KING OF BEASTS (Hiatus)

It had taken another day, having trekked long into the evening, before they had arrived at the small ramshackled village that was created in haste. The wolffolk were able to move much quicker due to their quicker steps, lighter loads, as well as the number of wolves and white wolves they had at their beck and call. 

As Ares appeared, an oxfolk ran over towards him. Ares was thick with sweat, now having seven wagons attached to him. He shifted them into his ring before turning to the little boy that had bolted away from their family.

“Chief! Chief! There-” Then the boy looked up to the crown. “King! King, there was a problem with the humans, The Consul said to meet him.”

“Thank you, young man.” Ares smiled and bowed his head as a man had come forward to grab onto the boy.

“Excuse him, my King, I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight.”

“No harm has come to him, so it’s fine. I have a meeting with the Consul apparently…” Ares then glanced back towards Heria, who waited patiently. “Would you mind letting your people dismount and set up here? I’ll go and check the situation before we talk about our bargain.”

“I’ll come with you.” Heria said, hopping off of her wolf as she then said something in some low growling, different to that of the beastfolk speech that he has already heard, this was far more primal, no doubt intended towards wolves. Surprisingly, Ares could get the gist of the speech, though he remained quiet about it, she had told it go and play.

Then Ares continued up the winding path. This was a little before the entrance to the shrine, and as they continue to walk, they noted that the beastfolk had chosen to tent up along the road up to the pillars, but not beyond. Though in the distance Ares could see a few structures, though there seemed to be very little of them. 

When Ares finally approached the main area, he could see that the shrine was all well, and so he sighed out. The eight that had struggled their way up had gone up to the shrine and seemed to be it’s protectors, as well as a few of Torak’s oxenblut that he knew of. He saw Lana, Rori, as well as the human prisoners who were tied to nearby trees. There were only nine of them, eight plus the Commander. 

“We are glad to see you managed to arrive safely, my King.” Rori bowed his head.

“I’m glad that you seem well, my Consul.” Ares bowed in return. “I heard that you wanted to speak to me about some issues with the humans…”

“There was an issue…” Rori looked over to the humans. “Some had tried to escape, and some tried to hurt some of our own.”

“What happened to them?” Ares asked, rubbing his chin gently in thought.

“In the fray, most died. Two went for the shrine, and though we managed to subdue them…” Rori looked out to Lana.

“We had them killed.” Lana said, inhaling deeply as if she was proud of that fact.

Ares nodded but remained silent. “Why?” Ares asked.

“They tried to go for the shrine, a shrine you swore to protect.” Lana emphasised the point.

“Did they damage the shrine?” 

“No, your Kingsblut managed to deal with them.”

“They aren’t my Kingsblut, yet.” Ares noted. “Alright. I would have preferred that you hadn’t killed them, but I also will not admonish you for it. Thank you for protecting the shrine and dealing with them. Though, I will be the one to decide their fates from now on.”

Rori swiftly added. “Some of the tribe had found out that the shrine had been threatened, it was a small issue we had to deal with, we tried not to allow them to kill the humans. We had to kill the pair in order to placate their anger.”

“I see. Still, I will speak to the tribe about this matter. Was there anything else?”

“We were waiting for you to arrive so we can start to build more permanent shelters.” Rori said. Ares nodded, it was a sound idea. 

“Ah.” Ares then turned to Heria. “Excuse me.” He chuckled. “This is Heria, she is the chieftain of the wolf tribe that I had spoken to. Heria, this is Rori, my Consul.”

“What’s a Consul?”

“The other half of the authority of our Kingdom. The King and the Consul are to deal with matters together. Anything he says, treat it as though I have endorsed the words.”

“You trust the bearfolk that much? Huh. I’d like to know how you two are so friendly with one another.”

“He gave me his trust, so I returned it in kind, that’s all there is to it.”

“Oh? Well, isn’t that a romance?” Heria joked and then laughed. “Well then… is this the shrine?” She asked, swaying slightly as she looked passed Ares to the fountain, approaching it. 

The eight that hung around the water tensed up, but Ares raised a hand as he followed Heria. “Yes, this is the fountain, the same pool of water that I was sucked into.”

“You say you returned from-” Heria glanced over towards the skies where two dragonfolk soared down towards them. She clutched at her spear, but Ares raised a hand and then approached the pair of dragonfolk.

“What’s the matter?” Ares asked.

One bowed their head. “There is nothing the matter, my King.” She replied back, her voice was low and husky. 

“Ah, right…” Ares hadn’t heard them speak before, so this was rather awkward for him as well. “Uh, is there anything I can help you with?”

“We are yours to command.” She continued. The other remained silent, though glared at Heria.

“Right? Ah.” Ares recalled that he had been entrusted the pair from Peros as part of the deal. “Where’s Peros?”

“He awaits further up the mountain.”

Ares turned to face Heria. “Do you want to meet a god?”