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Chapter 251
🕑 Added 2024-11-04 21:47:29 +0000 UTCAs we had given up on the pursuit of the indlovu that had been observing us, whispers of discontent began to spread among the swarm. I couldn’t tell what they were, exactly, since the malcontents went silent as soon as they noticed I’d approached, but I knew that something was brewing since they went deliberately and obviously quiet as soon as I came close. Frustrated, I approached Sybil. She simply laughed at my concern.
“I know exactly what they are talking about. Follow me.”
“I’m well aware of what you do here and your specialty, I just thought that it might be good for me to let you know that they have become very obvious about whatever it is.”
“I know, I know what you are concerned about, and I also know what they are talking about, just follow me.”
“Well, I just mean that since they have become like this, I should let you know, I don’t need to hear from them what’s going on.”
“I recognize that you are worried about what is happening in the sociopolitics of the swarm. I just think that it would be best if you–”
“I don’t need to talk with them, I just wanted you to know what was happening within the swarm–” I caught myself. Sybil’s previously smiling face had gone stony.
“Are you ready to listen to me?”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
“Thank you.” Sybil’s face relaxed slightly from tightly constrained irritation to mere annoyance. “Now, I think it would be best for you to speak with some of the concerned members directly to better discern the apparently noteworthy conversations.” She then stalked right off and I, somewhat chagrined, followed.
“I’m sorry Sybil. I should have listened more carefully to you.”
She flared her frills in agreement without looking at me.
“I wasn’t trying to underestimate or undermine the work you do.”
And again, she merely deigned to flare her frills at me.
“So…”
“So we can talk later.”
I took the hint.
While I could see and count the steps that it took for us to get to the small group of keelish, not khatif, that seemed to be our goal, each step was painfully loud on the earth underfoot while the distance seemed to stretch and multiply in length. The painful silence deepened to such a point that I could hear my heartbeat. Finally, we approached close enough to the group for them to notice our approach and they went silent. I looked over at Sybil, who looked back at me, unblinking and uncharitable. Having finally gotten the point, I turned to speak.
“So, I’ve seen several keelish talking and immediately going silent when I come close. Tell me what’s going on.” The three keelish whose names I didn’t know immediately descended into a panic and looked at each other, seeming to tell one of the others to speak up. It wasn’t more than a couple seconds before all three erupted in apologies, whimpers, and fearful bows.
Sybil’s tail twitched in obvious irritation and interjected while looking at me in displeasure, “Our Swarm Alpha does not doubt your loyalty, he simply has a question that needs answering. What is it that you have been trying to do recently that you are hiding from him?”
One stepped forward, and he began to speak, voice trembling, “I’m sorry, Lord Alpha, us keelish are smaller and weaker than you. We don’t want to be the ones killed as an example, so we were trying to find out how to become more valuable so we… wouldn’t be killed.”
I had to consciously keep my jaw from dropping as I cocked my head and looked at the three cowering keelish before me. Sybil flared her frills and, without another word, walked away while I thought of how to respond to my panicking subordinates.
“Well, why would I have any reason to kill you?”
“Because this place can’t be our home.”
“I didn’t ever think that this would be. Our goal is farther away, and even if it wasn't, why would I kill any of my subordinates about it?”
“... What?”
I sighed. “Look, I’m not going to kill you. Do you know how Sybil, Took, Vefir, Foire, Shemira, and Silf ended up in my pack?”
All three clacked their teeth together in the negative. “Many of us were outcasts, and my pack was considered the weakest of my brood. Tieran and Percral were other Alphas. You might know what happened to Shemira or Percral, but have you met Tieran?”
They clacked their teeth again, and one piped up, “Is he a member of the swarm now or did he flee?”
“No, he was killed.”
The female keelish perked up, “Was he killed in the Great Sacrifice?”
“The what?”
She wilted beneath my question. “The… the Great Sacrifice? When… when your previous swarm… sacrificed their lives… so you could live?”
For a moment, I stood, confused, then I realized that Sybil had been even busier than I’d thought if she’d created a mythology out of our fleeing for our lives from just a couple of High Speakers. I shook my head with a chuckle, “No, he didn’t live that long. Tieran tried to rally his pack against me, but before that, he expelled Sybil from it. Then, when he tried to steal from me, to push me down, I killed him.” The three keelish didn’t seem to like me explicitly mentioning a time when I killed a keelish, but I continued. “Shemira rose in his place, but now she happily follows me. Percral was an Alpha who lost his pack and he, too, follows me willingly. I, the ‘weakest’ Alpha of my brood, am now stronger than our Swarm Alpha ever was. The strongest have not always been where they are, nor will they always be. So long as you continue in your loyalty, you might end up one of the top members of the swarm before long. Perhaps even rising to my position.”
The two males slowly flared their frills in acceptance with my words while the female, after a moment of gathering her courage, again spoke up, “What would you do, if you were me?”
I thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re best at, but I would focus on that. Sybil is my Beta, not because we have mated, nor for her strength, but her intelligence and ability to control the swarm. You may prove your value in hunting, magic, combat, intelligence, or any other number of things. Distinguish yourselves with your excellence and you’ll find yourself progressing.”
The female nodded, her eyes wide with excitement. The males didn’t seem to care about anything more than the absence of immediate doom, but there was a chance that this female would take my words to heart.
“And what was your name?”
“I… never was given one. Many of our swarm, err… the newest members of the swarm, that is, have named themselves since you took control, but I didn’t think I would live long enough for it to matter.” The female was downcast in every way, but I thought I could pick up on the slight hope.
“Would you like a name?”
She looked up at me and nodded once.
“You are hope. Welcome to the swarm, Yamal.”
