Rise Of The Beast Queen: Elizabeth

Ch 48 Preparing For War

Word of the Fierce Claw Tribe offering females as a reward spread amongst the rootless beastmen like wildfire and by the next morning the number of rootless beasts in the area easily doubled into a small army, that waited impatiently barely outside of the Fierce Claw Tribes territory.

The information also quickly reached Soren's ears as well and it infuriated the terra marked male because apparently unlike everyone else he wasn't a fool. Soren may have hated Kinkade, but he did learn a few things from the manipulative, conniving fox male. Kinkade often made offhanded comments, but this one had inadvertently warned him against using females as a bargaining chip to control the rootless males. "It doesn't matter if you take one, two or a hundred females, you're a rootless beast now, you will never be satisfied. Those females will never be enough to fill the hole that was carved into your heart the moment you lost your mate. You were a failure as a mate and you will be a failure to your cub as well!"

Kinkade's words were a cruel, heartless, snide comment, but they also stuck with Soren and subtly influenced him, ultimately helping shape him into the leader he has become today. Sure being terra marked has a lot to do with it, but he only achieved that strength because he didn't allow himself to become distracted by females, because surprisingly that actually was an option. In his lifetime after becoming a rootless beast, Soren did have a few females try to seduce him to use his strength for their protection, but he always just scared them away.

The other rootless males feared Soren, some chose to follow him, others left the area to avoid him and he simply killed any that challenged him or appeared to be a threat. Unfortunately the vast majority of rootless beasts here now were not his followers. Just looking around made Soren's heckles rise and he roared, radiating the full power of his beast pressure causing the males to quickly clear a path for him as he stalked through the crowd right to the border where his idiotic brother stood proudly with a smug look on his face.

"What kind of stupid fool are you to offer females to a horde of rootless beasts! Do you know what will happen if you don't deliver? Or what could happen if you do?" He growled right in Leon's face and snapped his maw. "Kinkade would never have agreed with a plan as foolish as this."

"Who do you think your talking to! I'm the Chief of the Fierce Claw Tribe!" Leon roared as he took a regal stance, puffing out his chest and spoke loudly so all beasts could hear clearly. "I will deliver the females as we've said. But only if you and the rest of your rootless beasts can make yourselves useful." He sneered, trying to appear intimidating and in control. Soren growled in annoyance but let him boast for curiosity's sake. "The Rivers Bend Tribe has taken one of our precious females, not only are we going to get her back, but for their crimes we're taking all their females. We will give the females we don't want for our tribe to you rootless beasts to do with as you please."

The rootless males roared and cheered in excitement as this was their golden opportunity to snatch a female for themselves. Testosterone laced beast pressure hung in the air so thickly it was stifling and the rambunctious males began to pick fights with each other in an attempt to widdle down the competition before there was actually even anything to fight over, since subconsciously they all knew there wouldn't be nearly enough females to go around.

However, none of the stupidity around him deterred Soren from the steady menacing glare he directed at Leon, if looks could kill Leon would have two holes pierced straight through his skull. But unfortunately there was absolutely no way of defusing so many rootless beasts without killing them all or causing a riot, so he literally had no choice but to go along with this ill-consieved potentially/likely disastrous plan.

Leon rallied his tribesmen with lies about how Liz was kidnapped by the Rivers Bend Tribe and is being held captive, it really wasn't hard to convince the unmated males, but the mated beastmen were far more concerned about the hoard of rootless beasts being so close to their own females. The vast majority of mated males, including most of Tabby's and even some unmated males that already had a female they favored, stayed to protect the tribe.

Leon did notice that all of Serena's males were missing, though he didn't have time or inclination to concern himself about them. He knew Serena's males couldn't pose a threat even if he wasn't around, since her strongest male only has two stripes, while Tabby's family is much larger and she has several with two stripes, so he led the males out without much concern.

Hours later both groups showed up to find the Rivers Bend Tribe looking deserted, all of the cave entrances were collapsed, leaving the area practically barren, like there had been a landslide or something that left only lumps of debris and vegetation speratically decorating the ground. Everything was demolished, well everything except for one single hut standing almost in the center of the vacant field.

"Where is everyone?" A male asked quietly in confusion, being the first voice to begin the muttered questions and comments that spread through the males.

"What happened here?" Asked another.

"Where are the females?" A rootless male questioned.

"There's no females here."
"Has this all been lies?" The quiet murmuring began getting louder as assumptions were made.

"A trick! They tricked us!" Another rootless male roared.

"Silence!" Leon growled. "They must have spotted us or heard you fools being so loud."

"Where would they go? Where did they take my mate!" Zephyr roared.

"This tribe is fox and rabbit beastmen. They burrow underground. That's probably the only entrance left." Leon reasoned and Zephyr became excited, but Leon stepped in front of him, stopping him from rushing out of the tree line. "Wait. What if it's a trick and they sneak out through another tunnel?"

"We should search the area while we surround them and attack from all sides so they can't escape." Soren suggested like the answer was obvious, Leon glowered at him but agreed since it was a good plan. Of course the rootless beasts got the honor of being the ones to spread out through the woods searching and creating a semicircle around the tribe to trap them against the river.

Before the rootless beasts were completely in position the wind changed direction and a sweet smell wafted through the air enticing the males, especially one in particular who immediately recognized the scent. Zephyr would recognize Liz's scent anywhere, especially coming off so strongly from that lone standing hut, the fragrance set a fire inside his body that drove him mad and without a second thought he dodged past his father and ran straight for the hut. When the rootless beasts saw Zephyr break cover, they weren't about to be left behind and miss out on the opportunity to snatch a female for themselves, so they rushed out as well like it was some kind of race and they were already behind.

All the male's bodies flooded with adrenaline pumped up by the anticipation for the battle to come, that coupled with their carnal desires, acted as more than enough to distract them and hinder their reaction time as the ground suddenly collapsed out from under their feet, only to reveal wooden spikes lining the bottom of the deep pits they fell into.