Chương 18: Book 1 - Chapter 18: There Is No Cure For Curiosity.

Dominic lifted his head into the air and inhaled deeply even as his ears rotated one way and then the other. There. A faint hint of a scent that made Leo recoil with a visceral, deeply personal disgust that had less to do with fear than Dominic was expecting. Hyenas, Leo growled, and the word carried all the contempt of generations. Mangy thieves. Dominic tensed. He knew enough about hyenas to recognise the threat. Powerful jaws, predatory instincts that rivaled his own. And, like lions, they were rarely alone.

The grass around him rustled, the rocky top of the hill offering far too much cover. Any idea how many there are? he asked Leo tensely. There was a creeping beneath his skin, a tingle in his whiskers and ears as Leo focused on those. A breath that Dominic hadn't meant to make quite so deep – had the lion gained more control since they last did this? Many, Leo replied grimly, pulling Dominic away from the question. Seven. Maybe eight. Dominic felt his stomach tighten despite himself.

Seven or eight was not an insignificant number – even a healthy adult male lion could be overwhelmed by that many, and he was still young, only growing into his power. This would be a challenge beyond any he'd yet faced; he wasn't sure whether his Evolved Domains and new relics would even be enough to even the odds. Have you fought hyenas before? he asked Leo as he lowered himself into the grass, his eyes fixed on the direction the smell was coming from.

Strategy conceived now might be the difference between winning and losing. Yes, the lion answered grimly, then pressed an image at Dominic: a younger Leo facing three hyenas. He'd been younger, thinner, alone, and the encounter had cost him dearly. Three only, the lion replied heavily. But lost. Hid until hyenas left. Right, Dominic murmured. As if he hadn't been taking it seriously enough. Can we run? Leo considered the question for a moment, then reluctantly indicated the negative.

Hyenas run for longer, he growled in agitation. Dominic clenched his teeth. The jungle had taught him that he was good at sprints, but that his new body was no marathon runner. Alright. Then tell me everything you can about how they fight. When the hyenas emerged from the grass a few seconds later, they did so moving as a troop, the front runners coming into view only seconds before the stragglers. As predicted, there were eight of them, their heads low, their spotted bodies lean and purposeful.

When they spotted Dominic, there was a moment of startled stillness. Evidently they hadn't detected his presence – he was downwind of them. Hoping that he could stop this confrontation before it started, Dominic bristled, hunching his shoulders to look bigger than he was, a threatening snarl ripping its way out of his chest. He bared his teeth, wordlessly warning them that he would fight. The moment hung in the balance for a moment.

Faint giggles rang out among the hyenas at the back of the group, the weaker members recognising the threat he posed. But the strongest members at the front just gazed at him with calculating eyes. Leave, Dominic thought at them, not caring if Telepathic Ear-Cuff helped him here – his snarl would speak well enough to his intentions. Attack me and I'll make you pay for every strike, he warned.

There was still the chance that they would decide the risk wasn't worth taking; that reaching their destination uninjured was better than taking down a lone lion. Roar, Leo suggested. The word carried his usual certainty, but underneath it Dominic felt the memory of that earlier, humiliating retreat. Dominic roared. It wasn't the glorious, chest-rattling sound of his childhood imaginings.

It was something younger, rougher – more of a moan than a roar – but it was loud, and it carried all the threat he could pack into it. The hyenas froze. The biggest one in the lead took a single step back. But the effect didn't last long and, as the front hyenas began whooping, lowering their own heads, Dominic knew that he'd failed to show himself to be a sufficient threat.

They mean to attack, Dominic murmured, his stomach clenching even as the hyenas began fanning out, working together with the ease of many hunts as a clan. Yes, Leo agreed tensely. Dominic held his ground even as they moved, forcing himself to stillness, reading them as he had the pig-dogs and apes in the trial. Their formation was loose but deliberate – two pushing wide to his left, two to his right, one directly ahead and slightly back, acting as coordinator, and three more circling slowly behind.

