Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Three Hundred and Fifty
This time, nobody trusted the cubs.
Not after one of them had hidden inside Swanly’s fur bundle and followed her all the way into the Rot Nest.
Before Swanly could even pick up her bow, Nahla stood at the cave entrance and counted them twice.
"One."
The eldest cub frowned at her.
"Two."
The second cub hid halfway behind Kael’s leg.
"Three."
The smallest cub proudly lifted both hands as if he had personally completed the count.
"Three cubs!"
Tilla immediately gathered Swanly’s three cubs close. Her brown mink tail curled around them like an extra barrier, while her own recovering cub sat beside her holding a piece of fruit.
Swanly pointed at her sons one by one.
"You are staying here."
The eldest cub puffed out his chest.
"We help Mama."
"No."
The second cub tightened his arms around Kael’s leg.
"Cub go."
"You already went once without permission."
The second cub lowered his head, but his golden eyes slid toward the fur bundle near the wall.
Swanly followed his gaze.
Her eyes narrowed.
"Do not even think about it."
The cub immediately looked innocent.
Too innocent.
The smallest cub crawled toward Swanly and wrapped himself around her ankle.
"Mama take small cub."
"No."
"Small cub light."
"You are also a professional disaster."
The smallest did not know what that meant, but he looked offended anyway.
Nahla tapped her walking stick against the stone.
"They will remain with us. Go before the infected break through another section of the barrier."
Swanly looked at Tilla.
"Count them every few breaths."
Tilla nodded seriously.
"I will."
"Check under the furs."
"I will."
"Check inside the baskets."
"I will."
"Check anything large enough to hide a paw."
Tilla’s mink ears twitched.
"Swanly, I understand."
Swanly still did not move.
Kael placed one large hand at her waist.
"They will be safe."
His voice was low and warm against her ear.
Swanly looked back at him.
He had already washed after the Rot Nest. His long black hair was still slightly damp, and the clean scent of smoke, and warm panther surrounded her. His dark golden eyes stayed fixed on her face as if nothing else in the cave mattered.
Swanly finally exhaled.
"Fine."
She bent and kissed each cub’s forehead.
The smallest tried to lick her chin.
She caught his face between both hands.
"No."
His tongue remained out.
"Mama clean now."
"That does not mean you may taste me."
The cub slowly pulled his tongue back.
Kael’s mouth moved as if he was trying not to smile.
Swanly picked up her black bow.
The entire cave quieted.
Even after everything she had shown them, the Riverbone beastmen still stared whenever she brought something out of her space.
The bow was smooth and dark, with faint silver marks running along its limbs. It had no ordinary quiver because it did not need one. Every time Swanly reached back, another arrow formed beneath her fingers.
To the tribe, it looked like impossible magic.
To Swanly, it looked like one less thing she had to pay the system for today.
She walked toward Riverbone’s front entrance with Kael beside her.
Tribe members slowly followed.
Some stood near the roots. Others peered from between stone shelters. Mothers held their cubs back. Wounded males leaned on wooden spears and watched with open suspicion.
The front gate had not been used since the infected surrounded it.
A pale barrier covered the entrance, trembling each time something slammed into the other side. Claws scratched against stone. Bodies pressed together beyond it. Low snarls, screams and wet breathing leaked through the glowing surface.
Nobody guarded the gate directly anymore.
There was no reason to.
If the barrier broke, the guards standing beside it would be the first ones eaten.
Swanly stopped beneath the high stone wall.
She looked up.
"That is taller than I expected."
Kael stepped behind her and placed both hands around her waist.
Her breath caught.
His palms were warm through her clothes, and his chest pressed lightly against her back as he prepared to lift her.
"I will put you on the ledge."
Swanly’s ears twitched.
Several tribe members were watching.
Very closely.
Kael bent slightly, ready to throw her upward.
Then something sharp pushed from Swanly’s fingertips.
She froze.
Kael froze with her.
Swanly lifted one hand.
Five pale curved claws had extended from her fingers.
For a moment, she only stared.
"Oh."
Kael looked at her claws, then at her face.
Swanly flexed her fingers.
The claws moved with them.
A strange feeling ran up her arms, through her shoulders and down her spine. Her fox ears lifted. Her fluffy white tail swayed behind her, helping her balance without thought.
Her body suddenly felt lighter.
Sharper.
Ready.
Swanly looked up at the wall again.
"I forgot I am not human anymore."
Kael’s grip tightened and he frowned at her strange words.
"You are a snow fox."
"I know that."
"You said you forgot."
"I forgot the useful part."
Before he could answer, Swanly stepped onto a protruding root.
Her claws sank into the bark.
Her body moved.
Fast.
Far faster than she expected.
She pulled herself upward, planted one foot against the stone and leaped. Her tail shifted behind her. Her balance corrected in the air, and she caught the upper ledge with both hands.
The watching tribe gasped.
Swanly hauled herself onto the wall and sat there for one stunned breath.
She looked down.
Kael stood below, his hands still half-raised where her waist had been.
Swanly grinned.
"I did it."
His face remained hard.
But pride burned in his eyes.
"You nearly slipped."
"I did not."
"You could have."
"But I did not."
Kael looked like he wanted to climb up, pull her down, wrap her in fur and forbid the sky from touching her.
Swanly lifted her bow instead.
"I am fine."
The barrier below pulsed.
Beyond it, the infected continued pressing toward Riverbone.
There were hundreds.
Some still looked like beastmen. Others had become trapped halfway between human and beast form. A bear beastman dragged one twisted leg behind him. A blind wolf female crawled on all fours, her empty eyes sealed beneath black skin. A tall deer male had broken antlers covered in rot growth. Several bird beastmen moved through the crowd with torn wings twitching behind them.
Swanly’s smile disappeared.
The system appeared beside her face.
{Confirmed infected count: three hundred and fifty.}
"Exactly?"
{Approximately exact.}
Swanly: "..."
"What does that mean?"
{System counted quickly.}
Swanly closed her eyes for half a breath.
"Just mark the cores."
Golden points appeared across her vision.
Some infected had weak cores near the heart.
Others carried the rot under the jaw, behind the eye or along the spine.
These were not like the creatures inside the Rot Nest.
The infected there had been strengthened by the Nest-Heart Beast. Their bodies were harder, faster and filled with too much rotten power.
These were ordinary infected beastmen.
Dangerous.
Fast.
But killable.
Very killable.
Swanly drew the bow.
An arrow appeared beneath her fingers.
She released it.
The arrow cut through the barrier without disturbing it and buried itself between the eyes of the nearest infected wolf.
The creature dropped instantly.
The system chimed.
{One infected eliminated. Three points pending.}
The horde went still.
Hundreds of heads turned toward Swanly.
She swallowed.
"Oh."
Then they screamed.
...
Swanly: clears throat and points at the author "Please send this author Golden Tickets before she gets bored and makes the zombies fly. I am begging you. I have three cubs and no peace."
Author: who said I wouldn’t make them fly😈
The cubs: Author, no kill mama!
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