Chapter 312: 312: The Mountain Wakes
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"I promise," he said without hesitation.
"Not just for yourself," she added. "For the people depending on you."
"For them too," he agreed.
Her heart eased a little at that. She knew promises from Kai were not given lightly.
Still, the thought of those soldiers marching toward his mountain gnawed at her. She wanted to tell him to run, to disappear until the threat passed but she knew he wouldn’t. That wasn’t who he was.
Instead, she settled for one final plea. "Stay alive, Kai. That’s all I ask."
"And I’ll ask the same of you. Stay safe."
There was another stretch of quiet, the kind that felt more like shared presence than absence of words. She traced a finger along the edge of her desk, feeling the grain of the parchment beneath her hand, imagining for just a moment that Kai could reach through the link and talk to her.
"I should finish my reports before someone comes looking for me," she said at last, though her voice was reluctant.
"Then go," he said gently. "We’ll talk again soon."
"You’d better," she replied, half teasing, half sincere.
His laughter brushed against her mind one last time before the connection faded. The warmth of it lingered even after the link was gone, leaving her alone in her chamber with the quiet glow of the stones and the unshakable truth that her heart was beating just a little faster than before.
Kai stood alone on the summit until the last warmth of the soul link faded from his chest. The sky over the mountain had darkened to a deep violet, and the moons painted the dunes and woods in soft silver bands. Below him, Monarch Mountain breathed with quiet life. The forges pulsed with banked heat. The new egg chamber gave off a low, soothing hum. The galleries whispered with distant voices and the scrape of work that never truly stopped.
"Two or three weeks." He let the words settle, then turned from the edge and headed down into the mountain.
The air grew warmer as he descended through the upper passages. The smooth stone glowed faintly with embedded heat stones. The faint scent of roasted rootbread drifted from somewhere, along with the clean tang of worked metal. By the time he reached the first landing, the sounds of his family reached him too.
Luna looked up first from a bench cut into the wall. She had a coil of thread around her fingers, stitching a tear in a traveling cloak with a small, fierce focus. At the sight of him, her stern look softened. She did not ask. She just tilted her head, a question without words.
He touched two fingers to his chest and then nodded toward the lower galleries. A look passed between them. She stood, slipped the needle into the cloth, and fell in at his side.
They did not need to speak.
They found Azhara, Vel, Sha, and Naaro in the training alcove below the central hall. The four of them had tried to repeat a synchronized maneuver Azhara had invented, which involved Sha launching Naaro like a spear while Vel shouted suggestions and Azhara pretended she had not designed a move that broke every law of common sense. When Luna cleared her throat, all four snapped to attention with varying degrees of guilt and pride.
"Council," Kai said. "Now."
Azhara grinned because she grinned at everything. Vel tucked a curl behind her ear and straightened her tunic. Sha, brushed sand from her knees in a blur of hands. Naaro quietly apologized to her cactus for leaving it on a rock.
They moved together through the wide mouth of the central hall and into the chamber he used for councils. The room was cut like a half bowl into the mountain’s heart, with a broad ledge forming a speaking platform and tiered steps carved into the stone below. The ceiling rose into a dome laced with vents that let in thin streams of night air. It smelled faintly of iron, oil, and warm moss.
His marked subordinates were already there.
Silvershadow waited in the gloom near the leftmost arch, the faint sheen of his carapace catching the lamplight whenever he shifted. Shadeclaw stood a few steps below, blades folded in close, the picture of dangerous patience. Skyweaver perched near a high vent, the delicate filaments of her gliding membrane folded like a shawl along her arms, eyes watchful. On the central steps stood Vexor, Shale, Flint, and Needle, shoulder to shoulder, the old squad he trusted to tease him like brothers and follow him like soldiers. Akayoroi had taken a place to Luna’s right, crimson veil falling in gentle lines, antennae angled forward in focus. Lirien had a leather roll of tools tucked under one arm and a smudge of charcoal across her cheek that she had not noticed.
Alka’s talons clicked softly on the upper ledge. The giant raptor lowered her head in a gesture that was almost a bow, glowing eyes sharp.
They did not wait for him to speak. They felt it in the air. Something had shifted.
Kai stepped forward until the whole chamber could see him. He let his aura rise just enough to fill the space and settle everyone. Then he spoke.
"In two or three weeks, a search force from the Scarlet Ant Kingdom will come here. They do not know who I am, but they suspect. They want to confirm the killer of a bad ant named Darius and the one who humbled Roddick of the Silvertail wolf clan are the same person. They will come to our mountain to decide their next move."
No one was startled. The group absorbed it like water into soil.
"We will not panic," he continued. "We will not run. We will not greet them as prey. We will greet them as a mountain. If they come as investigators, they will see order. If they come as threats, they will find death."
He lifted a hand. "Tasks."
Silvershadow’s antennae rose a fraction.