Fiat
She landed upon the same rock perch which the Alpha had used to speak to the pack and made announcements from. Everyone would be close enough that she could speak normally without any thought-voice.
She smugly purred while counting how many packmates were already gathered. Fledglings, a group of females entertaining the young off to the side, secret pairs whom she knew about, most of the Hunters secret group, and many more were present. Still more packmates were arriving from other ranges and were forming their pack-roles. First-Hunter and his secret mate, now not bothering to hide their affection, strolled before her perch and lay down with their tails entwined.
Just as before, she noticed those who were likely to be her enemies: the dead Alpha's kin and several Fighters, at the rear of the gathering. It did not look like they were speaking to anyone outside their own group, which itself was being pushed aside from everyone else. Their status and power had all come from their relation to Alpha, so they were nothing without him. Well, those of his who were Firsts of pack-roles still had status, but that would not last much longer.
Finally, there were no more approaching packmates. The only ones not present had to be anyone outside the pack's territory, those with the eggs, and maybe a guard or two at the entrances.
It was time.
She roared, silencing everyone else.
"Pack! This is a good waking-cycle for us! Change is difficult, but I will help you change as you must! You will always be safe with me leading you!"
Safety was always a good motivation, and their purring of approval was audible.
"You needed a new Alpha who will let you change and grow stronger! Your former Alpha and his kin were lying to you and tricking you!"
"What?" "Tricks?" "This one does not understand." "But how?"
Only those who she knew had already been breaking the pack's rules in secret understood. The rest of them were confused. The most important rules they had learned from when they were hatchlings were false, and that had to disturb them. Maybe they were confused because, deep in the liver, they did not want to see the truth or feel responsible for being blind.
Chiding them for being too weak of will and blind was not necessary.
"I have seen and lived in other packs! This pack is the most twisted one! None of the other packs out there prevent mate-pairs, force namelessness, make females give males pleasure, or keep their own trapped! Those rules were only to let the Alpha and his kin keep power over you! They were using you! That changes now!"
"How?" "What?" "Tell us!"
"All other packs have a name for their pack. Your pack being nameless was a way of not letting you think about other packs! From now on, this is New-Flame-Pack, for how your life-fires will burn hot again!"
She let them say the name several times to get used to saying it.
"Next, your pack's rule against names must change! Pack-roles will change too, but you are not only the work you do for the pack! Having you be nameless was another way to control you and make you weaker! I want everyone to take a true name for themselves."
"What?" "How?" "New names?" "Tell us!"
Even some of her supporters were confused by the proposal. They had only known pack-role names for all their lives, so picking a name for themselves must be a twisted idea.
"The names should be whatever you want them to be. Let the names speak about yourself as you are, what you want to be, something you have done, or other reasons. You will still have pack-roles, but those will not be your name."
"Can you give us names?" someone shouted.
"No, choose them yourselves however you want! I am also ending the not-pack-correct word-rules! Rules not allowing you to speak words like two-legs, yourself, I, and other not allowed words are only another way of controlling you!"
She paused before moving on to another very important pair of topics.
"One of the worst and most twisted rules this pack had was the rule against life-mates! You know in your livers that the rule is twisted and rotted. No other pack I know of had such a rule! Many of you were already breaking that rule on your own! From now on we will allow life-mates!"
She did not expect so many roars of relief and pleased surprise. Many packmates started looking to each other or going over to someone else, probably their desired. She hummed as she watched packmates sort themselves out, standing beside each other or laying a wing over their partner.
"What must we do? Is there a ceremony for this?" a Far-Flier asked, visibly eager.
"Just come before me, you and your partner, and I will name you a pair!"
"When?" a Far-Flier-Helper asked, rubbing the Far-Flier's neck.
"After this pack-meeting! Anyone who wants to name themselves and their partner a pair will wait for after this ceremony. Do not think you must do so now though! You may come to me whenever in future waking-cycles."
"What if this o… what if I want something else?" a Fighter-Helper asked.
"What do you mean by something else?"
The Fighter-Helper looked down to her paws at all the attention on her, "What if a female wants another female, or a male wants another male?"
