Author's Note: I generally avoid stuff like this because I feel it detracts from the suspense, just a little, so I'm doing it well in advance. Keep in mind, through the upcoming dozen or so chapters, that this story is rated M. That can refer to adult themes, excessively gory violence, or other things we won't see in this story, like excessive language.

Why am I warning you now? I'm not. I'm just saying it in advance.

Lily stood at the base of the mountain, looking up at something she couldn't see, and didn't want to.

Somewhere up there, below Pyre's cave, was a sight she didn't have the strength to face. The warm air blowing through her frills had reminded her of the hot-season, and then of Pyre, and she had found herself walking toward the path she had walked so many times before without even thinking about it.

The first full moon of the hot-season was going to be a few cycles after the ceremony this season-cycle. She would not be able to comfort Pyre, and now she had people of her own to mourn.

He wouldn't have wanted her to screech her lungs out on the same night he had set aside for mourning, or on any night, but he would have understood.

She turned aside from the path up, resolving to wait until the full moon. She could not afford to mourn more than one night a season-cycle, and not even that if she was being honest with herself, but she would anyway. She would go up there, not look at the terrible sight below, huddle in the cave that hopefully still smelled of him, and whine the night away.

She would do it then, so that she could hold herself together and turn away now, though the grief felt like a rock in her stomach, constricting her lungs and making her hurt inside. Now, she would pull herself together, push her pain away, and continue living and struggling toward freedom.

Only a few nights from now, a powerful blow would be struck in that direction. A life would be saved. She could focus on that and wait.

O-O-O-O-O

There was no wind to relieve the hot, sticky moisture that hung in the air, thick and wet. It had rained that morning, and the clouds lingered in the sky, obscuring the stars.

The atmosphere, to Lily's mind, was grim and tense. There were no young hatchlings or fledglings to be found; they were all back in the cavern, being watched by a few select Dams. Everyone else was gathering around the plateau, around those who were the focus of the night.

Lily took a spot near the back of the growing crowd, knowing that she intended to be one of the many voices supporting her own proxy's suggestion, and wanting hers to be an anonymous one. Best if Claw did not notice her at all, and she would definitely not be standing with his group of mates.

She looked over the wings and heads of those in front of her to see the fledglings, her gaze landing on Mist, who was speaking to Danda and Liona. Root, Ash, and Cedar were on the far side of the plateau, and thus out of sight, but she assumed they were just as withdrawn and quiet. Mist clearly felt the tension in the air, and Root was perceptive when it came to such things, so he would too.

Claw leaped up onto the plateau, stealing the attention of the majority of the pack. He seemed happy enough, though there was still a dangerous, angry edge to his words and movement. He had not physically recovered from Pearl's attack yet, and his ego was still bruised. She couldn't say whether that would make tonight's plan easier or harder to pull off.

Lily ignored Claw welcoming all of the fledglings into the pack, instead glancing around to catch eyes and judge the moods of the people around her. There were worried grimaces and resigned sighs, ears lifted in attention or drooping in apparent boredom. She saw enough promising reactions to be reassured, though not enough to be certain success was inevitable.

Then Claw got to the important part of his speech, the end, and she stopped surveying the crowd to listen.

"As every season-cycle, the offer is open," he announced. "Do any of you fancy your chances? Speak now or forever hold your peace." He yawned languidly to the side as if already certain none would challenge, a calculated move intended to enrage and spur on anyone undecided. Another night, she might have found that annoying. Tonight, though, his little manipulations were about to be blown out of the water like a fat fish destined for someone's stomach.

"Claw!" Ivy called out, breaking the silence. Lily couldn't even see him in the crowd, but the important thing was that it had begun.

Claw tilted his head, looking genuinely confused by the unexpected interruption. He walked over to the edge of the plateau and stared out into the crowd, apparently too bemused to be angry. "Ivy, I believe. What is it? You cannot challenge. You swore to follow me and never fight me."

"I did not want to, alpha," Ivy replied, his voice shaking. He sounded as if he would rather be anywhere else, or barring that, talking to anyone else. Lily alone of those listening understood that Ivy only spoke because he had no choice. "I wish to propose a change to custom. Fights for the position of alpha..."

Claw was glaring now, but he did not interrupt.

"...should not be to the death. The loser can just swear loyalty to the winner, like with those who do not fight. There is no need to lose people to small ambition."

She had all but dictated his explanation, but she still thought that last reason was ironic coming from Ivy, whose ambition was by definition small, relegated to not failing to serve his various masters.

The pack erupted into chaos as soon as Ivy had finished his suggestion, that of general speculation.

