my own, forcing me to constantly fight myself. Her beauty, power, and general superiority to the rest of the brood was the only one that would suit me.

"So… want to do something else after the hunt? We can send him away before, if you'd like. Or he can watch. If you'd prefer–"

"Shemira. I just told you that I wasn't going to kill you. Do you really think that now is the time?"

"Maybe. Seems to be maybe the best time."

"Stop." To her credit, Shemira's demeanor changed that instant.

"Can you blame me for trying?"

I leveled a hard gaze at her. I supposed I couldn't really be surprised, given that I'd already known who and what she was, but I didn't need to say as much to her. Until Foire returned to the ground, I remained looking at her with the same dead, vaguely disappointed eyes.

Foire spoke up, "Close. Quiet now."

Both Shemira and I stood quietly and began following Foire into the thick growth, stalking as quietly as we could. I forced myself not to notice Shemira's competence, and focused instead on continuing forward. We continued to push slowly through the brush before Foire gestured towards a clearing ahead. There, I could see a herd of five scaled deer, all but one resting.

Shemira and Foire prepared themselves to go in under my order, but I shook my head. As they looked at me, puzzled, I whispered, "Just watch."

Then, I rushed into the clearing.