She had not given much thought to such situations. Rules and customs were made to accommodate as many as possible, after all, so those who were not normal would be problems. No, not problems. Instead, those situations required more than just custom, instead needing what was most important.
"All that matters is that the two are grown and freely agree. If two females or two males want to only be with each other, we will not object. If you are not in a life-mate pair, you are free to do what you want with anyone else who is not in a pair and who freely agrees. Force-mate or threaten any packmate, or try to be with someone else's life-mate, and you will be made packless! Do you understand and agree?"
"Yes!" "We obey!" "We do!" "Agreed!"
It was twisted that such basic life-rules needed stating for these light wings, but it was necessary. Clear rules would leave no room for wiggling or pretending they did not know something was not allowed.
"Next, sires and dams should be the ones teaching their young ones! From now on, sires and dams will still have other pack-roles, but their first duty will be to their hatchlings and fledglings!"
"How will we choose who can make eggs?" First-Hunter asked, voicing what had to be a common question.
"We can decide that later, but a way that works in other packs is having contests in which both males and females compete among themselves for the egg-making rights! Both will get rights based on your orders."
"What about the pack-roles? What about Helpers?" a Fighter-Helper shouted.
Many of the females perked up with interest at that question.
"Not everything about pack-roles is twisted. There will still be Fighters, Far-Fliers, Hunters, Plant-Growers, Healers, and Food-Planners, but there are no more Helpers!"
"What?" "What?" "No more Helpers?" "No!" "I do not understand." "What are we?"
She continued over the clamoring of surprise, disbelief, and confusion, "Males and females will work together in their pack-roles, both sharing the work and duties equally and having their own orders! More paws and jaws working together will finish the work faster! All who were Helpers are free to stay in their pack-role where they are now, or you may leave and join another pack-role. You should talk to the Firsts about changing your pack-roles if you want that."
She paused before continuing, "Helpers were made to do what they did not want! They were thought of as things to use, not truly as important as or the equal of males! No more! Every pack has rotted kin within it, and those rotted kin are a danger to all others! The worst are males who force-mate and threaten! Do any of you want to accuse any such males here?"
No one moved at first. She expected that many of the females could not know if they had truly been so abused or if they had only been doing an undesirable duty for the pack. Those ones would not do anything about it, but others probably would speak up if they had more respect for themselves or defiance toward the pack-rules.
"This is your chance to punish those who deserve it! The guilty will be named packless and thrown out of the pack so they cannot hurt you again! I know that some of you have been wronged. Come forward and be brave!"
Over ten Helpers and even a Hunter walked to the front of the pack and began accusing the very kin she expected: First-Fighter, five other Fighters higher in their order, First-Far-Flier, and one Hunter she did not know well. The most important ones were First-Fighter and First-Far-Flier, as they were both Alpha's kin and therefore a threat to her since they still had status in their roles. The other Fighters were also most of the former Alpha's guards, including those who had kept her trapped in the trap-den and watched as the Alpha forced himself on her. They had also been involved in the small fights during her battle with the Alpha.
"The accused will come forward!" she shouted.
They did not move at first, but they had no choice but to obey when the rest of the pack turned to face them, glaring and growling in threat. The accused males approached and stood before everyone else, directly before her and across from their accusers. Several of her allied Far-Fliers, Hunters, and Helpers from their groups closed around the accusers and her perch, ready to act if the accused tried to strike at her. She faced First-Fighter, feeling his anger both at being named before the whole pack and at her for killing his sire.
"You have been accused of attacking and force-mating your packmates. What do you say in your defenses?"
The Hunter protested, "We did nothing wrong. The pack-rules allowed it!"
"Yes, you cannot judge us on new rules!" First-Far-Flier added.
The pack's past rules did indeed allow forcing or very strong pressuring, since a female who said no was breaking other rules. But that the past rules allowed an action was no excuse.
