Lost Bloodline 4 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After Arthene’s little ceremony with the new weapons, the group broke up to go about their daily tasks.

Hans headed for the mines, eager to test out his new mattock with Calandra in tow, as the dwarven woman was intent on checking out one of the mining galleries to see if it could play host to her winter weapons training plans. Sienna, Netta, and Hannah headed to the carpenters in search of a shaft to mount Sienna’s new spearhead on. Todd set out on a hunt by himself, saying something about wanting to check on a nearby herd of deer that he’d been tracking.

With her current task done, Arthene declared the rest of the day as a rest day for herself and promptly threw herself into bed to sleep. She tried to drag Koda along with her, citing that she needed someone to keep her warm, but he fended her off gently.

“I’m going to head to the entrance to the valley, I want to check on those campfires that Hannah mentioned to me the other night. If they are traders coming in, I would like to greet them. If they are people looking for trouble—”

“—then they will find more than they can handle when my fierce mate finds them,” Arthene finished with a broad, proud smile. She tugged him down to press a kiss to Koda’s lips, having already stripped and crawled into bed.

Seeing his beautiful mate sprawled there amongst the blankets and thick furs they used for bedding, her pale skin gleaming in the dim light while her yellow eyes danced with a wild allure, was a test of determination and self-control.

But Koda was able to keep a handle on his libido. Instead of jumping into bed and ravishing the beauty that was clearly still tempting him, Koda just tangled both hands in Arthene’s thick mess of brunette curls and kissed her soundly.

When they separated with a pop and a quiet gasp from Arthene, Koda kissed her again on the tip of her nose and stood upright.

“Have a good nap, Arthene. You definitely earned it.”

Koda’s words cooled the arousal in Arthene’s gaze and her expression shifted to one of love. She rolled to bury her face in the pillow with a happy sigh—the fact that her new position left her muscled butt bare to Koda’s eyes was entirely an accident , he was sure.

Leaving Arthene to her nap, Koda exited the master bedroom and the absolutely massive bed that he and his mates shared. Closing the door quietly behind himself, Koda spotted Samira leaning against the wall by the stairs heading down to the rest of the house.

The caracal beastfolk was dressed in her traveling clothes: a pair of close-fitting leather pants that tucked into soft boots, a leather halter top decorated with hundreds of small beads, and her bison-hide cloak. The bulky outer garment would have made the feline featured woman shapeless if the front was closed, but since they were inside currently it was open to expose the tops of her compact breasts and Samira’s muscled arms crossed over her ribs.

“Hey,” Samira said with a broad smile, her large, tuft-tipped caracal ears wiggling happily when she caught sight of him. “Was wondering if you’d manage to escape or not. Want some company?”

“Sure,” Koda replied with a smile for the smaller woman. Samira’s ears perked upright in happiness and she pushed off the wall before skipping down the stairs on nearly soundless feet. Her tail even managed to poke clear of the bottom of the heavy cloak, its tip wiggling in excitement as she led the way to the front door and outside.

Koda didn’t bother to lock the door to his house as they exited. Not just because he trusted the residents of the village, but because he knew that none of the locals would make the mistake of trying to break in. While he’d kept the news of his status as a champion to a select few and they knew not to talk about it, it was impossible to miss just how dangerous he and his mates were.

Also, Koda knew that anyone entering the house that didn’t belong would immediately wake Arthene. For all that his largest mate liked to laze and snooze, Arthene Deepclaw was known as the Den Mother for a reason. She did not tolerate unwelcome violations of her home.

Samira led the way for them to the main road, skipping excitedly over the frozen earth. It didn’t take long for the energetic cat woman to begin to chatter, as Koda had expected.

“Winter is coming in quickly, but I am looking forward to it. With my tribe, we would always gather in the central hall during the day to talk and work on projects. That was when tales were traded so that the knowledge could be preserved, and I’m curious to see how your people do it here.”

