"Chief!" A hoarse voice from a bearkin.
Catching her breath the bearkin looked down to face the chief before looking at the ground
"I failed, I'm no warrior."
"Call me brother," The chief said, wiping off the blood that tainted his porcelain face.
"tell me what happened"
"I couldn't fight back; there was a beast br-brother," The bearkin said, stuttering on the last word as if it was of great humiliation that the word came from her mouth.
A furrow showed on the chief's face but he quickly turned around before his sister could see it.
"Finish everything quickly," He said, looking at the massacre in front of him.
Twenty or so man-like wolves lay on the ground motionless, their body dismembered beyond recognition, their blood dyed the pure ground red.
standing upon the bloody snow was a group of bearkins stabbing their spear at the corpses while sharing jokes with each other,
A few more Bearkins were running after the man like wolves that managed to flee, their face plastered with a huge smile.
"Let's head back"
At the chief's voice, everyone stopped what they were doing.
"The others are in danger." He continued, walking away from the stunned group of bearskins.
"Chief, this is nowhere enough," A bearkin said, trying to go after the man, but another bearkin blocked him with his furry arm before pointing at the chief's sister.
"Something happened to our den, brother"
"Krisna," The bearskin muttered, frozen in place, before showing a serious expression when he understood that Krisna was here instead of protecting the den.
The warriors that followed the chief on the hunt passed by her as if she didn't exist; Krisna thought so as she saw their shadow passing by her furry feet.
When the silhouette stopped appearing, she finally raised her head, looking at the ground littered with blood and broken weapons, then at the warriors that carried the corpse of the man like wolves on their backs.
"..."
.....
"Kill myself?" Caesus asked before looking at his side; his left arm, along with some of his chest, was torn, but thanks to the now red snow clinging to his wound, he still lived.
"You'll just need to wait" he said weakly before returning his attention to the beast he defeated.
Caesus was about to climb his way to the beast, but a spear was thrown below his feet.
"Don't move, let bleed out" The chief said as if speaking a foreign language.
"Chief, you should kill him quickly. We don't know what he can do," A bearkin by the chief's side said, looking at the unconscious beast behind Caesus.
"Chief let me do it" Krisna stepped forward stuttering taking the chief's attention.
The life in Caesus's eyes slowly dims away; looking at the conversation of the bearskins in front, he only has one thought.
'I don't have much time'
Using his last ounce of strength, Caesus climbed his way to the beast; the Bearkins used to hunt running prey immediately noticed him the moment he jumped towards the beast.
"Chief!" A bearkin voiced out before the bearkin next to the chief issued an order
"Attack him!"
Spears rain down toward Caesus, and dodging all of them seems to be an impossible feat, so he perseveres.
A spear hit him in the back, but it bounced off his suit; with a pained expression, he continued.
The forehead where the gem was was at arm's reach, but before he could touch it, he was hit in the leg by one of the flying spears, and the impact sent him sideways. Clutching on the fur Caesus managed to remain on top of the beast.
"You cowards! this is not how a warrior fights!" Caesus voiced out clinging on the unconscious beast.
"it seems I was too soft " The chief muttered making up his mind "Fall back his dangerous"
"I agree, managing to subdue the father of the north...alone" The bearkin by the chief's side spoke. He shuddered just thinking about it, but he couldn't hide the calling of his blood as he was raring to go, evident by his trembling fist.
"No, it's because he's intelligent," The chief said, grabbing a spear from one of his people and aiming it towards Caesus; he snatched a glance at the unconscious Rina before letting it fly with all his might.
"Let's end him before he does something unexpected"
The spear flew and hit Caesus in the shoulder making him lose his grip and fall to the snow
"You cowards know nothing! This thing is dangerous," Caesus said weakly. "Bastards, I did all the work"
"....step....away..." Caesus took his last breath with a face full of annoyance.
It only took a couple of seconds for his color to turn pale as snow, but no one present could see it; they were all waiting for the chief's command.
"He's gone" the chief spoke
"What do we do with the hostage chief?" The bearkin holding Rina asked.
"The child is no hostage; we saved it." The chief carefully made his way toward the father of the north. Krisna tried to follow, but one glare was enough to stop her.
The bearkin that was always by the chief's side grabbed her by the shoulder.
"You'll be a burden if something unexpected happens, stand your ground"
Krisna could only look on the ground in response.
The Bearkin warriors slowly formed a circle with the unconscious beast in the center while their leader examined the battlefield.
"Perfect condition," The chief muttered, trailing his hand in the beast's fur before leapin' up to its head.
He glanced at the gem on its forehead
"He said it's dangerous" The chief muttered
before leaping back down towards Caesus's corpse.
He grabbed his spear attached to the corpse and yanked it out with force before searching Caesus's neck for a pulse.
Receiving only the cold and no pulse, "It's safe," the chief said, and the Bearkins slowly flooded in.
The place was immediately filled with chatter, with Bearkins finally putting an end to the beast by chipping away on its neck and letting it bleed out while others tried to split its body into variable sizes.
"So much meat," A bearkin said "Still" he pushed his spear into the beast just for the handle to split in half " I don't know how we can take any of it"
"It's tough!" Another voiced out throwing his spear on the ground in frustration.
Meanwhile behind the beast Krisna spoke up "Is the warrior dead?"
The chief and the bearkin, always by his side, looked at her.
"Fortunately, he did," The bearkin said.
"He kidnapped his own species; he is no warrior," The chief voiced out.
"Can I take a look?" Krisna asked and the two people in front of her looked at each other in silence before making way for her.
"So this is a human warrior," Krisna muttered, looking at Caesus's corpse. "Looks like brother"
She put her hands on the cold body, rummaging around but found nothing hidden in his clothing.
"There's no hidden weapon," The chief said to her
"Nor treasure" The bearkin next to the chief spoke with a sigh making the two look at him.
"What? Let's carry the game," He said, stiffly walking away.
It took them the whole day for the large monster to be turned into carriable cubes, and in an instant, a thick line of bearkin was formed carrying giant cubes of meat on their back heading back in one direction, home.
The sun has set and only the dim light coming from their torches illuminate the way back.
In that pitch darkness, a pair of eyes slowly opened, and it took only a second for the owners of these eyes to realize his situation and begin struggling free while his scream was drowned by the tightly wrapped sleeve in his mouth.
Realizing the child is now awake, the bearkin carrying rina, who was at the very front of the group, ran against the flow of bearkins into the tail of the formation, where he spotted the chief carrying two chunks of meat, a size bigger than the ones carried by the warriors of their tribe.
Panting the bearkin stood in front of the chief
"He's awake"
"Let's walk for a bit" the chief replied.
"Uh," the bearkin could only obey, walking side by side with the chief.
During the long awkward walk, Rina's tantrum soon stopped and right on cue the chief spoke
"Untie the child"
"Y-yes"
The bearskin stuttered before slowly untying the obedient Rina; he started with the tight fabric covering the child's mouth, and as soon as it was removed, a barrage of words came from the brat's mouth.
"Uh." The bearskin gestured for Rina to calm down, but it only made the child scream louder, fear evident in his voice.
"You leave me no choice," the resolute voice of the bearkin wrapping back Rina's mouth, who is now struggling to not be tied up once more.
Crack.
Like a mirror breaking, the sound reached the Bearkin's ears and he soon stopped fighting with Rina his eyes slowly looking up from the source of the sound
There was a crack in the sky
"What"