"I can, and I do judge you! You attacked your own packmates and used them for your own pleasure! Either you have no inside-voice to stop you, or you did not listen to that voice. You have shown that you cannot be trusted to have power over females. But you are correct that the pack's rules did not stop what you were doing at the time. I will give you a choice! You will be named packless and banished from New-Flame-Pack's territory, or you may stay with us but you must lose your mating-parts!"
Laughter echoed from all around as the guilty males stared in shock. There was no other punishment which could make them safe to allow around packmates. They could always pretend to have seen the wrong of their ways, only to return to their foul ways in the future.
One of the Fighters whined and threw himself flat on his belly, "No! Please! We are sorry!"
"Give us another chance!" another Fighter added, doing the same as the other one.
Mercy? Completely undeserved. Give them another chance to hurt females again? There was no reason to take that risk. The only sorrow and regret these seven felt was that they got caught.
She faced the accusers standing aside from the accused, "Tell us, were they gentle? Did they listen when you said no? Tell all of us what they did."
One at a time, the accusers faced the males and related what had happened. Everything from laughing while causing pain, to poking with claws, and even more twisted wrongs. The Hunter who accused explained how his daughter, who was named a Hunter-Helper, would whine on his shoulder after being hurt by the dangerous and privileged Hunter who he could not do anything against because the Hunter somehow had the Alpha's favor.
Hearing the stories of their own packmates, more and more of the pack started growling, facing the accused and appearing as though they wanted to strike.
"I have heard enough! You do not deserve a second chance! Choose now, or suffer both!" she roared.
The guilty Fighters and Hunter accepted banishment, leaving only First-Fighter and First-Far-Flier to decide. First-Far-Flier followed them. First-Fighter growled and snarled, looking like wanted to pounce and attack. He eventually thought better of it, turned aside, and went to stand with First-Far-Flier and the other packless males.
Motion got her attention at the rear of the pack as First-Healer flew over to the packless males. First-Healer said nothing as she fell in at First-Far-Flier's side. It appeared that First-Healer was choosing to be packless as well with them. Fine. This was one more of the dead Alpha's kin who would be gone.
There was an opportunity to prevent another possible problem. Speck, Spot, Stripe, Sway, and Swirl would never accept her as their new Alpha, since they had lost all status and influence over the pack. It was entirely possible there were other supporters who hid resentment. Whether because they lost status the Alpha had given them, or because they lost privileges, some packmates would probably oppose her.
"Do any others wish to leave the pack? You must obey the new-pack rules and accept me as your Alpha! If you will not bow to either, you should leave as a group for safety! There is a range where packless light wings live as they wish. You could fly to that range and make a new pack, or you could do whatever you want."
Whatever their reasons, though they were likely twisted reasons, two former Fighter-Helpers went to join the soon-to-be packless. Twistedly, Speck, Spot, Stripe, Sway, and Swirl did not move from where they sat.
What game were they playing? Spot and Sway might want to stay for their young ones, Pounce and Char. Speck, Stripe, and Swirl's life-water kin were leaving, so those three ought to want to go with them unless they had a specific reason to want to stay behind. Their life-fires were dark with anger, which made it difficult to know any specific intentions. It was also difficult knowing what a specific kin felt when around so many other kin who had many different thoughts and strong feelings at the moment.
Those five had been essential in keeping the Alpha in power by spreading fear among the females and constantly asking packmates for information on each other. They held onto power by making all others too afraid to act or confide in anyone. He could not have kept his place without them helping. Even if he had hurt them and twisted their thinking into foul loyalty to him, they were just as guilty as he was, which meant they deserved punishment. However, they had not openly broken pack-rules or caused clear and obvious pain which would be justification for naming them packless. They could always object that they were only enforcing the pack-rules as their Alpha commanded of them.
"Loyal Fighters, Far-Fliers, and Hunters, see these packless light wings out of our territory!" she roared.
The accused males and others who were leaving took flight and were followed by two tens of packmates who would make sure they departed. The departures of so many light wings meant she had to wait until everyone who would be returning got back.
"We will wait until our packmates return!"
She relaxed upon the pillar while everyone still here began eagerly talking among themselves. There were too many conversations to hear clearly, but the general feeling was one of relief at everything that had been said so far.