“I honestly don’t know how the Silverstone tribe normally does things during the winter,” Koda admitted as they followed the side roads out to the main dirt road that led out of the mountains. “I only recently came here myself, so this will be my first winter amongst them. Sienna would be the one to ask about that.”

“I did ask her about it!” Samira exclaimed, bounding forward several steps before spinning on a heel to walk backwards. The lithe huntress had a broad smile on her face while she talked, her ears flapping happily. “People usually gather in each other’s houses. Those with crafts will take on new apprentices, as the cold keeps people in anyway and lets the young men and women focus. Others gather at Banno’s tavern during the day, and I expect to spend a fair bit of time there. It seems like the best place to collect tales from.”

“Just make sure that the stories you collect are true ones, okay? I wouldn’t put it past a few folks in the bar to spin some tall tales,” Koda cautioned. The caracal woman’s enthusiasm was infectious and he felt a smile tugging at his own lips.

“Oh, I will! I’ve gotten good at spotting a fabricated story over a real one—the other hunters always liked to talk about the prey that escaped or the strange things they’d see at night on the plains. But even those stories can teach you a lot,” Samira said while skipping a few steps backwards. She nearly tripped a moment later, but managed to right herself with a flail of her arms before Koda could react.

“Careful now,” Koda warned. Samira just grinned up at him, her eyes squeezing mostly shut with the force of her grin.

“It’s fine. I’m good on my feet!” Samira proclaimed, but spun back around so she was facing the direction they were traveling.

“What do you think, Samira? Are those folks Hannah spotted the other day from your village?” Koda asked before Samira could pick up on her previous topic and elaborate on the usage of tall tales. He wanted to get her opinion on this before she dragged the conversation down a rambling side-road.

“I think it’s likely going to be a group from the Silent Plains, maybe accompanied by a few people from nearby tribes. Most of them don’t travel to Amberpost to trade, and instead trade with traveling merchants or the other tribes. If Vysin does what I think he will, though? They’ll make the trip.”

“What do you think he’s going to do?” Koda asked, his chest tightening slightly. Vysin was the headman of the Silent Plains tribe, and was one of the people he’d directly clued in on Thera’s return. He seemed like a good man, but Koda hadn’t had as long to get to know the man.

“He’ll spread the word of a group that can be trusted for trading, and use that to get word to the leaders of other tribes he trusts. They’ll send traders both to represent them and take a measure of you, as well as those in Silverstone,” Samira said with an offhand shrug, tilting her head to look back at Koda over one shoulder.

“I suppose I understand that. It would be hard to believe such news after so long,” Koda murmured thoughtfully, though was surprised when Samira shook her head rapidly. The motion was so emphatic that her large ears flapped back and forth on top of her head.

“No, that’s not why. Well… maybe not the entire reason why,” Samira said a moment later. “The tribes are wary of each other, but even more wary of those that claim to be ‘civilized’ and live in either the towns or villages. There are some stories of missionaries and champions of Golieas using stories like this to try and hunt down those who still believed in Thera centuries ago.”

The fact that the church would do that sort of thing didn’t surprise Koda. The more he’d learned about Golieas Goldheart, the god who claimed humanity as his own, the less he liked it. It reminded him far too much of the different religions back home that used their followers to remain in power without any care for how that affected them.

I need to learn more about the different gods still. I’ve met one in person, and heard about three others. Chandra, the dwarven goddess, is supposed to be an old ally of Thera, but we don’t know if that is still true. Then there are the rivals like Golieas and Oluk, one who would happily take Thera’s power if he could and the other a displaced monster.

Snorting, Koda realized that he had a good source of information on at least some of them in front of him, and time to kill. It would take most of the day to make it to the edge of the pass and back on foot.

“Hey, Samira?” Koda asked, interrupting the feline woman as she mentioned a reputed battle between three tribes that had erupted during a trading meeting. Samira blinked at him curiously and tilted her head to one side, making her large ears flop adorably.

“What is it, Koda?” she asked, a small smile tugging at her lips to show that she wasn’t angry at being interrupted.

