Chapter 171: Mama is going to be angry

Chapter 171: Chapter 171: Mama is going to be angry

Content Warning: Graphic violence, blood, body horror, and child peril.

He blinked.

Tavi whispered:

"That was fast."

Then the floor moved.

Nilo felt it first.

His golden eyes dropped.

"Mama taught us something."

Tilla turned.

"What?"

"When the dirt moves when nobody is walking..."

The floor bulged.

Nilo’s face went white.

"...move."

"EVERYONE BACK!"

Mora grabbed two cubs at once.

Tilla snatched Tavi.

Ena dragged Lumi and another child behind her.

CRACK!

The ground split.

A hand came through.

One cub screamed.

Then another.

A Veilkin hauled itself into the room.

Its disguise was failing.

The upper half still looked vaguely wolf-beastman.

The lower half was wrong.

Long limbs.

Too many joints.

Gray flesh stretching beneath false fur.

Its mouth opened.

The teeth inside did not belong to any wolf.

Mora shifted.

Not completely.

Her shoulders expanded.

Brown fur rushed over her arms.

Claws tore from her fingers.

She stepped between the creature and the cubs.

"Touch one."

The Veilkin lunged.

Mora met it head-on.

They crashed into the wall.

Children screamed.

Mora drove her claws across its face.

It bit into her shoulder.

She roared.

Blood soaked her clothing.

Tilla screamed:

"MORA!"

Mora grabbed its skull with both hands.

Twisted.

CRACK.

The creature collapsed.

Mora staggered.

Ena rushed toward her.

"You’re bleeding!"

"I know."

Then the earth broke again.

Everyone froze.

Tilla looked down.

"No."

Another creature came through.

Then another.

The lioness guarding the rear screamed and drove her spear downward.

One Veilkin seized it.

Yanked.

She flew forward.

The second creature shot toward the cubs.

Panic exploded.

"RUN!"

"TO THE WALL!"

"STAY TOGETHER!"

Kairo shoved Nilo behind him.

Nilo shoved Kairo back.

"I am not hiding behind you!"

"I’m eldest!"

"That does not make you a wall!"

Lumi grabbed both.

"STOP FIGHTING!"

The Veilkin struck Mora.

Her injured shoulder failed.

She crashed sideways.

It reached into the cub cluster.

One tiny Riverbone cub shrieked as claws closed around the back of his clothing.

Tilla saw.

Something inside her snapped.

"NO!"

She dropped Tavi.

Leaped.

Her mink claws drove straight into the creature’s eyes.

The Veilkin screamed.

It released the child.

Tilla clawed harder.

"YOU DO NOT TOUCH THEM!"

It grabbed her around the waist.

Threw her.

Tilla slammed into the wall.

Hard.

Her body dropped.

"MAMA!"

Tavi screamed.

Tilla groaned.

"I’m alive."

The Veilkin turned.

Blood ran from its ruined eye.

Its remaining eye fixed on the cubs.

Above them, Miko stopped struggling.

For the first time since getting stuck, he became completely quiet.

He looked down.

Mora was hurt.

Tilla was hurt.

The other adults were fighting the second creature.

His brothers were below.

Lumi.

Tavi.

All the cubs.

And he was above them.

Above.

Miko looked around.

His breathing slowed.

Mama always said being high was dangerous.

Mama also said being high let you see things people below could not.

His golden eyes moved.

There.

Across the ceiling.

A thick emergency drop-line ran around one of the beams.

Swanly had helped Tovan install it months ago.

A heavy stone-weighted barrier hung folded against the ceiling beside the inner entrance.

If enemies got through the door, adults could cut the red vine and drop the whole thing.

Mama had said:

Never touch the red vine.

Very clearly.

Actually, she had made Miko repeat it six times.

He looked at the red vine.

Then at the creature.

Miko swallowed.

"Mama is going to be angry."

Kairo heard him.

His head snapped upward.

"What are you doing?"

Miko reached.

His tunic pulled tighter.

He could not reach.