Now with time to relax and consider what had happened so far, there were some problems she could see. For one, the Fighters were reduced in number by six, which left them weaker. A possible solution would be to suggest the stronger and bigger females volunteer to be She-Fighters. They would likely want to be in the first group of She-Fighters if they had the chance. There was no reason why they could not learn combat just as the She-Far-Fliers had in Ice-Water-Pack.
Another problem was that the imbalance between males and females had only gotten more imbalanced.
But the biggest problem was the former Alpha's five mates. They could not truly be loyal. Why would they stay in her pack's territory instead of leaving with their kin? She had to closely watch them and find out why they had stayed.
There was someone else. First-Knower had also stayed in the pack, perhaps because she was too old to be flying beyond. First-Knower was just as bad as he had been because she was most directly responsible for hurting the young and teaching them rotted ways of thinking. The general obedience and compliance even from an early age probably came from her influence.
She yawned, slightly weary after the fight to the death, use of her powers, and the long pack-meeting so far. There was still far more to do before she could find rest.
All her packmates who had flown away to force out the packless ones eventually returned, which let the all-pack meeting continue. Everyone other than Alpha's remaining kin eagerly approached to listen without needing to be summoned.
"Pack, there are more changes you should know about! As I said earlier, the pack-roles will stay much as they are. Most of the Firsts of those pack-roles are gone. They were the dead Alpha's kin."
"What about the orders?" "Will there be new Firsts?" "What happens now?"
"Yes, there will be new Firsts. Everyone in each order will move up to make a new order by replacing anyone who is gone! The Seconds where the First is gone are now the Firsts! Also, remember that females will be part of the main pack-roles?"
"Yes." "How?" "Twisted." "What?"
"Females in pack-roles where there is competition for status will have their own separate order just among themselves in that pack-role. They will have their own female First they answer to. Both Firsts in each role will work together. Both males and females will share the work as they are able. Anyone who wants to change pack-roles should speak to the Firsts, as I said earlier. Do you understand?"
"I think so." "Maybe." "Sure." "A little."
"Good. I will speak with the new Firsts after this pack-meeting. You should also hear about another bad pack-rule which we will not follow anymore. Your old kin, your Plant-Growers and Food-Planners, were expected to leave and die when they got too old to work! I was down in the deeper and darker ranges! Do you know what I saw?"
There was no cheering or eagerness to have this question answered.
"I saw bones of your kin. I saw the Cleansers who hunted them and killed them! No more! We will not make our old ones leave the pack to die alone in the dark and being hunted!"
One of the Plant-Growers, an old and tired male, stood up and spoke softly, "But what if we want to leave a place for the young? We should not linger after we are useful to the pack."
She grumbled, "Useful to the pack is the wrong way to think. Maybe you cannot work as much as younger packmates, but you have lived more life than they have. You can tell stories, give life-lessons, and entertain the young until you die normally of age. This is my will!"
The Plant-Grower lay down, silently accepting her declaration. But it was disturbing that part of him seemed to want to die, though he probably only thought that way because he had learned he was supposed to think that way. He could not be expected to change in one waking-cycle.
She looked out over everyone else, "I do not want to keep you here the whole waking-cycle! To my new packmates, this pack was very twisted and rotted! There may still be rot within it, waiting to grow if we are blind! Many of the rules you lived with were only meant to control you and keep others in power through your weakness!"
She paused to let them feel the force of her words. Many heads fell as packmates stared at their paws while feeling shame.
"They only had power over you because you let them have power! That both is and is not your fault. How could you know better when you were taught to obey and be quiet from when you were young? You had to do what kept you safe, so you were quiet! But that is the past!"
She flared her wings wide, "I will make this a pack in which you can trust each other, not fear everyone else, and thrive! Your life-flights will be warm again!"
She settled down, waited a wingbeat, and listened to the roars of acclaim that followed. Packmates flamed at the sky or flared their wings to show off their approval.
Several pairs began gathering on the ground, forming a line before her pillar. The first in the line were First-Hunter and his Hunter-Helper mate, First-Hunter-Helper. She hopped down from the pillar and went to them.