Claw roared, shutting up the majority of the crowd. "Silence! We do not change custom!"

Now was the time. A moment of quiet that stretched, unbroken-

"But it is a good idea!" Mist said right on cue. "Why not?"

"Yes, let us preserve life!" Pina from the side. Dew quickly voiced her agreement.

"Agreed!" Lily shouted, feeling the rising energy of the crowd, her voice one among many. It had taken just one push, a few objections, and now...

The pack clamored for a change, Sires and Dams loud and hopeful. They almost all had a stake in this, and the simple suggestion that challenges didn't have to mean death had gotten their attention, primed as they were, already dreading the loss that could now be averted. The sound was loud and focused, a call for a change to custom.

It was a moment of triumph. Lily knew for a fact even this would not have worked before she began her work, before her moon-cycles of hints and Pearl's strike at Claw's infallibility had shaken his support, had shaken the blind faith everyone had in him. They were not rebelling against him, not by a long shot, but they were asking him to do something he would rather not do, and they were asking forcefully.

But eventually, the calls for a different way died down, everyone waiting for Claw's response. How was he taking this?

She couldn't read his expression, strange and almost twisted, an uneven squint and a slight tilt of the head. He stared at the fledglings who were now adults, looking at each one in turn.

"Which of you was going to challenge me before this... request?" His voice was soft, but very dangerous.

Root tentatively stepped forward. No one else did. He looked as confused as Claw had. "I did not ask for any of this."

"I believe you." Claw agreed coldly, surprising Lily. "You would look far more smug if that was the case." He turned in a slow circle, eyeing the crowds. "It seems... a change may be possible."

He was bowing to the will of the crowd. Lily smirked, purring happily. It seemed he would go the way that damaged his reputation less... but also established the possibility of change. Perfect. She had forced him, by proxy, into a position that left him with no way out save to take the inevitable hit.

"There are difficulties with this, however." Claw sighed sadly, shaking his head. Lily's purr became an uneasy growl; there was something extremely worrying about how he said that. She didn't know what was running through his mind, but it certainly was not the image he was outwardly projecting. "I will be forced to make clear who the alpha is, and they must swear loyalty after. I assume this is acceptable?"

There did not seem to be any objections to that. Lily couldn't see a problem with it either, though she tried; it was pretty obvious he meant to beat Root into the ground to make sure Root didn't doubt who was alpha, but they had already anticipated that, and he would survive.

"So we will try it out. If you all still like this change afterward, it can become custom." Claw nodded to Root. "You would challenge."

"Yes." Root said it decisively, bolstered by the lessening of the price he risked paying. "I would."

"You, on the other hand," Claw said to the other males, "would not before but may now want to risk it. I will not ask you until we have tried this new way." He was still acting unnaturally accommodating, and it made Lily feel she had missed something, though she could not see what.

"Well?" Claw leaped off the rock, followed by Root, and they headed towards the smaller cave these things were decided in. Normally they would fly, but Claw was still grounded, and would be for a long time, if not forever. It was probably quite embarrassing for him to have to walk.

As they left, she felt a nudge on her side and turned to see Whirl, who had pushed her way through the crowd and was purring happily.

"So," Lily asked, still feeling as if she had missed something, "it worked." Her tone came out far flatter than it should have, but Whirl didn't seem to notice.

"He will be battered, bruised, but alive." Whirl nodded excitedly. "This is more than good enough. I just hope Claw does not hurt him too badly in the process."

Lily's stomach dropped so quickly it seemed to drag the rest of her with it. That was it. Once again, she had missed the obvious. What would Claw do if the pack asked for him to spare their males? What was the obvious response if one was brutal and wanted more females to oneself?

"Lily? What is it?" Whirl asked, noticing whatever she was not bothering to hide from her expression. "You look-"

A blood-curdling shriek tore out from the direction of the caverns, something worse than anything Lily had ever heard before, hanging in the air, not fading at all, continuous. People around her faltered, wincing and startling, all turning to look towards the origin of that horrific, suffering noise.

Lily spread her wings, preparing to take off, though it would be difficult to do without hitting light wings to either side of her. She didn't know what she would find, or what she would do, but standing by just wasn't an option, not when she had arranged this-

Then, before she could leap, the shrieking tapered off, fading into the night. She slowly folded her wings in, fighting her need to intervene with the logic inherent in the sound ending. Whatever it was, whatever she had inadvertently driven Claw to do, it was over. She couldn't throw away her secrecy to stop something that had already happened. Flying anywhere right now would garner unwanted attention, and she was sure Claw would ask some of his more trusted mates to tell him all they could about this moment, as he wasn't here to watch their reactions.

