Chapter 18: The Alpha's Shadow
Fog folded around the broken colonnade like wet wool, the Thornveil's hum ratcheting up a note that set teeth on edge, Elias felt it prickle along his ribs before the sound came, a long low howl from the south, answered by sharper calls to the east and west, a net tightening in the trees
"Positions," Hale said, voice iron, point of his spear kissing the ground to mark the line they'd hold, Elvi slid left with bow already strung, Lysera's veil shimmered faint at her fingertips, Thorek rolled his shoulders until the hammer settled like a promise across his back, Noll breathed too fast, swallowed, set his feet, Rook pressed against Elias's thigh, fur raised, silver eyes burning steady
"They're pacing our flanks," Elias said, the map of them drumming behind his sternum, "two west at mid range, one close east, three holding south with the big one," his mouth was dry, but the calling felt simple now, like reading a street corner for cover fire, "when the wind shifts, they'll rush the left, count three and expect teeth"
"Arrows ready," Elvi murmured, already sighting where the fog was thinnest
The first shape broke the murk a heartbeat later, low and lean, glowing hairline fractures under its hide, it came silent until the last step, then exhaled a hiss like steam, Elvi's shot met it mid-lunge and the beast folded with a thud that shook the moss
"Left, second," Elias snapped, because the hum on his tongue said so, and Elvi shifted half a hand, loosed again, the second wolf-shape crumpled, skidding across wet leaves
"East," Lysera warned, the veil over her arm brightening, a heavier form tore through a screen of ferns and collided with her shimmer, claws sparking blue, Noll flinched, his ward stuttering up like a buckling door, Elias pulsed without thinking, not a flood, just a steady hand under the hinge, the boy's shield caught, held, Hale stabbed past the edge and pinned the beast to the roots
Thorek laughed, a sound like gravel joy, as a third lunged high and met the hammer's face, the crack rang in Elias's bones, "Down you go, ugly, next," the dwarf crowed, beard smoking where beast blood sizzled
"Eyes south," Elias said, breath hitching, because the low drum under everything shifted, closer, heavier, "alpha's moving," he could feel it choose them, like a commander pointing at a map and saying here
"Let it come," Hale said, bracing, "we end it quick or die tired"
"Cheery," Elvi muttered, nocking a third arrow anyway
Elias felt the snap in the air a half second before the fog split, the alpha didn't explode out so much as arrive, tall enough that Elias had to lift his gaze to meet its steady silver eyes, shoulders broad, scars old and clean along its flanks, no grotesquerie, just a predator that had survived long enough to know its work, it padded forward like a king who never learned to bow
Rook's growl sank lower, the sound of a drum in a cave, his body coiled tight against Elias's leg without retreating, the alpha flicked one ear, registering him, then ignored him to fix on Elias, like it could see the hum under his ribs
"Yeah, I get it," Elias said under his breath, "you want me," his hands adjusted on the spear shaft without asking permission, left hand sliding to change leverage, right palm finding the worn spot where Thorek's etched veins met smooth wood
"Shortstack," Thorek barked with a grin, "don't let the big lad kiss you"
"Focus," Lysera snapped, veil tightening across their front like frost
The first strike came in a blur of motion and old practice, two lesser beasts feinted left while the alpha ghosted right, Hale met the feint with a hard step and a cut that put one down, Elvi's arrow took the second in the throat mid turn, and the alpha's jaws opened for Elias's middle, too fast, too clean
Elias didn't try to muscle the block, he set his back foot, dropped his center, and thought in angles, fulcrum, lever arm, impulse over time, the spear wasn't a stick, it was a bar with a pivot he could place, he pushed a weave not into the tip but along the shaft, anchoring a point a handspan ahead of his front palm, a phantom fulcrum that braced against the air like a jammed doorstop, then he drove through it, momentum transferring along the line exactly where he wanted, the head snapped up into the alpha's jaw with a crack that shocked his wrists
The beast's head jerked, not broken, but checked, a flash of surprise in those silver eyes, Lysera's gaze cut to Elias with a knife's attention, "What did you just do," she demanded, even as she readied another veil