"Good talk. How does this work?" he purred, visibly pleased and relieved.
"I suppose you both promise the other to be their life-mate only. The point is to make the promise in public so others see and hear the promise."
They made their promises, nuzzled each other openly, and stepped aside to let the other pairs come forward. Each pair spoke different variations, but they all got the point across. With the final pair having named themselves, they began leaving without needing to hide the truth of what they were. Only First-Hunter and his mate remained in addition to the other new Firsts who were waiting for her a short distance away.
"Have you two chosen new names?" she asked.
First-Hunter hummed, "Not yet, but I want to. We both do."
"How are you keeping your hidden range safe? Are the young left there alone?"
First-Hunter answered, "Only one of us stays with them when all others must be at a pack-meeting. We always used a different excuse for why they could not be with us if anyone asked."
"Since you do not need to hide the truth, will you and your kin be showing yourselves here? It is safe for your secret young here in the pack."
First-Hunter-Helper grumbled, "It would probably be safe for them, but it is not so easy to trust everyone very quickly. Packmates might be angry that we were breaking the rules and had young when they did not."
She shrugged, "Possibly. I still want to tell everyone the truth at the next pack-meeting, and after that you can decide if you want to bring them back here. First-Hunter, will you stay after I speak with the others here? I want to talk to you on our own."
"I will," he agreed.
She went over to the other Firsts. She did not know any of them nearly as well as she did First-Hunter, though she had met them before. These packmates would be most important for her to have trust with.
"Congratulations, Firsts. I will be relying on all of you to help change this pack for the better. You know your packmates better than I do, so I will need you to help them accept the many changes. First-Hunter, First-Fighter, and First-Far-Flier, you must wonder how the changes to the pack-roles will affect you."
They hummed in agreement.
"You are still the Firsts for the males in your pack-role. Females will get their own First the same as you in that pack-role once they make their orders and have contests. You and the First female in your pack-role will work together to keep the peace and lead your combined group, hopefully without stepping on each other's paws. You will probably need to help the females learn their new role at first. I trust you to be fair, patient, and respectful to them."
"Yes, Alpha." "Of course." "I will."
She faced First-Fighter, until recently the Second-Fighter. She did not know him well, but no one had accused him of doing anything rotted or cruel. He had not been among the males who came forward to become one of a pair, though that did not mean much.
"Will you try to find stronger females who might want to be She-Fighters?"
"I can do that. Some of our former Helpers would like that," he answered.
It was important to know who he truly was at liver. The leader of the Fighters had to be loyal to her since he could influence or direct the strongest members of the pack. They would be the first to defend the pack against threats.
"Good. Can you name two of your Fighters who you could trust to be my guards?"
"Probably the ones who are now Third and Sixth," he answered after a wingbeat of thought.
"Why them?"
"Third is obviously one of our better fighters, and he has risked himself to help his packmates before when he could have… moved up if they were lost. Sixth is simple in his thinking, but he is loyal to pack-orders and whoever is the Alpha."
While Third and Sixth certainly sounded like they would be loyal and effective as guards, she still needed to meet them and confirm for herself as only she could.
"Have them fly to the Alpha's ledge, mine now, I suppose. I will be resting there later, and I want to meet them."
"I will send them to you."
"One more thing. Be sure to have more Fighters guarding the path to the darker and deeper ranges. There could be more Cleansers nearby soon," she added.
"Why is that?" he growled, visibly worried.
"Because I killed their Alpha too."
Everyone else gasped and froze in surprise, so she continued, "They might never threaten us again in future life-cycles, but the surviving ones could soon flee the ranges they know. I am not sure. We should also watch for the packless ones we forced out. They might try to get back in our ranges and cause harm."
First-Fighter grunted, "They could try. I do not want to see them again. Those ones were the worst and caused the most problems among us."
Satisfied for now, she faced First-Far-Flier, "You should probably have Far-Fliers help guard the entrances for now. I also want you to bring future She-Far-Fliers with you on normal flights outside our territory. Help them feel more comfortable out there with you. My first pack made a new pack-role just for She-Far-Fliers, and they worked closely with the Far-Fliers. You could also have Fighters help train them."