All she could do was wait and see how badly her plan had gone this time. Guilt was gnawing at her already, and she didn't even know what had happened.

A slow, steady wave of whispering started, the horrified gasps and moans travelling through the crowd, coming from those closest to the caverns. Lily stood upright on her hindlegs and was able to see a ripple, a moving space in the crowd. Two dragons walked through it, though one was being pulled along by the other.

Claw, pulling Root by the ear, roughly yanking but never letting go. Root stumbled along. More than that, she was too far away to discern, but something was horribly, horribly wrong. Not as wrong as possible, as Root still lived, but wrong nonetheless.

The strange pair reached the plateau, and Claw half-pulled Root up, the other light wing scrabbling at the rock. Lily could see blood now, on both of them, though she could not see visible wounds except on Root. Claw still had bruises and a mangled tail from Pearl's attack, but nothing new.

Claw, on that note, looked positively murderous. He snarled at the crowd, letting Root drop to the ground and striding forward. "You wanted to change custom, so I did!" A gesture to Root. "This is on all of you! Things are as they are for a reason, and you changed them."

Root was huddled down, his stomach flat to the rock, his eyes closed, and his paws twitching either side of his head as if afraid to touch it. Every part of him told of utter agony, terror, and defeat, but there were no visible wounds, save for cuts and bruises. His face, in particular, was covered in blood that didn't seem to have a source.

Claw strode back to Root, placing a paw on his forehead and leaning down to growl in his face. "So I had to ensure you would be loyal. Swear to always follow me and never fight me."

"I swear!" Root was openly sobbing, not even bothering to control himself. "I swear!"

"As if I even needed that. You will never oppose me again." A satisfied growl. "How could you?"

No answer, just a low moan. Claw laughed cruelly, his voice tinged with more than a hint of utter frustration and rage. He was not entirely in control, the facade he put up most of the time gone, as with that fledgling in the cavern and her Dam.

He was destroying his reputation and reinforcing a different one at the same time, one of true fear. Not knowing or understanding what he had done to Root only made that new fear worse.

He turned on the remaining and now quite terrified fledglings. "Anyone else want to suffer Root's fate?"

There were immediate whines of submission from those who had not intended to challenge anyway, and quickly stumbled-through oaths of loyalty. Claw listened with something akin to disdain, then directed a short snarl at them before glaring at the females. "I do not care which of these two cowards you pick," he growled, and then jumped into the crowd, everyone shying away from him. He vanished into the valley without further spectacle.

What had happened? Lily anxiously shoved her way after Whirl and her mate up onto the plateau, to the sobbing light wing who had not moved.

"Root!" Whirl nosed at her son in near-panic, whining. "Where are you hurt? What happened?"

"I lost," Root sobbed, "and instead of killing me..."

His eyelids blinked open for a moment, just long enough to display the raw flesh and bone of empty sockets.

Lily stumbled back, uncomprehending what she had just seen.

"I cannot see. It hurts!"

Lily staggered to the edge of the plateau and emptied her stomach onto the ground below, narrowly missing several dragons. She heaved several times after she could feel nothing left in her stomach, utterly disgusted... and guilty. So very, very guilty.

"Your eyes..." Whirl moaned behind her, holding her son tightly with her wings wrapped around his huddled form as best she could manage. "Your beautiful brown eyes..."

Lily heaved one last time, hating herself for... everything. For reacting like this, for being responsible for Root's horrible injury, for having pushed Claw with her scheming. Once again, her actions had hurt someone she was supposed to be protecting.

She had to do better. It was all she could do. Push on, fix what could be fixed, and shoulder the blame for the rest.

To fix what could be fixed. "I will get plants for the pain!" she barked, forcing herself to speak. "Will you remain here?"

"I want to go home," Root whined.

"Yes, we will go home," Whirl replied quickly. "I can... I can guide you there." She sounded more horrified than anything, not angry at Lily. That would probably come later.

"I am coming with you," Flare said to Lily just as quickly, looking desperate and helpless.

Lily was in no mood to argue. "Come on!"

As she and Flare hastily flapped into the sky, she spared a glance for the motionless, terrified pack Claw had just firmly grasped in his control. He was no longer anything but a controller, one of unwilling subjects, but they were going to be far too frightened to protest. That mentality of keeping one's head down was going to be all that remained now. They had made their voices heard, and this was the result.