“Can you fill me in on the different gods that you know about? I only know Thera well, while the others are all strange to me. You know that I’m not a local here, so anything you can give me to better understand what is going on would be appreciated.”

The small grin grew into a broad, teeth-baring smile and Samira nodded enthusiastically before launching into a story about the nine worlds and the nine primal gods that created them, as well as the species they crafted in their own images.

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“So three different worlds have been ‘stolen’ from their primal god then? Eassemund, this world we are on, was taken from the troll god Oluk Bloodtusk by the Stalwart faction and now Golieas claims it as his own. Then there was the Moonlit Realm, which is now known as the Forsaken Realm, that belonged to Thera and was lost when the Crooked arose and overwhelmed it. Then lastly there is the Broken Lakes, formerly known as the Roaring Lakes, that was lost to another threat a few hundred years ago. Of the nine primal gods, two are believed to be dead, that is Thera and Ormi Bluescale?”

“Yep! That is the commonly held knowledge. Though word of the fall of the Roaring Lakes only came to our people a few generations ago. The drak’nar are a shattered people in the wake of what happened. Just as Chandra opened her doors to shelter the majority of the beastfolk, Gont Sailfist opened his world to the displaced brethren of his blood brother Ormi,” Samira answered while skipping down the road, her arms held wide for balance.

Despite the chill wind blowing lightly at their backs, the feline woman didn’t seem to be bothered by it. She had her cloak pulled back over her shoulders and ignored the pressure of the wind on her back. She’d spend the last several hours giving Koda an overview on the gods that she knew well and the various stories of their worlds.

The nine primal deities were Golieas Goldheart of the humans, Beast Queen Thera of the beastfolk, Ormi Bluescale of the drak’nar, Oluk Bloodtusk of the trolls, Lady Daphne Whitebark of the fae, Chandra Wildheart of the dwarves, and Gont Sailfist of the orcs. Three displaced or dead gods, with Ormi’s remains having been recovered by his sworn-brother Gont and interred on Gont’s world.

“The reason that many of the Beastfolk hold out hope is that Thera’s body was never recovered. She simply vanished during the fighting to cover the escape, as stories go. Many missionaries from the Stalwart, often representing Golieas, used that fact to spin the idea that the Crooked had captured and twisted Thera, since that was the only reason they could be so powerful and dangerous to threaten other worlds.”

The scowl that stretched over Samira’s face at that statement told Koda just what she thought of that idea and he couldn’t argue it.

“So Chandra was Thera’s friend in the past. Who else might there be that would come to her aid if they knew?” Koda knew he could just ask Thera this, but the goddess had been surprisingly quiet since the event following the trolls. He knew that she had to have other things she was working on, so didn’t want to distract her.

“Gont and Ormi used to call her friend, but I haven’t spoken to any of their followers myself to be able to say how they feel nowadays,” Samira replied offhandedly, lifting her arms to fold them behind her head.

Samira looked like she was about to continue, but the sound of voices from around the bend in the road reached them. The caracal woman stiffened for a moment, her hands dropping to the hilts of her new shortswords.

Koda didn’t hesitate either. A tightening of a spiritual muscle manifested his totemic gauntlets. The spiritual weapons melted into existence wrapping around both his forearms and baring the wickedly sharp talons in readiness.

But only a moment later, Samira relaxed and her ears perked back up.

“That has to be them! I hear Cyrus, and it sounds like he’s leading the hunters that came to trade!”

“Aye, and you need to listen closer!” came a distant call from around the bend as the cougar beastfolk that had been Samira’s hunt-leader called back. “We were making bets on when you’d hear us!”

That made Samira’s ears wilt, clearly disappointed at the chewing out that she was expecting. Not wanting to leave her that way—Koda infinitely preferred Samira’s energetic banter even though it wore him out often—he nudged her with an elbow. When she looked his way, he whispered loud enough for her to hear.

“Come on, Samira. Race you to them. Let’s see if we can surprise Cyrus by popping out sooner than he expects.”

Samira’s broad grin was the only answer Koda needed.