NOVEL NEXT Chapter 34: Being Honest
The ameshek was silent for a long moment.
‘You spared my life,’ she said eventually. ‘I recognise that and am not ungrateful for it. Even if you attacked me first, that is the nature of the world we live in. I know that you would have gained much if you had killed me. Yet you chose not to. Why not?’
Dominic eyed her, wondering what he should say to the question thrown back at him as if a tennis ball returned over the net. The full truth, or part of the truth, or none of the truth? Leo was surprisingly quiet in the back of his mind, watchful and observant, as if he were hunting.
‘I could have gained many benefits from letting you die, that’s true,’ he admitted. ‘More than you know, I suspect. I let you live because I hoped that we’d be able to do more together than apart.’
‘That is my other reason for not choosing to sever the alliance between us,’ agreed the wolven creature. ‘My pack is isolated, we have not heard any others of our kind within our range. That means there are none within several days’ run. Even the plants outside this area are foreign to us, and the prey even more so. An alliance is something that could benefit us – were it to be with the right beings.’
‘You think we might be the right beings?’ Dominic asked, hopefully.
‘Perhaps,’ replied the ameshek a little noncommittally. ‘More so than the others we have encountered. Your courage in facing me in a duel was the first indication. Your protectiveness of your pack was another. Letting me live and offering an alliance yourself was a third. We shall see in time whether the indications result in anything significant, however.’
‘And you don’t mind that I attacked you in anger?’ he asked a little warily. While part of him was telling him not to look a gift-horse – or gift-wolf – in the mouth, another part was reminding him that not looking in the mouth of a gift-horse had ended up being the downfall of the Trojans.
The ameshek sent a wordless thought which seemed to hold an expression of a shrug.
‘I would have probably done worse in your place,’ she replied. Her mental tone didn’t indicate whether she felt that Dominic had reacted correctly in that situation, or whether he had failed that little test of hers, as it seems it was indeed a test. Well, if her words were to be believed and she was indeed still a vassal of his, that was.
Actually, he wondered whether there would be anything about that on his status screen – surely it would show something?
Since she didn’t seem to be champing at the bit to continue the conversation, he quickly pulled up the screen.
‘There,’ Leo told him, a moment before Dominic spotted it for himself: a new entry right at the bottom of his status sheet.
Vassals:
- Ameshek pack leader (level 30)
Well, it was good to have confirmation that thirty was indeed the next half-step, and that the ameshek had been honest about remaining his vassal. Closing his status screen, Dominic gazed at the creature thoughtfully.
‘Do you think she’s being honest?’ he asked his companion quietly.
‘You can see she has been,’ Leo responded, a little impatiently.
‘I don’t mean about the vassalship, I know that. But about her motivations, her reason for maintaining the alliance.’
Leo was silent for a few heartbeats.
‘Does it matter?’ he asked in the end. ‘She didn’t take the chance to strike when she could have. I’m still not sure that this pride will be particularly useful to us, but I’ll grant you the fact that she could have attacked, or encouraged her pride members to attack, and didn’t. That alone should be worth more than any number of words.’
Leo did have a point, Dominic had to admit. And humans did say that actions spoke louder than words….
‘Alright, so to go back to what we were discussing earlier, you’d like to seal the alliance by…eating each other’s fallen group members?’ Dominic asked, still a little unsure about it.
‘Yes,’ the ameshek replied succinctly.
‘Alright. Well, I want to check with my lionesses that they would be fine with that idea, but in principle, I agree.’
‘Very well. I shall come with you to ask them.’ Not completely convinced that that was a good idea, but not sure how he could say no without risking offending the large creature, he ended up saying nothing but led her to the group of lionesses.
The females lifted their heads as they came closer, then got to their feet once they saw who was accompanying him.
‘Threat?’ asked Sekhmet in the chat.
‘Not as far as I know,’ he answered, not completely ruling out the possibility. ‘To deal with the dead on both sides and to cement the alliance of our groups, she is suggesting that we eat the carcasses of those who we killed…and that they in turn eat the body of Mara.’ The dead lioness’ body had been carefully pulled to one side and was being guarded by Zarini and Cleo, two of the lionesses who had seemed closest to her. They might even be her blood sisters. ‘But if you are not happy with that, then I will suggest something else.’
The lionesses took a few moments to reply, conferring amongst themselves a little. Dominic suspected that Sekhmet might even be using her own Telepathy Ability to a testspeak more privately with the rest of the pride.
Finally, they came back to him, Sekhmet once more taking the lead.
‘We agree but want everyone to share everything.’
Dominic frowned mentally.
‘What do you mean?’