She had to hold in a horribly insensitive laugh, knowing that Root's Sire would take it the wrong way. Had she really not considered that Claw was not limited to dealing out easily-healed cuts and bruises? So foolish, to underestimate how horrible and cruel he could be in public if the right conditions were met. The attack on that fledgling and Dam should have told her all she needed to know, but she had not taken that information seriously enough.

Then they were in the forest, and she realized that she had spent the entire flight over the mountain wallowing in self-recrimination. She shook her mind clear of the guilt for the moment, focusing on the immediate, important task at paw, and turning to Flare. "You're looking for a tall and spindly plant that should go about two wing-lengths up, with thick leaves and a light brown stem. It winds around trees. Find one!"

It was a different, stronger painkiller compared to what she had given Pearl. Root would need that strength, and Flare would need to know where it was found, both for now and the future. She didn't doubt that Root would need a consistent supply. The very thought of how his injury must feel made her want to vomit again.

Flare dashed off into the woods, his tail flailing recklessly. He wasn't even taking the time and presence of mind to hold it still, a basic precaution.

She set herself to searching as soon as he departed, frantically darting through the trees at random, her head moving constantly. This was something they could do, something she could do. There was no way to screw this up as long as she didn't give Root too much, and Pyre had been extremely specific about where that boundary existed with this plant. She could not mess it up.

There it was, a creeping vine with brown strands winding around a tree, just as she had described. She pulled off the entire thing, hearing the weak snapping of the miniscule, creeping roots that held it to the tree as she worked her way around, pulling just hard enough to separate it without snapping it. The whole thing would be easier to transport and would provide multiple doses over the course of several days.

Finally, she had it off. A roar split the silence just as she was considering how best to carry it. It seemed Root's Sire had found one too. She gave up on easy transport and ran, dragging it between her legs, almost tripping on it a few times.

Flare had also begun pulling the plant off, though by the looks of the several small chunks on the ground it had taken him a few tries to get the balance right.

"Good." Lily joined in, grabbing with her teeth at a place further down, working her way up as he went down. "This is the right one."

"Finally!" He snarled and shot a small blast at the now bare trunk of the tree, his pupils dark slits of frustration. Then he was running to the edge of the forest, the vine dragging behind him.

Lily awkwardly wound up her own vine into a loop to better hold it and followed, leaping up into the air and flapping wildly the moment she was clear of the trees, too worried and ashamed to bother with finesse. This was all her fault, and a dragon barely qualifying as an adult was suffering because of her. Because she had come up with this idea. Sure, he would have died otherwise, but she had picked this scenario as her solution.

Flare flew recklessly, diving down to land on the rock he and his family occupied, dropping next to two huddled white shapes.

Root lay on his stomach, not moving, moaning, and Whirl, crooning softly at him, sounding as if she would rather be crying out in grief herself. The two together were a heartbreaking sound, here on a night Root should by all rights be celebrating, if the world was fair.

Lily took both vines and stowed them in a helpfully close crack in the rock, wedging them there with her paw, in the process cutting off a small length of the stem.

"No longer than your paw is wide, but no smaller than the length of a claw," she said to Flare as she worked. It was a very specific measurement, one Pyre had told her would dull almost any pain, but not the mind. "Any more will kill, and you can't use it more than once a day," she added, looking up at him. He nodded in understanding.

"Root," she said softly but insistently, "open your mouth, I have something for the pain." Now was not the time to explain what was going on beyond that. She awkwardly pawed the small cut of the vine at him, poking his face with it.

Once he felt the plant, he did as told, biting into it and almost gagging on it in the process of swallowing.

"It should start working immediately," Lily said guiltily. "It is very strong and should last a while. One cutting that size every day, but no more. More will kill him."

"Thank you, Lily." Whirl sounded... heartbroken. It was the only word Lily had to describe what she heard.

"Don't thank me for this," Lily whined.

"I..." Root grumbled weakly, his moaning quieting. "I still hurt. It is not as bad, but it is still there."

"That's the strongest thing I know of to stop the pain." If that did not work, nothing would, at least not safely.

"Then give me more." There was an oddly dark tone to that request, one that Lily didn't like at all. It made her hackles rise.

"No." She could not say yes, but saying no to that tone was easy, and felt right. "We're not letting you do that."

"I just want the pain to stop," he whined pitifully. "There is nothing else?"

Lily let go of the dark suspicion she had harbored for the last few moments and sighed sadly. "No, nothing."

"Then I want to sleep…" He let his head fall. "Sleep and wake up to see this was all a nightmare. That I am not blind and useless."

The lucidity was clearly kicking in, but she felt no better about anything, even knowing his pain was dulling. He was blind, and there was no fixing that. She didn't know what to say.

