Chapter 30

With a bit of force, I was able to convince Percral to guide me to where he and his pack had encountered the wolfstags the day before. Finally, between the convincing of the fact that it had been nearly a full day since the encounter combined with my force of will and fist, Percral agreed. I wasn't so confident as to bring the weaker members of the pack with me at this time, so instead I brought Percral, Oncli, Took, Treel, Foire, Vefir, Brutus, and the largest of Percral's followers, a larger female he hadn't named. I'd commanded the rest to hunt in the swamps for more of the Toothy Bullfrogs, and to bring back any they hunted to the den.

Meanwhile, myself and my eight followers began our foray into the jungle. The suns set above us, slowly settling into true night as we searched for any sign of the wolfstags. It was the journey of maybe one hour to arrive at the scene of the hunt, and it was obvious that the keelish had suffered. Shreds of scales and the scent of blood coated the area, and the four bodies of our fellow broodmates had disappeared. Thus, something had come to devour what had been left behind. Scavengers probably weren't the worst of our worries, so I didn't think too deeply about it.

Sniffing around, I could scent a hint of fur, and the slightest hint of burnt flesh. Something truly had occurred here, but I'd already known that. Ideally, we would happen across another small group of young wolfstags, would hunt them, and then be able to retreat without incident. Looking around, however, it didn't seem that there were any living creatures nearby. The wolfstags would be glowing brightly to my perception, even more than the keelish did, given that they were truly warm-blooded. 

Every step I took caused the ache of my ribs to intensify, and my right thumb still screamed with every jostle and movement. I gritted my teeth through it and continued to investigate the area, attempting to understand what exactly had happened here after Percral and his pack had fled. 

I couldn't tell what had eaten the dead bodies, if they had indeed been eaten, or if simply brought away, but whatever it was that had moved the corpses, it was large enough so as not to leave any bones or other evidence of the keelish's existence. The ground had been disturbed, but that was unsurprising, considering there had been a battle here. Were there any notable tracks? I began to be frustrated, and worry. I needed to find a magical creature we could kill, and we needed to survive as well, and I could think of anything else that could possibly fulfill that need for us except for some magical variant of a wolfstag. 

As I paced back and forth, growing ever more frustrated and desperate, Foire called me over with a little screech.

"Here." He couldn't seem to express anything more clearly than that, but Foire continued to point with his hand down at the ground after saying so.

I investigated the area, my frustration beginning to get the best of me. What could it possibly be? There were steps here, both by the keelish as well as the wolfstags–but there was one step out of place. Or, maybe better said, that wasn't a step taken by one of the young ones. The footprint was at least twice as large as the others by the wolfstags, but because it was so much larger, I had simply thought it was a natural valley in the dirt. That was potentially catastrophic–a single wolfstag could easily pose a threat to a trained human hunter, and that wasn't counting the additional versatility and power of this one, given its almost certainly being a greater elemental type.

"Everyone… quiet. Hide under there." I gestured over to a root system under one of the largest nearby trees. We couldn't fit well under there, but we were at least somewhat hidden. I turned to Vefir.

"Climb up the tree until you can see all around. Tell me if you see anything alive."

A quick flare of the frills, and then he was gone, scaling the burlraiz. It wasn't long before he was back, but every moment that passed felt as if it could be my last. I could feel my heart pounding even while holding still, the rushing of blood in my head filling my ears. Then, with a quiet thump, Vefir was back in front of me.

After working his throat visibly, Vefir spoke, "None… here." He'd struggled to speak, but his point was made, so I immediately led the rest of the pack to begin our flight. It hadn't been a full day since I'd nearly died to the python, and yet I'd still made such a potentially catastrophic decision. 

We didn't speak as we rushed away to safety, I simply urged the rest of the pack to hurry, in the hopes that we wouldn't be found and would be able to truly escape. If we were found by an adult Voltaic Wolfstag, I couldn't say if any of us would survive, especially since they nearly always hunted in groups. Fortunately, we made our way until we could see the marshes begin to spread before us, and I began to formulate some sort of a plan. How could we ensure that we encountered only the less dangerous young ones? Or, if we grew as a whole some more, how could we approach one in such a way that we would be able to defeat it?

I was so taken up in my thoughts that I only barely registered the incandescent glow of something very hot approaching. Before I could react, the massive thing crashed into the rear of the pack, picking off the unnamed female, and, with a sizzle of electricity and the crack of bone, she was bitten in two, both halves of her tumbling to the ground as hot arc of electricity danced through and over her body. She was still alive as she whimpered in agony for a moment before she died, facedown in the mud that was slowly warming with her lifeblood.

Without thinking, I stepped forward, frills raised and body readied for battle as I ignored the agony of my right hand snapping into position.

I could no longer work in hypotheticals, because an adult Voltaic Wolfstag stood before me, and we wouldn't be able to escape with it still living.