The brute's clan pt2

The light of the cavern cast hard shadows on them, and the echoes of proud and cheerful haedians screaming in victory accentuated the awful mood shift they just had. The four reos huddled together. Cailu, Mer, Valentine, and Jeon-e rested their weary bodies on the stone floor, the sting of defeat still fresh in their minds.

 

They had lost.

 

The fighting competition had been brutal, and now the gold they had accumulated to prove their worth was gone, surrendered to their opponents as the rules of the match say. Tons of effort just vanished in one second.

 

Mer's eyes betrayed him, still too young and immature, full of frustration and poorly contained rage as he laid his head on his paws to catch his breath.

 

Cailu sighed heavily. "I cannot accept that it has come to an end." he muttered, his voice drowning under the cheers of the other Brute's haedians. "How can you all meet the matriarch, if they won't listen to you because they don't deem you worthy?"

 

"Don’t beat yourself up, i think we put enough effort to prove that we're worth, even if we didn't win." Valentine said. 

 

"A good run doesn’t mean being recognized, not to them." Mer spat out, his disappointment and resignation making him snappy. His eyes flicked toward the pile of gold they will have to leave behind, to the winners. "What are we going to do now?" 

 

Jeon-e thought they could try again, collect gold again from some unprepared haedian out there and try coming back here in front of Zarod to try to prove themselves once again.

 

Before anyone could answer, a sounds that could as well be a war scream reached their ears and everyone else's, and all the brutes' haedians calmed down. The group turned as one, their instinct making them jump up to be ready for whatever happened.

 

"You lost" Zarod spoke, her tone full of disdain and her eyes bored. "But even if you were worse than a child, you weren't hopeless."

 

Valentine straightened. "Insulting us on top of defeating us, i didn't realize the brutes' were awful with their attitude too." the comment was made under his breath, so not even the other reos heard him.

 

"I offer you a chance to prove yourself to me once again, to prove that i should look at you a second time."

 

"We will do it" Jeon-e said, sure of herself.

 

Zarod smirked, her enjoyment palpable in the air. "A race. One of you filthy land dwellers will race against one of us, the winner is the one who collects the most gold at the end of the race. "

 

The four reos looked at each other and understood the assignment. A race to collect gold meant they needed to be fast, so the best option was to send Mer, who was lighter and younger, therefore he had the best chances. But they still needed more details. 

 

"Follow me" Zarod said, and walked through different tunnels until they emerged in a huge opening where the bottom of it was full of tunnels, but all of them were exposed to the open air when seen from above. 

 

"That's a labyrint, it's not a race" complained Valentine

 

"Indeed," Zarod said with a sly grin. "Plenty of room for strategy and skill."

 

"Strategy and skill mean nothing when you probably know the routes like the back of your paws." Valentinereplied sharply.

 

"It sounds to me like you won't "do anything it takes" like you promised, will you now?" Zarod’s grin widened. 

 

The reos exchanged glances. It was a stupid bet to take, but they had to do it. 

 

Cailu nodded, and said "We accept". He still looked at the other three with purpose. They would need to cheat, and they all knew it.

 

The labyrinth stretched out before them, jagged stone hiding little specks of shining rocks that could either be orange gems or gold, it was hard to say from up above. The walls were full with gems and pointy rocks, it was well lit from their natural bioluminescence but it would still be dangerous to run through it blindly. Mer too the time to memorize the fastest paths to as many orange and yellow specks he could see from there while they were descending to the entrance of the labyrinth, trying to get as much information stored as possible so he could get back to the entrance without getting lost on dead ends.

 

Once in front of the labyrinth, Zarod introduced their opponent: a wiry gray haedian called Dax, whose lean frame and pompous smirk spoke volumes about his speed and his confidence. "Good luck," Zarod said, her voice dripping with false sweetness. "You’ll need it." 

 

Both Mer and Dax placed themselves at the entrance of the labyrinth, and then someone sounded the gong, and the race began.

 

Mer lunged forward, his paws skimming the uneven ground. He was determined to prove himself, he knew he was a skilled hunter, quick on his feet and capable of fast analysis and memorization, but the terrain was unlike anything he’d faced before. The sharp rocks and sudden drops slowed him down, and he stumbled more than once, his paws rubbing on the harsh ground of the caves.

 

Meanwhile, Cailu, Valentine, and Jeon-e dashed off in different directions. 

Zarod looked at them unbothered. She was impressed that they had enough forethought to realize they could never win against a brute who had already gone through the maze numerous times, but she knew they would fail at gathering gold in any other way. 

 

Cailu prowled through a narrow passage, his keen eyes scanning for movement. He had noticed this area while hey were walking to the labyrinth, and as he reached it he spotted the pile of gold he saw before, still guarded loosely by two haedians. Their focus was on the race though, not on guarding their stash. They were sloppy, leaving at least 3 meters of space between themselves and the pile in the corner. With careful precision and the advantage of his low body mass, Cailu silently darted forward and snatched a few nuggets, slipping away before they could react.

 

Valentine, meanwhile, did heart eyes to some female haedians who were spectating, who fell for his charm and took pity on him and his poor, poor team, and gave him some gold as charity.

 

Jeon-e won a pointless tug of rope against a couple of male haedians, all bigger than her, and flipped the first gold she got with a double or nothing strategy, quickly acquiring a small pile from the haedians who kept underestimating her. 

She smiled when Cailu came occasionally to collect from the pile, meaning that they were doing good based on Zarod's standards, based on the Brute's standards.

 

Mer’s frustration mounted as he continued to struggle. Every time he thought he was making progress, he’d slip or lose sight of the exit in pointless ways. He had memorized a couple of spots and decided to check them all in one trip so he could work by area, but many of them were turning up as gems and not gold. When he finally returned to his pile, however, he was stunned to see how much it had grown.

 

"Are they…?" he muttered, glancing around. The others were nowhere in sight, but the glinting mound of gold before him was undeniable.

 

Zarod was allowing this? However, he didn’t have time to question it. The gong sounded, the awful resonant tone signaling the end of the race.

 

The reos all gathered at Mer's back, the gold piled before them. Dax stood confidently by his stash, his pile impressive in size. He and Mer kept meeting in the tunnels, and every time they did he had his mouth full of gold. It was demoralizing to see in the moment, but when Mer's pile was revealed at the end, his face fell. His mound of gold looked objectively bigget, and there would be no need to count it to verify it.

 

"Get that proud smile off your face or I'll claw it off myself," Dax snarled, his attitude snapping. 

 

Zarod was not saying anything, and the haedian knew to not complain in front of her. "Looks like we have a winner," she said, her tone unreadable. Her eyes flicked to Cailu, Valentine, and Jeon-e, "Well played."

 

Mer blinked, still processing his apparent victory. He glanced behind her, and whispered. "Did we really just get away with it?"

 

Cailu stepped forward, his gaze steady, and spoke to Zarod. "We won, didn't we?"