"But I will not." He moved, though Whirl's sheltering wings made it hard for Lily to tell what he was trying to do. His head rose again. "What do I do?" he whined. "I cannot see. It feels as if I should keep my eyes closed, though there is no point, and I cannot stand it!"

"Then open them," Whirl said gently, sounding far less heartbroken than she looked. "The people who care about you will not mind if it makes you feel any better."

"Really?" he snorted. "I know I would if I could see me."

"But we do not." His Sire nudged him on the forehead. "Go ahead."

"Fine." Those strange eyelids jerked upward, crumpling oddly in the empty space they had covered. Lily forced herself to look, to see the consequences of underestimating Claw.

There was nothing left. She didn't want to know if there were pieces lying on the floor of that terrible cave, but his eyes were not simply shredded, they were gone.

Lily blinked, feeling her eyelids glide across her eyes. They were not set in shape. How would that work, if they no longer had an eye to rest on when down? They were already losing the convex shape they should hold on Root's face.

"This does not help," he whined. "I cannot stand it! I feel as if I should be able to see, but I cannot, and it is suffocating."

"You will survive," Whirl offered sadly. "We will help. All will help. And Claw will die." It was not even said angrily, a simple fact. "He will die. Soon."

"That would be nice," Root agreed. "He did not have to ruin me. He chose to."

"We forced him to act, and we should have seen that he would not go easily..." Flare spoke contemplatively, folding his wings around Root, humming quietly. "But you are not dead. This is not the worst case scenario, for us. Or you, in time. I hope."

Now was the time to speak, but Lily's apologies had died before even reaching her throat. Apology was not what was needed here, and it seemed Whirl and Flare probably wouldn't accept one anyway. Now was the time for something else.

"I will do everything in my power to help you," Lily swore solemnly. "Now, and forever, or until the day you do not need or want anyone's help." She was well aware of the odd parallel. Though she hadn't said it out of ingrained caution, she was promising to help him once she became alpha. He had promised her the same back when she questioned him about his intent to challenge.

Root startled slightly, wilting even as he regained his composure. "I did not even know you were still here," he admitted. "I could not smell you or hear you."

"Maybe when you are not so distressed," Lily said reassuringly. "But my point stands. If I can, I will find a way to fix this, somehow, to make it so that you do not need to see to be happy."

"You are not capable of miracles," Root said softly. "But I... appreciate that."

"Lily, we have this." Whirl was glaring now, though not at Lily specifically. "Go spread the word. Not many know exactly what Claw did. I want the entire pack to know how terribly he hurt my son."

That brought a grim, toothy grin to Lily's face, one entirely devoid of mirth. "A good plan."

"Go." Whirl joined her mate in humming and putting her wings over her son. "This is something only family can help with right now."

Lily left Root there, her heart cold and numb. Another failure, on top of all she already carried. Did she even deserve to keep trying?

Yes, if only because she could not end this without trying, without failure as well as success. Eventually, a day would come where she would no longer fail, and then she could rectify her mistakes if at all possible.

O-O-O-O-O

The cavern was strangely empty, the Dams and fledglings gone home or asleep. There was an atmosphere of fear there, even though nobody was around. Lily, at a loss as to what to do with Whirl's suggestion for the moment given there was no one to tell, eventually returned to her side-cavern, finding Honey, Wax, and Crystal already there, Wax asleep.

"Lily, how bad is it?" Honey immediately asked, her voice shaking. "He is not too badly injured, right?"

Lily glanced over at Crystal, who shrugged her wings. It seemed she was at just as much of a loss to understand why Honey cared.

As to the question she had been asked, though… Lily snorted derisively. "What is the worst you think Claw could possibly have done, Honey? I am curious." Honey didn't think he was badly injured? She must have stayed back to help watch all the fledglings; there was no way anyone present would believe Root had not been badly hurt, simply because of how angry Claw had been.

"He... maybe he broke his wings?" Honey sounded unsure and disturbed. "But they said nobody could tell what had been done…"

Lily winced at the idea of Root's wings being broken, though the mental image she had of that possibility also included his disturbing lack of eyes. Claw could have done that too, but he must not have seen the need. But in a comparison between either broken wings or being blind...

"Worse, Honey, so much worse." Lily did not enjoy disillusioning Honey in this case. There was no joy in this. "He tore out Root's eyes entirely. He is blind."

Two soft gasps followed that revelation, Crystal just as horrified by the news. Lily said nothing more, curling into as small a circle as she could, feeling utterly wretched. What else was there to say or do about it? One more of her plans had failed and warped around to hurt the one she meant to save, and that was all.

