A series of negative responses made Dominic huff in annoyance and return his attention to his newest allies. ‘Saffron, Isis, are you finished healing all of our Pride members?’ he asked in the Pride chat while eyeing the wounds that he and Nyx had left on the leaders.

  ‘Yes,’ they both answered shortly.

  ‘Do you still have some juice left?’ Confusion met his question so he clarified. ‘Are you able to heal some more?’

  ‘Yes,’ they answered again, though this time with a hint of uncertainty.

  ‘Would you be willing to heal the ones who were attacking us? They are on our side now.’

  Dominic could feel their hesitance.

  ‘Pride now?’ Isis asked tentatively. Dominic hesitated himself.

  ‘Sort of,’ he answered finally. ‘Allies.’ He pushed a sense of supporting each other even if they aren’t exactly part of the same group. Isis perked up, sending back an image of two prides which only contained females coming together to hunt and share a carcass and then going their separate ways again. The sharing was uneasy, but they succeeded because they would all rather have full bellies than fight and risk losing their kill – and perhaps their own lives. ‘Yes, that’s it exactly,’ Dominic agreed, glad that they had some sort of reference.

  Saffron, Isis, and Nyx along with Kiera, who he leant Healing Cloud through Group Enhancement, agreed to heal their new allies and padded over to join him. He warned their newest allies that not even the slightest hint of aggression to them would be tolerated and then left them.

  He left the albuhas watching closely over them. The rest of the Pride stayed where they were though they spread out a little. That way, they could keep an eye and still be between them and the elven city if the trodils, wild dogs, harashes, or ullas decided to do something stupid. Contingency plans prepared, Dominic leaped into the air and flew over to the elves.

  While he glided through the air, he prodded his mental companion.

  ‘No complaints about other males joining us?’ Dominic asked Leo curiously. ‘Apart from them being canines and prey animals?’

  ‘I doubt any of them will be interested in my females, and I am not interested in theirs,’ Leo told him offhandedly. ‘If we cannot eat him, that herbivore male will at least be a reasonable addition to our fight capacity – a shield that will protect our more vulnerable members. The others…we shall see whether they will be useful. At least they are not a drain on our resources.’

  ‘That’s true,’ Dominic agreed. It did mean that they’d have to be careful fighting together, though. But considering the requirement for their alliance to be secret for now, that wasn’t likely to be an issue for a while.

  Landing not too far from the elves, Dominic approached the purple-haired Ilastir.

  The elves around the Elder eyed Dominic’s approach with a mixture of fear and determination. While a couple of the elves stepped back a little, more than double that number tightened their grips on their weapons and steeled themselves. Like they knew that they didn’t stand much chance, but would fight nonetheless if they had to. Dominic could respect that, though he felt slightly insulted at the thought that they expected him to betray them.

  Even Ilastir looked wary. He had neither stepped forwards nor back, and his hand hadn’t tightened obviously on his spear, but something in his eyes told Dominic that he was still ready for anything.

  ‘I’ve taken control of the opposing beasts. They won’t attack you, but I wouldn’t send anyone too close to them to test it,’ Dominic projected to Ilastir. The elven leader’s posture relaxed a bit, but Dominic suspected that he could snap into action quickly enough despite that.

  ‘The fighting is finished?’

  ‘It is. And thanks for not getting involved,’ Dominic said sincerely. ‘I don’t know what would have happened if you’d got involved.’

  At that, Ilastir looked away for a moment before lifting his eyes to meet Dominic’s gaze again.

  ‘In truth, I thought we were lost,’ he admitted. ‘If it had only been my force against so many invaders, we would not have all survived unless we’d retreated and left our home open to their attacks. After the last attack our forces are too reduced from death and injury.’

  Dominic had wondered the same. The group of five species had numbered over a hundred individual members. There were only twenty-seven elves who had shown up to defend their city. That was more than the twenty he’d seen before, and he knew that the others were in other places, but still. Less than thirty elves to defend a town which probably held several hundred elves at the minimum. It was such a small fraction… Even if all they could do was wield a spear or hold a shield, why weren’t more of the elves coming to help? Or defend the trees by using arrows or stones from the balconies?

  But in a way, it worked out better for Dominic that they didn’t. If they’d had enough elves to defend themselves, they wouldn’t need Dominic and his Pride.

  ‘Well, you have us,’ he told Ilastir after a moment.

  ‘And we’re grateful for your intervention,’ the purple-haired elder assured him, though he couldn’t completely hide the hint of fear still in his eyes.

  ‘As long as we don’t turn around and try to conquer you ourselves,’ Dominic said pointedly, deciding that he’d had enough of pretending he didn’t see their worry or understand why it was there. However much it irritated him. The way several elves looked away told him he’d hit the nail right on the head there. ‘Don’t worry – I’m not going to do that,’ he told them, while knowing that they probably wouldn’t believe him anyway. ‘But I am going to consolidate things with my Pride and my new allies and I don’t want any outside force accidentally starting hostilities again. You can go and relax now. We’ll let you know if there’s a sign of any more beasts coming to attack.’

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  After all, it would be just his luck if one of the nervous elves became convinced that they were about to attack and started the fight first, or some other elves came along and decided that attacking the beasts was exactly what they should do. Maybe the elves had more sense than to do either of those things, but Dominic didn’t want to pin his hopes on that.

  ‘I thank you for your service and your news,’ Ilastir started politely, ‘but it might cause a panic among our people to see only beasts outside with no presence of our people.’

  Dominic decided to take that at face-value.

  ‘Alright. Leave a group of watchers then, as long as it’s understood that unprovoked attacks on my allies will be considered as attacks on myself or my Pride, which will be met with force,’ he warned. ‘Any other elves who come to join the group of watchers must be informed of that.’ Ilastir’s face hardened, his knuckles whitening around his spear-shaft.

