Unanki POV
"The keelish are all in position to sleep. They didn't even leave someone on watch!"
The excited report made the clan head of the Kalaki squint in disbelief. Though he was commanding a combined force, his scouts were the only ones he was trusting right now. Kusi'Wi'd given him command, and he knew that she was plotting something. Even so, he was in charge of lives right now, and though he'd listened to Kusi'Wi's command, he wasn't going to follow it outright if better opportunities presented themselves. Right now, there was an opportunity to strike back at the keelish, and at little to no risk to the Misti Hawar, or at least, those he cared about. The ancient prey were stupid, fighting among themselves while they were trying to hunt. That they had a god willing to accept them at all was a surprise, though it was no surprise at all that the Great Hunter himself refused to accept the idiotic creatures into his pack.
"Wait until they go to sleep entirely. There's no reason to make this any more difficult for us than necessary. If they wake up and rally quickly, we merely disappear into the shadows. They don't have anything they'll be able to do to us. There's no need to hurry and endanger ourselves when we can hunt them to the last over the course of several days."
"They do have a fire in the center of their little gathering, so we should take some measure of care." Iskatti added with a smirk on his furry face. The scout rolled his eyes as his claws flexed. He was one of those who stuck to the traditional modes of hunting, fang and claw, eschewing the use of any of the modern tools brought by other peoples and cultures. Though Unanki didn't follow that same path, he could see the honor in it, and he nodded to the young, excited hunter. After a few moments, Unanki waved for the scout to return to his pack while his own attention remained on what he could see through the shadows. The young one left his presence, and while he continued observing the enemy, the clan leader considered entering into the battle himself. Though he wanted to rip into the menaces with his own flash and fang, there was something that was off about the assembled keelish. Though he couldn't rip the flesh of the reason, there was a reason why he committed his own clan members to the edges of the combat. Some of them had quietly complained to him about stealing from them an opportunity to gain honor, but he kept them from continuing to speak. Instead, he'd made it very obvious that it was his command that they allow others to, "seek honor" while they instead sought survival.
Watching through the shadows, Unanki could see that the keelish were mostly under control ever since their leader had appeared, and despite himself, he could see why that was the case. The leader, a silver creature with claws longer and sharper than any Misti Hawar's, was the second largest of the pack. It also carried the obvious dedication of the largest of the pack. That one, a massive brute of a specimen, lumbered through the clearing and forced the smaller keelish to do whatever its owner commanded. It never seemed to speak, and Unanki could see that, somehow, the keelish had created a facsimile of the Keel of old in that beast. Even so, it was nothing but an approximation, too unintelligent to be called anything approaching a person.
So where did this discomfort come from? Why was he so sure that this pack of keelish should be treated with caution? Everything he saw showed that they were unintelligent and nothing compared to the stories told by his ancestors. Even so, Unanki was not one of those fools who forgot why they had instinct in the first place. He would trust in his instincts, for they were what had brought his people and himself this far. Those instincts were what told him that, despite everything else, the words of warning from Kusi'Wi should be listened to, even if her authority didn't deserve to be acknowledged.
Minutes and then hours passed, and the keelish continued their actions to prepare to sleep. Eventually, the last of the light had faded from the skies overhead, and there was nothing but the flickering light of the fires illuminating the camp of the beasts. Every one of the scaled monstrosities was sprawled out on the ground, snoring away and unaware of their impending deaths. Even still, despite so much of him demanding that he go, that he lead the charge, that he be the issuer of death and dismemberment to the keelish, Unanki held himself back. He sent his shadows flickering to each of his subordinates, commanding that his people stay back, that they be ready for whatever surprise the keelish had prepared for them. As a group, the Misti Hawar rushed forward to the hunt and their leader watched from a safe distance.
The first small pack to reach the keelish sent their shadows over the prostrate forms of their enemy. As the light was sucked away, the keelish flashed into movement more readily than their seemingly sleeping positions would suggest. Snapping jaws and thrashing claws cut through the shadows made tangible, but it was too late for the beasts to escape the ambush, Unanki knew. The physical bodies of the Misti Hawar latched on, keeping their enemies down on the ground. They were equal in number, 50 against 50, and with the element of surprise, the ambushers were guaranteed success.
Just as Unanki was about to rush forward himself, a pillar of fire erupted in the center of the pack of keelish, washing away the darkest shadows in a split moment. He felt his eyes widen as he looked at a single keelish, one that he'd considered unremarkable until then, pushed the fire into a curling serpent that circled around the battlefield. shadows flickered away as fully two thirds of the Misti Hawar force found themselves in melee with the larger, stronger keelish without their magic to support them.
His breath caught in his throat as he saw the leader, the one who he dismissed as a somewhat intelligent brute, issued commands to his people, each one immediately being followed. It didn't take him any time to realize they'd been deceived. Everything they had watched so far today was a farce! He sent his shadows to pull back his children, his people, but before his shadows could reach them, the leader threw his head back and roared, the sound almost a physical thing as it blew away every shred of magic and snow near him. The shadows within 200 feet of the battlefield refused to listen to Unanki's command, and he stood up, wanting to go to support his people. He couldn't bring himself to do so, though, as the keelish shredded mercilessly into every one of the Misti Hawar. Several tried to flee, but the leader flashed forward at an incredible speed, maintaining his bubble of magic–suppressing sound as he shredded through half a dozen Misti Hawar on his lonesome. His massive guard followed nearly as quickly beside him, bearing one of the true hunters to the ground without killing him.
"Iskatti." Unanki whispered as he watched his scout be captured. Instead of being killed, he was brought to the flame breathing keelish. He struggled, the shadows around him thrashing a little but being too weak to allow him to escape. Before he was thrown before the magical keylist, the huge one raised a fist and battered him in the face one, two, three, four times. After the second blow, his body went completely limp, but the brute didn't care. Once it was sure that the scout was unconscious, it tossed the prisoner in front of the magical one and gave Iskatti another kick for good measure. There, a couple of the smaller keelish gathered vines and tied every one of his limbs together with countless wrappings. His jaws were clamped shut, his eyes covered, his ears bound to his head while his four limbs were tied together in front of him, making him look like a kitten, unable to do anything for himself.
Despite his growing sense of dread and the pit in his stomach, Unanki watched as everyone of the Misti Hawar who engaged in the fight, even those who he'd held on the edges in an attempt to ensure they could escape, were killed or captured. Then, the leader turned in his direction, as if it knew that he was watching. Then, it bared its teeth as it deliberately turned and whipped its tail through the snow, throwing a hail of the white powder at him in an insult. He gnashed his jaws, but turned and melted with the shadows to ensure that he could carry this information back to his people.
Thanks for reading! Check out the Patreon, where you can read up to 40 chapters ahead!
https://www.patreon.com/No_creative_name
Join the swarm! https://discord.gg/RqzsKj8hkD