Chương 109: Chapter 11: Instincts of the Wild - Part II

The Veyrakh moves first, launching itself across the clearing with a speed that catches me off guard despite everything I have already learned about it. I shift my weight and turn with its charge rather than trying to stop it head-on, allowing the creature to pass close enough that I can feel the movement of air against my clothes as I bring my sword around in the same motion.

The blade catches along its flank, cutting through the outer layer of scales and leaving a shallow wound before the Veyrakh twists with surprising agility and turns its head toward me. I retreat before its jaws can close around me, and its teeth snap together where my shoulder has been only a moment earlier. The sound is enough to remind me that this creature doesn't need many opportunities to end the fight.

I keep my distance as it turns to face me again, watching the way it settles its weight across all four legs while its eyes remain fixed upon my movements. It doesn't charge immediately. Instead, it begins circling. I follow its movement without turning my back to it, keeping my sword raised while studying the creature as carefully as it studies me.

The first Veyrakh had relied upon its strength and aggression, but this one seems to understand that charging blindly at an armed opponent is rarely the best way to survive. Its scars suddenly make more sense. This creature has fought before, and it has survived every fight long enough to learn from them. The Veyrakh suddenly changes direction. I react at almost the same instant, stepping aside as one of its claws sweeps through the space where I had been standing.

I bring my sword toward its shoulder as it passes, but the creature twists its body just enough that the blade strikes across the thicker scales rather than sinking into the flesh beneath them. Its tail follows immediately, sweeping low toward my legs, and I jump over it before landing several paces away. The Veyrakh turns to face me again. Blood runs from the cut along its flank, but it barely seems to notice. I tighten my grip around the sword.

"So that's how you intend to do this." The creature lowers its head. I move first. I close the distance before it can build enough momentum for another charge, bringing my sword toward the joint beneath its foreleg. The Veyrakh reacts almost immediately, twisting away from the strike while one of its claws sweeps toward my chest. I duck beneath the attack and continue forward, passing beneath its body before turning with the movement and cutting upward. This time the blade finds flesh.

The Veyrakh roars and twists violently, forcing me to release the pressure before its movements can carry the blade with it. I retreat as it turns, but the creature is already recovering, its weight shifting forward as it prepares to attack again. I reach for the ground. The roots beneath the clearing respond to my mana, pushing through the soil and twisting around the Veyrakh's hind legs just as it begins its charge.

For a moment the roots hold, and I move toward the opening they create, but the creature reacts with the same instinctive efficiency it has shown throughout the fight. Rather than fighting against the roots, it throws its weight sideways and tears one leg free before the others can tighten around it. I change my approach immediately. The remaining roots tighten around its other leg, disrupting its balance just enough to slow the creature without trying to hold it completely.

I step into the opening and bring my sword toward the exposed side of its chest. The blade slips between the scales. The Veyrakh jerks violently, and I withdraw before its claws can find me, but the wound has finally changed the fight. Blood darkens the scales beneath its chest as the creature staggers away, its movements becoming less certain even though its eyes remain fixed upon me. For several heartbeats, neither of us moves. Then the Veyrakh lowers itself again. I can see the effort it takes.

I can see the blood. I can also see that it still intends to fight. I exhale slowly.

"You really don't know when to stop, do you?" The creature answers with a low growl before forcing itself forward. I wait until it is almost upon me before stepping aside, allowing its momentum to carry it past while I turn with the movement and strike once more at the wound beneath its chest. The blade enters deeper this time, and the Veyrakh's charge falters almost immediately. I pull the sword free and move away as the creature stumbles several paces before its legs finally give beneath it.

It crashes heavily onto its side, sending loose soil and dead leaves scattering across the clearing. I remain where I am, breathing steadily while I watch its chest rise once, then again, before the movement finally stops. The forest slowly begins to settle around us. I lower my sword and let my shoulders relax. The Hollowmane emerges from behind the tree where it has been watching the fight, moving cautiously toward the fallen Veyrakh until it reaches the edge of the bloodstained earth.