"Physics," he grunted, stepping to keep line, "levered the strike, anchored the push, don't worry about it," he absolutely did want her to worry about it, later, for now he felt where the phantom fulcrum strain would shear if he overdid it, eased off a hair, kept the feedback from spiking into his elbows
The alpha circled, lips peeled back, not reckless now, measuring, it barked once like a command and two more shapes swept out of the mist to worry their flanks, Noll's ward jittered at the edge of failure, Elias pulsed a thin steady beat into it, not enough to flood, enough to smooth the wobble, "Breathe," he said, not loud, just aimed, and the boy did, knuckles whitening but shoulders settling
Thorek caught one flanker on the hammer's return arc, planted it into a trunk so hard bark exploded, "That's for trying to eat the archer," he cackled, Elvi didn't answer, already sighting the second, her arrow kissed its eye a heartbeat later
"Drive the big one," Hale ordered, taking a half step that closed the lane to Lysera's left, "Elias, take center," his glance flicked, a question without words
"I've got it," Elias said, and he did, in the way you have a storm by stepping into it and letting it hit your armor where you've put the plates, the alpha came again, faster, lower, feint snap real bite, and Elias met it with another anchored shove, but he layered a second thought now, impulse, time, the idea that a softer push over a longer window equals the same force without snapping the line, he bled the moment of contact across a breath's length, spear sliding up, catching, rolling, his weave taking the edge of the hit like a shock absorber, the head kissed bone and slid, not deflected, guided, the jaws snapped on empty air where his stomach had been
"Wrong but efficient," Lysera said, almost to herself, as if cataloging a sin she might one day commit
"Story of my life," Elias growled, pivoting, "left, now," and Hale stepped exactly where he needed to, stabbing into the opening as the alpha overcommitted, the point scored shallow along ribs, a promise of pain, not mortality, the beast twisted, claws raked, Hale grunted as leather scored, then reset
They traded space in tight increments, the squad moving like a machine that had learned the sound of its own parts, Elvi's arrows made windows, Lysera's veils turned kill angles into slips, Noll's ward wobbled then steadied each time Elias breathed with him, Thorek's hammer took the teeth that got too bold and introduced them to trees
"East two, slow," Elias called, the hum there more curiosity than threat, "ignore, the alpha's testing our front," the big wolf's eyes narrowed at that, as if it disliked being read, "yeah, me too," Elias muttered back, they circled, the fog swallowing and revealing in pulses
The alpha feinted high, dropped low, jaws for Elias's calf, this time Elias didn't meet force with force, he used the lever weave to pull instead of strike, drawing the spear's butt a hair to change the angle of the head at the last instant, he added a tiny side vector with a tight twist of resonance that felt like dragging a fingernail across a drumhead, the head slid under the jaw hinge and bit along a seam of softer tissue, a line that would bleed and sting and make the next lunge half a fraction slower
"Clever," Lysera breathed, a thin slice of approval in it
"Don't encourage him," Elvi said without looking, loosing again, the arrow shaved fur and made the alpha blink
"Hey," Thorek called over his shoulder, because he couldn't help himself even mid-murder, "if you're done dancing, shortstack, crack its teeth so I can hang one from my beard"
"Keep talking and I'll hang you from a branch," Elias shot back, then had no breath for anything but work, the alpha came hard, finally committing, and the pack howled to lift it, the sound shoved at the threads like a fist, Noll's ward quailed, Lysera's veil shivered, Hale's stance dipped
Elias felt the collapse coming like a bridge groaning under too much load, he didn't flood them, he refused to, not after the last times, he pulsed instead, tight, precise, one beat into Noll to stiffen the wobble, one breath into Lysera to fill the thin place at the veil's edge, one push into Hale's ankles to remind his legs of the ground, now, and the line held
The alpha hit Elias's spear full, and the lever weave did exactly what he'd built it to do, it turned his whole body into a hinge and dumped every scrap of momentum into a compact arc that drove the head up under the jaw, a clean hard strike that rattled teeth and made the big wolf's front legs stutter
For the first time, the alpha snarled in anger instead of calculation
"Good," Hale said, teeth bared, "again"