Then the biggest hyena, the one directly ahead of him whooped, and they all attacked. Dominic moved, urgency and refusal to give up and die despite the odds fueling his actions. Pivoting away from the lunge at his left foreleg almost faster than his conscious mind could register it, his left forepaw lifted and struck at the hyena's face, claws first. He raked bloody lines across its muzzle, and it backed away with a surprised whine. Dominic blinked, a little taken aback himself. Fast, Leo noted.

Yeah, Dominic agreed, feeling the stirring of something that wasn't fear. Movement to his right caught his attention. He didn't wait for the attack; he moved into it. The hyena to his right was mid-lunge when his shoulder met its chest. The collision sent it tumbling and bought him half a second to turn and snap at the one approaching his rear. His teeth found the scruff of its neck – not enough to hold, but enough to leave a gash and a sharp cry of pain.

And now he knew what his fear had transformed into: excitement. Because, against expectations, he was faster than the hyenas. And he was certain he knew why. Two hyenas struck at his hindquarters; he whirled around and lunged, sinking his teeth into the shoulder of one. The other danced back with a nervous giggle. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Dominic could feel it – the same fluid certainty that had come over him in the crevasse, the sense of knowing where his body was and what it could do. Translocation wasn't just about covering distance. It was about speed and control of his movement. And his Evolved Domain clearly put him head and shoulders above the hyenas. Good, Leo told him, bloodthirsty approval colouring every syllable. Again.

Dominic gave a leonine grin and leaped at the closest hyena, knocking it over and managing to sink his teeth into its flank before it was able to scramble away with a pained whimper. They adapted, of course they did. Hyenas were not stupid, and they had numbers on their side. As he drove one back, two more pressed in from the other side. He felt teeth graze his left hip, sliding over the hardened bone plates there without purchase, and heard a confused yelp from the hyena in question.

Armour works, Leo noted with savage satisfaction. Dominic filed that away. But despite his advantages, he was still working hard. The pack kept him rotating, needing to focus on multiple angles at once. His wounds were shallow so far, but they were accumulating: a graze here, a deeper bite there where he'd been a fraction too slow. He fought back, but the hyenas had changed their tactics – they aimed to kill him with papercuts, avoiding opportunities that would demand they pay too high a cost.

He could feel the pull in his muscles, the beginning of real effort. His stamina was holding out surprisingly well, but it would run out eventually. If nothing changed, numbers would win over speed and strength. Yet, despite his realisation that he might yet lose, he felt only the very faintest flutters of panic. His mind was mostly clear, unusually so. Unlike his first fights with the pig-dogs, fear didn't swamp him – it was present, but contained.

Sovereignty's effect, he realised in the middle of a pivot that took a hyena's ear off and sent another scrambling back. He could still think. Could still plan. The tail, he told Leo. I want to try something. Leo's response was immediate and grimly encouraging. Yes. Need reduce numbers. He waited for the right moment, let his movements become fractionally slower, fractionally less precise. The pack sensed it the way predators always sensed weakness, assumed that he was tiring and became more confident.

They crept closer, increased the frequency of their attacks, took more risks. Closer. Dominic took three shallow injuries in quick succession as he responded sluggishly to the attacks. Close enough. Dominic spun. He put everything into the rotation, dropping his weight onto his forepaws and using the power of his hindlegs to drive the movement. His momentum built and his tail followed the motion, lifting off the ground. The morningstar end swung wide and fast, a bone-spiked arc that none of the pack were expecting.

The sound it made connecting with the nearest hyena's shoulder was deeply satisfying. The creature went down hard, scrambling to rise with a leg that wasn't working properly. The others scattered – just for a moment, but enough – and Dominic used it, lunging forward to bite deeply into the downed hyena's throat before it could recover. Dragging backwards, he ripped the creature's artery open, then released it to bleed out on the rocky ground.

Spinning around, he leaped for a straggler who hadn't retreated quickly enough. Landing heavily on its back, he forced it to the ground and bit at the nape of its neck. The hyena screamed as his teeth sank in deeply. Its flesh resisted him; his teeth scraped against bone. And then there was an audible snap and the hyena beneath him went limp as he bit through its spinal cord. Looking up, he bared his bloody teeth at the rest of the hyena clan. Six remaining. And their formation had broken, as had their confidence.