It lowers its head and sniffs the carcass, then circles it once before stopping near its chest. I wipe the blade clean against the grass and slide it back into its sheath.

"That should be enough." The cub doesn't look at me. I glance toward the road leading back toward Fallowspire, already thinking about the walk home and the explanation I will have to give Darran when I tell him that the contract involved not one Veyrakh but two.

"We should get back." The Hollowmane remains beside the carcass. I take a step toward the road before realizing that the cub hasn't followed. I turn around. It is staring intently at the dead creature. Something about its expression makes me pause.

"What are you doing?" The Hollowmane doesn't answer. Instead, it lowers its head and begins sniffing along the Veyrakh's chest, moving slowly across the scales while I watch with growing curiosity. At first, I assume it is simply investigating the carcass now that the danger has passed, perhaps looking for scraps after watching me kill the creature. The thought seems reasonable enough until the cub stops directly above the center of the beast's chest and begins pawing at the scales. I frown.

"You're hungry?" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. The Hollowmane ignores me. It scratches again, this time with considerably more force, and the tips of its claws catch between the scales. With a sharp tug, it tears several loose and exposes the flesh beneath them. I take a step closer, expecting it to begin feeding, but it doesn't bite into the exposed meat. Instead, it keeps digging.

The movement becomes increasingly deliberate as it tears through the muscle beneath the ribs, pushing aside pieces of flesh with its muzzle whenever they obstruct its paws. There is something almost methodical about it, as though the cub knows exactly what it is looking for despite having never seen the inside of a Veyrakh before, I am assuming. I crouch beside it, "All right. What are you doing?" The Hollowmane's ears twitch, but it doesn't stop. Its paw disappears beneath the ribs.

For several seconds, nothing happens. Then the cub pulls it free. Something glistens between its claws. I stare. The object is roughly the size of a walnut, irregular in shape and translucent enough that the fading light passes through its darker edges. A faint glow pulses somewhere within its depths, so subtle that I might have mistaken it for reflected sunlight if I hadn't already seen one before. A beaststone. The realization comes immediately.

I've seen them earlier, found a few corrupted ones myself and learned that artificers and alchemists consider them valuable enough to purchase from adventurers. I have never paid much attention to them beyond that. To me, they have always been something that belongs to the Guild's economy, another resource people harvest from creatures they kill. Apparently, the Hollowmane has a different opinion. The cub brings the beaststone toward its mouth.

"Wait." It doesn't. The crystal disappears between its jaws, and I hear the sharp crack as the cub bites down. My hand moves instinctively toward it. Too late. The Hollowmane swallows. For a moment, nothing happens. The cub simply sits there beside the corpse, licking its lips with the same contented expression it wears after eating anything else. I stare at it.

"You just ate a beaststone." It blinks. I glance toward the empty cavity in the Veyrakh's chest and then back at the cub.

"I don't think those are supposed to be food." The Hollowmane yawns. Then its entire body stiffens. The change is so sudden that I barely have time to react before its legs buckle beneath it. It drops onto its side, and a violent shudder runs through its body as mana passes through every muscle at once. I am beside it immediately.

"Easy." I place one hand against its side. The trembling continues. Its breathing has quickened, but there is no sign that it is choking. Its heartbeat races beneath my palm, faster than it should be, while mana begins moving through its body in a way that feels entirely different from the natural flow I have sensed in animals before. I withdraw my hand for a moment, then place it back against the cub's ribs. The sensation is stronger now. Something is changing. I don't know what.

The mana within the beaststone has entered its body, but instead of simply dispersing like ordinary mana, it seems to be moving through the cub's entire being, passing from one part of it to another before settling somewhere deeper. I can feel the creature's body struggling to accommodate it, though whether the struggle is dangerous or simply necessary, I cannot tell.

"Come on," I murmur. The Hollowmane shivers again. I glance around the clearing. There is no one here to help me. No Merrow, no Lorcan, not even Elyrion. For the first time since leaving Fallowspire, the forest feels very far from home. I remain beside the cub and wait. The trembling continues for several long moments before gradually becoming less violent. The muscles beneath my hand relax, its breathing slows, and the rapid beating of its heart begins to settle into something closer to normal.