First-Far-Flier bowed, "We will. Many of our Helpers have secretly wanted to fly with us and see more of the beyond. They will like this."
"Good to hear. You must know about the twisted pack called New-Haven-Pack, the place with two-legs. I want us to have Far-Fliers watching that range so we know if the two-legs are doing anything outside that range."
"We can do that," he agreed.
She did not need to give First-Hunter any specific instructions. He already knew what do in his pack-role.
She faced the Firsts of the Healers, Plant-Growers, and Food-Planners. Their pack-roles were different in that they did not truly have orders of competency or as much difference between how males and females were treated. They still had a First the others were to listen to.
"Do you three have enough packmates in your roles?" she asked.
First-Healer, a younger female, grumbled, "There are only me and my Second for Healers. We do not know much at all. The other First before me did not bother teaching us."
It was a problem if the pack lacked knowledge of how to heal serious injuries. There had to be a solution.
"Find others to help you. Let me know how many you need. I will consider how we can get you and others more experience."
First-Plant-Grower and First-Food-Planner, both older females, said they already had enough support in their pack-roles, so there was nothing to do with them. Their pack-roles were not going to change at all, other than removal of the foul custom of self-sacrificing.
First-Hunter grumbled, "What about the former Alpha's mates? Should we do anything about them?"
She softly growled, "Those five are just as rotted and twisted as the Alpha was. They knew what they were doing: threatening Helpers, forcing them to not trust each other and to tell on each other, and keeping themselves and Alpha in power. I could name them packless, but for what specific wrong?"
First-Hunter growled, "They were spying on most of the pack and pushing everyone apart. Is that not enough reason?"
"Maybe. They have no pack-role anymore, and I doubt the rest of the pack would want to have them around. Let me worry about them. Do any of you have other questions?"
First-Hunter started, stopped, and recovered himself, "Why… why did you do this for us? You did not need to come back here and risk your life."
Why had it been so important? Beyond revenge against him for violating her, the pack had been in the grasp of a monster. Monsters had to be destroyed. That had always been deeply true.
Further, this pack was so positioned that it would be important in any defense of the hidden ranges. The dark wings in Shadow-Spark-Pack were insular and suspicious of everyone else. The packless light wings were too disorganized and uninterested in anything beyond their small struggles for their own territory.
The lurking threat of the New-Haven-Pack was still out there. It had been a far lesser priority in recent waking-cycles, not even entering into her thoughts. Other goals had been more immediately important. As the situation improved with her pack, more attention could go toward the New-Haven-Pack. As long as nothing changed about New-Haven-Pack, that problem could wait.
"I… wanted to do good and help everyone here. You may all go. First-Hunter, please stay."
Everyone else bowed to her and flew away, leaving her and First-Hunter alone, though there were still many packmates all around, eagerly talking with each other and sharing news.
Finally able to relax a little, she lay down and breathed a sigh of relief. The important talks were out of the way, and almost all of the pack had agreed to bow to her as their Alpha. The new customs and rules appeared to be understood and accepted, though many packmates were likely to have problems truly clutching the new ways at first.
She faced First-Hunter, "What happened during the fighting? I almost expected his kin and guards to come after me."
He chuckled, "They probably wanted to, but there were enough of us keeping them busy. We tried to not fight unless necessary. His mates demanded his guards stay close to them. Some did not obey them though."
Unsurprising. His mates would think only about themselves in that situation. Regardless, that explained why no one else had risen to help the Alpha fight her.
"What happened after I went away for a while?"
"The first time or after you came back?" he asked.
"I never left the first time. He somehow learned that I was planning against him. Did you find anyone who betrayed us?"
"No. I did not see anyone get favors from him. Whoever it was could not have known about the rest of us."
Perhaps there was no betrayal. Maybe someone overheard whispering and went to tell based on that.
She continued, "He came to me in my cave-den and attacked me. I woke up in a trap-cave where I could not get out. I do not know how long I was kept there, but I got past his guards, flew to everyone, and you know what happened from there."