He looked down.

Then at his claws.

Mama had also told him never to cut his clothes while wearing them.

Today was becoming a very bad day for rules.

His little claws slid out.

"Miko!"

He cut the caught section of his tunic.

The fabric ripped.

He dropped.

But his hands caught the hanging line.

His whole tiny body swung.

"Miko!"

Tilla’s face went white.

"DO NOT!"

Too late.

Miko climbed two frantic hand-lengths along the line.

Reached the red vine.

The Veilkin below turned toward the movement.

Perfect.

Miko showed every tiny fang he had.

"HEY!"

The creature looked up.

Miko screamed:

"EVERYBODY MOVE!"

Kairo knew that voice.

He grabbed Nilo.

Lumi grabbed Tavi.

Ena dragged three cubs backward.

Mora threw herself sideways.

Miko slashed the red vine.

SNAP.

The suspended stone barrier dropped.

The line in Miko’s hands jerked violently.

"AAAAAAAH!"

His tiny body swung across the room with it.

Tilla screamed:

"MIKO!"

The Veilkin lunged upward at him.

Miko came straight toward its face.

For one insane second, tiny cub and monster were eye to eye.

Miko kicked it in the nose.

"I AM NOT FOOD!"

Then the stone-weighted barrier came down.

CRASH!

The Veilkin disappeared beneath several hundred pounds of wood and stone.

The floor shook.

Dust filled the room.

Silence.

Something dripped.

Nobody moved.

Then a tiny black head appeared from behind the fallen barrier.

Miko crawled out.

One sleeve missing.

Hair full of dust.

Face filthy.

One ear bent.

He stood.

His chest heaved.

His knees trembled.

Then he smiled.

Huge.

"I am brave."

Tilla stared at him.

Mora stared.

Ena stared.

Kairo stared.

Nilo stared.

Lumi’s mouth fell open.

Tavi whispered:

"That was cool."

Tilla slowly slid down the wall.

Sat on the floor.

Covered her face.

"What have I done to deserve these cubs?"

Miko ran toward her.

"You did not do it. I did."

Tilla looked up.

"That is exactly the problem!"

...

Soren killed another Veilkin.

Then another.

He had stopped counting.

Blood coated his pale scales.

One claw mark ran from his ribs to his hip.

He ignored it.

The creatures kept trying to reach the old underground section.

That was all he cared about now.

One Veilkin sprinted toward the forbidden stone path.

Soren’s tail caught its legs.

It fell.

He landed on its back.

His claws moved toward its throat.

Then stopped.

A thought struck him.

He needed answers.

Soren slammed the creature’s face into the ground instead.

Once.

Hard enough to daze it.

He twisted both arms backward.

"Raku!"

The crocodile came running.

"What?"

"Rope."

Raku looked down.

"You’re keeping this one?"

"Yes."

The Veilkin hissed:

"You cannot stop what is beneath."

Soren’s head slowly turned.

That sentence sealed its fate.

He smiled.

"You are definitely staying alive."

The creature’s face changed.

Soren wrapped thick hide rope around its wrists.

Then more around its elbows.

Then ankles.

Then another line around its throat.

Raku raised a brow.

"That seems excessive."

"It changes shape."

"Fair."

Soren yanked the bindings tighter.

The Veilkin hissed.

"You will tell me what you came for."

Silence.

Soren’s silver eyes became empty.

"Not now."

His fingers touched the creature’s forehead.

"Later."

The Veilkin suddenly struggled harder.

Soren smiled.

Good.

It knew what that meant.

"Guard it."

Two warriors dragged the prisoner away.

Soren turned back toward the old ground.

Another scream came from Swanly’s shelter.

His entire body flinched.

Raku noticed.

"You cannot go."

"I know."

"You told her you would protect the settlement."

"I know."

Another scream.

Soren’s jaw flexed so hard a muscle jumped.

Raku looked away.

He was not stupid enough to comment.

...

Inside the birth shelter, Swanly was sweating like she had personally been thrown into the sun.