‘New creatures part of pride?’ she asked.
‘I mean…yes, I guess,’ he said a little uncertainly. He hadn’t thought of it exactly like that, but perhaps he should add the amesheks to the Pride itself. Or at least present the option to the leader. It would offer the amesheks the advantage of the shared Prey Points, and would split them even further, but at the same time would mean that he gained more Pride points to spend…. Something to consider later. For now, identifying the wolven creatures as part of the pride would help the lionesses accept them.
‘Then all share all kills,’ Sekhmet suggested. This time, Dominic thought he understood.
‘You’re saying that you wish to eat Mara as well as the ameshek bodies, and that they should eat their own as well?’ checked Dominic, not sure how he felt about that. At the lioness’ confirmation, he turned to the ameshek leader and explained what Sekhmet had suggested.
‘It is a good idea,’ the leader agreed. ‘It will help the groups to feel more connected together.’
‘Fine,’ Dominic agreed, his stomach roiling at the thought of consuming – physically – flesh from a lioness he had fought alongside. The ameshek leader called the rest of her group over – small now, at only seven other members. They gathered around the different bodies, showing no signs of the same issues he had with cannibalism. The lionesses joined them too, first sticking close together, then splitting apart a little as they sought to feed from all the different bodies.
It was quite a different experience from the aftermath of a normal hunt. Then, there was always an element of competition, though that seemed to have reduced among the Tier 2 lionesses. Here, there was no competition, only a sense of solemnity, like everyone knew the reason for the feast.
And perhaps they did. With the exception of Zarini, Cleo, Leona, and Isis, everyone else around was Tier 2. The amesheks were all higher level even than Sekhmet so their capacity to understand what had happened must be even greater than hers.
It made him wonder just how the ameshek leader could so coolly stand there and say that she wanted an alliance with them: if someone had killed eight of his pride, he would certainly not be willing to do the same. He found himself voicing the thought to her without even really intending on it, his telepathy reaching out almost without his permission.
‘What good does it do us to dwell on the past?’ she answered with a hint of sadness in her voice. ‘I grieve those who have fallen. Yet if I wish the others to survive, then I must make decisions for their benefit. Even if the decisions to benefit the living conflict with those to benefit the dead, my course remains clear.’
‘But are you not angry?’ he couldn’t help but ask. The look that she sent him, one that made her eyes almost glow, was enough of an answer to shut him up. Yes, she clearly was angry. But he realised that she was a better leader than him: she wasn’t letting her emotions control her the way he’d sometimes let his control him. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, almost reflexively. He didn’t exactly regret attacking them, but if he’d known how intelligent they were, he might have considered talking to them first, seeing if they could come to a bloodless arrangement. Maybe Mara would still be alive if he had.
I need to remember that the higher level the creature, the more intelligent they apparently are, so I’m going to come across more and more of them as time goes on. That was both a good thing – he could communicate better with them – and a bad thing since it meant that his advantage in out-thinking them would disappear.
He decided not to push his luck with the ameshek leader, not while they were trying to use this moment as one of reconciliation.
Instead, he moved over to collect the Cores from the ameshek which had already been Consumed. He’d be collecting more Cores from the other bodies soon enough, but he was curious about what Abilities they contained.
‘Are you OK with this whole thing?’ he asked Leo as he moved.
‘The alliance with the canines?’
‘No, the…cannibalism thing.’
The lion was silent for a few moments.
‘While it’s not something that we commonly do, it’s not unheard of for a mother to eat her dead cubs. I saw that happen when one of the younger cubs in my pride was trampled by a zebra. Its mother tried to wake it up, licked it, nudged it…and then eventually ate it. This, while it is not the same, is not so different that I have the unease with it that you seem to have.’
Apparently it was a cultural thing. Well, perhaps he could switch places with the lion then so he could get out of what made his stomach roll. For now, he had a quick look at the first Core.
[Beast Core: Ameshek level 17
Ability option 1: Sonic Attack (100% chance))
Ability option 2: Vibrating Body (90% chance)
Ability option 3: Group Enhancement (10% chance)]
‘Now that’s interesting,’ Dominic commented to Leo. ‘Does that look like a guaranteed chance of getting the first Ability to you? I don’t remember that happening before?’
‘We haven’t killed many Tier two beasts. Maybe that’s why,’ suggested Leo.
‘Perhaps,’ agreed Dominic tentatively, though he wasn’t sure if that was indeed the case. After all they had killed a number of Tier 2 beasts…. Well, perhaps he’d eventually find out the reason why. Maybe Selessa would know.
For now, he turned his attention to what the Abilities were.