But… in a sense, she had not failed. Root lived. That had been the end goal, and barring Claw coming back and finishing the kill, which Lily thought highly unlikely, it had been achieved.

It was a sick, hollow victory, but at least it was not a total defeat.

Lily lapsed into uneasy slumber long after Crystal and Honey fell asleep, lulled by exhaustion and nothing else, sure she would be plagued by nightmares of failure and eyeless dragons.

O-O-O-O-O

Things had changed again. Lily didn't like what she was seeing and hearing, either.

Though, at the moment she wasn't seeing or hearing anything at all, as the ones she was trying to watch had moved on. She cautiously stepped out into the open, slinking from shadow to shadow as she made her way through the valley once more. She was following Claw, and getting caught might mean something absolutely horrible.

Everyone around him and his small entourage of females obviously had the same worry; light wings shrunk back from their alpha as he approached, though most had the sense to hide the depth of their new fear, leaving only compliance too abrupt to be natural or relaxed.

Gone were the speculative conversations and uncertainty, and in their place was tension and worry.

"I just thought it was a good idea," the female he was now questioning said weakly as Lily crept close enough to hear. "My son will not challenge, but I liked the idea of him not dying if he did."

"Do you like it now?" Claw asked idly, picking at something under his paw. He was pretty good at intimidation, even by Lily's standards; he was just calm enough to unnerve, while not being so convincing as to actually set the female he was questioning at ease.

"I… It does not matter, as my son will not challenge you, alpha," the female hedged, taking the safe way out of his question.

Claw snorted and turned away from her. One of the four females following him around favored her with a snarl before following.

Possibly the most disturbing part of all of that, at least to Lily, involved those four females. All his mates, all older, and all acting absolutely vile, mimicking his threatening, cold attitude. They were visibly showing their support for Claw's actions by sticking with him and intimidating people.

It made sense that Cressa was one of them. Lily didn't know the other three by name or looks, but she was going to find out who they were once things had calmed down. They represented a subset of the pack that she couldn't even think about trying to undermine yet, those fiercely loyal to Claw.

Unlike the rest of the pack. She couldn't help but purr at the worried yet insistent whispering coming from wherever Claw was not. People were afraid, but they were still talking to each other, still voicing their thoughts. This wouldn't last.

For better or for worse, this couldn't last. The position Claw had taken up wasn't maintainable. Either he would do nothing more, in which case things would slide back to where they had been before the ceremony; people questioning him, just a little more cautiously this time…

Or he would remind everyone why they now feared him. Repeatedly, every time the fear began to subside, constantly upping the ante to maintain the terror.

An intelligent leader would never do the latter; it just wouldn't work long-term. But Claw was not intelligent, not when he was angry.

She didn't think he had thought about the long-term, anyway. Today, he seemed totally focused on asking as many people as possible why they had spoken up, and then intimidating them. Nothing more, but nothing less.

He was on her trail, if she had been careless enough to leave anything lying around for him to pick up. She hadn't; none of those she had directly asked to speak up would be able to point to her, aside from the ones she trusted most, who would lie. All Claw was doing was asking.

Today. That was what he was doing today. She would follow him and keep track of where he was in his little inquiry. Maybe tomorrow would be different, but today he was just asking around.

O-O-O-O-O

Lily didn't know, at least at first, why she had woken up. The lack of space between her side and Crystal bothered her, signifying the lack of hatchling and egg, but that was not new. It was dark in the chamber, but that also was normal. Silence reigned, aside from the slow breathing of her best friend, and…

And a deep, unsteady rasp, one of anger, right above her head.

Lacking any other option, Lily froze, pretending that she was still asleep. She didn't bother wondering what was going on; there was only one adult male who would be in this chamber, angry, and right in front of her, and only one reason for him to be there. A great, sinking dread filled her chest and made her stomach turn.

The breathing hitched, and pain shot through her as teeth clamped down on her ear. She lurched back with a strangled bark, only to be held still by the same agonizing grip. When he jerked his head up, she had no choice but to rise with him, lest he rip her ear in half.

"Huh- Lily!" Crystal rumbled, scrabbling to her paws. There were faint sounds of mewled protest in the far corner of the chamber, likely from Wax.

"Get up." Lily couldn't see her, or much of anything at the moment with the way her head was angled, but she knew her Dam's voice, and she knew the feral glee that colored it. "Claw wants you all out in the main chamber. Bring the hatchling."