Eventually, the shaking stops completely. I don't move. The Hollowmane remains still for another few heartbeats before opening its eyes. I search its face for any sign of distress. Nothing. It looks at me and I look back.

"How are you feeling?" The cub's answer is a quiet purr. I stare at it.

"You nearly scared me to death." The purring grows louder. Then the cub rolls onto its stomach. I lean back slightly as it stretches its forelegs out in front of it, arches its back and extends its hind legs one after another before shaking its entire body. The movement sends loose pieces of fur drifting through the air, and when it finally settles, it looks almost exactly as it did before. Almost. Something catches my attention. I study the cub more carefully. Its shoulders seem slightly broader.

Not dramatically, not enough that someone who hadn't been watching it throughout the day would notice. But I have. I have carried this creature through Fallowspire. I've watched it sleep against the Heartwoods, followed it through the forest, and seen it curl against my shoulder when the evenings grew cold. I know its proportions well enough to recognize a change even when it is small. I crouch closer. The Hollowmane's body is perhaps a finger's breadth longer than it was this morning.

Its paws appear slightly larger as well, and the fur around its neck has thickened enough to give the beginnings of the mane it will eventually possess. I look toward the Veyrakh. Then at the cub. Then back toward the place where the beaststone had been. My thoughts begin connecting the pieces. The cub deliberately searched for the heart. It pulled out the beaststone. It consumed it. Its body reacted violently and now it has grown. My eyes narrow.

"That wasn't food." The Hollowmane tilts its head.

"Was it?" It answers with another quiet purr. I reach out and run my fingers through the fur along its neck. The difference is subtle beneath my hand, but it is there. The mane is denser, the muscles beneath its shoulders slightly more pronounced than they were when we left Fallowspire. A strange feeling settles over me. Something closer to fascination. I've spent years studying creatures as a druid, learning how they behave, what they eat, where they migrate and how they respond to changes in their environment.

Yet I have never encountered anything like this. I glance again at the dead Veyrakh. The Guild had taught me that beaststones were crystallized mana organs. Resources, proof of a successful hunt, something valuable enough that adventurers risked their lives to harvest them. But perhaps their value goes beyond what people have discovered. Perhaps, to a creature like the Hollowmane, a beaststone isn't simply a crystallized organ. Perhaps it is concentrated growth. Power made solid.

I look down at the cub, "Can you do that with any beaststone?" Its ears twitch, "Or only Veyrakh?" The Hollowmane simply stares at me. I sigh, "Of course." I sit back on my heels and study it for another moment. If I am right, then the implications are considerable. The cub isn't simply growing because it is getting older. It can feed on the accumulated mana of magical creatures. And if one beaststone has already produced even this small a change, I glance toward the forest stretching beyond the clearing.

There are countless magical creatures living within these woods. For the first time, I wonder what a Hollowmane becomes when it has consumed enough of them. The thought is followed almost immediately by another. I look down at the cub. It is busy licking one of its paws.

"You've been keeping some rather important secrets from me." The cub pauses. It looks up and then resumes grooming. I laugh quietly, "I suppose I'll have to start paying closer attention." The Hollowmane finishes cleaning its paw before walking over and pressing its head against my knee. I place a hand upon its mane. Whatever it is capable of becoming, I suspect I have only just discovered the beginning. The forest around us grows darker as evening approaches, and I finally rise to my feet.

"Come on." The cub follows as I turn toward the road. I take only a few steps before glancing back at the fallen Veyrakh. The carcass can remain here until the Guild's hunters arrive to verify the kill. There is no reason to drag something this large through the forest, and I have no intention of taking the beaststone now that I know where it has gone. I look down at the Hollowmane. It walks beside me with the same innocent confidence it had this morning.

Only now I know that somewhere beneath that thick fur, something has changed. And I have a feeling it won't be the last time.