The pack pressed in reflex and died in reflex, Elvi and Thorek and Hale and even Noll landing blows because the rhythm was theirs now, not the alpha's, Lysera snapped a veil like a door in a beast's face and Elias heard himself laugh once, short and ugly, because his body remembered what it felt like when a squad moved as one and didn't die for it
"South east, one more," he called, because the hum there ticked wrong, Elvi turned and took it at forty paces without a word, the body tumbled, the arrow sprouted from its ear like a new idea
The alpha paced back two steps, chest heaving, blood stringing from its jaw, it tilted its head and saw Elias, really saw him, not as meat but as answer, something sharp and unwelcome
"Yeah," Elias said softly, lifting the spear again, "me too"
The fog churned as though stirred by the Loom itself, threads vibrating with the weight of the pack's retreat and the alpha's heavy breath, Elias shifted his grip, lungs tight but steady, sweat cut down his temple, salt burning his eyes, he heard Rook's growl deepen at his side, not fear, not rage, but a promise of violence waiting to be unleashed
"Hold steady," Hale commanded, voice iron even with blood wet on his sleeve, his stance didn't waver, spear angled toward the alpha, "we finish this"
The beast padded forward, not reckless, its scars said it had seen fights end badly, its silver eyes studied them all, but lingered on Elias, like it knew the hum that bound them wasn't normal, wasn't native, Elias shifted his footing and muttered, "Damn thing's smarter than I like"
"Then kill it faster," Elvi said, drawing back another arrow, her voice flat but her hands sure, the bowstring creaked, the alpha's ear flicked toward the sound, and Elias moved
He didn't wait for it to lunge this time, he pressed first, spear low, weaving the lever fulcrum again but layering something new over it, a push not just forward but angled, a vector he calculated like he was back on the rifle range, wind at three knots, target moving left, adjust the arc, he bent the weave with the math of physics his companions couldn't know, force redirected through resonance like a ricochet in mid air, when the spear struck the alpha's shoulder, the impact twisted sideways, momentum forced into a spiral that spun the beast half around
The wolf roared, claws gouging earth, Hale didn't waste the opening, he rammed his spearpoint under the ribs, shallow but enough to draw another snarl, Thorek's hammer came next, smashing down across its flank, bone gave with a sick crack, the beast stumbled
"Now," Elias barked, his resonance snapping outward like a drumbeat, the squad surged together, Lysera's veil caught its counter swipe and bent it off line, Elvi's arrow buried in the throat, Hale drove deeper, Thorek crushed another rib, Elias shoved resonance into his spear and cut, not the body, the weave, the beast had drawn threads into its claws, ready to rip through Thorek's chest, but Elias sliced the resonance line before it formed, the threads went slack, the alpha staggered, eyes flashing in confusion
That was the crack in the wall they needed, and they poured through it
Rook leapt, small but furious, his fangs tearing into the alpha's neck wound, silver eyes blazing with primal fire, the beast staggered back, crashed against a shattered pillar, and with a last furious lunge tried to throw Elias off balance, but the soldier was already inside its rhythm, body and weave aligned, he shoved the spear through its chest, angled just enough to strike the heart, the alpha's roar cut short into a choking gurgle, then silence
The pack's howls faltered, thinned, and broke, beasts scattered into the fog, leaving only the heavy sound of Elias's breath and the smell of blood thick as iron
Silence fell in jagged pieces, broken only by the crackle of Elvi's bowstring easing and the drip of beast blood into moss, Hale pulled his spear free, wiping it down on the alpha's dark fur, "Done," he said, like it was a ledger balanced, Thorek spat to the side, beard smoking from gore, "Aye, that's how you crack a bastard"
Elias leaned on his spear a moment, ribs aching but not breaking, lungs heaving but still drawing air, Rook growled low, then began tearing at the carcass of a lesser beast, muzzle red, Elias frowned, "Wait, don't just" but Lysera stepped close, eyes narrow
"He's after the core," she said, calm as a cut of ice
Elias blinked,"oh"
Lysera crouched, reached into the chest of the alpha, fingers unflinching even as blood soaked her hand, and drew out a shard of crystal pulsing with faint silver light, jagged and warm, it hummed against Elias's Resonance Sense like a heartbeat.
Rook padded forward, muzzle dripping, eyes fixed on the shard in her palm.