Again, Leo urged, practically vibrating with premature triumph. In a moment, Dominic replied. Let them make the first move. Leo made a sound of impatient protest, but Dominic held his ground and waited, reading them. Because his tactics had cost him – his tail muscles burned with a deep, vicious ache and his stamina was starting to get low. He couldn't repeat the sequence too many more times. But the hyenas didn't know that. The lead hyena was watching him with new eyes. Warier. Recalculating. Good.

Maybe he would only have to kill a few more before the rest lost their nerve and ran off. When they came again, their formation was tighter, their movement more cautious. Two worked in concert, trying to draw his attention left while two more edged towards his right. He dealt with them efficiently, his movements economy itself, snapping and swiping and pivoting.

A bite to his left shoulder – real this time and deep enough to sting sharply – cost the hyena dearly when he turned into the movement and his teeth found its flank just behind the shoulder. It screamed and wrenched free, limping quickly away. And then, the leader and one of the other big hyenas made their move. The other hyena struck viciously at his flank, its teeth aiming for his belly. Dominic saw the leader crouching on the sidelines; understood her intentions.

If he struck back at the one attacking his flank, he'd open himself up to a strike from the leader. And he knew just where she would aim: the one place she thought would end the fight. He could retreat – dart out of the way of the first attacker. He was fast enough. But he didn't. Instead, he played into her expectations entirely, biting at the other hyena with more vicious speed than either of them had expected. His teeth sank deeply into the other hyena's throat.

It jerked away, screaming in fear and pain as he bit down, its hot blood filling his mouth. Simultaneously, the leader dived for his own throat. Dominic had a brief moment of uncertainty even as fear washed over him briefly from Leo – had he miscalculated? Her teeth met the gorget with the sound of bone striking bone. The force rocked his head back, his teeth wrenched out of the other hyena's throat by the impact. His breathing was briefly crushed by the force of her grip, his pulse hammering in his ears.

For one horrible moment he felt the ghost of the lion's jaws around his own throat– But the gorget held. The leader recoiled, confused, her teeth finding no purchase, no blood, nothing but hard bone-plate and whatever energy was woven into it. Dominic had never been more grateful in his life than now – the Dimensional Gorget had been an excellent choice. And he suspected that this wouldn't be the only time he'd need it.

His teeth now free from the other hyena – that was now trying to crawl away from him even as it bled out on the rocks – he snapped at the leader. She danced back. Her eyes were different now – the calculation was gone. What remained was something far more primal. She's afraid, Leo said with deep satisfaction. Two dead. Two badly wounded and no longer truly in the fight. The leader frightened. Three others still circling but with no conviction in their movements. Dominic snarled, low and rolling, and charged.

Not at the leader – at the three still circling, the ones whose nerves were already fraying. He hit the nearest one with his shoulder and sent it tumbling, bit down hard on its rear leg as it scrambled away. It screamed and ran. The other ran before he even reached it. He turned back to the leader. She held for one more moment – he had to give her credit for that. Then she turned and ran, limping but fast, her heavily wounded but still mobile packmate at her heels. Dominic watched them go.

The silence that followed was full of birdsong and the sound of his own breathing. His body ached in a dozen places. Blood matted his fur on his shoulder and his flanks. His tail felt like it had been through a mangle. But he was standing. Eight, Leo said after a moment, and the word carried something almost reverent. Eight, Dominic agreed. Then he considered his wounds and remembered how eating had healed him in the trial space. We should eat. Yes, Leo agreed.

Dominic looked towards the remains of the three he'd killed, then tilted his head to one side with curiosity. The biggest hyena's body had vanished, only a large bloodstain indicating where it had been. Yet, in its place, highlighted by the blood as if laid on a crimson cloth, was a small golden orb. Padding towards it, Dominic eyed it. A sphere, roughly the size of a large marble.

It caught the light in a way that made it seem almost liquid inside – golden, faintly luminous, pulsing with something that was either heat or energy or both. Leo, he said slowly. Any idea what this is? he asked, not truly expecting the lion to know. The lion was quiet for a moment. Don't know, he replied. Never seen before. Dominic stared at it, turning it with one careful claw. The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity, he murmured. Let's hope that this time it won't kill the cat.