  ‘Honoured brother, I do hope that that wasn’t a threat,’ he said coolly. Dominic eyed him with a predator’s gaze that made several elves around Ilastir quail. The elder himself was apparently made of sterner stuff, however, and stood his ground without flinching.

  ‘It is an extension of what we discussed around the table in your central tree. I hope you haven’t forgotten that we are within our rights to meet violence with violence – as long as we are not the instigators. All I’m saying is that my allies are now included under my banner. As long as they do not attack any of yours first, none of yours are to attack any of them, either.’

  The elf looked at him for a long moment, then dipped his head slightly.

  ‘Very well, Honoured brother. As long as your…allies act peaceably, we shall do the same.’

  ‘That’s all I ask,’ Dominic responded, relaxing a little. He’d been worried for a moment that ensuring his new allies’ safety might be the straw that broke the camel’s back in the tentative truce he and the elves had come to. While they were indeed obviously and sincerely grateful to have another option before them than either fleeing their home or losing the lives of their people, Dominic could tell that throwing in with another group of beasts was more than a little worrying for them.

  So he’d take this victory and go with it. Although he’d lost two of his Pride, he’d gained four more groups of allies, he’d won the Challenge with whatever rewards that entailed, and the elves were currently safe and not planning to restart the fight. Howler had even managed to gain more albuhas for his pack. It was good enough for now.

  He headed back towards his new allies just to make sure they knew that they were not, under any circumstance, to throw the first punch – or whatever attack was their equivalent.

  ‘We shall not be the first to attack,’ the ulla promised, the others chiming in with agreement before they moved away again to join their pack-mates. They were all looking far better than they had before the healers had been through, Dominic noticed.

  Left alone with the ulla, Dominic contemplatively asked a question which had been at the back of his mind for a while now. ‘Why did you guys join the beast wave, anyway? Particularly you – a herbivore among carnivores. Aren’t you supposed to be sworn enemies with the beasts who seem to make up most of the matriarch’s forces?’

  The ulla looked at him carefully.

  ‘Though I cannot speak for all of us, I can tell you why I brought my group to be part of it – the chance to gain power. Every day I lead my group in the service of the matriarch, I and my herd get stronger faster than we would outside it. And the more leaders I defeat, the faster my strength seems to grow, like the grass after the rains. Yet if I am myself defeated, it is like the water has run dry and the grass threatens to wither instead of grow. And I know that if we manage to drive the two-legs out of their trees, the rains before will seem like a passing cloud in comparison to the deluge which will soak us then. Strength enough to not need to fear the teeth in the dark.’

  ‘I see,’ Dominic replied thoughtfully. So, probably not Prey Points, but still a source of power. Dominic had to wonder whether the grass metaphor was just because that was what the ulla knew, or whether the herbivores had more in common with plants – the trees and bushes in the influence area of the Place of Power grew faster and taller than those outside it, after all. Either way, it seemed that the reward was greater the higher in the ranks it rose and would be higher still if they won the settlement challenge. ‘Alright, thanks.’ Now that the elves had been settled and his curiosity had been sufficiently satisfied, there was something else they needed to do – deal with the dead.

  Calling his Pride together, Dominic asked them to bring the remaining bodies of the attackers and went himself to fetch the bodies of the two Pride members who had died. He collected the remaining Cores lying on the ground and added them to his storage space, not wanting the elves to take them like they had last time. Dominic had realised in the meeting that the elves had had no idea that the Pride might find the Cores useful, and so hadn’t even thought about leaving them behind. They’d promised to use some Cores to help make the armour they were preparing for Dominic’s Pride in recognition that they’d accidentally taken Dominic’s prizes.

  Carrying the bodies of the two dead Pride members, Stick-User and Amber, over to a more central area within the arms of the hedges, Dominic lay them down among the bodies of the attackers. He hesitated, and then reached out to the leaders, who were already watching the proceedings with confusion and some worry, though Dominic wasn’t quite sure why. While his Pride-mates said goodbye to the kesh and lioness, the newly-allied beasts gathered nearby, standing on the other side of the bodies from the Pride members.

  It was a bit of a risk to reveal the benefits of Consuming bodies, but at the same time, they had agreed to be allies. Perhaps it would be worth it to extend a little trust to them. And ultimately, most of the bodies here were from their own people.

  ‘We’re going to say goodbye to our people and Consume them so they remain a part of us even once they’re gone,’ Dominic told the leaders solemnly, relying on them to communicate with their people. ‘When the cloud of golden dust appears, walk through it carefully. Be aware that many others will be doing the same.’ He didn’t let any of the nerves he felt show – this could go very badly. But at the same time, Dominic was sure that having the funeral with the amesheks had helped cement their bond. Perhaps it would do the same for the rest of these beasts.

  Given that there were so many of them still alive, and some of their number were herbivores, Dominic decided not to suggest that everyone take a bite of each of those remaining. Consuming the dust would have to do. And Dominic had to admit that he was more comfortable with that option anyway.

  Triggering the cloud of dust, Dominic quickly passed through it and then stood off to the side. It was worth losing a bit of extra stamina regeneration in order to make sure things were going well. He did miss rubbing against his Pride members a little more than he thought he would, but that was also a sacrifice worth making to ensure he could keep an eye on the situation.

  Fortunately, no one took advantage of the cloud to attack anyone else, and by the time it was over, he saw that more members of both sides were either thoughtful or relaxed. And overall, everyone had lost a little bit of that cautious edge they’d had.

  Satisfied, Dominic decided that it was high time he look at his rewards from the fight.

  here!