He looked down to his paws and whispered, "Did he… hurt... you?"
The way he asked suggested he knew or had guessed what happened. Could she dare tell him the truth? Would he think she was weaker or lesser?
She evenly faced him without looking away, "He did. What happened at the water-hole? Could you not hear me?"
He sighed, "Sorry about… him. We did hear you, but it all happened too fast. We were not all there, he had his guards and other Fighters with him, and we did not know how many would join us if we tried anything. The roaring and flaming and shouting. We were afraid. Everyone was. But that is an excuse. I am sorry, Skadi."
"It is… nothing. Not your problem. What happened after I fell down the water-hole?"
"Everything stopped for several waking-cycles. He quickly made new rules and forbid anyone from asking about you, talking about you, or saying your name. He had his loyal Fighters and guards walk among everyone more, listening for anyone speaking up. The more they tried to silence everyone, the more whispering and questioning there was. Even the Fighters started to split between his favored ones and everyone else. We, my hidden group, kept talking to those you were speaking with before you disappeared. We realized you did not tell him about us, or we would have been found. We decided to kill him."
She snorted, "Something must have gone wrong."
"He was keeping too many guards and Fighters with him for us to directly attack. We got a Plant-Grower to show us the deadly plants, and we put those in the biggest fish that was going to Alpha and his kin. He always saved the best for himself. But he must not have eaten it. He brought loyal Fighters with him and met with all of the Hunters and Hunter-Helpers."
He paused and stared into the distance, "I have never seen him so angry. He demanded that whoever tried to kill him must confess, or someone must reveal who did it. I had to shout at my own packmates and even hit them to keep our secret. No one admitted anything, so he… he just picked her and killed her right there with everyone watching. First-Fighter had to pull him away and stop him from doing anything else."
"Who died?"
"Seventh-Hunter-Helper. You did not know her well. She was not yet part of our secret group, but she thought much as we did."
"What happened after that?"
He growled, "He lost all loyalty from Hunters, Hunter-Helpers, and even Helpers in the other pack-roles. There was a pack-meeting in which he told everyone that one of the Hunter-Helpers was a traitor, had tried to kill him and harm the pack, and had been executed because of it. We told as many as possible the truth, but we had to wait many waking-cycles and be very careful who we talked to. After that incident, he had Fighters put in our range to watch us work and make sure we kept working under threat. At least they are very bad at swimming and could not follow us. You returned before we could do anything else."
None of that was surprising. Alpha had tried to step on any dissent, but in doing so had only given others more reason to want to dissent. It was still a question whether or not First-Hunter and his allies could have succeeded with more time. There was no way to know for certain.
He continued, "What happened to you down there? Where does the water go?"
"It falls into the darker and deeper ranges. So many waking-cycles passed in total darkness, no light-rocks at all. Always fearing that Cleansers would attack from hiding. They did attack me twice, but I killed them. I killed the Cleanser Alpha, found a way out, and came back here."
He shivered, "Maybe it is better to not know what those ranges are like."
"Not unless you must. There is one other matter. I might need to leave New-Flame-Pack for waking-cycles at a time. The pack should have a Beta who can sit in my place and speak for me when I am away. Will you do that for me?"
He stared at her in open surprise as he grasped the importance of the offer. He bent his head low and purred.
"I will, my Alpha."
She yawned, "Good. I will be at my level. Great skies, I need rest."
"You mean killing a rotted Alpha by using sky-light, taking his place, and then having an all-pack meeting to change almost every pack-rule we have is enough for a waking-cycle?" he chuckled.
"More than enough."
"Do you want us to bring some fish later? It is the least we can do for our Alpha."
"Please do. I appreciate that."
He grumbled, "Be careful of his remaining kin. They must have a reason why they are staying here."
"No need to warn me. I know they are still a danger."
"It is more than that. They became crueler to everyone after you showed yourself. They probably knew their influence was weaker, so they worked more to split us all apart."
"Not a surprise. I will figure out what to do about them."