Then they were moving; Lily couldn't help but yelp as her ear was yanked once again. Walking was extremely awkward with her head tilted to the side, but the way Claw held her allowed for no adjustment, and she had no choice but to follow along, vaguely aware of everyone else leaving behind her and Claw.

A distant, detached part of her noted that he had dragged Root along by the ear after blinding him, and that he had held the other light wing's head far less awkwardly. This had to be intentional, to keep her off-balance and unable to resist.

It was working, too. She couldn't even contemplate trying to pull free; she'd be down an ear if she did. As it was, the pain seemed to radiate from her ear and into her head, making it hard to think. Blood and spit mixed, trickling down to her head and neck, and running down her chest as he dragged and she stumbled. Her ear flared with agony every time he jerked her forward.

But that pain paled in comparison to the dread flooding into her as Claw marched her into the central cavern and stood there, still holding her to him with his teeth. His mates and their children were walking out into the main cavern, their eyes wide with confusion and fear.

Cressa stepped out into the open space between Claw and everyone else, flicking her tail with every step. "Everyone out here," she growled. "Nobody interferes, or your children will get what she does."

Lily winced, this time not from the pain. She could think of no more effective threat; it would silence almost everyone present.

But not absolutely everyone. Crystal growled and made to step up and face Cressa.

"Or in your case, you and your family," Cressa hissed. Two of the females Lily recognized as those who had accompanied her in escorting Claw that day stepped up beside her.

Crystal met Lily's gaze, seeking guidance, though Lily didn't know how her friend thought she could help. She shook her head slightly, though it hurt, because that was the only message she could send. Whatever was about to happen would happen; the pack as a whole was not ready to stop Claw, his mates had no chance when worried for their own young. Nobody else could even enter the cavern in time, filled as it was with helpless, horrified light wings.

Lily stood there awkwardly, her blood following a new path from her ear and into her left eye, and waited tensely. She blinked at the irritation, feeling like she should be shrieking in terror, but there was no point in showing fear. If there was no escape, then she wasn't going to struggle. Instead, she let her eyes roam as much of the main chamber as she could see, picking out a few familiar faces through the partially red haze of her irritated eye.

Honey was huddled in a corner, her body shielding Wax; the hatchling was likely not yet awake enough to catch on that something was going on, fooled by Honey's wings into thinking nothing had changed.

Pina and Dew were crouched over Dew's son, Pina in front of Dew in a way that Lily would have found awkward under other circumstances, her tail up across Dew's neck and shoulders, physically shielding the fledgling behind her. Neither of them would interfere, thanks to the threat aimed at the children, and Lily did not fault them for that. If it was a choice between saving an innocent and dooming both her and the innocent, then it wasn't really a choice at all.

Lily distinctly noticed when Claw unclenched his jaws; at the same time, a heavy paw pinned her tail to the ground, claws out but not doing more than poking her yet. He shook his head and fired a tiny shot at the ground to the side of them, clearing his mouth of her blood.

"We all seem to be here," he said loudly. "Cressa, watch and tell me if anyone leaves."

Cressa nodded, moving to stand where she would get a good view of the exits. No one would dare leave now, as was clearly the point behind the order in the first place.

"Get down." Claw put a paw on the back of her neck and shoved, forcing her to the ground. Then he put both paws on her back. "Spread your wings."

She did as told, unwilling to encourage anything worse than whatever he had planned. Her heart was trying its best to break free of her chest with its wild beating, feeding panic into her body, but she forced herself to stillness with logic and reason. Would she be like Pyre? That would at least mean she lived past this night.

"Hold her down, one to each wing and one to the tail," Claw commanded. The other three females Lily had identified as some of his most ardent supporters leaped to the task.

"Now." Claw snarled viciously. "I have been informed by one of my loyal subjects," he sneered, "that someone tricked him into questioning my rule and undermining my authority. Of course, he came to me as soon as he understood. His mate corroborated, saying she had suspected Lily of having bad intentions. I was hesitant to believe, but they were convincing."

So Ivy had sold her out, with Diora's support. Of course he had, in retrospect that should have been obvious. He now feared what Claw could do worse than death, after Root's example. One, possibly final, oversight.

She was going to die.

So this was it, the final penalty for one mistake too many. Maybe she just wasn't good enough, smart enough, to change people, to change the pack. She had tried, and she had failed.

What hurt most was that she would fail her fledglings, the pack, in removing Claw. She was a failure to them.

"But I have recently discovered," Claw continued spitefully, drawing out his words with twisted rage and satisfaction, "that some things are worse than death. Ironically, we can thank Lily's manipulations for that too." He placed a paw on her forehead, pushing down. "So she is not going to die tonight, even though that is usually the consequence for challenging the alpha's authority."