Elias glanced down at Rook, who growled low in his throat, tail stiff, Elias knelt, put a hand on his ruff, felt the vibration running through the cub's bones, "You want this, huh"
The wolf pressed harder against his palm, eyes glowing faint, Elias's gut twisted, he looked up, "Safe"
Lysera hesitated, then nodded once, "For him, yes, though the alpha's core may be… more than he's ready for"
"Hell," Elias muttered, and stepped back, Rook lunged, jaws snapping the shard from her palm, he bit down and the light vanished into him, his whole body shuddered, fur bristling, claws gouging the moss, a growl shook loose like thunder in miniature, Elias grabbed his ruff again, grounding him, "Easy, Rook, easy"
Thorek whistled low, hammer resting on his shoulder, "Forge take me, never seen one swallow it whole"
"Strip the others," Hale ordered curtly, already bending to tear open the smaller corpses, "we don't waste what we've bled for"
They worked grim and silent, Elvi stacking arrows she could salvage, Lysera pulling smaller cores from chests and handing them to Elias without ceremony, "Feed him carefully, one at a time, too much at once burns them out"
Elias fed Rook three more, smaller shards cracked and sucked into his chest like coals into a forge, each one made the cub tremble, growl, then steady under Elias's hand, his silver eyes gleamed brighter with each core
By the time they finished, the battlefield was a ruin of carcasses and torn roots, fog already closing over the dead, the alpha's body lay slack, hollow chest leaking threads of resonance like smoke, Elias planted his spear and looked over the squad, bloody, battered, but alive
"Let's get out of this shit," he muttered, "before the fog decides to get hungry"
Hale gave a single sharp nod, "Back to the temple"
They gathered what they could carry, weapons cleaned, cores wrapped in cloth, and set out into the trees, Rook padding close at Elias's side, his body still humming with new power, his gaze distant and burning
The Thornveil whispered around them, the hum lower now but no less dangerous, Elias kept his spear close, because he could feel it, this wasn't finished, not yet
The temple fire burned low when they returned, its light painting the cracked stone in flickers of orange and shadow, the air carried the thick scent of blood and smoke, beast ichor clung to armor and skin alike, Elias let his spear clatter against the wall as he sat, chest heaving, every rib a complaint, his beard damp with sweat,
Rook padded past him without pause, silver eyes fixed on the bundle in Lysera's hand, the alpha's core, still pulsing faint, Elias's Resonance Sense picked up its thrum the moment she unwrapped it, heavier, denser, a drumbeat that set the air quivering,
"He wants it," Lysera said simply, her gaze unreadable, "and if he takes it, he will change"
"Change how," Elias asked, voice rough, he hadn't even finished washing the last blood from his hands and already the world was twisting again
Lysera crouched, letting the shard rest on her palm, its light crawling across her pale skin, "Threadbeasts are born of the Loom's excess, their cores are the knots where its song gathers, consuming one this strong will not just feed him, it will remake him"
Thorek grinned, teeth flashing through soot, "Forge bless, I want to see it, pup's earned it, didn't flinch when the big bastard came"
"Or it burns him alive," Elvi muttered, stringing a bowstring tight as if the sound could steady her nerves, "beasts don't always survive their own hunger"
Noll hovered near the wall, eyes wide, hands twitching like he wanted to help but had no idea how, "Can we stop it, if it's too much"
"No," Lysera said, flat as iron, "once begun, it will finish, one way or another"
Rook whined, stepping forward, nose brushing Elias's knee, then looking up at him, waiting, asking, Elias's throat tightened, he thought of Ava's paint smeared fingers, of promises made too late, of second chances that never came, he nodded once, "Do it," his voice cracked but held, "I'm here, we're all here"
Lysera set the core down, the shard rolled once, stopped against the uneven floor, Rook seized it in his jaws, teeth sinking deep, light burst between his fangs, not swallowed this time but pouring into him like molten silver, his body seized, claws scraping stone, he collapsed onto his side, growling, yelping, then roaring,
Elias was on his knees beside him, hand pressed hard against the cub's flank, feeling muscles spasm under fur, heat rippling through flesh, the resonance screaming like a bell inside Elias's chest, "Easy, boy, easy, I've got you, shit, hold on"
Threads bled from the core into Rook's body, lines of light crawling under his skin, his silver eyes flared wide, glowing bright enough to blind, Lysera whispered something sharp in her own tongue, Hale's hand tightened on his spear, Elvi drew back half an arrow before catching herself, Thorek just stared, wonder burning in his gaze,
Bones cracked, reshaped, fur bristled as if electrified, Rook's body stretching longer, broader, paws growing into claws that gouged trenches in the temple stone, his growl deepened, rising and breaking, a song of pain and rebirth,
Elias pressed closer, voice rough, "You're not alone, you hear me, not this time, I'm right here, Rook"
The cub's body arched, a final shudder racking through him, light spilling in jagged bursts from his jaws, then everything snapped taut, threads vibrating so sharply Elias thought the temple itself would split, the fire guttered low, as the squad was frozen in shock, watching as Rook's form trembled on the edge of becoming something new.