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This feels like a bad idea.
It is possibly the worst idea I’ve ever had, and I accidentally sold myself at an illegal alien auction. I try not to let the uncertainty show on my face as I approach the looming stronghold of Leonidas.
I am no longer in the pride lands. I am hundreds, if not thousands of miles away, approaching what is apparently called either Shattered Gulch or The Den. I find myself here for reasons Azlan refuses to understand, and reasons I cannot ignore. I have not done much for anybody in my life, but I can do this.
I’ve learned that this place is called the Den because it is built into the side of a mountain. But that just makes it sound like a cave, and it is no cave. It is a fortress bordered by a mountain range with great gates at the entrance. I am still miles away, but I can already see them, carved in the shape of the face of a snarling Leonid, with great carved forelegs and paws extending out into the desert. It is a city with the vibes of a giant sculpture, and it portrays a kind of majesty I can barely stand.
I am intimidated, as I am meant to be. It is obvious that generations of Leonids have invested generations of effort in creating a general ambiance of majesty and terror.
It’s not going to stop me.
I am walking along a road that extends from those gates, a road that goes to, as far as I can tell, literally nowhere. I don’t know quite where the paving started, but the honeycomb-shaped rocks interlocked beneath my feet cannot possibly be an accident. This is a sign of construction left to go to ruin. Once upon a time, there were no doubt buildings outside the gates, maybe the city extended for miles into what is now wasteland. Now there is just this honeycomb path and a civilization living in retreat. Skol was going to teach me the history of the world, but we ran out of time.
As I walk, I have time to consider how I got here. This all started because I wanted to rid my farm of Growlers. That problem now seems laughably small. There’s a part of me that wishes I’d just been happy to shoot the Growlers. If I’d been prepared to cull them myself, I would not be here trying to save everyone else. My life was easier when it was just me, or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe my problems have always expanded to fit me. When I was young, my biggest problem was keeping the chickens out of the gardens. Then the Growlers ate the chickens, and they became my problem. Then I swapped the Growlers for a pride full of hungry babies.
At least I know they are taken care of in the short term. Some of the males have taken to nursemaiding the cubs, and a machine has been devised that milks and feeds the goats at the same time. I am not needed back at Pride Rock, which is good, because I am nowhere near that place anymore.
I found an unexpected ally in the effort to save the cubs, someone I didn’t expect to care. Kain. He transported me out here in his ship and left me with one simple instruction: walk toward the mountain.
Azlan is going to be furious with me. He does not like it when I disobey him, and I am definitely disobeying him now. I think back to the night Kain first suggested this plan, and how very angry Azlan was.
* * *
Not long ago…
“No. Out of the question. I have already told you. I will not put my mate in danger!” Azlan snarls ferociously as Kain outlines his plan. Kain wasn’t supposed to say this, not in front of me, not ever.
Azlan has been trying to keep the tactical discussion away from me, an asteroidal bumpkin. It’s hard not to be offended by that, but Kain has broken with the unspoken protocol and brought the matter up over family dinner.
“She can get into Leonidas’ den,” Kain says, eminently practical. “Nobody else can. Unless you want to shave your mane and try to pass as a female. Is that what you want to do, Azlan? Play girl?”
Kain is not in any way persuasive, because he is an asshole. Even when he is making a good point, he’s just so off-putting. Still, I’m grateful to him for saying what Azlan does not want said. Every family needs the chaotic one.
“She is the only one of us who could possibly get close. And she is not Leonid, so she will not be charmed.”
When Skol says it, it sounds more reasonable, but I don’t understand everything he is saying. There is still so much I don’t know about the Leonids.
“What are we talking about, charmed?”
Skol speaks to me with an overacted patience. “Leonid females have been primed over many thousands of years to respect and desire the most dominant male. The male capable of killing other males, ruthless enough to destroy cubs and force ovulation…. These are the males Leonid females are chemically trained to desire. When charmed, they are unable to resist the allure of an alpha.”
I look at Azlan. “I thought you were the alpha.”
“I am a new breed of alpha,” he says. “I do not desire copulation with many. I need only you.”
Kain snorts with laughter. “Azlan thinks he can deny his own biology.”
“I can!” Azlan’s fangs flash sharp and dangerous. “I have no intention of being as Leonidas. Our women should be free to choose singular mates. Many of them already chose this path. Leonidas has stolen them in order to force them back to a time we have long since left behind. I will not allow it.”
“So you choose full scale war and killing our father? With a band of broken warriors?”
“No.”
“Then we send the female, and she is able to get inside the stronghold with the signaling that will bring down his defenses.”
“Oh, like a Trojan horse!” I exclaim, finally understanding something.
Now it’s their turn to not know what the hell is going on. They look at me blankly, having no idea what I mean, but I know what I mean, and that is all that matters.