She somehow did not believe that. But the possibility that Claw would make her suffer first? That she entirely believed. Would he blind her as he had Root?

Maybe. If he did and actually did let her live, she could go to Root, and they could figure it out together. That was one twisted way this could play out, her life reduced to struggling simply for self-sufficiency. It would be an end to her bid for power and change, for sure.

"So, here we are." Claw removed his paw. "And I am tasked with finding a sufficient punishment for a usurper, a rebel. Luckily, I am up to the task."

He walked around to Lily's back, straddling her pinned tail. "I am going to make an example of this," he said sadistically. "Dams, your fledglings are going to watch, just so none of them get any ideas in the future. If they do not, Cressa will also make a note, and I may have to give more examples."

Despicable. Lily saw that the Dams were reluctantly bringing their fledglings forward, out of sheltering embraces. There was so much fear here, and no one doubted Claw would do as he promised, as terrible as it was.

They should be attacking, overwhelming him. It was the only way out. But some of them would get hurt in the process, and each knew if they attacked alone they would fall, so no one did, not when failure meant their children suffered. None of them could do anything, not against a true monster in the same room as their children.

She was fine with that. Her suffering was better than a single fledgling getting hurt, though whatever Claw had planned would undoubtedly scar their minds.

"I thought about this for a while," Claw continued, placing both front paws on Lily's back, leaning on his right, his left barely putting any pressure on her.

"This is the price for treachery," he concluded, purring malevolently. "The first part."

A small pain in her back, right where that dangling paw had been. Then more. His claws were piercing her back, right behind her neck, her wings pinned out to her sides.

He began to pull, to tear, downward. The pain rose to levels Lily did not know, a burning that hurt more than anything, but he wasn't stopping.

She held her silence through that entire first dragging cut, though it felt as if her scales and skin were being pulled off in a paw-wide strip from the back of her neck to the base of her tail. Claw was taking his time.

She held out to the end of that first line. And then he brought his paw back up and did it again, in the same place. And again.

Howling. Was she howling? She couldn't even tell, the pure agony in her back taking up all of her attention.

Then his paw moved a little to the side, a paw-length, and started over.

Now she could not think, struggling futilely, totally unhinged, but nothing was going to stop him. It lasted forever, in her mind. Torture, her back flayed open, over and over again. Across the whole of her back, nothing left untouched in the rectangle across her wing shoulders and running down to the base of her tail.

Then, finally, he was done. He shifted, pressing down on her flayed back, moving his hind paws. "The second part."

And then, to her undying horror, he was doing it again, at a different angle, perpendicular to the first horrible set. At some point soon after, she blacked out and knew no more…

But only for a brief time. She revived still in agony, now on her back. "You are not allowed to faint," Claw gritted in her face. "Do you remember what I said I would do if you did not cooperate?" he growled loudly, freely expressing all of his frustration and fury, old and new.

She tried to flail her wings, to do something, but all she got was agony of a different kind in addition to the rest. Her wings wouldn't move; her back felt like it was both flammable and awash in flame, unresponsive. She was howling again, the sound ripping her throat to shreds.

Then he was on top of her, pinning her in the usual way, doing what he always did. She would have laughed if there was any thought left in her tortured mind. This was nothing compared to the agony in her back. What was humiliation at being violated in public to the pain she was sure should have killed her by now, or at least returned her to merciful oblivion? His weight was grinding those ever-present stone shards into her open wounds, turning the mild nuisance of life in the caverns into a new, fresh torture in addition to all the rest. Every time she thought there was no way it was possible for her back to hurt more, another one of those shards shifted, driven deeper.

An eternity later, he finished, stepping off of her, totally uncaring of the horrified faces all around him. Of the fledglings he had scarred for life, the ones whining and crying pitifully.

Lily was aware of all of this in a detached way, observing but not thinking, all of her conscious thought on wishing for oblivion, for a release from this suffering. If only she had ceased to feel, like she usually did… But that couldn't happen now. He had broken through her ability to ignore.

Claw said something else, addressing the crowd, but Lily didn't hear him. She was too busy straining against his heavy paws and shrieking her lungs out.

And then something slammed into her head, and all went mercifully dark.

Author's Note: And that is a trick I can't pull very often; if I did it regularly, people wouldn't believe me. Ah, the lengths I go through to preserve suspense, disguising an imminent warning as 'for the general future, somewhere in the next dozen chapters.'

Of course, the obvious next level of deception is one I can freely speak of; next time, there will be no warning because you've been warned right here and now. When will that be? We shall see...